Hello and welcome to Big GAY Energy.
I'm Caitlin and I'm Fiora. Come along with us while we dive
into the fun and nuances of queer media.
Representation matters, and we're here to talk about it.
Here's queers today on the Big Gay Agenda.
We're joined by Simona Shushna, the incredible director of
photography from Heart Stopper seasons two and three.
Welcome to the podcast, Simona. Hey, thanks so much.
Lovely to meet you guys and thanks for the invitation.
Of course, we we spent hours gushing about how amazing a
heart stopper is as a production, and so we're so
excited to talk to somebody who made that happen.
Yeah, I know it's, it's lovely to also speak to people outside
of the film industry because so many times, you know, like
whenever I speak about my work, it's two outlets that are, you
know, just focused on the cinematography part of it, which
I guess like it makes sense. But I feel like now it's nicer
to reach like even a wider audience.
And what's been kind of funny to me is that whenever there's been
an article published about my work in British cinematographer
or, you know, and, and some other magazine, the fans read it
and they even send me messages about it or like, comment on my
Instagram post. So people have been very, how
should I say, like very open and also very interested in in my
cinematography work, which is a very new experience for me.
Usually don't really have that direct contact with an audience
like I have been on Her Stopper. So that's been really lovely.
That's incredible. And I'm, I'm glad you're able to
connect with fans because, yeah, our fans are very eager to hear
from you. And so just first question,
pretty basic. There's, there's a lot of
different roles on set, a lot of different people that make a
production come together. Some of them sound similar, but
the responsibilities are different.
So first question is, what does your job as director of
photography involved and how is it different from what the
director does? Yeah.
So I work very closely with the director, but my department is
just very different because I'm the head of the camera
department, but I'm actually running both camera and lighting
department. Although on the lighting side,
I'm working with the, you know, with the gaffer who just
manages, you know, their department also from a kind of
practical and health and safety point of view.
But I guess First things first, when I'm hired as ADP, you know,
like my role is to I guess like go through the script and sort
of like propose my own ideas on how, you know, like the TV show
or the film or anything, you know, like commercial music
video could be approached visually.
So I'm, you know, interpreting the material, you know, in a
slightly different way than the director would do.
Although you know, the director themselves, depending on on how
visual they are and how sort of interested in that they are,
they will have their own idea on how they want to, you know, like
visually story tell ATV show let's say, because we're talking
about Heart Stopper now. So like my role as ADP is to
sort of like dive into that maybe a little bit more.
But when it comes to the practical side, you know, I'm
running 3 departments within my own side of things where I'm
working with camera, with lighting and with grip to make
sure sure that the director's vision is really translated into
the the episodes. So it's just like a, a more
technical department than the directors.
And we are also less involved with the actors, at least in
the, you know, pre production side.
Like we're not involved in casting and, and anything like
that. But when it comes to, you know,
the work on set, we do have contact with the actors,
particularly if you're a director of photography or who
also likes to operate like I was on season 2.
You're always speaking with the actors, you know, you're in
contact about, you know, hey, we're like framing you in a
close up. You need to be here and you
know, like you give people some marks if you're like to work
like that. Sometimes.
We did that on her supper, although it was like a very
spontaneous process and we didn't really want to impose
limits on the younger actors. You know, some of them didn't
really have like a previous experience in front of the
camera. So I think we didn't really want
to burden them with the like the technical aspect of filmmaking.
But you know, I would always be, you know, communicating with
with Joe or with everyone really about how we're framing them,
particularly with her stopper, you know, the, the actors are so
young. There's also like a physical
closeness between us. Like particularly in the
intimacy scenes. There's also like an aspect of
like, hey, I'm going to be here with a camera.
Like, particularly if I'm like filming a close upright, like
the camera is going to be 20 centimeters away from your face
letting you know this is happening.
Are you comfortable with that? Or how can I make your job a
little bit easier? Because, you know, them as
actors, they're also very vulnerable in front of the
camera. And I take that, you know,
responsibility on my side, like very seriously, you know, and
also try to create within with my crew and with the crew at
large. Always try to create an
environment where actors feel comfortable and safe, where they
don't feel sort of like too exposed.
Or, you know, sometimes some DPS might tend to focus so much on
the technical side where it just becomes a little bit alienating
for the for the actors. So anyway, that's sort of like
my connection with the actors. But purely, you know, my role as
ADP is to go through the script, understand what the script is,
you know, like trying to say, what's the message ultimately,
what does the director want to achieve with this?
