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

Find No Film School everywhere:

On the Web

https://nofilmschool.com/

Facebook 

https://www.facebook.com/nofilmschool

Twitter 

https://twitter.com/nofilmschool

YouTube 

https://www.youtube.com/user/nofilmschool

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/nofilmschool

Send us an email with questions or feedback: [email protected]!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices