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“We All Have a Desire to Make Our Lives Make Sense”: DP Brandon Somerhalder on Come See Me in the Good Light

Andrea, a non-binary poet, lies face-up in a bed.Still from Come See Me in the Good Light. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

Come See Me in the Good Light follows Andrea, a poet in Colorado, as they face a cancer diagnosis. The film is an intimate verité documentary and marks director Ryan White’s return to Sundance after Assassins and Ask Dr. Ruth.

Brandon Somerhalder (A Concerto is a Conversation, Live to 100) served as the film’s DP. Below, he explains why a verité approach was right for the project and the difficulties of maintaining that at a live poetry reading without jeopardizing the comfort of his ailing subject.

See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here.

Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job?

Somerhalder: I did a verité documentary a few years ago that director Ryan White saw at Tribeca and started working with him and his producer, Jessica Hargrave, on a different project. Soon after, the idea for this Andrea Gibson documentary came to them. I think I was lucky enough to be asked to film this doc based on my experience shooting other doc projects of a highly unpredictable nature, ones where patient verité filmmaking reveal character and story over time and where the relationship with the people in the doc is just as important as the style and aesthetic.

Filmmaker: What were your artistic goals on this film, and how did you realize them? How did you want your cinematography to enhance the film’s storytelling and treatment of its characters?

Somerhalder: Our main artistic goal, especially after meeting the main subject of our documentary, Andrea Gibson, was to authentically capture the essence of what makes Andrea such a unique, captivating poet and writer and to tell the story of their health journey in a relatable but poetic way—one that would do justice to their own poetry and profound perspective on life and death. The cinematography really acted solely in service of that goal, prioritizing naturalism and authenticity, while also not straying too objective. It was important that the camera participate in, and not feel separate from, the love and abundance of life surrounding Andrea and Meg. They have three cute little dogs, and I found the camera often felt like a fourth dog, lovingly active in the scenes with them, watching them with admiration, affection, and curiosity.

Filmmaker: Were there any specific influences on your cinematography, whether they be other films, or visual art, of photography, or something else?

Somerhalder: We didn’t have a ton of control of our environments, especially in the hospitals, clinics, etc.—all natural lighting, so palette and lighting refs were just for fun, but we loved the intimacy and simplicity displayed in Past Lives and All of Us Strangers and compositionally strived for something similar. With the medical chaos going on outside their home, we really strived for stasis and calm when shooting in their house, almost always tripod, slow pans etc. When in the hospitals, both for logistics and the nature of the trips there, I was always handheld and more frenetic.

Filmmaker: What were the biggest challenges posed by production to those goals?

Somerhalder: I think the hardest part of a shoot like this is actually having the camera rolling for the rawest moments. In theory a doc following this health journey seems simple enough, but when things get hard, or bad news comes, the human instinct is always to put the camera aside. But it does a disservice to the authenticity of the story and of the human experience to only capture what feels good or fun to capture. Part of our job is capturing the uncomfortable parts of life, particularly hard because we are there in person and they are our friends, hurting. But Andrea and Meg, both incredible artists who understand this process, never wavered in allowing us in at these moments.

Also, I think the unpredictability of what will happen next is always one of the biggest challenges of any verité film, but it’s also the reason why it’s the best form of documentary (and arguably movies in general, though I’m obviously biased). We all have a desire to make our lives make sense and structure them in a way that feels like we’re “moving the plot,” but very often, almost always, it doesn’t work that way, and it’s a massive challenge on a shoot reconciling where you think a story is heading or where you want it to head, with how it actually unfolds. But personally, I find the most interesting parts of life exist in those nuances between the lines—the challenge is maintaining the patience to film it all, and film it all with intention, while not knowing how your story is going to end.

Filmmaker: What camera did you shoot on? Why did you choose the camera that you did? What lenses did you use?

