The Cinematography Podcast Episode 141: Cinematographer John Guleserian

Cinematographer John Guleserian has never liked to be pigeonholed into one genre. He's shot several romantic films, comedy movies and TV series, and with his latest film, Candyman, he can add horror movies to his skill set.

After attending film school at Columbia College in Chicago and then AFI, John worked on several small films and web series before the film Like Crazy launched his career. Most of the characters' lines were improvised- director Drake Doremus worked from an outline rather than a script, and he had actors Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin improvise their blocking as well. John and Doremus went through the film chronologically in preproduction, deciding on the basic shots they wanted for the film, shooting it mostly in sequence. Like Crazy went to the Sundance Film Festival and won the Grand Jury prize.

John ended up doing several romantic movies after Like Crazy. Director Richard Curtis (Love, Actually) saw the film, flew John to London and asked him to shoot About Time- John's favorite movie that he's worked on so far. On About Time, John felt he learned about keeping the camera balanced between taking in the scope of a beautiful location and set, while still maintaining the intimacy of the characters.

For Candyman, John was directly influenced by the 1992 movie and wanted it to look like the original. John began working on the movie with only about four or five weeks of prep, but he and director Nia DaCosta storyboarded and completely previsualized many of the sequences before shooting. In Candyman, reflections play a very important role and most of the art, windows and mirrors were prevised and carefully placed so that the reflections could be picked up by the camera. The visual effects team could then paint out the camera and adjust the Candyman's movement in the reflections.

Find John Guleserian: @johngules Instagram

You can see Candyman currently in theaters.

Close Focus: IATSE will move forward to vote on a strike authorization against the AMPTP (The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) for better working conditions and better pay. You can follow @ia_stories on Instagram to see real IATSE members' stories, learn what they are fighting for, and why they are voting on a strike authorization.

Ben and Illya's short end: NAB has been canceled. Also, Apple has unveiled their Apple 13 Pro Max, and their marketing campaign shows they're definitely targeting content creators and filmmakers.

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Sponsored by Aputure: Aputure announced a new light, the Nova P600c Panel Light, and you can pre-order one at Hot Rod Cameras.

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