Commercial Spotlight: Cinematographer Simona Susnea

Cinematographer Simona Susnea traces her career behind the camera back to an early interest in journalism, which in turn opened the door to still photography. Segueing into moving images, she went to film school in her native Romania and then continued her education at the U.K.'s National Film & Television School, where she earned her master's in cinematography. Since graduating, she's made London her base of operations, notching a steady stream of credits in music videos, shorts, documentaries and commercials.

Among her most recent commercial work is a 60-second spot made for cosmetics company The Body Shop and charitable organization End Youth Homelessness in partnership with U.K. broadcaster Channel 4. The commercial is part of a larger project, titled Unseen Kingdoms, that combines spoken-word poetry with intimate studies of young women and their personal experiences with homelessness. It's a really important campaign, Susnea notes. It's all doc-style with real people, no actors whatsoever.

Susnea shot Unseen Kingdoms over four days, two each in Bristol and London, working with co-directors Andrea Kurland and Daisy-May Hudson. Kurland is editor-in-chief at Huck magazine and editorial director at TCO London, while Hudson had previously directed the acclaimed documentary Half Way, which charted her own experience with homelessness. They had really good synergy, Susnea says. Andrea was more the creative director, and Daisy-May focused on working with our [on-camera] contributors. It was a great approach.

Panavision recently connected with Susnea to discuss her experiences capturing the project in large format with the Millennium DXL2 camera system.

Cinematographer Simona Susnea, captured on DXL2 with a prism in front of a 50mm Primo 70 prime.

When did you first begin working with Panavision?

Simona Susnea: I was back home in Romania, about to graduate from film school, and I was lucky to be one of the last people to go to the Budapest Masterclass that Vilmos Zsigmond [ASC, HSC] was organizing. I was there for about two weeks, at Korda Studios, and it happened that Lee Mackey brought the camera equipment from Panavision London. I loved the cameras, and it was my first time trying anamorphic on film. When I came to the U.K., I reached out to Lee, and Panavision helped me over the course of my time at the NFTS. Working with Panavision, the collaboration isn't just based on a technical conversation. They're excited to hear about the project, which I really love. You know you're going to a place where they appreciate your work plus they have the best kit and the best glass.

What led to the decision to shoot Unseen Kingdoms with DXL2?

Susnea: It just so happened that before I was confirmed on the job, I had booked a test with the DXL2, so it was a bit of serendipity. We went through different lenses, shooting with ambient light, and ISO tests. The base sensitivity is 1600, and after doing the test, I knew I could push the ISO to 4000 and still get very good results.

Having the test beforehand made me feel confident taking the camera into a scenario where I knew there wasn't going to be a lot of time. I knew I could trust it. A lot of the people we were working with feel quite uncomfortable when you light them; I was able to see what the light was doing in the space, be confident that I could push the ISO, and get all the coverage in a small amount of time. We shot everything either handheld or on Steadicam, and it worked really well.

Also, coming from photography, I love large format, and I felt it was going to be good for enhancing the faces of our characters, which was very important. The combination of Panavision glass on large format was really exciting.

You paired the camera with Primo 70 lenses?

Susnea: Yes, we had a full set with us. There's something modern but also something vintage that I love about their look almost no distortion, beautiful warm highlights, the flares are really nice. The way they render highlights feels modern to me, but not plastic. It has an organic feeling that's very pleasing and very similar to what I see with my eyes, but it still has a sharpness that I appreciate. They hit the sweet spot between soft and sharp, which can be harder to get with vintage lenses unless you're at a particular T-stop. But with the Primo 70s, I wasn't locked into having to shoot at T4; I could go to T2, and I loved that freedom, especially since I had very little control of the lighting.

What was your collaboration like with Andrea and Daisy-May? How were they sharing or divvying their work?

Susnea: Andrea came up with the concept for Unseen Kingdoms. We went through all her references, I presented mine, and then I created a mood board. On set, our communication was more related to camera angles and the types of shots we wanted to get, and with Daisy-May, it was more about her experience in documentary. How do we get the best from the people on camera? What is our approach so they don't feel intimidated? With one of the girls, when we arrived, she was like, Oh my god, you guys have so much equipment!' And we were thinking, We have so little equipment!' So with Daisy-May, it was about making sure people felt comfortable in front of the camera and that the technical details, like changing a battery or changing a filter, didn't stop the flow of the shoot. We wanted to create an intimate exchange between the women and the camera so that the piece would have a heightened emotional quality.

What were some of the references that you and Andrea had on your mood board?

Susnea: Our main one was Fish Tank because we wanted this handheld feeling to the whole piece. Andrea loved that reference and how close the camera would get to the character the camera has a life of its own. I love shootin

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