How 'The Creator' DP Challenges Big Budget Filmmaking with an Indie Mindset

Can you make a big budget, sci-fi film that isn’t a franchise, or a sequel, or a reboot, and tackle it using an indie mindset? That’s what the team behind the film, The Creator did. The film, which tells a story about war between humanity and artificial intelligence, is currently in theaters.

In today’s episode, No Film School’s Charles Haine speaks with DP Oren Soffer to discuss:

Being offered a co-dp position on the film
How shooting on one lens made the VFX much easier to work with
The differences in lenses over time that affect their consistency
Leaning into natural light as much as possible
Wanting to maintain the creative energy of guerilla style filmmaking
How the project originally got the green light from the studio
Working in a very trusting environment
Looking at tons of references images the director pulled from

Memorable Quotes

“The visual effects approach was designed to fit the footage and not the opposite.” [6:53]
“What do we need to add or subtract from that lighting to create a more curated lighting environment?” [22:04]
“The filmmaking process itself felt really scrappy in the best way possible.” [36:39]

Resources:

The Creator

Oren’s website

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