Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Phedon Papamichael has worked with some of the biggest directors of the last few decades, including Wim Wenders and Roger Corman, and recently Alexander Payne and James Mangold. He is, as they say, a big deal.
He’s also incredibly generous with his insights, ready at the drop of a hat to talk about his camera package and the technical details of achieving certain shots, as well as the rationale behind shooting style and production choices.
This year, he’s likely to get even more awards recognition for his latest collaboration with Mangold on the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, which stars Timothée Chalamet as the folk singer. Capturing just a few years in Dylan’s early career, the film is linear but loose, allowing us to meet the artist the way others around him do. It’s a little bit distant, shot fairly naturally, and not overly stylized.
We spoke with Papamichael ahead of the film’s Dec. 25 release to learn more about his collaboration with Mangold and get a peek into his process.
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The world of Bob Dylan
Fresh from the film’s premiere at the Dolby Theater, Papamichael’s enthusiasm for the project is evident.
“It’s always great to see it with an audience,” he said. He added, “Timothée’s demeanor and behavior and how it translates, his interpretation of Bob is just wonderful and really inspiring, was inspiring for us as filmmakers.”
He revealed that the film team found their direction after director James Mangold spoke with Dylan himself.
“When he talked to Bob, Bob was like, ‘What’s this movie about?’” Papamichael said, lightly mimicking Dylan’s gravelly tone. “And Jim, quick on this big thinking goes, ‘Well, it’s about this kid who lives in Minnesota in a small community with a Jewish background and parents, and he feels suffocated. So he leaves him and goes to New York and creates a new family and makes new friends, and then he feels suffocated by that, and then he leaves them.’ And Bob goes, ‘I like it.’”
Timothée Chalamet in A Complete Unknown. Photo by James Mangold, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
Establishing a natural shooting style
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chatted with Mangold a few days before, and he discussed how he deliberately steered the film away from traditional biopic conventions. He wanted to focus on the period when Robert Zimmerman transformed into Bob Dylan, and show it through the eyes of musical contemporaries.
How did Papamichael take that approach for the cinematography?
“We talked about it in pre-production about being maybe a little less our classical composed storytelling style and maybe a little rougher,” Papamichael said. He referred to their previous work as a comparison,
Walk the Line.
He added, “I mean, it helps that we’re only covering a certain period, but it has to work beyond a character you’re portraying. You have to create a new character.”
The visual approach was grounded in extensive research.
“My approach, in general, is always very naturalistic lighting. I don’t want to distract from the story and overpower it with some stylistic choices,” he said. “I had a lot of reference photographs that
François [Audouy], our production designer, had put together a really wonderful lookbook with. Of course there are a lot of photos of Bob in that time in New York and his apartment where he lives with Sylvie.”
Recreating the texture and colors of 1960s New York presented its challenges.
“New York was pretty gritty and dirty back then, and the challenges were when we went scouting and had chosen to shoot in New Jersey for the cash rebates—it’s all really cleaned up and become gentrified,” he said. “And then they have planted all these trees in the meantime. After multiple delays, we actually got lucky. We got to shoot this year, in 2024. We started in the spring. And we were able to beat the trees from blooming.”
Director James Mangold and Timothée Chalamet on the set of A Complete Unknown.
Photo by Macall Polay, Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
The cameras and lenses of A Complete Unknown
The technical approach to achieving the film’s look combined modern innovation with vintage aesthetics. Papamichael utilized
Sony VENICE 2’s high sensitivity to shoot at deeper stops, even in night scenes.
“We can shoot 6,400 ASA and 12,800 ASA, even,” he said. “That enabled me to shoot at a much deeper stop like f/8, f/11, even on night exteriors. Although we’re in an anamorphic aspect ratio, we’re able to create these intimate closeups that Jim and I really love.”
This maintains the character’s environmental context, even in close-ups, ensuring Dylan never feels isolated from the world that’s shaping him.
Papamichael also used color to demonstrate Dylan’s character arc.
“Since we started in the early spring, we had the more muted tones. He’s a younger man and comes in his boyish rags and his guitar case and his backpack and this little cap, and it’s also in conjunction working with
Arianne [Phillips], our costume designer. It’s more muted and not as expressive,” Papamichael said.
As the film progresses, the lighting grows in contrast, and primary colors like reds and blues start to pop. Kodachrome film was a specific reference. They used a LUT on set to get this look.
The shooting style changes as well with the character’s growth.
“As he finds himself and develops as a character … from Robert Zimmerman and transitions into Bob Dylan, by the time we hit ’65 is a natural arc with his character, where also visually the camera becomes more aggressive, more alive, his performances are bigger and the venues become bigger.”
Timothée Chalamet in A Complete Unknown. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
How they used SHIFTai for the film look in post
To further authenticate the period look, the team employed a unique post-production process with
FotoKem’s SHIFTai. You shoot digitally, but then do a film transfer and rescan to digital.
“You live in the digital world for color correction like you traditionally do, but then you film out to a negative to Kodak 5203 50 ASA daylight stock,” Papamichael said. “Instead of emulating grain electronically, you are actually going to film, and really picking up all the qualities that it had if you would’ve shot on film, in terms of grain and even fluctuations and projector movement and dirt.”
All this was topped off by the team’s vintage Panavision glass that gave them beautiful flares. The approach resulted in exactly what he and Mangold wanted.
Being flexible on set
Papamichael and Mangold have now worked on seven films together, and their collaboration has evolved into an intuitive process that prioritizes performance over rigid planning.
“It comes down to really being reactive and flexible to the performances,” he said. “Similar to having Joaquin [Phoenix] portray Cash, it’s just certain actors that just are not mechanical. You never quite know what they’re going to do and where they’re going to go.”
This approach extends to their work with Chalamet.
“We don’t come in with a rigid shot list,” Papamichael said. He added, “Timothée starts roaming around, discovering his place. He tries standing by the window, he tries sitting on an armchair, then he goes over to the bed, picks up his guitar, and we’re observing him and learning, ‘Okay, this is how the scene is going to play.’”
The entire production team had to remain constantly alert.
“That’s something that Jim and I, having done seven movies together, are pretty well in tune to do and make decisions, when you have all the elements working and presented to you,” he said. “And that way you take advantage of these lovely moments that these actors gift you all the time. And you just have to be alert enough to be at the right place with the camera at the right time.”
Everyone needs to have this level of awareness, he said: “The whole crew, camera operator, the focus pullers, we all have toe ready to capture whatever they give us.”
Timothée Chalamet and Monica Barbaro in A Complete Unknown.
Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
Advice from Papamichael
For aspiring cinematographers, Papamichael—himself a non-film school graduate—emphasizes the importance of continuous learning through hands-on experience and working as much as you can.
“I just learned by doing, and I can only encourage every young filmmaker—I mean, sure, it’s good to be selective, but the most important thing is to just keep working,” he said. “On every movie, good or bad, you will find someone that is your artistic soulmate.”
You’ll eventually have around you a team of collaborators that share your artistic vision.
“We’re students for life,” he said. “We never stop exploring this media and this art form. There’s a hundred different ways to make a movie. Find your collaborators that have the same taste, because everyone has a different way of telling a story. Find people that you feel have similar sensibilities, and gather those collaborators around, and try to keep them when you find them. It’s also a marathon, these careers. Don’t be impatient, and stick with it, and never give up.”
Author: Jo Light
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