Also, the creative producers are really important, especially in
television. They will have their own vision
and how the TV series needs to look or feel.
And it becomes like a collective collaboration with the director
and the showrunner. And I am, you know, I guess like
the leader and the person in in charge making sure that that
vision is actually achieved from a visual point of view.
So, yeah, like there's more to talk about, but I guess we can
also touch on, on, on prep, you know, what does ADP do and prep
later on and I can sort of like expand on this if interested.
Yeah. Yeah, no, but I was, I was
wondering that 'cause you were mentioning like pre, pre
production like that kind of stuff like, yeah, what does your
prep work kind of look like? It sounds, it sounds very
technical from what you're saying and.
Yeah, I mean, it is, it is technical and also like very
creative, right? Because I think like my work in
film as ADP, but particularly film work in general is a, is a
technical art. Like if you don't have very
specific tools, you can achieve certain effects or you know,
like visual ideas, right. So we rely heavily on the tools
and the technical side. And that's why like that's where
I come in as ADP. Like I understand the technical
side. A director might not have the
same experience or knowledge or awareness as I do, but then I
come in and I'm like a key player and understanding what
they want to say. And how do we visually translate
that into, you know, like the the shots we capture for the TV
series? So I am in a way like I'm
enabling the director to to tell the story and to share their
vision that. Makes that makes so much sense.
That's really, really cool. From from what we gathered by
researching you, Heart Stopper was your first TV project after
working on indie films and documentaries.
So how did your indie film background shape your approach
to Heart Stop? Like doing Heart Stopper the
series. Yeah, I mean, with me, it's been
kind of a, a long journey coming into television because for a
very long time I didn't feel it was the, you know, like the
environment for me, like, particularly because of my
interest in indie drama. And when her stopper came along,
I felt like that's the right project for me to start
television with because I felt very close to the characters.
You know, they were, you know, like very young people.
And I felt like the, the series and Alice's work was very
focused on the characters. So that connected with my
previous work where in documentary I, we were filming
real people, you know, telling real people's stories and
interacting with their like, lives, right?
Like it was nothing. It wasn't fictionalized.
So I've always been very drawn to the story side rather than
like a very intricate plot. For me, characters are really
important and that's also something that I've done in
indie drama and short films. And generally my work is, is
character LED. My camera work is informed by
who the characters are, you know, what's their, what's the
conflict in the, in the TV series or the film, you know,
what's the, what's the general arc, what's the character
transformation that really inspires me and dictates on how
I approach, you know, visually telling that story.
So I made sure that when I, when I started Heart Stopper, I was
first of all, like in touch with the director about that all the
time. So that was, you know, the, the
focus in our conversations when we were in prep, like trying to
understand also what's the story about, you know, from the
director's point of view, obviously from Alice's point of
view, because this is based on a graphic novel.
But the fact that I was just focused on on characters before
in my previous work, I really carried that through.
And for me, what's really important and you know, as a
cinematographer is to stay true to the story and represent the
characters in an honest way. And I think people really
responded to that. And you know, even though us as
DPS, we want to create beauty and something that, you know,
people connect with visually, I was making sure that, you know,
it's about the characters 1st and not about just creating
meaningful, you know, like images that are not meaningful
or you know, truthful. Yeah, I would say you absolutely
nailed it, Heart stopper. That's one of the things we
comment constantly and how the scenes are really tailored to
the character. Some it's really happy to hear
that it was so character focused, like from your
perspective as well. Yeah, for sure.
And and you know, the characters are growing and getting more
complex with each season. And that's been so interesting
to explore, particularly because from Season 2 to Season 3 with
Chinese directors. And that was refreshing because
you know, some, you know, when, when Andy came on board on
Season 3, obviously he brought on his own vision on what
Heartstopper was, particularly because Season 3 gets into like
more serious themes. So then we also had to adapt, I
guess, like the storytelling process or more like the visual
approach to making sure that, you know, these themes are also
told visually with the, with the way that they, they need it.
And you know, like it's, it's less dreamlike season 3.
It's a lot more kind of grounded and reality.
And I think, again, like it's about honesty and just making
sure that when we're telling the story, we're not glamorizing it
in any way, you know? Yeah, it definitely, the
evolution from Season 2 to Season 3 was quite remarkable
because I like the way you put that.
