Set in 1950s France, The Deep Dark (Gueules noires) follows a group of coal miners who are commissioned to escort a professor through dangerous depths to retrieve measurements. After becoming trapped by a series of landslides, the unwitting crew soon discovers the terrifying reason why no one's traversed these caves in a hundred years.
Written and directed by Mathieu Turi, The Deep Dark bears a neo-noir quality skillfully crafted by cinematographer Alain Duplantier, who shot the feature with Primo 70 optics. Here, the cinematographer shines a light on how he and his collaborators captured a story that takes place almost entirely in the dark.
Panavision: How did you become involved in The Deep Dark?
Alain Duplantier: I had already collaborated with Mathieu Turi for his film Meander. Preparation is an important creative stage for Mathieu. He nourishes and enriches his film very early on. He questions the narrative, the strength of the characters, the atmospheres, etc. And of course all these questions inevitably invite a questioning of the image. It is therefore a collaboration which opens quite unusual and particularly interesting fields. Mathieu and I thrive on this approach. The staging draws on the photography, and the photography builds on the narrative and emotional issues of the film. Also, my very expressionistic personal photographic work provided a photographic intention that Mathieu really liked.
How would you describe the look of the project?
Duplantier: The Deep Dark takes place over two periods. Mathieu and I wanted each of these periods to be clearly identifiable.
The first was in 1850. The working conditions for miners then were terrible humidity, dust, darkness, long working days punctuated by explosions, landslides and floods. We wanted to recreate the harshness of these conditions and get as close as possible to what these miners really experienced. The multiple illustrations that we consulted, the testimonials, the site visits, etc. gradually guided our choices. Using the kerosene lamps of the time for our lighting quickly became obvious, but this strong choice did not allow us to convey the full depth of what we had before our eyes. We had to find a way to restore the detail of a completely black universe inhabited by men covered in black. We wet the walls, brought shine, made the skins shine, greased the clothes, and finally used smoke to find depth. We are all very proud of this part, as much for the visual result as for the collective commitment of everyone.
The second part takes place in 1950. The work of the miners is quite similar to that of 1850, but electricity brings a radical change. The coal galleries are then lit by lamps placed on the ceiling every 5 meters, and the miners use headlamps integrated into the helmets and powered by batteries placed in remote boxes, attached to the belt. I suggested to Mathieu that we could use these headlamps as main sources. This was the opportunity to establish a natural and obvious evolution while preserving, once again, the reality of this second period. It was also important that we fully adhered to this choice and understood the issues, because Mathieu's staging would have to integrate the fact that the actors themselves were going to be the carriers of our light sources.
Now we had to find the ideal lamp. With Franck Barrault, my gaffer, we chose caving lamps equipped with two LEDs, one with a wide flood beam and the other a concentrated spot beam. It was necessary to be able to control them remotely to be able to maintain control of the density and mixing of the two beams. Franck collaborated with the company Art Tech Design to equip these lamps with drivers compatible with LED diodes and to design the boxes that the actors would wear on their belts which contained the batteries, the driver and the CRMX device, allowing Franck to manage the lights live' for each actor. The concept worked very well and the actors played the game admirably, being aware of their additional responsibility. The visual effect produced by the headlamps in the coal mine mixed with the ambient lights works wonderfully.
Much of the action in this second period also takes place in a limestone mine with white rock walls. The mere effect of the headlamps is striking in both realism and mystery. The choreography' of the light beams in the darkness, the cast shadows running on the walls almost on its own construct the oppressive atmosphere of this moment in the film. The intensity of the actors could then be fully expressed. Thus, the anxiety, claustrophobia and fear that we experience in the film found their source as much in the action, the interpretation, as the atmosphere that we had imagined.
What brought you to Panavision for this project, and what attracted you to the specific lenses you chose, the Primo 70s?
Duplantier: I have collaborated with Panavision on numerous occasions, and each time I've been able to count on the wise expertise of the technical staff. Of course they know their cameras and their lenses, but above all they understand the emotional issues of the image and how one lens more than another is able to respond to them.
For The Deep Dark, we had to find optics capable of handling extreme highlights without generating flare, or flaring in a very measured way. We tested several series of optics, and quite quickly the Primo 70s satisfied us completely. They remained efficient in all the extreme situations we faced. Very few flares, beautiful substance in the skins, depths in the blacks, very beautiful bokeh, and little chromatic aberration or distortion.
What originally inspired you to become a cinematographer?
Duplantier: I have always liked to bring to life my perspective on things, people, situations. I started with film photography, and the play of distance and proximity has always fascin
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
David Dvir, 2D founder (left), Sundeep Reddy (center), and Jean-Marc Bouchut (right), both of Zeiss...
