![](//www.4rfv.com/images/no_image.jpg)
Now streaming on Netflix, Good Grief marks the feature-film directorial debut of Daniel Levy, well known as the co-creator and costar of the series Schitt's Creek. Offering an uplifting perspective on dealing with the permanence of losing a loved one, Good Grief follows Marc (played by Levy), who was content living in the shadow of his larger-than-life husband, Oliver (Luke Evans). But when Oliver unexpectedly dies, Marc's world shatters, sending him and his two best friends, Sophie (Ruth Negga) and Thomas (Himesh Patel), on a soul-searching trip to Paris that reveals some hard truths they each needed to face. Cinematographer Ole Bratt Birkeland, BSC and gaffer Chris Dowling made each of their decisions with the aim of embracing these realities, and here the two collaborators discuss their approach to crafting the film's visual language.
Panavision London supplied the production's camera and lens package, and Panalux London provided lighting services. The filmmakers also worked with Light Iron for dailies and finishing services, including VFX and final color. Light Iron's VFX contributions included 3D tracking, reflection maps, motion vector mapping, rotoscoping, paint, and multi-layered compositing; in the final grade, Birkeland reteamed with supervising colorist Ian Vertovec. Supported throughout production and post, the filmmakers were free to skillfully explore the bright spots of bereavement.
Panavision: Ole, how did you become involved in this project?
Ole Bratt Birkeland, BSC: I read the script for Good Grief and thought it was a really lovely project about coming to terms with difficult emotions and life situations. When I then met Dan, it was brilliant to hear his ideas and how he had a personal connection to the story and feelings expressed. We had many similar thoughts on how film can be a way of releasing complicated thoughts and give a release to ideas that are otherwise hard to process.
How did Daniel Levy describe what he had in mind for the project's visuals?
Birkeland: Dan was interested in exploring something real that had a sense of warmth towards our characters. One of the ways we approached this was to make sure the camera focused on the characters at all times but also had a feeling of not being static. It is subtle, but almost everything is handheld or Steadicam throughout.
Were there any specific references or inspirations that informed your lighting approach?
Chris Dowling: These were more discussed with mood boards and color tones rather than directly referencing stills from films. It's good to get a clear picture of how you see the look, but I think you can easily blur the lines if you copy others. I prefer to get a guide and discuss these things without referencing films if I can. There is a world of things out there that can help, like fashion, art, music, books, photos, scenery and landscapes. If you reference a film, then it's already been done, and where is the challenge in that? Taking a still image or a piece of artwork and translating that into a moving image, and making that work, is the challenge.
Chris, how would you describe the lighting style you, Ole and Daniel were trying to achieve?
Dowling: Enhanced natural.' I'm not a big lover of obviously lit scenes within this kind of narrative, and Ole is very much of the same mind, but with this particular project, in order to show the journey the characters go on, we needed to slightly extend the spectrum. So, when we needed a warm, happy scene, we went slightly past the normal warm and organic tones, and likewise when it was a cold, sad scene, we took it slightly colder and bleaker, enhancing the change.
The lighting setups had huge restrictions in each of the locations, so we knew we needed to allow the lighting to be as fluid as possible to enhance the mood within each scene. The only thing we tried to maintain was as low a carbon footprint as possible throughout the project. Wherever possible, we used the latest LED fixtures to try to keep the times we used a generator to an absolute minimum. We are at a point now in the industry where we can really start to make a difference. Having the newest tech also allowed us to have a huge amount of control at our fingertips. This gave us the advantage of speed as well as fine-tuning whilst the shot developed.
Did you have a favorite lighting setup on the production?
Dowling: My favorite lighting setup normally ends up being the one that caused the most issues and headaches. Those are the ones that test you and push you forward. Being able to solve the issues and sell that it was done easily is very satisfying. On this project, I would say it was the studio shoot. We were in a tiny studio in the back of Acton, with no height, no space, no rigging, no mains. It really was a challenge given the scale of the sets required in it the Paris bedroom scenes were shot there. We needed two lighting setups as well as a Translight, and the set had huge windows. When I saw that on the screen, I thought, Yes, we smashed that.' The lighting and Ole's clever use of lens and camerawork absolutely shows how it should be done. Even with huge limitations, you can achieve amazing results.
