‘The Sodom Consul’, enveloping atmosphere in Super 16mm

With photography by José David Montero, Sigfrid Monleón's film has been shot in Super 16mm with Kodak Vision movie. EPC supplied for filming in Spain the Arriflex 416 Plus with ORRI/Zeiss Ultra 16 and an ultra prime game, among other camera material such as Zoom Angenieux Optimo 15-40 or Arriflex 16 SR3.

The controversy El Consul de Sodoma, and one of the first most anticipated premieres of the year, presents the life of the poet Jaime Gil de Biedma (1929-1990), a key member of the generation of 50. Under the direction of Sigfrid Monleón, José David Montero has been in charge of photography by counting for The epc sensor Some details of his work in this film inspired by the biography that Miguel Dalmau wrote about the poet.

The Sodom Consul It was filmed during Ferebro, March and April of last year, eight weeks in locations in Barcelona and Madrid and then continue two intensive weeks in the Philippines, in Manila. It was filmed in Super 16mm with Kodak Vision and EPC film supplied for filming in Spain the Arriflex 416 Plus with ORRI/Zeiss Ultra 16 and an ultra prime game, between other camera material such as Zoom Angenieux Optimo 15-40 or the Arriflex 16 SR3.

“The Sodom Consul It is inspired by a biography but it is also a classic melodrama, ”says photography director José David Montero. That aestheticism of the films of the 60s, very ‘kitsch’, although not so taken to the extreme. We also saw some Fassbinder movies that had that air. Hollywood's classic melodramas were the reference, even older such as Josef Von Sternberg, Douglas Sirak, Stahl ... In fact, some of these films are named in the Sodom Consul, ”he says.

With these visual referents, the logical option was filming in film support and chose Super 16mm format. "The director wanted to make evident the grain of the cinematographic emulsion and roll with that texture that the Super 16 gives you. In addition, we build special filters with women's stockings to give an old texture," says José David Montero. "We rolling to the old way," he adds, and jokes, "even the director said‘ we are going to put the average of the Montiel. "

To finish creating that dream atmosphere they pursued, they chose very clear objectives such as the Ultra Prime and the Arri/Zeiss Ultra 16, which compensated for the lack of definition that caused the average, says the director of photography. "Thus we got a texture that looked very well defined and at the same time it was ancient texture, which was what the director wanted."

Enveloping chamber

As for the use of the camera, the entire film is raised on a small crane with minimal movements. "The film is quite classic in the sense that camera movements accompany the characters without stridency. There are few emphatic movements, they are very soft," explains José David Montero to the EPC sensor, who also worked with little depth of field to stop the look more on the characters than in the scenarios in which the story takes place.

The entire film was shot with the Arriflex 416 Plus in Spain, except for one day they also used the Arriflex SR3. "The 416 Plus is a camera that is very good. As we had many locations and we shot in natural spaces, we had to be very fast, and the Super 16 facilitates that agility in filming." The two weeks in Manila, which supposed a greater effort to make the most of the time, they used the SR3. "In the Philippines it was not roll in S16, and in the end an SR3 that arrived from China was achieved, but we used the same optics," says José David Montero.

José David Montero recognizes his predilection for the “final plane of the film but I do not want image".

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