Capturing the emotion and drama of dementia for ‘The Father’
DoP Ben Smithard, BSC reveals why he chose VENICE for this Oscar and BAFTA award winner.
Very few films receive the critical response that greeted The Father. After premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2020, the film was released in theatres in 2021. And by this time, it had countless rave reviews to its name.
Based on an original play by Florian Zeller, The Father follows an aging man as he lives with and confronts the realities of dementia. Sir Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar and a BAFTA for his portrayal of the eponymous father, while Zeller—who wrote and co-directed the screen adaptation of his play—took home the same trophies for Best Adapted Screenplay.
This compelling story hooked Director of Photography Ben Smithard as soon as he read the script. We spoke with him about why he chose our VENICE digital cinema camera to capture the emotional drama.
Florian Zeller (Director), Ben Smithard (Director of Photography) for THE FATHER. Photo by Sean Gleason. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
Being productive on set
For Smithard, ease of use and fluent shooting are paramount. Having worked with Sir Anthony twice before, he already knew the film’s lead favoured diligent preparation to shooting multiple takes. So Smithard needed a highly useable camera that would capture everything he needed, every time he started rolling.
“It’s about speed and I need to be able to use it really, really quickly. I don’t want to be messing around in front of Anthony Hopkins or anyone for that matter… It’s not the right thing to do on set and it’s not very productive.”
After shooting with VENICE on previous projects, including the Downton Abbey feature film, Smithard knew the camera inside out. He also had complete faith in its ability to deliver all the detail and colour needed for creative post-production.
“I listened to my colourist and my colourist said that it’s easy to work with and it means I can manipulate it more… I get more out of it and it looks great. It just looks great.”
Anthony Hopkins (Actor), Florian Zeller (Director), Olivia Colman (Actor) for THE FATHER. Photo by Sean Gleason. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
You’ve got more resolution, a bigger colour palette, and lower data. That’s just win-win for me.
Alan Hopkins, DIT
On-set LUTs
Smithard created several LUTs for use with on-set monitors, giving him a reliable idea of the final images he could expect. And for the film’s DIT, Al Hopkins, Sony’s 16-bit X-OCN recording format provided distinct advantages for the editing workflow. Each day footage was offloaded and transferred from the UK to Paris, ready for the edit to begin within 24 hours. By recording to X-OCN, the files were half the size the team would have expected, but with more detail and richer colours.
Olivia Colman (Actor), Florian Zeller (Director), Ben Smithard (Director of Photography) for THE FATHER. Photo by Sean Gleason. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
