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Immersed in Movies: Cinematographer Ben Richardson Talks 'Beasts of the Southern Wild'

" Beasts of the Southern Wild " is like a tasty cinematic gumbo: part Mark Twain, part "Where the Wild Things Are," and part neo-realism. And Ben Richardson (who won the best cinematographer award at Sundance) wonderfully captures the unique flavor of the Louisiana bayou through the innocent eyes of Hushpuppy (played by six-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis), whose secluded town called the "Bathtub" is devastated by a storm because of the melting Arctic ice caps.

The acclaimed "Beasts" marks the feature debut for both director Benh Zeitlin, who relocated several years ago to Louisiana, and Richardson, who's English. They met in Prague as animation students and first worked together on the short, "Glory at Sea." "What drew me to Benh's work in the first place is his love of myths and monsters," Richardson recalls. "He's always been interested in creating the best kinds of legends, the kind of thing that feels like it's always existed."

Everything in "Beasts" is an organic, living thing, and Hushpuppy effortlessly taps into her primitive nature while the adults have difficulty coping with the disaster, especially her alcoholic father, Wink (played by Dwight Henry, a non-actor who owned a bakery in the town where they shot the movie).

Richardson was originally tapped to work on the miniatures for the beasts (the prehistoric Aurochs that call to Hushpuppy), but grabbed the opportunity to be the cinematographer when Zeitlin was unable to fill the position. Richardson made a test reel and credits the intensity of the moment for its success. "I'm a cerebral person but I enjoy the opportunity to get out of my head a little bit," he admits. "And the speed we were moving allowed me to be emotionally present and think on my feet."

Richardson made a special rig that enabled him to move the camera up and down. This was vital in maintaining Hushpuppy's POV and the result is almost Ozu-like in its perspective. "I discovered in the early tests something that I knew a little bit about from still photography: that there was a real strength to the specific height of the camera relative to her," Richardson explains. "I think one of the mistakes sometimes that hand-held movies do by going shoulder-mounted all the time is you have this permanent adult male's eye view. And I dropped the camera a couple of inches below Hushpuppy's eye line and kept it horizontal. It just gave her this real power and strength in the frame. So what would happen is the further away I got, instead of tilting the camera down to accommodate more headroom, I would just push the camera down slightly.

"Cinematically, what I think we were trying to achieve was a camera that was reactive and inexperienced, naïve, and exploratory. We just wanted the world to be revealed moment by moment, just the way she's discovering it. We had scenes where Benh would encourage me to keep the camera less stable. I got pretty good with the rig we were using: it wasn't Steadicam but I could lock it off and Benh would look over at me and say, 'Give it some life.'"

Richardson shot on 16mm film for two reasons: the digital cameras weren't stable enough two years ago for shooting in the bayous and he wanted a less saturated, less contrast look for capturing the rich textures of the locale. Thus, when there's a rush of color during the iconic fireworks scene, the ethereal quality will be more impactful.

However, the most challenging sequence was on the riverboat. Richardson knew it had to be magical, that it had to be differentiated, but it also had to be grounded in keeping with the rest of the movie. "That kitchen, crazily enough, was the most difficult lighting rig on the film," he continues. "There were like eight little fixtures all snuggled up on the ceiling. I just wanted that scene to seem so warm and so enveloping."

Yet working with Wallis was inspirational because she remained uninterested in the camera. Inevitably, the relationship between the cinematographer and his star was like a dance. Richardson would keep in step with her and float the camera, even when they weren't rolling and the director was giving her instructions. "It was a very fluid or organic thing because she was probably the most focused person on the set."

That's maybe why they pulled off the most difficult shot where Wink teaches Hushpuppy how to grab a fish with her hands from the boat in only one take. "Benh was concerned that we'd never run a scene that long in two-shot, especially with a relatively complex camera move that had to be accomplished on water," he relates. "That we actually nailed it in one take and still had 11 remaining to get the other six angles in the scene was exhilarating."

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Immersed in Movies: Cinematographer Ben Richardson Talks 'Beasts of the Southern Wild'

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Immersed in Movies: Cinematographer Ben Richardson Talks 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' " Beasts of the Southern Wild " is like a tasty cinematic gumbo: part Mark Twain, part "Where the Wild Things Are," and part neo-realism.

