‘Fury’ (HBO Max): brave photography and color for an “extreme” series

Carlos Cebrián Renau, director of photography, and Teresa Giménez Benavides, colorist, open the door to the universe of 'Furia', an original series of HBO Max created, directed and written by Félix Sabroso and starring women in extreme situations.

It is, possibly, one of the revelations of the season. Fury transports the viewer to a visual context as familiar as it is exciting. With personality as its flag, the series portrays the times “almost psychotic” in which we live and translates them into exciting situations, vibrant colors and a optical and visual treatment completely differentiated from contemporary state productions throughout eight 30-minute episodes.

Candela Peña, Carmen Machi, Cecilia Roth, Nathalie Poza and Pilar Castro They are the women who are forced to deal with “that nervous breakdown,” finding in the process revenge as the best possible weapon. Just as the verb became flesh, the premise becomes an image through technological tools that allow a vibrant plot to be channeled into images, as evidenced by the choice of the RED Raptor, the usual suspect in contexts in which color occupies a central role; the Hugo family of lenses Leitz, which rescues the personality of the Leica M and translates it to the cinematographic world, and DaVinci Resolve from Blackmagic, whose versatility for color grading makes it the color team's favorite choice.

Felix Sabroso signs what is possibly his most personal project and, to carry it out, he has surrounded himself with two professionals who do not hesitate to affirm that Fury It has been one of the most fascinating projects of his career: Carlos Cebrian (Ladies of the (h)AMPA, Sawdust, actor's wood, No news) y Teresa Gimenez (The favorite 1922, Thieves: the tiara of Saint Agatha, Paradise). The director of photography and the colorist of Picnic Post They reflect what it has been like to work on shaping a work that has earned the recognition of critics and the public.

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Visually creating an “extreme” series

Fury is a rare review between the series in the new era of platforms. That era that was going to bring us brave and differentiated stories has ended up providing a marked homogenization formal and narrative, while the strategy has shifted from reaching niches to appealing to the masses. The mere existence of this type of works is a success for the industry today, although this has caused significant headaches for the team. technical-artistic of the series. "As all the characters are so extreme, as are the plots, when we got to color we knew that there was a line that we didn't have to cross. If we did, we put ourselves ahead of the story and that didn't work. Therefore, we found our area two centimeters from that line. In that, both Teresa and Félix helped a lot. It was a very nice process, to be honest," explains Cebrián.

Carlos Cebrián: “As all the characters are so extreme, as are the plots, when we got to color we knew that there was a line that we did not have to overcome.”

Photography and color direction of aid a reforzar first “strong visual commitment", in which everything that happens on the screen "has a lot of intention." From the pre-production phase, in which Giménez was already involved to help define the final aesthetic that would end up being worked on in the room, there were dozens of tests to find balance in this particular house of cards. In this way, details such as the hair color of the character of Marga (Carmen Machi), who had to be captured perfectly by the camera; the locations, including a “rust house” that tested the expertise of Cebrián and his team, or the application of angles with the actresses, which required “never going over that limit, but getting as close as possible,” according to the director of photography.

The text itself Fury promoted the creativity in numerous phases. The series brings together different stories and characters, with points in common but also with completely different environments: from an idyllic mansion to the intimacy of a dark and secluded apartment. This variability of environments and situations was resolved in the tests with “care,” as Cebrián and Giménez explain.

Even so, the serendipity of the filming itself ended up throwing common leaks that exemplify the importance of color in all fiction. In the words of Gimenez: "In the room, we reduced yellows and the intensity depending on the environments, but always in a subtle way. However, then we realized that, as the filming of the series progressed, some tones continued to appear constantly. Thanks also to an art department well coordinated with photography, all the settings were united in some way."

Sabroso worked intensely on the initial design of the visual universe of Fury The Canarian creator delivered extensive visual dossiers to profiles like Cebrián's with dozens of references on the use of angular and looks visuals. The plans were worked on from pre-production, and everything was planned at the time of filming. However, the “extreme” spirit of the series ended up crossing borders and generating unforeseen events that continued to feed the "punk" spirit of the series: "We located a gas station for a sequence between Marga and Tina, we were going to film and, suddenly, we dropped it and we went to film at another one without having located it. And the truth is that it turned out better than the other one we had."

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Creativity and collaboration without red lines

The vision of Felix Sabroso, far from being stagnant, knew how to embrace the ideas of her fellow producers. The different departments had space for personal expression and formed creative units whose ideas were considered to shape Fury. “They are a wonderful team in terms of communication, because Félix likes to talk, but also delegate.”

Teresa Giménez: "In general, directors and cinematographers arrive at the color room with normal filming concerns. The color room should not be a point of stress."

To make his proposal a reality, Sabroso was accompanied by Jau Fornés to direct two episodes. Together with Cebrián, this triumvirate defined the focus of the series photography. They all played different roles in the sets and locations. As the director of photography remembers: "Félix was very attentive to the actors, and Jau is a very visual person and was also very on top of the project at all times. It was a very nice process."

Despite the creative control of Fury, the uncertainty of what was filmed, supported by unfounded realities or fears, made an appearance. At this point, Gimenez He was not only in charge of making the environments a reality in post-production, but also of providing peace of mind for the team in those moments more uncertain: "In general, directors and cinematographers arrive at the color room with normal concerns about filming. The color room should not be a point of stress. Then, in the post-production phase, you can get more or less involved, but the reality is that in Fury there was no problem. “We were all delighted.”

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Camera and lenses Fury

The first season of Fury took shape with the camera Raptor X de RED, a camera that Cebrián had worked with on his last project and that met the main requirement of the production: “We were very clear that the camera had to be full frame. And in this field, compared to its competitors, it has many advantages in terms of dynamic range and color capture. Furthermore, it seems much more versatile and transparent. You see something rolled with Alexa with a lens in front and you know it's the ARRI camera. The NETWORK lets you see more of the objective it has.”