It comes out of this like, romantic, dreamy state into this
more reality situation, particularly like Charlie's
mental health. And I feel like the
cinematography definitely reflects that because you get
like more darker tones and like when Charlie's spiraling and
things like that. So yeah, definitely like nailed
it. Oh, it's so good.
All right, so you already answered some of these
questions. So is there a particular shot or
seen in Hard Stopper that you're especially proud of?
That's a good question. I guess if I were to focus on
Season 2, like I loved the the prom in season 2, like it took
quite a while to prep, particularly because we filmed
it like towards the end of the schedule.
So we were already maybe filming for like 10 weeks at that time.
And I just took a lot of coordination between the part,
you know, like my department is ADP, but also with a production
designer, you know, custom designer choreography.
And that was just, that was also just a lot of fun to work on
because the, the schedule on Heart Stopper was very tight.
So like beyond the visual side and how we wanted to tell the
story, there was an element of like, how do I make this happen
and tell the story in two days? Like, how do you get all of that
material in 2 days? So like from a practical point
of view, I had to create an approach that enabled me to
shoot 360 within that space. And also again, like for the
designer to dress all that space and just making sure that again,
like we're kind of maintaining that standard when it comes to
like the quality of what we're shooting.
So yeah, the problem was a lot of fun.
You know, like we created this specific rig.
Everything was, well, mostly everything was rigged from the
top. So again, the actors didn't,
didn't want to like I didn't want the actors to be aware of
like stands and lights on set, you know, like everything was
free. And, and in a way that I, I
think it immerses the crew and the actors more into the scenes
and into the moment. So again, like making sure that
they have all the freedom they need.
So again, we created this like very specific rig and that was a
lot of fun. But I think other than that,
it's just maybe the the Paris, you know, the Paris scenes and
Season 2 again, like I love shooting those a very different
energy than what we were filming in London.
And that was a lot of fun, particularly because we had
access to these, you know, crazy locations.
Like we filmed twice on the Eiffel Tower, Eiffel Tower.
We were in the Louvre for like a full day.
And this is kind of surreal, you know, like we were watching the
sunrise from the Eiffel Tower at 6:00 AM.
These are the, you know, like kind of priceless moments when
you're a filmmaker, you're put in these situations that maybe
like, you know, other people don't really have access to.
And I guess like with with Season 3, there was less, more,
you know, less of that, I don't know, like really iconic
locations that you go to. But I think with Season 3, it
was more like the very intimate kind of like closeness with the
actors that I really loved. And that's really throughout the
season. I don't think there's like a
particular scene that stands out to me in that way.
And it was just very fun to work with Andy, our Season 3
director, and just like making that intimacy happen.
So yeah, like a very different sort of atmosphere from Season
2. Yeah, it it must be really
challenging to pick 1 scene because like you mentioned,
there's such a variety of different types of scenes in
this show and they're all so beautiful and different.
So I'm glad there's a a bunch that stick out in your mind
iconic that you mentioned. Yeah, I mean, also like, I guess
in season 3, because we we changed our visual approach
slightly, like we kind of made it a little bit more grounded.
And like if you want more serious, I guess like the
parties were fun because the the parties had to be, you know,
sort of singled out and somehow like each of the party had to
have its own identity visually. So then that was really
interesting to craft because there's like quite a few of
them. There is a birthday party, there
is New Year's, there's Halloween.
And Halloween was a lot of fun because, you know, like the
production design was kind of crazy.
And yeah, like we built a very specific color palette for that
where we didn't want any of the classic kind of approach where
you have like a lot of orange in the design or in the lighting.
So we went with like much cooler colors.
And you know that that was something that I really enjoyed
working on. Halloween scenes are always fun.
I feel like there's a lot to play with.
Yeah. And the designer, you know,
like, without even talking about it, the designer decided she
didn't want to use any orange in the dressing, which I thought
was very refreshing. And then I had an idea of my own
that I was, you know, like I was meant to communicate that to
her, that, hey, let's just use a lot of purples and pinks and
greens and, you know, just kind of create something a little bit
different. And it turns out that before we
even spoke, we had, like, similar ideas.
So that was great. Meant to be.
That's so great. So you mentioned in season 3,
one of the one of the changes is that there's different types of
intimacy scenes that that happen, but there's also like,
you know, intimate moments in season 2 and season 3.
So how do you approach building visual intimacy between
characters through framing and the composition?
