Chayse Irvin
-
Chayse Irvin on Shooting Blonde in Digital Black and White and God’s Creatures in 35mm Color
This week, Netflix’s Blonde and A24’s God’s Creatures head to streaming and theaters, respectively. The digitally-shot Blonde is a highly stylized look at the life of Marilyn Monroe, shifting aspect ratios and alternating between color and monochrome while employing extreme wide angle lenses, body cam mounts, infrared and more to expressionistically convey Monroe’s perspective. God’s Creatures is the antithesis—austere and somber, captured on 35mm, with an observational point of view distanced from the main characters, a mother in a small Irish fishing village whose life crumbles after providing a false alibi for her son. The films do share one thing in common—cinematographer […]
by Matt Mulcahey on Sep 29, 2022 -
Trailer Watch: Andrew Dominik’s Ana de Armas-Starring Blonde
“Ms. Monroe, it’s time,” are the first ominous words heard in the just-released trailer for Andrew Dominik’s long-awaited Netflix production, Blonde, based on Joyce Carol Oates’s book about actor and movie star Marilyn Monroe. Ana de Armas plays Monroe in the dark drama. In addition to first glimpses of de Armas’s performance, among what’s striking about the trailer is Chayse Irvin’s cinematography, which, across scenes, instantly recalls the different period photographic styles — in cinema, paparazzi shots, and media and magazine coverage — associated with Monroe’s depiction. Interestingly, Blonde is Irvin’s second credit this year. The BlacKkKlansman DP also shot […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 28, 2022 -
BlacKkKlansman DP Chayse Irvin on Shooting with Expired Ektachrome and the Spike Lee Dolly
Early in Spike Lee’s collaboration with Chayse Irvin, the venerable director asked his cinematographer if there was anything special he needed for BlacKkKlansman. Irvin answered, “a third camera”—an extravagance on a low budget movie, but one Irvin believed would allow him “to take massive risks on every scene, whether it be a unique angle or the freedom to use a lens that was flawed.” Irvin embraced that self-imposed mandate for boldness by employing imperfect vintage lenses, “flashing” the image with a contrast-reducing filter and dusting off long-expired film stock. Never one to wilt in the face of risky choices, Lee […]
by Matt Mulcahey on Sep 21, 2018
