News

TJ: Garry, Murray, thanks for chatting with me. ‘Irreverent’ is such a great show, very fun to watch I must say. It has a nice balance between the US and Australian drama styles which is often a hard ask. What was it that drew each of you to the project?

GP: I started to read the script and couldn’t put it down. A great mix of Comedy and Drama…. a bit like real life actually. Australian humour with quirky , likeable characters, oh, and people get shot and killed ….😀

ML: For me it was a variety of things but one of the biggest things was that Comedy Drama has become a favourite of mine…The opportunity to work on a project of this size was also a big factor, and it didn’t hurt that a big part of it was being shot in Mission Beach…

TJ: What was the brief in regard to the world you were exploring, and how did you then approach the visual style?

GP: The show inhabits 2 different worlds. Chicago in the winter with mafioso undertones and tropical Far North Queensland with a summery paradise and a life of “no worries”.

So I leaned on a “Soprano’s” contrasty and cool palette for Chicago.

For FNQ,  I went for the warm, saturated look of Kodachrome/Ektachrome.

There is a series of photos taken by Paul Fusco from the 1968 Funeral train of Bobby Kennedy that seemed to me appropriate to our show.

In pre-production Marcus Smith, our Colourist, and I worked on some LUT’s for the SONY Venice, to approximate these looks.

Also, FRAMING, to me is very important.

I’ve always loved how “THE IPCRESS FILE”, from 1965 was framed. Quite unsettling yet beautiful at the same time. So that influenced how some scenes were photographed.

Especially the opening scene in the carpark in Chicago…lit mainly by the car headlights…

ML: I think because of my truncated pre-production, I tended to lean on Garrys’ initial  references at the start. He’d sent me the Look Book and a few links…The one that stuck with me was “THE IPCRESS FILE”. The 1965 Micheal Caine movie…Great old school film with interesting ways of coverage and stylistic lighting - but with the size and scale of the show; there were plenty of opportunities to have a try at other creative stylings! At some point fairly early Garry had said “Just have go and do your own thing”…and I gotta say it was a lot of fun!

TJ: Were there any concerns or requirements that influenced the choice of camera for the project?

GP: We were required to shoot in 4K so the SONY VENICE was my choice for that resolution. I’ve used it a lot and like the skin tones and general colour rendition. Also being able to choose single stop ND adjustments internally is great.

ML: Garry and I had initial chats about gear, and I was very happy to go with the Sony Venice. I like those cameras a lot! I had a bit of fun with the FX3 too. They’re all good solid cameras with a great post workflow.

TJ: So with the Venice having been an easy choice for you both, and with the mention of world building having already come up, what were your thoughts and influences in regards to the lens selection?

GP: I was able to get hold of a set of the CANON FD lenses and a really great CANON K35 Zoom from LEMAC in Brisbane. The old fast glass suited this show beautifully. The older Canon glass naturally handled the strong contrast in FNQ and gave the Chicago scenes a lovely wintery feel. We happily allowed flares from the tropical sun but kept the flares out in Chicago.

ML: I was very happy with the selection Garry had proposed…I liked them all. I leaned into the Canon FD Primes more; as that was what Lucy Gaffy, my director, and I liked…but I certainly had a soft spot for the Canon K35 Zoom. Garry had designed a few LUTs based on earlier testing which grooved with the lens selection beautifully too.

TJ: So you shot the Canon FD’s on the Sony Venice, however in Super 35mm imaging mode, even though that combination would have allowed you to shoot in a Full Frame format. What were the reasons (apart from possibly remaining friends to your focus pullers) behind this decision given the huge popularity in shooting Full Frame these days?

GP: I’m not convinced that shooting higher resolution for tv looks more real. It can look hyper real, especially as we finished in HDR. This show needed a retro look rather than something too detailed. The schedule we had required us to be pretty efficient with our time. So our lens changes with the small primes were really fast. We were also using a RONIN 2 as our remote head, so anamorphic options were out!  Murray agreed with me, we used the primes as much as possible rather than go to zooms. We shot a lot of DAY / EXT at between T2 and T2.8. Most close-ups or portraiture was often shot wide open.

TJ: You shot a very large portion of the show up in Far North QLD, were there any specific challenges you found in doing so? Murray you’re a FNQ local, was there any advantage in that for you?

GP: It’s pretty hard to beat the exteriors we got in and around Mission Beach. The beach with its line of palm trees and crystal-clear water was magic. We shot for around 30 days up there and we were lucky with the weather and only lost ½ day to one  afternoon storm.

We shot a lot of cane field exteriors around Jacob’s Well on the Gold Coast as well... unfortunately we lost a lot more shooting time “down south” than “up north”.

ML: I think primarily it was an ‘upstairs’ production decision. They would have had to consider the sheer logistics of the whole show being ‘shipped’ north and keeping us all there for a few months. I personally think it was a great decision. The production value by shooting in that kind of location is worth the effort and coupled with Paul Heath's incredible exterior sets - it was fantastic. There are few places that can match the locations we shot and not to diminish our work but it’s hard to find a bad frame up there. With the crew we had I think everything, by way of problem solving - became an advantage…I don’t know - it’s kind of hard to describe but I think it paid off on so many levels.