Yeah, that's interesting. I mean, we did talk a lot about
the intimacy scenes because I, we again, we wanted them to feel
authentic and honest. We didn't want to, you know,
hide things or like not really show nudity.
And I think we found the right balance, particularly because
again, the characters are very young.
So you have to be mindful of that.
But also, you know, for us, the focus between Charlie and Nick
particularly was it was about the love between them and not
only, you know, like the romantic love, the the
friendship between them. And I think that really guided
us. So when it when it came to, you
know, like capturing that for us, it was the closeness with
the camera that really told that story.
You know, like I even mentioned before, we were like very close,
sometimes even filming with two cameras.
And, you know, that's not something that we talked much
about, but there was this sort of like unspoken trust between
all of us that was really interesting to have, you know,
between us, with actors, between myself and the director.
And I think generally the actors felt very comfortable when it,
when it came to filming the intimacy scenes, like with us,
but also between each other. And it was just important to,
you know, like, make sure that we kind of capture that trust
and, like, feeling OK in each other's presence.
And it was, you know, like the handheld camera, just
maintaining that sort of emotion with the handheld camera.
Sometimes a static camera might just feel a bit too rigid in
those moments. So handheld was very important,
working with long, longer focal lengths at times to maybe like
pinpoint specific moments in their intimacy scenes.
But otherwise we also used wider lenses, like very close to their
faces or very close to their hands or, you know, like using
shoulders in the foreground, trying to create a sense of
depth, but also like a sense of a journey, you know, because
there is not only, you know, like the, the, there's more to
the intimacy scenes than the actual intimacy is also the
trust that they build, you know, between each other.
So just sort of like witnessing that with a camera and, you
know, kind of capturing snippets of their conversations.
And yeah, that was again, like interesting to do with, you
know, being close with a camera to them.
Yeah, I, I definitely do love, I, I like what you said about
the depth and like kind of the close up chops of like their
hands or their shoulders when they're kind of like
transitioning throughout the intimacy scenes.
Because I agree with you. It's it, it, it goes back to
what you're saying about like the character focusedness of all
of that versus like just the aesthetic of what is happening.
So I, I do appreciate that variety.
It really does make it very impactful and more intimate like
you're saying. Yeah.
And I guess like when it came to the to the lighting side of it,
we didn't want to make it very dark, but we wanted to maintain
that balance between, you know, just creating something that
feels a little bit more Moody. And, you know, when it came to
the tea stop, we were just shooting quite shallow.
So the backgrounds are quite out of focus.
And then the idea behind that was to really kind of capture
the gentleness between them, you know, so the image feels soft
and, and, and inviting. So that was the approach
throughout the intimacy scenes, really.
And we worked also with a brilliant intimacy coordinator,
which we also had on board on Season 2.
So there were, there were, there was also a journey, you know,
like between us working together and, and knowing what we can do
together. And that's really important.
And also David, as an intimacy coordinator, he'd really
understood, you know, like where the camera needs to be and
building those moments for the camera.
Sometimes, you know, when you're filming intimacy, it's it almost
feels like a dance. So there's like steps to it,
right? So then you're, you have to also
work for the camera to make sure that those angles work.
But at the same time, you know, like we didn't really, we didn't
really impose that much restriction.
You know, like when he came to, hey, you have to be here and,
and look there for the camera. It was more like sort of in a
documentary way, right, where they're having their moment and
we're there to capture it. And we looked at very specific
references of, you know, how, you know, like certain skills
were composed. And we thought this is very
gentle and intimate. I think we should have a similar
approach. So like between me and my
operator and and the director on Season 3, we just made sure that
again, there's this kind of like continuity between the intimacy
scenes, but again, just letting them do their thing rather than
like being too strong, you know, like on the tech and focusing
too much on the technical side. Yeah, seems like there's a
there's a balance that has to kind of be struck between all of
that so that it, it reads as authentic and natural, like when
you get the final product basically, which it does, it
really does. All right.
You've mentioned that in previous interviews that like
one of your references for the intimacy teams was like Blue is
the Warmest Color. And I'm wondering how how you
kind of took like a reference like that and translated the
elements that you liked into heart Stopper?
Yeah, I mean, when I'm looking at references, like I try to be
very careful how much I'm looking at films.
And that was an exception because I felt like blue was the
Blue is the Warmest Color was like beautifully captured, you
know, like the intimacy and the closeness between the main
characters was like very beautifully created, you know,
with a camera. And that was just for me as a
kind of tone and tone and, and kind of visual reference.
