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CHEMISTRY, CRAFT
& CONTROVERSY
How a first-time Director/DP team and two Hollywood icons clicked on Netflix’s May December.
PUBLISHED
APRIL 11 2024
What is it between two people that can make sparks fly? May December is a tale of three very different relationships - the first-time Director/DP team of Todd Haynes and Christopher Blauvelt, the tour-de-force acting talent of Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman, and the controversial married couple at the heart of the story.
This acclaimed production is the latest feature from director Todd Haynes, who often works with master cinematographer Ed Lachman, ASC. With Lachman indisposed, Haynes teamed with Christopher Blauvelt for the tale, about a woman whose relationship with her husband began when he was 13 and a student of hers. The film picks up many years later, when an actress visits the couple to learn more in preparation for a forthcoming role. The emotional dynamics are complex and often beneath the surface, and the disturbance threatens to undermine the calm exterior of the marriage. Bergman’s Persona was an important point of reference.
Blauvelt is known for his sensitive work with Kelly Reichardt (Meek’s Cutoff, Certain Women, First Cow) as well as for dramas like What Remains and the 2020 Jane Austen adaptation Emma. Under Haynes’ direction, for May December, Blauvelt crafted a layered, low contrast look that emphasized the hazy atmosphere of the Florida beach town setting, often framed into mirrors or through gauzy curtains and smudged window panes. The equipment choices encompassed the recently arrived ALEXA 35 and 1940s Kowa prime lenses, along with some zooms. Filtration brought additional texture to the images.
Because Blauvelt and Haynes were collaborating as DP/Director for the first time, smooth and accurate communication was even more crucial to success.
“Even before I saw him in person, Todd sent his image book, music and of course, the script,” says Blauvelt. “Later, in Savannah, when he was scouting with the production designer and our producers, I already felt like I had a great understanding of his approach. From the locations, which were perfect, we went into shot-listing, and the way to approach scenes in the most thoughtful way. It was a process of us melding our brains together. Our communication was constant – like a steady stream of consciousness – and I loved it. We knew we had to be together on everything at all times to make it through on such a short schedule.”
"WE QUICKLY BECAME A SOLID TEAM, MAKING SURE TO RESPECT THE MOVIE"
The female leads were played by Natalie Portman, also a producer, and Julianne Moore. Blauvelt and his team worked very closely with Moore’s hair and makeup pros, including personal makeup artist Susan Riley Lehane, to craft the right approach.
“Julianne’s people are amazing and very giving,” says Blauvelt. “They shared what they know about how our cameras and lighting might react with her skin and hair, and how she reacts to light. We quickly became a solid team, making sure to respect the movie. That meant I wasn’t chasing my tail with the color of her skin. She’s quite pale and freckly, but if you lean into that and light her a bit warmer, there can be an adverse effect where she begins to look very strawberry.”
Gaffer Jesse Wine and DIT Sean Goller experimented with the color of LEDs to find the sweet spot on the spectrum. “Minus magenta or plus green was making it better and better,” says Blauvelt. “When we timed out the green, we got the most natural, beautiful look. It began to look like her again. It wasn’t about making her look like a beauty queen. It was about making her look like herself in those environments.
“In one scene in the bedroom in particular, where she’s crying, her capillaries are inflamed and she’s very red,” says Blauvelt. “After we lit that scene, the whole set looked green. People were starting to wonder. But in the DIT tent, where the makeup and hair team were, everybody was applauding. We were so happy. It was a unique learning curve, to adjust the lighting and the digital elements and eventually, after a couple days, nail it. I’ve been in environments where you’re working with an iconic figure, and they come with a group that is counterproductive. This situation was ideal. It’s a collective endeavor, and we were happily making the movie we wanted to make.”
"...IN OUR TESTING, FOR THIS FILM, THE ALEXA 35 WAS THE WINNER. IT’S A BEAUTIFUL SENSOR AND THE LATITUDE IS JUST PHENOMENAL"
Blauvelt had used the ALEXA 35 on his previous film, Showing Up. “I keep an open mind about all cameras,” he says. “But in our testing, for this film, the ALEXA 35 was the winner. It’s a beautiful sensor and the latitude is just phenomenal.”
The additional exposure latitude, captured by the sensor and recorded by CODEX in-camera technology, meant that the filmmakers could move quickly, especially on low-light night scenes – a big advantage on a 23-day schedule with minimal resources.
Blauvelt and his team reviewed their work on PIX, the collaborative production management platform, designed to keep the flow of communication simple and efficient in the highly collaborative world of filmmaking. PIX is tailored to allow disparate artists and craftsmen to freely share and combine their various ideas and materials in service of the director’s vision.
Blauvelt says that the dailies aspect of PIX is an essential route to peace of mind.
“You walk away from the set, and that night, with a little bit of separation from what you shot, and you get to watch what’s happened,” he says. “There are always little things that stick in your head, something you want to see again just to confirm or deny. I’m really able to focus in a different way than I am on the set, when things are happening in real time. It’s also just a good way to keep checking yourself. Maybe there’s something I didn’t expect to be so good, and that informs my choices the next day. If something looks strange, I can immediately call my DIT and we’ll reassess. PIX is a key part of the process.”
On May December, dailies were set up to reflect the custom LUTs built in prep and an approximation of the grain to be added later. That helped Blauvelt make subtle choices about what was in front of the lens at the moment of photography.
“We’re looking at something that’s designed to be as close to our eventual film as possible,” he says. “Obviously, later, when you go to the DI, you dig back into the digital neg and re-evaluate things. But sometimes in the post DI, Todd would say, ‘I don’t know. I really loved it in the dailies grade. Let’s go back to that.’
"...KNOWING WE HAVE A ROBUST DIGITAL NEG UNDERNEATH GIVES US EVEN GREATER CONFIDENCE"
“In the past, it could be frustrating in the DI because a director might say, ‘Oh no, I never saw that before because the image was so compressed.’ Now things have evolved, and we’re getting a very close representation of what we’re after during the actual shoot. And knowing we have a robust digital neg underneath gives us even greater confidence.”
That reassurance was courtesy of CODEX recording media and High Density Encoding (HDE). Color finishing was done at Harbor with Adrian Seery, taking full advantage of HDE to streamline the camera files with no resolution hit. HDE, developed at CODEX by imaging scientists James Eggleton and Delwyn Holroyd, brings major efficiency gains in storage and bandwidth by, on average, reducing file sizes to 60% of the original. Allowing filmmakers to use higher resolution imagery throughout the process with no cost or schedule downside. The lossless compression algorithm was recently recognized with a Scientific and Technical Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
The long-term partnership between CODEX and ARRI being a final example of the many productive pairings that made May December both a cinematic and story-telling success.
Looking back on the experience, Blauvelt says the project brought many elements of his career together.
“I always thought of Todd Haynes and Ed Lachman as the Ingmar Bergman and Sven Nykvist of our time,” he says. “We looked at Persona and Winter Light to gain a real understanding of Todd’s approach and thinking. I was introduced to these films a long time ago by my mentor, Harris Savides, who taught me to focus on the emotional aspect of what we’re doing. Throughout, I knew we were making something unique and special, which is a beautiful experience.”
May December played in competition at Cannes 2023, where it was reportedly met with an eight-minute standing ovation. The film is currently streaming on Netflix.
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