23/07/2026
Screen Australia announces new national documentary accelerator program 23 July 2026
Screen Australia has today announced the Above the Line Documentary Accel...
22/07/2026
Among other tweaks to coverage, the broadcaster added announce positions in the ...
22/07/2026
The Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) has reported a sharp acceleration in Australia's sportstech sector, with revenue growth rising from 10% in...
22/07/2026
From a retrofitted broadcast bus to packed Match Day Live! events, Bennett detai...
22/07/2026
TMRW Sports has named Brendan Donohue as President, Flag Football, where he will lead the company's professional flag football business in partnership with ...
22/07/2026
Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) designed and produced soundtracks for nine projection...
22/07/2026
Harmonic has announced a $25,000 donation to Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) fo...
22/07/2026
Telemundo has announced it has acquired from UC3 exclusive U.S. Spanish-language...
22/07/2026
The Rest Is Football, hosted by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards, ...
22/07/2026
Sports Studio has announced a partnership with TheSoul Group to distribute Free ...
22/07/2026
Daktronics has concluded its 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day hybrid event combining virtual sessions with hands-on host school visits across the countr...
22/07/2026
FOR-A America will exhibit at the MMCA Show in Pensacola, Florida (July 21-24), marking the company's first appearance at the house of worship AV event. FOR...
22/07/2026
The New York Yankees have selected Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) to connect Ya...
22/07/2026
Calrec will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.C47) with demonstrations of its IP-native audio ecosystem built around the Argo console range, and will announce two ne...
22/07/2026
Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Algam EKO as its distributor for SSL large format consoles in Italy, covering the Live, Broadcast, and Studio...
22/07/2026
FloSports has announced the launch of the FloSports Channel, a free ad-supported streaming channel premiering on Prime Video in the U.S. on July 21. The channel...
22/07/2026
Banana Ball TV (BTV), the broadcast operation of the Savannah Bananas, has insta...
22/07/2026
SiriusXM and Audacy have announced an agreement bringing 42 Audacy sports, news, and talk stations from 29 U.S. markets to SiriusXM. Twenty-three Audacy sports ...
22/07/2026
The collaboration produced more than 500 short-form videos across four cities th...
22/07/2026
At 2,600 sq. ft., the new home of digital content houses a main studio, podcast space, and an auxiliary control room
NFL franchises are accelerating their prod...
22/07/2026
Library now available in Engine Player
Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...
22/07/2026
All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled
Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...
22/07/2026
The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit
Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...
22/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Proven managed IP solution helps broadcasters confidently navigate the future of broadcast distribution
LTN announces it has completed successful satellite-to-...
22/07/2026
Today, Chaos announced V-Ray 7, update 4, eliminating the need for asset conversions and tool switching, which slow down media and entertainment pipelines. Arti...
22/07/2026
An AI playground for the Project Indigo camera app
Marc Levoy July 22, 2026
0 Comments
At left is the user interface of our Playground, running on an ...
22/07/2026
Custom Consoles announces the completion of a large technical furniture project for Radio T l vision Suisse (RTS) at the networks recently inaugurated productio...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Culver City, CA, July 21, 2026 3D streaming infrastructure provider Miris today announced glTF intake, including the binary .glb form, to its spatial streamin...
22/07/2026
Documentary Lo Invisible Captured with Blackmagic PYXIS 6K
Brie Clayton July 21, 2026
0 Comments
Camera's versatile design allowed filmmakers to c...
22/07/2026
AAF Bridge converts AAF and XML Timelines to Ableton Live - and back
Jerome Gardier July 21, 2026
0 Comments
A two-way converter for macOS and Windows...
22/07/2026
From Class to Concert: Explore a Student-Led Production of David Bowies Work Thr...
22/07/2026
NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang today visited the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, to commission an NVIDIA DGX GB300 system - bringing one...
22/07/2026
A poisoned spy, a secret war, and a small English city contaminated by a deadly chemical weapon. Available on Sky Documentaries from 4 AugustWednesday 22 July 2...
22/07/2026
Audio at Parity: Comscore Launches Transcript-Level Targeting and Measurement wi...
22/07/2026
Arvato Systems and Lobster Enter into a Partnership and Combine the Integration Platform and Managed Services
Flexible integration solutions for cloud, hybrid...
Set in 1950s France, The Deep Dark (Gueules noires) follows a group of coal miners who are commissioned to escort a professor through dangerous depths to retrieve measurements. After becoming trapped by a series of landslides, the unwitting crew soon discovers the terrifying reason why no one's traversed these caves in a hundred years.