But I didn't really think, oh, they've done it like that and
I'm going to do it like this. It was just, you know, something
that inspires me and raises questions that are, you know,
like I'm applying those ideas and questions to the script that
I'm working with. But I'm, I'm always very mindful
of looking at other people's work and trying to take it like
in a very literal reference because, you know, without
realizing your mind and, you know, you might end up like
copying somebody's work or, and I, I really don't like that
particularly because every script is different.
The actors are different, the situations are different, but I
feel like that film was beautifully achieved when it
came to like, you know, how free the whole, you know, like the
the actor's movement was and how spontaneous the scenes felt.
And I really liked that. So it was maybe like the spirit
of the camera work that I that I sort of embraced from that film.
And generally I like to look at stills.
I find stills again like very character focused because often
I'm looking at portraits or documentary photography that
involves people in real situations.
And that's to me like more inspiring than particularly like
looking at like certain films or like very specific scenes from
other film makers work. Yeah.
So like Speaking of references, so this this project too, it
comes from the graphic novel. So they're kind of like a visual
reference, reference material prior to like the show coming
out. So I'm curious, how did Alice's
original artwork influence your cinematography choices like at
all? Or were there any specific
moments from the novels you tried to recreate on screen that
you were inspired by? Yeah, definitely.
I mean, Alice's work is very strong visually.
She's got, she's very talented as an artist and as a as a
storyteller. And I really loved her framing
and I felt like she was very, she frames in a very similar way
like I do. But obviously in when you're
drawing things out, you, you have a lot more flexibility in
creating maybe like stronger perspectives that are not
necessarily like as easily achieved in real life.
Although we did, I feel like we did really push to try to get as
close as match to what Alice was drawing.
Like particularly on season 2. We were following the the
graphic novel like very, I guess like very strictly when when we
could. And we were trying to match what
Alice was drawing, you know, like she had a like a trip to
Paris for her research and that informed her drawing.
And then the director and I, Eros, we were looking at her
drawings. And when we were, let's say in
the Louvre, we were like, OK, yeah, that's the image.
This is what we're trying to create, thinking of the lenses,
thinking of the angles. Whereas with Season 3, we did
follow it carefully, but we were not as specific with, I guess,
like recreating like very specific images from the graphic
novel or not as often. There's like not one scene that
comes to my mind now from Season 3 where we were like, oh, it
needs to be exactly this. Like maybe the beginning of the
season, you know, with Tori in her room.
But yeah, we were more looking at how, you know, how the how do
the images feel and Alice's work and how does inspire that, You
know, if how does it inspire us to frame and what are the
angles? And we kind of maintained a very
similar approach like in Season 2, right?
Like we use the wide lenses. We had a lot of low angles or a
lot of top angles, which are, you know, these are very
specific to graphic novels and we'd really embrace that.
And I, I feel like it worked very well for both seasons, but
I, I think it was more season 2 where we were trying to
replicate like very specifically what Alice was drawing.
But I think apart from that, like in Alice's work, there's a
playfulness and again, like there's a closeness to the
characters which really spoke to me.
And when I decided to, you know, to interview for her stopper, it
was, you know, like through her novels because the scripts were
not available at that time. You know, it were it was very
like an early stage. So I read like, I read them so
fast. I was like so involved in the
storytelling and I really enjoyed it.
And I was like, I really want to know more.
And, and that was a lot of fun, you know, for me to discover and
such an amazing, you know, source of inspiration for ADP to
have that. Yeah, I can't even imagine like
it. It must be nice in general to
have like some kind of reference material when doing fiction, to
be like, OK, I have the book, but to have like the graphic
novel with like the visual component must be something else
because that's not always the case when you're adapting work.
Yeah, I know 100%. And there was already a vision
in her work, you know? She already.
Framed that world, she already framed that world, and it was
very interesting for me to discover that through her eyes.
And I think she's also very original, you know, artist, like
she frames in such a beautiful way and in quite an
unconventional way too, which I really, really like.
Yeah, I do. I love that so much.
Something else that we really love about, I mean, her novels
are great, but about the show in particular is there's a lot of
what we call like pride flag Easter eggs throughout the show.
So I'm just curious, how did you use color to reinforce themes
like characters, identities like throughout the show?
