Sky Shots in Sicario

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    Topic
  • #178126
    GianniRanzuglia
    Participant

      Hi Roger,

      I recently rewatched Sicario and I’m reaching out to ask about the sky shots.

      In various moments from the film, the sky shots are prominent to the point where I perceive them as characters in the film. It’s hard to think of the scene, the acting, the score and the emotion without the presence of the sky.

      I wanted to ask, how did you and Denis treat the sky shots in pre-production?

      Thanks for your time!

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    • #178568
      Roger Deakins
      Keymaster

        We initially talked about the sky being empty and not very present in the imagery. However, we were shooting during the monsoon season and it became obvious that we would frequently get ‘interesting’ skies so our approach changed. Then the landscape definitely became a character for us.

        #178642
        GianniRanzuglia
        Participant

          Thanks for your time and response Sir!

          I also wanted to ask you about the pacing and framing of the convoy scene in Juarez. The scene is skilfully crafted and timed very well, had it been longer it would have bored the audience or lost its focus on the scene, and had it been shorter it would have lost some build-up and tension.

          How did you, Denis, and others work in pre-production to time and pace the scene so immaculately?

          And also how did you and others figure out the selection of shots for the scene? Especially when they’re coming back to the border, there’s a wide array of shot sizes, point of views, moments and things being said, how did you and the team control all this?

          Again, thanks for your time!

           

          #178777
          rama lingam
          Participant

            Dear master Roger you mentioned you and Denis discussed  the sky being empty and not very present in the imagery. I would like to know what do you mean sky being empty. Do you mean plain white sky or blue sky?

            #178811
            Roger Deakins
            Keymaster

              Firstly, we imagined shooting under a clear blue shy when we were prepping ‘Sicario’. The kind of cloud formations we had were unexpected, even for tht time of year in New Mexico.

              The pacing of the sequence in Mexico is down to a combination of our storyboarding, what we ‘discovered’ on the day, and the editing of Joe Walker. We had to be quite prepared for the shoot in Mexico City as, for financial reasons, production only allowed us a very limited time in the city. We also had to be very very specific in what we asked the authorities for permission to do, what roads we need to have closed etc.. so the sequence was very well thought out in advance. The section at the border crossing point was also worked out in detail in advance as, again, shooting time was very limited. We scene storyboarded this section in great detail and the set was created, in a parking lot outside Albuquerque, with these specific visuals in mind.

              #178901
              GianniRanzuglia
              Participant

                Amazing! Thanks for your time and knowledge Sir!

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