Ole, you'd worked with Ian Vertovec at Light Iron before Good Grief. How has that relationship and collaboration evolved over time?
Birkeland: The first time I worked with Ian was on Tales From the Loop. He did such an amazing job on that, so when it came time to grade Good Grief, I jumped on the opportunity to work with him again. He has such a beautiful eye and a great sense of story. It was brilliant to have his expertise to fine-tune the visuals. We are currently doing it again for another movie, and it's very exciting to keep exploring ideas with him.
How does this project differ from others in your respective careers?
More from Panavision France
11/07/2024
What I love most is telling stories, shares Shelly Johnson, ASC. The esteemed cinematographer has been collaborating with Panavision since the late 1980s, on p...
09/07/2024
LOS ANGELES (July 9, 2024) Light Iron, the post-production creative-services division of Panavision, has named industry veteran Tim Belcher the company's ...
01/07/2024
Films created for advertising purposes have long served as a test bed where talented filmmakers can hone their craft and stretch their creative muscles. With th...
01/07/2024
Writer-director Jeff Nichols and cinematographer Adam Stone, the critically acclaimed duo behind such celebrated films as Loving, Midnight Special and Mud, reun...
25/06/2024
I've always thought of myself not so specifically as a cinematographer, says Phedon Papamichael, ASC, GSC. Indeed, the renowned director of photography has...
20/06/2024
The first season of the Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians meticulously builds a world that makes fantasy feel real. Based on the book series by Ric...
18/06/2024
The first feature film from writer-director Shaun Seneviratne, Ben and Suzanne: A Reunion in 4 Parts depicts the struggle between love and duty as Ben (Sathya S...
18/06/2024
Now streaming on Netflix, Good Grief marks the feature-film directorial debut of Daniel Levy, well known as the co-creator and costar of the series Schitt's...
18/06/2024
Created by showrunner Abe Sylvia, the Apple TV+ comedic drama Palm Royale navigates the tale of one womans ambitious journey to make it amongst the upper crust,...
18/06/2024
Based on Patricia Highsmith's bestselling Tom Ripley novels, Netflix's eight-episode limited series Ripley stars Andrew Scott as the eponymous antihero,...
16/06/2024
I'm a big believer in getting the shot right in camera, says LEE Filters ambassador Jordan Banks. In this video, he guides viewers through his process as h...
06/06/2024
LONDON, U.K. (4 June, 2024) Panalux, a leading rental provider of lighting and power solutions for the motion-picture industry and part of Panavision's en...
04/06/2024
An apathetic Latin teacher makes a misguided deal with her students, resulting in her ill-prepared class entering a prestigious competition in Naples. This is t...
03/06/2024
Set in 1970s-'80s Miami, the Netflix limited series Griselda is a fictionalized dramatization inspired by the life Griselda Blanco (Sof a Vergara), who crea...
21/05/2024
Part of being a photographer is adapting to situations, says photographer Verity Milligan. In this video, Milligan takes her camera to the Gas Street Basin nei...
20/05/2024
Created by showrunner Abe Sylvia, the Apple TV+ comedic drama Palm Royale navigates the tale of one womans ambitious journey to make it amongst the upper crust,...
14/05/2024
The feature film The Fall Guy marks the latest collaboration between director David Leitch and cinematographer Jonathan Sela, ASC. Sela describes the movie as ...
06/05/2024
In this video, cinematographer Simon Rowling welcomes viewers behind the scenes as he lights a daytime-interior scene inside a coffee shop. Shooting on Panavisi...
02/05/2024
I always like to base my lighting choices in reality, says cinematographer Jamie D. Ramsay, SASC. For his recent collaboration with writer-director Andrew Haig...
30/04/2024
LOS ANGELES (April 30, 2024) Light Iron, the post-production creative-services division of Panavision, is excited to announce that lodie Ichter has joined th...
30/04/2024
Now streaming on Netflix, Good Grief marks the feature-film directorial debut of Daniel Levy, well known as the co-creator and costar of the series Schitt's...
24/04/2024
The first feature film from writer-director Shaun Seneviratne, Ben and Suzanne: A Reunion in 4 Parts depicts the struggle between love and duty as Ben (Sathya S...