Yeah, I guess, like, I personally feel close to the
community because of, you know, like close friends of mine or,
you know, I've worked in the past on other short films that
had similar themes or gay characters in it.
So I was like, very, in a way, like very comfortable in the
world, right? So it wasn't something new to me
that I needed to discover. And generally like I, I have a
passion for color and I tried to implement color and lighting as
much as I can. So for me, Heart stopper was
just such a, you know, great playground where I could use
color to really, I guess, like bring something of the
playfulness of the community and the world and originality.
And particularly in Season 2, I made sure that, for instance,
the the prom in episode 8, like my theme was like the rainbow
color. So there was just so much color
all over, you know, and that was a lot of fun to play with, you
know, like, you know, that you don't often have that
opportunity in film. You have to stay true to the
story. And if the story doesn't allow
you to use that strong color in the way Hardstopper did, you
can't really force it. Or if you do force it, it
doesn't feel honest. So for me, Hard Stopper was just
such a great opportunity to really play with the things I
loved. You know, those those are things
that I used in my work before, but I could bring it to a new
scale and also open it to like a much larger audience.
So it was particularly through using color and lighting.
And there's a very short moment between Tao and Al where they
have their first kiss. They're running around in the
Paris hotel and I used two light sources that I put in a rainbow
mode with. We chose particular colors.
So if you look as those shots, their, their shadows are all
colorful. So you don't really achieve that
effect. You know, like normally you
wouldn't have that much color in the shadow.
And I, I used a similar technique again in season 3 when
we we filmed an intimacy scene between Tau and Elle and I use
the same lighting, but to a much bigger scale.
We'd like. We created a rig that had a lot
of austerity tubes and we dialed in very specific colors.
So again, we get a lot of color in the shadow.
So, you know, just trying to I guess like remind people of the
pride flag and somewhere or another, but you know, sometimes
it's just very subtle and sometimes it's really out there,
like in the prom. And you just gave me another
reason to go back and watch Hardstopper to look for.
So Tell and Elsie, it's out. That's so.
I just love everything about that.
I'm glad you brought up the prom scene because yeah, that's when
you think of like, the rainbow lighting.
That's probably the biggest one that comes to most people's
minds. So I'm curious, how did the
lighting design come together given that nearly 90 sources of
light were used like which is wild.
Yeah, I think we had even more than that.
I mean, first of all, it was a very large space.
We had a lot of extras. You know, like we really
reproduced like a teenager's teenager's prom to the regal
scale. I think we had like over 100
extras plus our cast. So, you know, when it comes to
the actual number of sources, it's also in relation to the
space that you're lighting. And what I did is I, I built a
lighting diagram that I presented to my gaffer who
helped me achieve, you know, the whole setup.
So I, I made sure that I'm, you know, communicating all the
colors that I wanted and we just dialed those in into the sources
of light. So we almost exclusively worked
with LED lights with the exception of of some moving
lights, which are very often used in, you know, like stage
shows or parties and concerts. But the LED's are amazing
because you can change the intensity of light easily.
You can dim up and down, change the, you know, change the
colors, change the saturation of the colors.
So again, like I was thinking about the palette that I want
and also made sure that there is sort of like a a concept to when
it comes to, oh, this is the corner where they take the
photos, you know, like they come in and then there's this really
lovely area where they take photographs together.
So then that had a very specific color palette.
When we went to the stage, you know, the concert, there was a
lot of red and generally a lot warmer colors.
So I made sure that I just again, like communicated to my
gaffer that all of that needs to be programmed.
We also worked with the desk operator who was brilliant.
He, he was so fast. And again, they make sure that
from a technical point of view, all of these colors are dialed
in into, into the lights themselves, into the sources of
light. So then everything sort of like
has, you know, has a continuity and, and that, you know, like a
purpose together. So if if you don't have that, it
might just be a little bit, you know, I don't know, it kind of
doesn't make sense or it doesn't really kind of give the message
out to the audience. And yeah, I guess like the
number of of sources also came from the necessity of lighting a
really large space. We even used UV lighting, which
was a lot of fun and you know, some of the characters costumes
like the other outfits had some uvi guess like paint on them or
even the makeup. So then that would react to the,
you know, to the UV light. So that was that was a lot of
fun. So, you know, we worked closely
with the costume designer, with the makeup artists to make sure
that those little details are there, even though, again,
they're very subtle, like some people might not even notice
them. Again, another reason to go back
and watch that scene. That's really cool.
