A Different Place - The Cinematography

[Above: Capturing a shot of Adaya Henry on the set of 'A Different Place'. Photo by Shelley Richmond.]

Following a festival run that included more BAFTA-qualifying selections than I've ever had before, multiple awards and nominations, and a rainy but beautiful trip to Normandy, the A Different Place team are getting ready to release the film online. We're also preparing for a limited cinema release. There's some details at the end of this post, with more to be revealed on social media as soon as I have concrete information to share; needless to say I can't wait for new audiences to watch and enjoy the film.

Ahead of the online release, I thought it would be a good time to dedicate a blog post to one of my favourite elements of the film's production - the cinematography.

A Different Place is set in a single location, mostly just in one room, with two speaking characters, and the story takes place almost entirely over a single night. So on paper, that's a very simple project. However, due to the film's subject nature (the plot revolves around a woman choosing to have an affair in order to discover an important truth about herself), we had to approach the cinematography with a great deal of sensitivity. I knew early on that I wanted the space to look very cosy and safe on camera, intimate without being overly sexualised, with a use of shadows that would suit the night-time setting and also provide a flattering layer of security for our brave and generous cast.

With that initial 'brief to self' in my head, my first step was to look at films with similar settings and subject natures, and I put some stills from those in a moodboard alongside photos of an early location we were considering (see below). Although I watched and researched a lot more films during pre-production, this initial moodboard helped me to select the film's colour palette, as a use of wood and brown tones was consistent across many of my early inspirations. I wanted the colours to feel warm and sensual but still feminine, so I decided that a use of pinks, non-cold purples, and reds, supported by olive and gold, would be prioritised over blue or grey tones. I later realised that many of the colours I loved for this project are present in the Lesbian Pride flag, which - if you watch the film - is clearly appropriate for this piece.

[Above: My rough initial moodboard from very early on in the film's development.]

The last cinematography decision I made during early development was to make sure everything was linked to the perspective of the lead character, enhancing how she feels at any given moment in the film - e.g. creating a heightened sense of beauty and seduction during the film's romantic scenes, with a more grounded, dull and 'real' feel when she has to face the consequences of her actions the following morning. Not only did I feel that this approach as right for this particular, character-led film, but it very much ties into my personal style as a director and the way I love to tell stories.

Then it was time for me to find my Director of Photography, to develop my ideas further and help me bring the film to life. This was my first time collaborating with Luke J. Collins, but I'm so glad we chose him to work on A Different Place (which was a hard decision, as lots of fantastic people applied for the role!); he's become one of my go-to DOPs for my branded content work ever since. Luke and the producers - Katie and Charlie - went on to hire a fantastic camera department, including gaffer Matt Glaz, first assistant camera Tom Laxton, second assistant camera/DIT Rebecca Randall, and spark Michael Suszczenia - with a special shout out to Alex Rawson at The Unit Bag for letting us hire his camera kit!

After I shared my initial thoughts for the cinematography with Luke, he made an inspired and unique choice that everything else was built around: lamplight would be the key light on this film, particularly in all the night-time scenes, and there would be a strong use of practicals on set to motivate this. This inspired decision not only enhanced the cosy, intimate feel of the cinematography, but grounded the film with a degree of realism rather than giving it a high key look.

[Above: Connection versus isolation in our framing choices, and the shot which combined the two, where Cleo truly became a part of Evelyn's world.]

Luke was also - rightly - very eager to talk about perspective when it came to planning our coverage. We found ways to anchor the camera angles within the female gaze, whilst also thinking about when our lead characters should or shouldn't share the frame. If you watch A Different Place, you'll see that we opted for a use of 'dirty' framing whenever the characters felt a connection, but switched to very isolated shots of the lead, Evelyn (Michelle Darkin Price), when her character had to make difficult decisions or reveal elements of her back story which made her uncomfortable. When the characters are about to be intimate together for the first time, there's a shot I really like (and requested early on) where we clearly see Cleo entering the frame at the top of a close-up of Evelyn, suggesting that they're starting to create an emotional connection as well as a physical one; the moment she enters her personal space, and regardless of whatever happens to these characters in the future, Cleo has now become an important part of Evelyn's world.

[Above: Shots from 'Bright Star' (DOP: Greig Fraser) and 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire' (DOP: Claire Mathon), and shots from the finished 'A Different Place' (DOP: Luke J. Collins).]

When thinking about framing and perspective, we actually looked at a lot of period dramas for inspiration, even though the film is set in modern day (we originally set it in the early noughties, but that's another story!), which brought a renewed sense of romanticism to our approach. I often watch Bright Star when I'm in pre-production on a film, as Jane Campion's attention to detail and ability to capture the texture of life is unrivalled, but I also watched the incredible Portrait of a Lady on Fire for the first time, as I knew Luke was highly influenced by that film. Both films had an impact on our shot choices, and also the use of lighting in the cooler final scenes of A Different Place.

