Pre-Production: Cinematography Research - Micheal Trim

Moving from Drama to Mockumentary

Michael Trim. A cinematographer who has been
nominated and won awards for cinematography.

As cinematographer, my research took me to an article which explores the adaptations of a cinematographer moving from the drama genre to the mockumentary genre. Micheal Trim can be Orange is the new Black, Rock and Cavemen and has recently moved from his DoP work with the drama series Weed to the Mockumentary Parks and Recreation. This was the first time he's worked on a Mockumentary shoot, so what were the major differences in the shooting style between these genres? As our production is a Mockumentary and has elements of drama in, this article provides beneficial information for me in terms of understanding the general style of these genres.  Within the article, Micheal talks about:
defined as a successful cinematographer judging from his work on

"They don't mind that it looks rough"

The article first talks about how Micheal came into the first day of shooting thinking that he would walk into the production office thinking "If I'm going to get fired, let's just do it now" - not feeling overly confident. However, the producer said that his work was "fine" and that it looks good having rough cuts instead of everything as neat and organized compared to Michael's style in the series Weed. This shows how Mockumentary shooting is much more relaxed and more importantly realistic - it's almost essential for Mockumentaries to have rough cuts and some mistakes as it makes the shots seem more natural.

Michael then went on to quote that the shoot was with two cameras that "basically point at each other, keeping the other camera just out of frame." This also reinforces how Mockumentaries also rely on lots of coverage - by having two cameras basically pointing eachothr enables a  parallel perspective of viewing which enables the show to have a different angle and more importantly more coverage.

Freedom of Camera Movement

The article then went to investigate the diversion of freedom and camera movement. Michael loved the idea on how Mockumentaries are almost allowed to improvise with their shots, whilst Weed must stick to the shots they're given. For example, Michael quotes:

"I like when you see them focus or maybe zoom in a bit too late. It falls into that style. On a show like Weeds, the camera would generally pan over to a character and then they'd say their line. On this show, someone might start talking and the operator will whip over to them while they're already saying their line"

This furthermore shows how Mockumentaries MUST stick to this idea of being natural and realistic - the camera is there to follow the movement and the dialogue of the actors, following this idea of 'documenting' what is happening.

Difference in Lighting/Colour Tone

Also following this idea of staying natural, Michael explains how he had to remove an excessive amount of lighting compared to his lighting set up for Weed. He had to tell his DIT (Digital Imaging Technician) not to be concerned with some of the issues which she would typically deal with when filming Weed.  Michael then quotes:

"Of course, she wants to do the best she possibly can," he says of Corria, "but sometimes I might say, 'Just let that bright part go.' It fits with the rough edge of the show. And I tell her not to go crazy with the color correction on set, whereas with Weeds, I tried to deliver something that was 80 percent color corrected."

Therefore, Michael here explains how Mockumentaries are much more free with lighting and aren't dependent on it to form meanings for some shots, as it helps to fit with the "rough edge of the show".

Conclusion

All in all, this article helps to identify the cinematic style which Mockumentaries convey. It is clear that they are much less restricted in terms of camera movement and lighting so they follow this realistic approach, which seems to be very important.


Reference:
http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/news/news-articles/parks-and-recreation-cinematographer-michael-trim-adapts-mockumentary-style/412328