Somerhalder: The film was primarily shot on the Canon c500 Mk II with Zeiss CP2s and occasionally a Sony FX3 and Super Speeds for a smaller “hospital cam.” Also: Canon C70, Sony FX6, Sony FX3, Canon 25-250mm Cine-Servo, Angenieux EZ-1 45-135mm and Sony G Masters for the live show. This being a labor of love (aka independently financed), we shot it on the cameras and lenses we collectively owned.

The primes provided the intention to framing I thought we would want for our style, and the c500 is a workhouse of reliability for verité shoots like this. I knew I’d need reliability, a camera that wouldn’t die on me during an emotional scene, with loads of dynamic range, quick exposure and color temp adjustments, since the film was 99 percent natural light. Also, dual card slots and onboard audio were a necessity, as I was sometimes shooting by myself. I used the C500 with the primes on tripod either static or slow pans when possible —we loved the stasis and calm it provided, especially in contrast with the hospital scenes, which I shot mainly on the FX3 with Super Speeds (all could fit in my backpack) and which had an unavoidably more frenetic quality to them during appointments and treatment.

Filmmaker: Describe your approach to lighting.

Somerhalder: We only used natural lighting for 99 percent of the film. There are a few readings of poetry Andrea does in their basement, which is normally lit by a collection of vibrant neon lights. For these readings, I spotted the basement with different neon colors for different poems depending on the emotion of the poem.

Filmmaker: What was the most difficult scene to realize and why? And how did you do it?

Somerhalder: The most difficult scene was probably the live show, in which Andrea performs to a crowd of 2,000 in the Paramount Theater in downtown Denver. It was in real life an extremely vulnerable and emotional decision to do the show for Andrea—their health was not great, their eyes and voice were ailing. So, balancing these needs of Andrea, for which this could be their last show, with the needs of the production and my team required a lot of planning. Andrea’s eyes were very sensitive at the time so there could be no harsh spotlights, and only lights from slightly more overhead (which create the ever-hated raccoon eyes). This also made balancing to expose for the audience much harder. Andrea also wanted to prioritize the relationship with the audience in this show, to essentially feel them there and not get distracted by me roaming around them on stage, so I needed to keep my distance.

For me, the most important thing was that the show not detract from the intimate verité style we had up to that point established. I didn’t want it to feel like a taped stand-up special or something similar. As a spoken word poet, Andrea’s shows are some of the most unique I’ve ever witnessed, and I wanted to try to make the cinematography reflect that individuality. In the end, the balance was giving Andrea everything they needed for their own experience of the show, and doing our best to be ready in the right places. I ended up manning our “verité” cam on stage handheld, as well as backstage before and after, with five other cameras stationed on tripods or sliders around the theater to capture both the performance as well as audience reactions.

Filmmaker: Finally, describe the finishing of the film. How much of your look was “baked in” versus realized in the DI?

Somerhalder: Because of how quickly we started shooting this film, I brought in and started shooting with a LUT that I thought would be appropriate—pretty moody, steep contrast curve with cooler shadows—figuring the poetry and conversations about death and mortality would lend itself to the moodiness. But I quickly found myself always wishing that the look reflected more of the warmth and joy and full-belly laughter that would come nearly every day. I made one LUT adjustment mid-shoot but primarily relied on my colorist Stephen Derluguian to help me bring out more of the warmth that was inherent in those scenes. Also, we shot this film throughout every season of the year, in the beautiful part of Colorado where they live, and accentuating those changes in the DI from cool winter to beautiful lush green summer helped compliment many of the meditations on time that they make throughout the film.

TECH BOX

Film Title: Come See Me in the Good Light
Camera: Canon C500 Mkii, Canon C70, Sony FX6, Sony FX3
Lenses: Zeiss CP2, Zeiss Super Speed Mkii, Canon 25-250mm Cine-Servo, Angenieux EZ-1 45-135mm, Sony G Masters
Color Grading: DaVinci Resolve (Colorist: Stephen Derluguian)

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