In terms of camera movement, we opted to stay on sticks or track whenever Evelyn was alone, suggesting that she was trying to create a sense of calm and control in order to steady her nerves ahead of her encounter with Cleo. Then, from the moment Cleo first enters the film, up until she leaves and Evelyn is alone again (aside from the scene where Cleo's asleep), we moved to a more handheld look, suggesting that Cleo's presence brought a warm energy and a sense of human spontaneity to the situation. This was similar to the way DOP Neil Oseman and I chose to shoot Night Owls, which was another film about two characters, set over the course of one night, when the arrival of the second, outwardly more carefree character brought a use of handheld cinematography.

[Above: The work of Jack Vettriano versus frames from the opening scene of 'A Different Place'. The painting in the top right-hand corner also inspired the very last shot of the film.]

To tie into Evelyn's desire for control, and to suggest that she'd carefully planned what she hoped would be a perfect night, we also looked to use 'immaculate framing' in the opening scenes of the film, with Evelyn stood centrally in frame and often flanked by two parallel matching lamps. I was inspired by the Scottish artist Jack Vettriano, whose use of colours and lamplight was also relevant for our film, and I showed some of his paintings to Luke ahead of planning the shots for the opening scenes.

Lastly, we talked long and hard about the aspect ratio for this film. Up until that point, almost all of my films had been 2.35:1 (a couple had been 16:9), because I saw this as being the 'language of cinema' and it reflected my ambitions for moving into more commercial work. But Luke persuaded me to consider using 1.66:1 for the first time ever - a slightly squatter aspect ratio that's been seen on such films as The Souvenir (parts 1 & 2) and The Lost Daughter, and has also been described as the 'golden aspect ratio' because of how neatly you can frame images within it. Luke insisted that this was the right choice for our film because we could use it to draw the eye to our characters' faces, showing less of the set at the edge of frame, ultimately creating a more intimate feel for the viewer and putting more attention on our actors' performances. Although I was hesitant at first, I am so glad that I trusted Luke with that choice. What's more, I've very rarely gone back to choosing 2.35.1 for my narrative films since then. Now I always second-guess myself, and think hard about which aspect ratio works best for the characters and the genre or core emotions of the film, rather than just prioritising my own personal style.

The final thing that influenced and altered my cinematography plans was the fact that I saw In The Mood For Love at an anniversary cinema screening when A Different Place was in pre-production. In The Mood For Love is one of the most beautiful films ever made, with some thematic similarity in terms of romantic scenes and extramarital longing, so I went on to reference it not only in my cinematography requests, but also when it came to designing our film's poster during post-production.

[Above: Select moodboard pages from mine & Luke's combined final 'look book' for our film.]

Taking all of the above choices into account, Luke and I then created a new, joint moodboard ahead of the shoot, combining all of our shared influences - which you can see above. It's interesting to compare this moodboard with the one I made in early development, as you can see how the cinematography ideas evolved and improved over time (which truly shows why it's so important to get your DOP's input rather than just directly telling them what you think they should do!).

And even with all of that planning, one of my favourite lighting choices from the film was a very last-minute decision, thought up during the shoot itself. When Cleo is stood smoking by the window, facing away from the room, Luke and Matt knew they wanted to add a fill light to her face, but they needed it to feel motivated in some way; they had the genius idea to make this light resemble a glowing, neon sign, coming from an unseen source in the street outside. This is the reason it flashes on and off during the scene, and I adore the way that movement added an extra level of interest, with a romantic surge of light that caught actor Adaya Henry's eyes beautifully whenever she turned towards the window.

[Above: The last-minute but genius choice of light on a close-up of Adaya Henry. DOP: Luke J. Collins. Gaffer: Matt Glaz.]

For me, one of the nicest things about that lighting was the colour the team chose to use. Because I'd discussed my colour palette choices so much with Luke (in other words, I nagged him loads about how much I didn't want to use the colour blue!), him and Matt were able to select the pinkish-purple hue even though I wasn't around when they had this brainwave and rigged this lighting up. I walked on set with all these decisions having already been made without me, but Luke came up to me and said, "we've got this idea for a light in the window, and I know you're going to love it." He was completely right, and I think about how much we nailed our communication and got on the same wavelength whenever I see that shot in the film.

[Above: Myself and DOP Luke J. Collins on the set of 'A Different Place'. Production design by Danni Ebanks-Ingram. Photo by Shelley Richmond.]

The whole team worked so hard on this film, and the finished result is testimony to their efforts and skill. I am so happy with how the footage turned out (it was emphasised further by Simon Dymond's fantastic colour grade), and it was wonderful to see Luke acknowledged with a much-deserved Best Cinematography nomination at the Midlands Movies Awards in 2023.

The team and I will be sharing a few more behind-the-scenes videos and stories ahead of A Different Place's online release, so I hope you all enjoy watching those - as well as the finished film, of course! It will have its online premiere exclusively on Lesflicks on the 7th March, followed by a wider release on YouTube and Vimeo a few weeks later.

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'A Different Place' : Triskelle Pictures Ltd. & BFI NETWORK, made possible by National Lottery Funding, and made in collaboration with Cat On The Wall Productions. With special thanks to B Flynn Films.