‘Purple Hearts’ (Netflix), rodada con las S7/i Full Frame de Cooke Optics

Cinematographer Matt Sakatani Roe has captured the story of the independent film for Netflix Purple Hearts with the objectives Cooke Optics S7/i FF Prime.

Purple Hearts, directed by Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum, tells the story of Cassie (Sofia Carson) and Luke (Nicholas Galitzine), who couldn't be more different. Despite those many differences, Cassie, a struggling singer-songwriter, and Luke, a troubled Marine, agree to marry solely for military benefits. However, when a tragedy occurs, the line between what is real and what is pretend begins to blur.

To film this emotional story, which became the number seven on the list of most popular Netflix movies Just 28 days after its release, Roe was clear from the beginning that lenses Cooke were going to be his reference choice: "Cooke lenses have been my favorite lenses since I started doing narrative projects. They were with me in my first television show, in my first major studio film production and in most of the narratives that I have shot. It is because of the way in which the Cooke lenses reproduce the tones and have this three-dimensional plane. With a close focus range, the faces only project depth, the blur drops. (...) And whether in full frame, S35 or anamorphic, the Cooke 65mm is my favorite focal length.”

To Purple Hearts, Rosenbaum and Roe wanted the cameras to be "with" the characters, as Roe notes: "We wanted the cameras to be subjective, to feel the depth of space, as if the camera work was being done with the characters. That told us what lenses we wanted to have, and after doing my lens tests, the S7s just stood out."

S7/i FF Prime one Purple Hearts

Once the testing of the objectives in Keslow Camera In Los Angeles, Roe had the camera and lens rental house supply him with a set of lenses Cooke S7/i FF Prime which consisted of the 18 mm, 21 mm, 25 mm, 27 mm, 32 mm, 40 mm, 50 mm, 65 mm, 75 mm, 100 mm y 135 mm for two (and sometimes three) cameras Sony Venice that rolled to full frame, 17:9 X-OCN ST (standard quality of the original extended tonal range camera negative) with a mate 2:1. Additionally, Roe used her personal set Cooke Panchro/i Classic FF de 18mm, 25mm, 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 75mm y 100mm for the B unit of the movie, and would dub with the 100mm of both ranges of lenses when necessary.

Roe designed a plan that allowed us to capture with its lighting the anxiety and mix of emotions of the characters. "When we meet Cassie and Luke in the first act, there is very mixed lighting: blues and reds that create the color purple. I wanted the characters to be in this mixed artificial environment. Then we moved to more continuous full-spectrum lighting, so by the end of the film they are bathed in a more normal light, with sunlight always peeking through, but without mixing the light, to help understand the conflicting sides of the protagonists. For example, in an apartment (which takes up almost 40 pages of the script), the “The blinds are closed and the characters are emotionally hidden from their personal light. Sunlight enters the scene as their relationship evolves, aided by full-spectrum sunlight.”

Looking back, Roe feels very “proud" of Purple Hearts: "This indie film now appears alongside $100 million to $300 million projects on the list of most popular films thanks to the great people and all the hard work everyone has put into this project. I'm proud of the arc of color and the conflicting sources into full-spectrum sunlight as the characters progress through the story."

In the future, the cinematographer would like to use the lenses Cooke Varotal/i FF Zoom: "I didn't have a chance to work with the new Cooke zooms on Purple Hearts, but both the 85-215mm and 30-95mm will be on my A and B cameras for my next job. I'm really looking forward to it."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTLgg8oRSBE