Read the article with @dan.laustsen on Chimera Lighting Chasing Light blog. link in bio. http://chimeralighting.com/shape-of-water/ @dan.laustsen ASC DFF Cinematographer talks about the @shapeofwatermovie that won Best Picture at the #Oscars. The production also stayed as mobile with lighting as they did with the camerawork, which was largely handheld. While they relied on elaborate computer graphics for a few of the key underwater scenes, there was also a lot of real world work with water tanks. Wholly embracing a definitive color palette, Laustsen made extremely effective use of color, coupling subtle touches like bright red exit signs and bright, shocking splatters of blood with sickly green hues, even going so far as to desaturate entirely during an imaginative dance number. Even more challenging to light, del Toro mapped out the entire film in his head. From one fluid shot to the next, this required extensive single takes that would traverse around the actors and the scenery as if dancers. These continuous camera movements helped to propel the two hour romance into an action film, but from a practical standpoint, literally, lighting for 360-degrees of motion can be difficult, to say the least. Laustsen previously won the prestigious Golden Frog at Camerimage for the film I Am Dina. Born in Denmark, he graduated from the Danish national Film School in 1979. A member of the Danish Society of Cinematographers as well as the ASC since this last summer, Laustsen is currently slated to film a remake of the 1947 film Nightmare Alley with del Toro next.