The choice of optics required numerous tests that ended in the family's choice Hugo of Leitz, lenses defined by the director of photography as “very painterly.” From the telemetric cameras, common in photojournalism of the 60s and 70s, are characterized by form the image very close to the film sensor, a peculiarity that has meant that they could not be adapted to film until relatively recently. "There are a lot of very famous images that we have in our heads that have been made with these lenses. They work very well. We did some tests, I showed them to Félix and he was enthusiastic about them. The only drawback is that they have considerable vignetting that we have had to address in post-production," explains Cebrián about the choice. In parallel, Cebrián used in several shots bifocal to be able to focus on characters located on different planes.

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A decisive work from the color room

Teresa Gimenez She is one of those colorists who qualify as nonconformists. Share this adjective with Cebrian: They are one of those professionals who, without limits, can pass dozens of hours adjusting your work. Fortunately (or unfortunately), the often tight post-production schedules allow them to limit their activity. "On average, maybe we have four days per chapter. There is no middle ground. Here at Picnic we have to be very orderly in the process, because different departments intervene in the same project, almost overlapping at times. Fortunately, the fact that we are all in the same facilities helps to comply with the deadlines”explains the colorist.

Teresa Giménez: "When I saw the first episode I loved it, but I wouldn't have imagined at all what kind of series it was at the end. Until you see the last episodes, you don't get the full picture."

Fury has not been an exception. In this case, Picnic has managed laboratories, effects, color and deliveries. For this reason, before starting to work on color as such, Giménez was already looking at different roughs to follow the filmed material and doing small tests to check "how the material, the lenses, the vignetting and the Raptor Network reacted." In this way, when he faced the series with DaVinci Resolve and his Advanced Panel, was already prepared to tackle a production that has required an important narrative focus: "When I saw the first episode I loved it, but I wouldn't have imagined at all what type of series it was at the end. Until you see the last episodes, you don't get the full picture. That's why I was guided by the instructions of Carlos or Félix, who encouraged me to take some tones for other moments as the plot progressed."

When working with the software Blackmagic Design, the colorist has squeezed tools like Color Warper, which has been fundamental in addressing the always vibrant color capture of the RED Raptor camera, as well as the color vectors or curves, which were fundamental for the chromaticity of the image. The project was undertaken with the v19 by DaVinci. Now, once the latest update, version 20, has been implemented, Giménez has been testing new workflows which, as she herself acknowledges, would have been very useful for Fury: “Now they have released the color stacks, which are a very realistic addition to where grading is going right now. Fury He didn't have them yet and we used sequence groups a lot to see how it suited him. With that speed that it gives you, you can have an even sequence with an intention, and then make changes later.” Likewise, the color manager implemented a DCTL (DaVinci Color Transform Language) that streamlined many of their processes: "One of the things I like most about DaVinci is how easy it is to integrate external tools. You don't need complex tools: you can copy it to the folder where it belongs and start testing. Sometimes it's not what you were looking for, but there are other times when they release very powerful tools, you test them, you introduce them into a project and they serve you perfectly."

Among the biggest challenges of color grading Fury, Giménez remembers his work to find the code for outdoor exposure and brightness levels, o la awards ceremony for the character of Cecilia Roth: "Cecilia's image had to be treated well because she was very close to the camera with very powerful colors. We softened the texture of the image and removed the harshness of the spotlights with Glow. I remember putting a lot of care into it. When Tedy (Ndr: Villalba Jr., producer), Félix and Jau arrived, they loved it."

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Ten seasons of Fury further

To Carlos Cebrian y Teresa Gimenez, the experience of working in Fury has been revitalizing. The union of quality professionals, an interesting project, creative freedom and effective communication charges their words with the emotion that comes with belonging to a artistic work.

Carlos Cebrián: "There is a sequence of Nathalie Poza (Adela) with Marilú Marini (Pilar) with very little light in which everything really happened. […] Nowadays, the sets are very noisy. That's why, when there is silence, it is because something is happening. Something was really happening in front of the camera and everyone on the team could feel it. And that has happened a lot of times in Fury”.

"Many times, you are a professional and you do many types of work. There are some products that are more commercial; they have less soul, so to speak. But in the end, when you dedicate yourself to telling stories it is because you are a sensitive person and you like this kind of thing. Then, suddenly, meeting a director who is superculto, superhumilde, that lets you work in this way, that proposes...; with a cast of powerful actresses with stories to match, and with producers like Tedy Villalba or Santi Botello, that they have let us do whatever we want... Well, it has made me more than once emotional", acknowledges the director of photography, remembering a specific moment on the set: "There is a sequence of Nathalie Poza (Adela) with Marilú Marini (Pilar) with very little light in which everything really happened. I remember crying. Having that feeling of not seeing anything. And, suddenly, magic emerged: the light fell in Marilú's eye and that was when I realized that everyone was quiet. Nowadays, the sets are very loud. Therefore, when there is silence, it is because something is happening. Something really was happening in front of the camera and everyone on the team could feel it. And that has happened a lot of times in Fury”.

“I would pass 10 years filming 10 seasons of Fury with Félix, with Teresa, with Tedy", concludes Cebrián, with an enthusiasm shared by his partner: "I am super happy. We mentioned it in Picnic: both the mastering department and the effects supervision department. It has been a pleasure, and the team synergy that has occurred is not so common. That's how it feels good. I shared it with Carlos: rarely are all these conditions met in a project and Furia has been one of them.”

A report by Sergio Julián Gómez

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