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- "a fraction
below her head height and depending on how close or wide a shot it is, it actually steps a few inches down. It’s very subtle. We were trying to make her into this little hero"

- often from Hushpuppies level, looking up or at something and helps us see her Point of view

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- 16mm allowed the ease of action,
richness of colour and was more stable in these humid conditions

and thus helped reinforce the realism of her world and the childlike perspective

- film was push processed, which allows for lower saturation and contrast ( helped ground the fantastical elements and make feel more real)

Read a little of what Ben Richardson says about his choice

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After wildly successful screenings at Sundance, Cannes and the Los Angeles Film Festival this year, Beasts of the Southern Wild opened last week in New York and Los Angeles to rave reviews, with limited engagement screenings to roll out in select markets across the country beginning this week. Directed by Benh Zeitlin, and nurtured in the Sundance Institute Labs, is a reminder of what the power and magic of filmmaking is all about. Demonstrating incredible cinematic and emotional strength, is the story of a 6-year old girl named, Hushpuppy, and her journey to survive in a forgotten and defiant bayou community, cut off from the rest of the world by a sprawling levee. Through her fantastic imagination, we watch her cope to survive the treacherous fate that nature has bestowed upon her community while tending to her ailing father and sinking home. A visually stunning tour de force, Beasts is a rare poetic gem that transports the viewer into a unique world, so visceral and haunting that one becomes lost in this tiny hero's beautiful and terrifying fantasy and wonder.

Director of Photography Ben Richardson, took home the Sundance Award for "Excellence in Cinematography," and has been lauded by NY Times critic A.O. Scott, to have found "rugged, ragged beauty in nearly every shot." The textures, compositions and overall cinema verite style successfully fuse a painterly, expressive visual palette with a documentary sensibility. I was anxious to talk with Richardson about his creative and technical approach to shooting the film, and caught up with him after the screening of Beasts at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Richardson's early career was in short animated films before moving into the VFX world. From there, he worked in post-production and color correction, and continued to shoot short films. Richardson got to know Director Zeitlin in Prague 10 years ago, and stayed in touch through the years while also collaborating on the short, Glory at Sea. He won best animation at Slamdance in 2010 for his short, Seed, and continued to be a part of the development process with Beasts. He had been living in NY when, a month before the shoot, Zeitlin decided to work with Richardson on Beasts, and was hired. He had three days to get his NY life sorted out, so he sold half of what he owned, bought a van and drove to New Orleans to shoot his first feature film.

Which lab did you use?
Alphacine in Seattle. They processed and did the workflow, and we got our dailies back on hard drives. We just got editing dailies and they kept the tapes. When we did the conform we went back to the HDSR for the color grade.

What were some of the visual references that inspired the look of the film?
There's a 1970's short documentary calledDry Wood, by Les Blank, that had a lot of the palette we were looking for. It's a real run and gun documentary from the 70s, and I think it was even shot on reversal stock. A lot of the qualities of the Bathtub are present in this documentary. It was one of the most perfect encapsulations of a cinematic version of the world we were trying to create. A key touchstone for the camera aesthetic was the short film shot from a children's perspective called Jerrycan, by Julius Avery. Obviously after we watched these films a few times and understood what we were getting from them, I preferred to stop specifically trying to make references to them and went back to responding to the world that I was seeing in front of me.

Who are your cinematography influences?
My hero isHarris Savides. There is no film that he's shot that I don't love. It's interesting, since I shot Beasts, I've been reading articles and interviews with people including Harris, and I was amazed to discover that there are a lot of things that I did, that he does! That was really delightful to learn! He does the same pull-processing negative trick and uses a lot of the same light fixtures I went for. I love his work.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.

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DP BEN RICHARDSON'S APPROACH TO SHOOTING "BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD"

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After wildly successful screenings at Sundance, Cannes and the Los Angeles Film Festival this year, Beasts of the Southern Wild opened last week in New York and Los Angeles to rave reviews, with limited engagement screenings to roll out in select markets across the country beginning this week.

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- A use of rack focus, the practice of changing the focus of the lens during a shot

- The use of shallow depth of field where the background is out of focus

These techniques help us see through Hushpuppy's eyes by directing us to what is important, the shallow focus instills a sense of intimacy, places emphasis on what Hushpuppy is looking at or thinking about and reinforces the feel of realism throughout the film

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- hand held and follows most of the action

- 'exporatory' view, similar to a small child

- documentary style that reinforces the realism

- this realistic aspect provides a contrast to the 'mythical aspects' and gives the narrative a foundation

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- lots of close ups, point of view shots

- wide shots reveal the landscape and community she is part of ( primarily reveals her relationships with her dad, animals, landscape)

- reveals how she feels (facial expressions)

- also how the main character thinks, by locating the voice over

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Cinematography behind Beasts of the Southern Wild

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Cinematography behind Beasts of the Southern Wild

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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The Cinematography Behind Beasts of the Southern Wild

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For Beasts of the Southern Wild, Ben Richardson's modus operandi was to capture the feel of the Southern Louisiana bayou.