2015 Sundance Trading Card Series: #4. Matthias Grunsky (Results)

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Matthias Grunsky FrontEric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2014 discoveries”…
Matthias Grunsky: The amazing “Collection de l’Art Brut” in Lausanne, Switzerland. The record “Lieblingsfarben und Tiere” of the German band “Element of Crime”. The exhibition of the spectacular black and white photographs of Sebastião Salgado: “Genesis

Lavallee: In Results, Andrew Bujalski proposes natural, physical attraction between the sexes, could you discuss framing and how you potentially pulled people together in two shots.
Grunsky: The actors did the part of showing physical attraction. But really the characters have difficulties getting together and communicating. And we tried to emphasize that with the camera. Void spaces around them and lens choices were something we gave a lot of thought in that regard. Because Andrew and I felt that in most of her scenes we wanted to be close to Kat (Cobie Smulders), I mainly shot her with a 35 mm lens, while being further away with the camera and going on a longer lens on Danny (Kevin Corrigan) or Trevor (Guy Pearce), creating some distance, to give a discreet visual hint of this invisible wall of miscommunication between them.

4 Matthias Grunsky Results

Lavallee: Comparatively with Computer Chess, the video look enabled a certain aged 80s distinction. This is obviously night and day — what was the visual strategy for the film in terms of lighting, lenses and color palette look?
Grunsky: On RESULTS we had a very different visual approach indeed. The story is set in a crisp and colorful world, but we wanted to resist that with a somewhat flat, desaturated, not too sharp image. I used a set of old Super Baltar lenses. They are beautiful but neither perfect nor state of the art; I love how their cobalt glass handles skin tones. They have a certain softness without feeling out of focus. They feel warm and create really nice flares.

As with most of Andrew’s movies I also wanted RESULTS to look naturalistic. This time I lit a bit flatter than I usually would, instead of polishing and this wanting to be perfect world in front of the lens. Also I tried to approach the lighting in a simplistic way. Of course the tight schedule and budget were parts to that decision, but I always like the idea to set up just one big light instead of many small ones. On exteriors I only bounced sunlight with muslin. Day interiors I lit through windows whenever I could.

We shot and graded the movie in a desaturated and flat way, which also seems to contradict our characters world and mindset. They want to improve themselves, trying to be perfect by getting in shape and to do things right but then ending up doing so much wrong and not being perfect at all.

Eric Lavallée
Eric Lavalléehttps://www.ericlavallee.com
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist, and critic at IONCINEMA.com, established in 2000. A regular at Sundance, Cannes, and Venice, Eric holds a BFA in film studies from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013, he served on the narrative competition jury at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson’s "This Teacher" (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022, he was a New Flesh Juror for Best First Feature at the Fantasia International Film Festival. His top films for 2023 include The Zone of Interest (Glazer), Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (Pham Thien An), Totem (Lila Avilés), La Chimera (Alice Rohrwacher), All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (Raven Jackson). He is a Golden Globes Voter.

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