TJ: Although the scenes in the US are only a small portion of the show, how did you go about establishing a look that really sold the difference between the US & Australian settings?

GP: All our Chicago scenes were interior. So our LUT and Art Dept snow F/X did the trick.

There is a sequence in the show that was actually shot by an American 2nd Unit, …… as our hero double runs, at night, from the carpark to a nearby gym. They used our LUT on their Venice, and it all fits in really well. They were able to get an “L” train to go by as he runs under the overhead track.

ML: Garry had created with Marcus Smith, our Colorist, a Chicago LUT…I remember part of that look came from some of the earlier references Garry had when talking about the ‘coolness’ of the US Chicago Winter compared to the sun soaked and contrasty Australia…

Most of the US scenes that were scripted in Lucy and my episodes were flashbacks, and our US scenes were on a different timeline to the rest of the show. I think schedule wise we were shooting our flashback stuff first so in a way that gave us an opportunity to really experiment with the look. I think in order of episodes Jonthan and

Garry's flashback scenes screens first though?

Lucy had used the Lensbaby on a project and suggested it. I’d only ever tested a kit and never used it on another job - but it seemed to work out as a way of shooting the flashbacks. It had to be visually separated in terms of where and how Colin's character Mack remembered his father. I won’t go into spoilers but shooting on a Lensbaby kit and Garrys Chicago LUT worked a treat. 

TJ: Was there something you might have had varying opinions on or was it a very easy relationship in regard to you co-DPing? Did you each have your own Episodes or blocks?

GP: I was really happy that Murray could be the other DP.  Other than using the same LUT’s we both ran our own race with each director. I like to think my suggestions of “Look” to Murray, were just that, suggestions. He brought his own wonderful style to his blocks with a nod to what I was doing. The series is only benefited by the story being interpreted by different eyes.

ML: Like Garry said, we each had different Directors and different blocks to shoot…I shot Eps 4 to 8 and Garry shot 1, 2,3, 9 and 10. I think we even had the odd day here and there where we operated for each other. I thought it was a great relationship…Garry was always there with an ear and with great advice. I’m pretty sure I called Garry way more than he called me!!...

You’ve gotta also remember that different directors have different tastes and approaches - as do cinematographers. I’m sure as artists we may have different opinions on everything but conversely, I’m also sure our tastes (in terms of this show) didn’t stray too far from each other. For me, a big factor in the lighting aspect was working with

Matt Slattery, our legendary gaffer. Matt had done a lot of the pre work with Garry so he was able to continue those lighting setups and I then would put my spin on it depending on Lucy and my particular needs. In a lot of ways, it was very freeing to have the ‘safety net’ of Matt and Garry having done the set up work…cos it did become me taking on Garry’s advice of having a go!

TJ: And from your episodes, is there a particular setup or scene that you are most proud of?

GP: My favourite scene is the opening shootout in the carpark. I basically, and unashamedly, ripped off the idea from Otto Heller ASC, who shot the original “IPCRESS FILE”... so many thanks to OTTO for that one

Also, anywhere we shot exteriors in FNQ, what a great place to photograph and so under-utilized.

The QLD Government is building a studio space in Cairns, so hopefully more production up there will follow.

I’d like to also thank Damien King for his wonderful framing and general input in shooting this show. Besides being 2nd camera Operator he also shot the drone footage, which is spectacular, and also did all the Steadicam work. All done with professionalism and always supportive of the director and myself.

Also our Key Grip Matt Coulam. Nothing was a problem... 100’ track laying on sand, very insightful dolly moves and generally keeping his boys happy. Also, icy cold beer for the DP on wrap.

Can’t forget Matthew Slattery, Gaffer. Always ready, always thinking ahead, always ready with a wisecrack... would have been a much different show without his input.

ML: That’s a hard one! I liked them all for their own reasons! I gotta say I always had a soft spot for any scenes we did with Colin Donnell, who played Mack and Tegan Stimson who played Daisy. They were never very ‘technical scenes’ but just great performances from our actors which I loved!

TJ: Look, thanks so much for your time. I couldn’t think of any two nicer people to chat to. To wrap us up, can you give us a little bit of a hint as to what’s in store for each of you next?

GP: I’m starting a TV Series here in Sydney for the next few months. Nice to be around family and friends and good coffee for a change.  SEASONS GREETINGS... And stay safe everyone… especially on set. 

ML: Don’t know Tim…Having some time off and enjoying Christmas and New Year’s. Then who knows for next year!...And big thanks to you and Lemac for your support on this job!! Happy Christmas to you guys!

TJ: Thanks very much again Garry & Murray. Hope you have a great holiday period and that ‘Irreverent’ gets a good run on Peacock in the US and Netflix here at home. Cheers, Tim.