Like to be able to play with the light and the costume, that's
super fun. Yeah, it's nice to see, you
know, like the two elements interact.
Yeah. No, absolutely.
And yeah, I'm glad you mentioned like that, that that was just
such a big scene just in general, cause like the scale of
the location and it sounds like there was so many moving pieces
in that particular scene out of necessity for what you were
trying to achieve and all the different areas that you
mentioned. So it sounds like that was a
pretty technically difficult like shot or like scene, but
were there any other like technically difficult shots that
you had to pull off in like season 2 or 3?
I guess like technically they were not very challenging.
Like there's very specific shots.
For instance, in season 3, there's a moment between Nick
and Charlie there and The Art Room.
They're, you know, and they're in the corner on the floor and
that's such a tender moment and a lot of vulnerability is there.
So I suggested to Andrew that to, to Andy that we just don't
break the shot. We just continually track
towards them again, just to build up that emotion, right.
And I wanted again, a very wide lens, but I didn't want, you
know, the lens to get tighter as I'm like getting closer to them.
So I use the zoom lens to try to maintain like a very similar
size frame as I'm getting closer to them with the camera.
So the camera was on track. The camera was on Steadicam and
we were able to also zoom at the same time to make sure that
we've maintained that white perspective even though the
camera was traveling and getting closer to them.
So that was something a little bit more technical or, you know,
the summer FET in Season 3, there was a lot of crane work,
particularly around the Ferris wheel when Charlie and Tori are
in the, you know, in the seats together.
We had this, you know, like 45 foot Scorpio techno crane where
we were able to put the camera very, very high and really
follow their conversation again without interrupting the scene,
even though the, the scene got edited later with, you know,
with close-ups and the, the medium shot.
We wanted to, you know, like let the actors do their thing.
And the camera was really following the movement of the
Ferris wheel again, which the scale is big.
So those are the the technical aspects of achieving those shots
that we don't really talk about that often.
I can't even imagine trying to track a Ferris wheel right.
I don't like Phil. We had a very good operator.
He was great. So, yeah, like you need, you
know, like besides having a very specific vision on what you want
to achieve, you need also a great crew that first of all,
like gets you and is there to support you.
And that's the brilliant thing about Heart Stopper.
We did really gather some amazing people, you know, behind
camera. And I feel like you can really
feel that in the TV show, Like there was a lot of, you know,
warmth and sense of community between us as as the crew.
And I think that, you know, speaks volumes.
Yeah, no, I I agree. That's something we comment on
all the time where it just really feels like a cohesive
team put this together and everybody gave like 110% to
whatever their job was because it's just so right.
Like everything's high value about it and it just, it works
so well, like every element. It's just that's what makes it
special to us at least. Yeah, people work very hard and
not only that, they actually really care.
And I think that's super important.
And particularly, you know, when I'm choosing my crew, for me,
it's very important that people really want to be there and work
on that project because everybody brings in an energy
that contributes. So yeah, you have to, you have
to really have passion. Yeah, it definitely shines
through. So I want to go back to the the
the Paris scenes that you kind of talked about earlier.
So you mentioned that you actually did get to film at
iconic landmarks, like you mentioned the Eiffel Tower and
also the Louvre. But often times like filming in
those locations can come with a lot of limitations because like
it's historic and stuff. So how did you adapt to like,
the constraints of filming in those locations just because of
the location itself? Yeah, I mean, that's a good
question. That's something that we always
have to do, you know, to an extent or another, depending on
what the location is. Like, particularly in Paris, we
were filming I Want to Stay there in July or, you know, it
was basically high season. Like tourists were there and
people are just so keen and so busy.
But actually the location people were just so amazing, allowing
us to access we need obviously within a time frame.
So for us, what was really important to first of all, like
prioritize, like what is the scene really about?
Making sure that we capture that.
And you know, we were very organized, you know, from a
practical point of view, how do we get access to the location?
When do we start filming? We also had an incredible first
AD, which is such a brilliant mind and such a great organizer
and just us generally working very closely as a, as a team and
within my department, communicating closely to my
focus puller to my other operator, making sure we're at
the right, in the right place at the right time, and just
allowing the actors and the director to do their thing.
And again, like when it came to making sure that we made the
best of the time, the director and I really went through those
scenes and we were like, what is essential here?
What were, what are we trying to say?
What is this location giving us and making sure that we fit in
within that time? And by some miracle, we pulled
it off and we had access 2 mornings in a row.