24/04/2024
LONDON, England (24 April 2024) Panalux, a leading rental provider of lighting and power solutions for the motion-picture industry and part of Panavision'...
22/04/2024
In this video, LEE Filters ambassador Jordan Banks ventures into Snowdonia National Park in Wales. Faced with less-than-ideal weather conditions, he adapts his ...
16/04/2024
Directed by H l na Klotz, La V nus dargent (aka Spirit of Ecstasy) presents the tale of Jeanne Francoeur (played by Claire Pommet), a young woman striving to es...
13/04/2024
In this video, gaffer Elena Armellini takes viewers behind the scenes as she lights a horror scene. She and her crew black-out the locations windows to give the...
09/04/2024
Co-written and directed by Thomas Cailley, The Animal Kingdom (Le r gne animal) follows a father and son's adventure to find their family's matriarch af...
08/04/2024
In this video, Elena Armellini shows us how she uses LEE Filters to create the perfect lighting for a horror scene....
06/04/2024
In this educational video from LEE Filters, cinematographer Simon Rowling welcomes viewers on set and discusses his creative and technical approach to lighting ...
29/03/2024
In the final installment of Panavision's Women Making History interview series, Panavision President and CEO Kim Snyder focuses the conversation on the part...
26/03/2024
Cinematographer Pedro Luque, SCU's credits include the features Body Cam, Antebellum and director J.A. Bayona's Best International Feature Oscar-nominat...
21/03/2024
In Part 4 of Panavision's Women Making History interview series, the conversation turns toward career highlights. Prompted by Panavision President and CEO K...
18/03/2024
Released this past January, the music video for Ariana Grande's yes, and? brings a modern approach to vintage allure. The video was directed by Christian ...
14/03/2024
The Women Making History interview series continues, with Panavision President and CEO Kim Snyder steering the conversation toward mentorship. Here, the partici...
13/03/2024
I like to work with directors that have a real distinct sense for what they want out of their film, says Erik Messerschmidt, ASC. This was certainly the case w...
08/03/2024
In this installment of Panavision's Women Making History interview series, the conversation turns to key advice that has helped guide the participants as th...
01/03/2024
The month of March marks Women's History Month and, on the 8th, International Women's Day. These are important opportunities to focus on stories from wo...
27/02/2024
TORONTO (February 27, 2024) LEE Filters, a leading manufacturer of high-quality lighting gels and photographic filters and a member of the Panavision family o...
27/02/2024
ACS member Warwick Thornton wrote, directed and photographed the feature The New Boy, about a 9-year-old Aboriginal Australian orphan who arrives at a remote mo...
26/02/2024
MovieLabs, the technology joint venture of the major Hollywood motion picture studios, recently announced that Light Iron is among the latest group of 10 partic...
25/02/2024
Directed and co-written by Nicholaus Goossen, Drugstore June follows the vigilante detective-work of a self-obsessed social-media influencer, the eponymous June...
22/02/2024
BSC Expo 2024 recently wrapped in London, and Panavision, Panalux and LEE Filters were all on hand to showcase products from across their range of innovative so...
21/02/2024
With its fourth season, the National Geographic series Genius presents a dual portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, inspirational leaders who paved ...
14/02/2024
I always want the film to tell me what it needs, says cinematographer Linus Sandgren, FSF, ASC. In the case of writer-director Emerald Fennell's feature Sa...
13/02/2024
Cinematographer Ricardo Diaz joined the HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty for Season 2's third episode, The Second Coming. Depicting...
08/02/2024
2023 saw the release of two features photographed by Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC: Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig, and Killers of the Flower Moon, which reteamed ...
31/01/2024
LONDON, England (31 January, 2024) Panalux, a leading rental provider of lighting and power solutions for the motion-picture industry and part of Panavision...
29/01/2024
Written and directed by Sean Durkin, the feature film The Iron Claw shines a light on the tragedies and triumphs of the Von Erichs, a real-life family of profes...
23/01/2024
LONDON, England (23rd January, 2024) Panalux, a leading rental provider of lighting and power solutions for the motion-picture industry and part of Panavision...
12/01/2024
Over six seasons, the Netflix series The Crown has enthralled viewers with its simultaneously intimate and epic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and the royal fam...