Regardless of the reaction thatThe Creatorgets out of you, no one can deny that it is an ambitious movie with a stunning cinematography whose visuals are bound to get stuck in your head. In order to talk about this particular aspect of theGareth Edwards(Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) blockbuster, Collider sat down withThe Creator’s cinematographerOren Sofferand he had a lot to reveal in terms of behind-the-scenes tricks and techniques.
During the interview,Soffer toldPerri Nemiroffthat his approach toThe Creator’s cinematography had to first and foremost accommodatethe movie’s limited budget. At the same time, Soffer citedGreig Fraser(Dune,The Batman) as an inspiration and revealed that the fellow cinematographer’s approach to lighting a particular shot is the same he tries to apply to every project he’s in. He explains his process starting off with a quote from Fraser:
“‘When I walk into a space, a location, the first question that I ask of myself is, ‘Can I shoot this scene without any lights? Is this giving me enough as it is to just set up the camera and start shooting?’ And if the answer is yes, then I’m gonna do it that way.’ There’s no need to add and gild the lily or put sprinkles on top of ice cream, as he also puts it. It’s too sweet when you’re adding things [when] it’s already good. And then if you do need to add a light, then you start to ask yourself, ‘Can I do this with one light?’ And then you just slowly build it out from there. But it’s always starting from this single-source lighting, available lighting, natural light, and embracing that, and that’s something that’s always been very omnipresent in his work and something that I’ve always responded to."
Natural Light Makes Everything Better
The use of natural light is frequently championed bylegendary cinematographerslikeEmmanuel Lubezki(The Revenant) andRoger Deakins(1917), and it’s easy to see how it makes any movie looks even better on the screen.The Creatoris no exception to that, and Soffer’s cinematography is greatly helped by the fact that the production team decided to fly to locationsrather than building setsin order to make the project a lot cheaper than other blockbusters.
The Creatorcenters around a not-too-distant future in which the U.S. governmentchose to ban AI in all formsand starts taking a military offensive against countries that still use this technology. The cast featuresJohn David Washington(BlackKklansman),Allison Janney(Mom),Gemma Chan(Eternals),Ken Watanabe(Tokyo Vice),Ralph Ineson(The Green Knight),Sturgill Simpson(Killers of the Flower Moon), andMadeleine Yuan Voylesin her debut role.
