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“It Was Always Fun, But Not Necessarily Easy”: DP Pete Ohs on OBEX
Still from OBEX. Courtesy of Sundance Institute. In OBEX, the secluded Conor finds his life take a turn for the worse when a state-of-the-art computer game begins to intrude into his reality. The film, directed by Albert Birney (The Strawberry Mansion), will premiere as part of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival’s NEXT section.
Multi-hyphenate Pete Ohs was a co-writer as well as the director of photography for OBEX. He speaks in his capacity as cinematographer below, describing the goals and influences for the film’s look and explaining how his close friendship with Birney informed the film.
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?
Ohs: I’ve been friends with Albert for years and we are always swapping stories about filmmaking. He shared an idea he had for a movie we could make together, and that became OBEX.
Filmmaker: What were your artistic goals on this film, and how did you realize them?
Ohs: I listened to Albert talk about the things he loved, which are basically all the things I love, and we put all that stuff into the movie.
Filmmaker: How did you want your cinematography to enhance the film’s storytelling and treatment of its characters?
Ohs: Albert also created this animated series called Tux & Fanny. He spoke a lot about the joy of making that, and I wanted him to feel that same joy while making OBEX, so I constantly asked him “What would you do if this were Tux & Fanny?” The way he described the shots would directly inform where I was putting the camera.
Filmmaker: Were there any specific influences on your cinematography, whether they be other films, or visual art, of photography, or something else?
Ohs: The two primary references were Eraserhead and Bergman, but probably specifically Persona, although I don’t remember Albert ever being that specific about it. Basically, we knew the film would be black and white, we knew we would load it up with grain, and we knew the overall aesthetic would be “minimal,” which is in line with the character/themes/story.
Filmmaker: What were the biggest challenges posed by production to those goals?
Ohs: The first section of the movie is quite small and simple, but the film evolves into a grand adventure. Eventually we were shooting scenes that were quite elaborate with monsters and blood in the middle of the night. It was always fun, but not necessarily easy.
Filmmaker: What camera did you shoot on? Why did you choose the camera that you did? What lenses did you use?
Ohs: I shot on a Canon 5D mark III. It’s the camera I own and have used for previous features. We just used a couple of the Canon L-Series stills lenses. I like the look enough and the lenses are fast enough that we can let practicals provide a lot of the light.
Filmmaker: Describe your approach to lighting.
Ohs: I only have three “film lights” so I don’t feel like I do a lot of lighting. The approach usually is to find interesting frames and blocking, then light just enough to be cool.
Filmmaker: What was the most difficult scene to realize and why? And how did you do it?
Ohs: There was a shot where I was using one hand to operate the camera that was attached to a cobbled together “jib” and my other hand had a small LED light taped to it so that I could create a moving light effect in-camera. It felt ridiculous in the moment, and it was a miracle when it worked.
Filmmaker: Finally, describe the finishing of the film. How much of your look was “baked in” versus realized in the DI?
Ohs: The black and white is baked in, and so much of the “look” actually comes from the production design. But then, somehow our colorist helped the film feel even more black and white while adding some grain and helping everything feel like it fits in the same VHS box.
TECH BOX
Film Title: OBEX
Camera: Canon 5D Mark III
Lenses: Canon L-Series — 35 mm 1.4L, 16-35mm 2.8L, 100mm Macro 2.8
Lighting: Three lights total — Aputure 120d, Aputure Lightstorm LS1, Aputure Lightstorm LS 1/2
Color Grading: DaVinci Resolve
