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Short Film

'Four'

A Dowager prepares for her birthday party.

“A Dowager prepares for her birthday party. A young couple are on the run. A mysterious man in black watches from the shadows. One evening. Four rooms.”

Lens/Camera Information
Lens series: Anamorphic/i SF
Focus lengths: 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 75mm, 100mm
Original Aspect Ratio: 1:2.40
Camera: Arri Alexa Mini
Format: Digital
Rental Company:  Emmyland https://emmyland.com

DOP Information
Director of Photography:  Paul MacKay http://www.paulmackay.co
Agent: Undercranked http://www.undercranked.net
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulmackaydop/
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/paulmackaydop

Production Information
Production: ‘Four’
Producers: Isabella Macpherson, Gala Gordon
Director: Jennifer Sheriden
Colourist: Chris Rodgers
Production Company: Platform Presents https://www.platformpresents.com

DOP Paul MacKay on his camera and lens choice:
“I’ve always been a huge fan of Cooke glass especially the S4’s and I was super excited to hear that a small local rental company called ‘Emmyland’ had secured the first set of Cooke SF Anamorphics in the UK. I had previously shot a lovely music video with the non SF’s and loved the look. Skin tones were accurate and cosmetically sharp, my blacks were solid and the images had a gorgeous organic quality. Essentially all the things I like about S4’s but anamorphic and with the addition of the iconic flare artefacts I was just waiting for the right project to come along.

When Jennifer Sheriden came to me with the script for ‘Four’ and we spoke about a modern Film Noir it made sense to push for the SF Cooke’s. Emmyland bent over backwards to provide me with the tools we needed for a very intense three day shoot at The Savoy hotel in London. We twinned the SF Anamorphics with two Arri Alexa Mini camera bodies one of which was permanently rigged on an Arri Trinity from operator James Poole. This allowed us to continue shooting without having to derig a camera and saved us so much time. The flexibility of the Trinity is extraordinary and even with a large lens James was able to navigate through some tight spaces and give us flowing stable shots from low to high. I feel the shoot was a great success and showcased off new equipment really well. I was never going for an overtly flare filled film but having the lens take on that nuance when it caught a light source just added another dimension to the quality of the image. I love the Cooke/Arri combination and my last feature ‘A Guide To Second Date Sex’ was shot on S4’s and the lenses shone in all situations. The Alexa sensor seems to love Cooke glass and renders skin tones so beautifully. As I’m mostly shooting human beings this is very handy indeed and I’ve has some really pleasing results too by adding some Black Satin or Glimmer Glass filters. This year I’ve shot on four different flavours of Cooke: S4’s, SF Anamorphics, TLS Rehoused S2/3’s and Cooke Classics and every time I can tell the images were captured on Cooke! ”