But what was crazy is that on our first morning on the Eiffel
Tower, we were on the 2nd floor. So like the highest floor on the
tower. And we arrived there around like
5:30 in the morning anyway. You know, there's sunrise
happening and then there's just like very heavy fog that would
not go away. And we only had maybe from like
7730 until 9:00 in the morning to film there.
So we really wanted to make the best out of the time, but then
it was just so foggy. So we we found a, you know, a
way around it. I'm not sure can you even feel
that in the in the shots, but. We also let it down so it feels
a little bit sunnier. But yeah, that was like 1
situation where we had to make the best out of it.
On our 2nd morning there, it was just the most beautiful
sunlight. So we were rewarded and that was
just great to, you know, like we got some beautiful fares and the
camera and everybody really felt the energy of that like sunny
morning. Oh, Sierra, I've lost it there.
I cannot hear you anymore. Sorry, I'm dog barking, I said.
It's also be at work. And just part of that is like a
beautiful sunrise off the Eiffel Tower.
Like, I can't even imagine what that's like.
No, that was very special, like one of those things that you
won't forget, you know? I'll bet.
So what is 1 technique or lesson you learn from working on Hard
Stopper that you'll take forward into future projects?
That's interesting. I feel like with every project
you learn something. There was not no like specific
lesson that I'm like, oh, I didn't know this before and now
I know. I think it's more to do with how
you work together with your team.
I think it's just very important, particularly in my
possession position as a, as a leader, you know, of the camera
department lighting is to make sure that people feel connected
to what we're shooting and there's communication between US
and create that closeness, you know, within my crew to it to
feel like everybody's just working together for something.
And I could really see it, you know, happening in front of my
eyes, like people really feeling passionate about it.
And I guess like, I want to make sure that that happens on every
project that I work on. And I do connect closely with my
crew as well as with the cast. That's really important.
Honestly, that that's like the dream scenario for like every
job. Like to carry that through that
would be incredible. Yeah, I I think so.
And I think that it does really show like even outside of
filmmaking and every type of job that you do, when you have that
kind of closeness with your team, it just makes the whole
journey and the work a lot more joyful.
Yeah, absolutely. So Speaking of like joy, what
was the most rewarding part of working on Heart Stopper for
you? For me, it was my communication
with the audience, really it was the the people's response to
what we were doing and the love, you know, that we were getting
from the audience. And I guess also seeing that ATV
show, like Heartstopper can bring a lot of joy and maybe
like a means of for people to understand themselves a little
bit better, particularly with very young audiences.
I'm not sure how much people are taught in school about emotional
intelligence, accepting yourself, loving yourself, being
there for your friends or, you know, being supported by your
family. I think the message from Heart
Stopper and seeing that, you know, like being given to the
audience and the audience responding to that, that's been
like the greatest, you know, like the greatest gift of being
involved in a, in a project like this.
And I still see it happening. You know, like I put a picture
of our cast on on Instagram, people are really responding.
And it's not so much, you know, it's not just the love for the
cast, but I think it's also the love for what the show
represents that people respond to.
And I, I think that's really, that's really amazing.
And you know, quite new for me as ADP because you don't get
that I guess opportunity often. That honestly is the most
beautiful response I've ever heard of why working on a show
is rewarding. So I'm really happy you got that
experience. And like again, just thank you
in general for putting so much passion and expertise and hard
work into hard stopper. It really, it really, it really
comes through. It's such a beautiful television
show for so many. That's amazing.
Yeah. I'm really happy that people
feel, feel that. And yeah, it's been a a pretty
amazing experience to be a part of it.
That's. Great.
Well, those are all the questions I have for you today.
Simone, I want to thank you again for taking the time to
talk to us and share your experience working on Heart
Stopper. For all the listeners at home
that may want to follow your career, connect with you, is
there a way they can follow you on the Internet or anything?
Yeah, I'm, I'm active on social media, on Instagram.
I'm there, you know, often or there's my website with my work
online if people want to see it very often British
cinematographer might write about my work and they've been
very generous, you know, covering Hard Stopper both
seasons. So yeah, that's where it can.
That's where people can find me all.
Right. Awesome.
Well, thank you again. We really appreciate it.
To the listeners at home, make sure you watch Hard Soccer if
you haven't. I don't know why you're here if
you haven't, but you should. So until next time, hydrate for
lesbian Jesus and get up all over the place.
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