Jonathan Sela is know for his work on large budget action/modern film noir movies such as Max Payne, John Wick, Transformers: The Last Knight, Anomic Blonde and the upcoming sequel to ‘Deadpool’. He has also worked on the well known horror films ‘The Midnight Meat Train’ and ‘The Omen’ (Remake). It was after watching Atomic Blonde that Sela’s craft caught my eye because I am not usually a big fan of blockbuster action films, due to that they usually have a focus on special effects and epic stunts rather than detailed cinematography. But after Atomic Blonde expressed such stunning lighting and miss en scene I decided to look up who the person behind the camera and lighting was. Emotive lighting is something that stands out to me in cinematography. I appreciate the aesthetic use of texture, colour and use of shadows.

A mainstream action film has never impressed me so much in terms of it’s cinematography. He has a stylistic approach and a clear focus on saturated colours and textures to distinguish particular moods. In Atomic Blonde you can feel the protagonists emotions through the colours used, when the character goes though an emotional loss her world is turned ice blue with the set made of marble and mirror. The shots are made wider to give a sense of loneliness and isolation. Tones of grotesque green are shown when the character moves from sadness to seeking vengeance and picking her self up from vulnerability. A scene after she’s been betrayed is shot in a club hallway covered in red lights against a wall of newspaper and magazine pages to convey anger that turns to lust. I admired his lighting choices between when Lorraine (the protagonist) was alone in her apartment versus when she was on the job as a spy. Due to what the array and intensity of colours represented. When she is in the safety of her apartment the room’s lighting is dressed in multiple neon lights that cover her body in a soft way. The exposure is low and the camera movements are slow and pan lightly. This represents all her emotions flowing out of her as she feels secure and safe to let go of everything and be herself. In contrast to this, when she is investigating or fighting, the lighting becomes harsh, cold, basically taken of all colour (grey tones) with quick, fast and jolted camera movements. This set up shows her conveying the apathetic side to her personality. The side where she hides her weakness and deeper self.

Sela isn’t a cinematographer who seems to linger on shots because through out his works he shows creativity through multiple shots which must also be translated to the editors. Multiple close ups and various angles will be shown of actors doing a task to reveal details of their movements. In an interview he commented on the fact that the action genre isn’t what he initially wanted to create for. He had a fascination with musicals and fairytales that I can see through his cinematography. The burst of extravagant neon colours is not a common technique used in “masculine” acton films, so he adds his own touch of eccentric personality. This is the difference I see in Sela’s style choices compared to the likes of The Avengers, Taken, Man of Steel and Hitman. They appeal to a wider male audience so the artistic choices made are usually quite typical in colour and camera choices. Shots are usually prompted by actions and effects rather than emotion and psychological “tricks”. Sela’s style is closer to that of independent psychological films that experiment with colour and representation.

Word count: 607

 

Atomic Blonde Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIUube1pSC0