PETER HADFIELD “NEEDS” CINEMATOGRAPHY

“I feel a tremendous amount of privilege just to be in a room with a camera.” That’s the kind of statement you want to hear from someone who professes to love filmmaking. Like most creative art forms, if you are in it for the money…well, you will likely give up within your first year. The years that it takes to hone your skills, to make connections in the industry (even when you are highly skilled), the long days (often without a paycheck in the early years), it’s just not worth it; nor is it designed for the faint of heart and constitution. As they say, “If it was easy, everybody would do it.” The entry sentence of this articles was a quote from Canadian cinematographer Peter Hadfield. Hadfield has a respected history of work (including 2013’s I Saw You — Official Selection of the Vancouver Film Festival, and Vimeo Staff Pick “It’s Okay, I Promise” by Harrison x/Clairmont the Second [a mini film in its own right], among others) and is the type of professional who looks for these challenging vehicles with which to prove himself. When Scott Cudmore (director) offered him the chance to work on a video using an Arri Alexa plus with an Angenieux Optimo 24–290mm zoom lens (the same lens used on HBO’s Game of Thrones, which makes the camera four feet long once it is completely built) …well, that’s professional camera porn for a cinematographer like Peter. That was the hook which lured Hadfield in as cinematographer on the video for “Needs” by Odonis Odonis. A listen to the song’s visceral, futuristic, and haunting tone, plus a meeting in which Cudmore discussed the vibe he wanted for the video, further cemented Peter’s resolve to be involved. Having worked with the director before, Hadfield knew that he was in for a lot of work and an interesting ride.

Hadfield admits that when given the option of a plot driven/art piece video vs a performance video, he will always choose the former. Advancements in technology have empowered many more filmmakers to channel budgets into thought provoking “mini-films” with a built in soundtrack via the modern music video. For “Needs” the filmmakers wanted to stretch that much further than the norm. Peter explains, “We wanted the video to have a tone of despair and hopelessness. The idea behind the video, that was consciously not overtly conveyed, was that as the world is crumbling, old, rich, powerful white men still haven’t given up their power in a failing system. Their power over minorities and women is conveyed by the race and gender of the AI (in the board room there is one dark skinned AI and another female AI). In short, the video is about control, the patriarchy, and the horrifying direction the world seems to be headed in. Perhaps a little alarmist, but that’s what I see and feel. I don’t want to speak for Scott [Cudmore], but I think that’s what he sees too.” When Cudmore discussed the “Needs” video with NPR he commented, “Old, entitled white men. This is a video about them and the system of oppression and exploitation that they’ve created to serve their…well, needs, which are usually money and power. I’m looking at this through the lens of science fiction, but I wanted to depict that power structure breaking down finally. Breaking down internally. There’s no linear narrative, and you are free to think of that aspect in any way, but each image is a depiction of this breakdown, as well as of repression, exploitation, and desperation.” Making use of the aforementioned Angenieux Optimo lens, in one scene there’s a long zoom into a young white man sitting at a table with two other older men. He’s fidgeting with a pen, clicking it over and over. As a member of the elite in the video, the filmmakers used the pen to show this man’s power over technology, and his power over the two AI robots that are standing in front of him. This and other ideas are discussed beforehand between director and cinematographer but, once on set, it’s Peter’s job to make sure things come into place for the shot. He remarks, “Once we’re on set I have my team in lighting and camera that help me bring these ideas to life. I put in the time with them as well, explaining the ideas behind each shot… what we’re trying to achieve in each scene. That gets everyone on board and working in the same direction. I feel that when the crew sees my excitement for the project, it’s infectious. It’s important to get the team excited and focused on making harrowing images of Artificial Intelligence. These are the leadership and management qualities that come with being a cinematographer that are so important.”

While many might think a cinematographer’s job is to walk up to the camera and make sure it is in focus, this is incredibly far from the truth, especially when it comes to Hadfield. Peter did immense prep work for “Needs.” Sketching frames and lighting set-ups, drawing the characters and props and then marking the shadows on their faces to reverse engineer the shot to see where the light was coming from, and finally deciding what kind of light would be used and with what type of modification (diffusion, color, etc.); all of these were game day prep work for this cinematographer. One of the most important tools which Cudmore and Hadfield discussed was a very stylized use of color. Peter describes, “The music video is science fiction, so we wanted to give it an intense look. We wanted to make it other-worldly and sickening at points. For example, the AI man who is starting to rot on the subway, I wanted to fill the subway with green to give his skin and sickly and unhealthy look. Red was chosen for the retro operating table because in the non-linear story the woman with the black hair is the first created AI. Red for an alarm, for passion, for emergency. There was always an idea behind which color to use for each scene. To figure out which hues to mix, I would take photos of landscapes or nature and put them into Photoshop. I would then open the hue tool in Photoshop and throw all the colors out of whack, but proportionate to the natural hues of the photo. I’d dial the augmented color in until I found a mixture of hues that I felt would work.” The video’s director approached Peter because of this proactive approach to creativity. Cudmore explains, “I’ve worked with Peter before and he is a truly fantastic cinematographer. He is always a great collaborator, unafraid to try new things and new ways of creating images. No matter the type of project that we are working on, he always brings a great perspective to it. His sense of composition and understanding of light makes him somebody I know I can trust and rely on. I have never been less than thrilled with the results of his work.”

Viewing “Needs” by Odonis Odonis is entertaining, provocative, and disturbing at times; which is exactly what Hadfield, Cudmore, the production team, and the band wanted. Sometimes art can be pleasant and sometimes painful…to experience AND to make. Peter confirms, “We had a piece of gear called a ‘microforce’ which enables you to do these slow, composed zoom-ins. The model of microforce we had was as a little older, and the switch you have to use to control the zoom with your thumb was really rough metal. By the end of the two day shoot my thumb was raw from all the zoom ins!” A viewing of this amazing video will help one to appreciate the well-earned discomfort of cinematographer Peter Hadfield.