He calls the lenses “just magnificent”
Back in 2011, the first season of bref premiered, featuring two-minute episodes, sharp punchlines and quirky humor. The series was a sensation among millennials and seemed to invent an entirely new format along the way. Then, suddenly, it was gone.
More than a decade later, the show has been revived in slightly altered form as bref.2.The new episodes maintain the lightness and rapid-fire delivery of the original, but an extended 30-minute length allows for more layered storylines and complex characters.
Director of photography Josselin Billot embraced the new approach, but knew the project would be ambitious and include more dramatic elements. To create the bold imagery he imagined, Billot chose large format Hawk65 1.3x Anamorphic lenses.
“It was clear that we were going to move away from the aesthetic of Season 1, towards more visually mature choices, and a more committed and theatrical light in terms of contrast and color,” says Billot. “But we agreed to keep the main visual characteristic: a handheld camera in almost all circumstances, to maintain the real and intimate way of telling the story. The very speedy editing doesn’t leave much time for the viewer to absorb an atmosphere, so I told myself that I had to mark my atmospheres quite strongly, a bit like in an ad or a music video, even if it meant exaggerating the features. I wanted a strong image.”
The Hawk65s fit the Venice camera perfectly, using 100% of the sensor and resulting in a 2:1 aspect ratio. The handheld aesthetic might seem antithetical to large format anamorphic, but that’s outmoded thinking. The Hawk65s and the Venice in Rialto mode makes for a fairly compact and versatile camera rig that works in almost any configuration: on the shoulder, on rails, Steadicam, motion control, drone, crane, gimbal, underwater or even carried by the actor.
“I wanted anamorphic lenses to achieve a more mature and cinematic look than in the season 1,” he explains. “I love anamorphic and I love the Hawk V‑Lite and Class-X lenses, but for bref.2 I wanted a particular image that would feel like a blockbuster. I immediately thought about the most prestigious anamorphic lenses, the Hawk65s. The combination of anamorphic and full frame format gives a unique and truly striking look.
“I still remember the images from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, cinematography by Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS, which were just amazing,” says Josselin. “A natural softness due to the shallow depth of field, very aesthetic flares, slightly oval bokeh and contained deformation are the characteristics of the Hawks65s. The choice of those lenses enabled us to produce a rare image for a TV series, which in my opinion gives a real direction to the story.”
Director Kyan Khojandi loves to move the camera – sometimes quickly and violently. Push-ins and whip-pans communicate the feelings and reactions of characters during long voice-overs. The Venice camera in Rialto mode was very often shoulder-mounted. The quality of light changes freely, in tune with the mood or feelings of various characters.
The distinctive optical characteristics of Hawk65s helped Billot keep the focus on the main character. “We are in the character's head, in his thoughts and in his dreams,” says the cinematographer. “An image that is too clean and straight wouldn't have been a good idea. The lens ‘rounds’ the images, which allows us to have a more organic rendering, like in nature, where nothing is perfectly straight or aligned. In certain shots, I have the impression of seeing a painting on which someone has placed their hand to round out the background. Just magnificent.”
Billot adds that the 1.3x squeeze delivers the right amount of anamorphic flavor without being too intrusive or distorted. The production also carried three Vantage One4 large format spherical lenses to maintain straight lines in wide shots, especially wide shots with buildings. Like the entire family of Hawk lenses, they intercut smoothly with each other.
“We had to move quickly and efficiently to create these dense episodes, and the optics helped us there as well – the Hawk65s provide a real look, and sometimes with good framing, the image is cool without having to light for hours,” says Billot. “I'm extremely happy with the aesthetic we developed, which we completed during color grading with Laurent Ripoll. I find the image quite elegant and rare, which is appropriate for a project that is just as rare.”
Watch the trailer here.
Camera Crew:
1st AC A-Cam: Stéphanie Varela
2nd AC A-Cam: Mathilde Esteves
Steadicam Operator: Paul Chapel
