By Matt Mulcahey
Translator: Yi Ersan
Proofreader: Qin Tian
Source: Filmmaker (December 21, 2021)
Based on Thomas Savage's 1920s novel of the same name, Canine Power is Jane Campion's return to the silver screen after 12 years.
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Cinematographer Ali Wegener spent an entire year with the director: they spent weeks scouting the distant South Island of New Zealand to understand the light of the season they were going to shoot; they also shared a lot of references, from Andrew Weiss's paintings to Robert Bresson's films to Evelyn Cameron's photographs taken at the turn of the century.
In the final month before filming began, they hid in a cabin near the film's location and drew a storyboard for the entire film. They would draw in the morning and audition scenes to find problems, walk to the set where work was still underway to take pictures, and go back to revise the storyboard.
Even after a long, meticulous preparation, Wegener found that Campion was still able to burst inspiration from time to time. During the two-week quarantine, she found inspiration in the way light entered her room; before filming, she found that shaking her old sweater in front of the camera would fill the air with dust; and when the cattle herders in the film walked past the cattle, they would naturally separate like the Red Sea.
Q: I want to start with the storyboard you just mentioned. What images were taken from the storyboard you drew at the beginning? And what are the ones that are out of the plan, or that you are playing on the spot?
Wegener: One of the step-by-step scenes is when Peter (Curtie Smit-McPhee) ends the film staring at the rope given to him by Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch), which is in the foreground of the picture. This is what we imagined from the beginning.
There are also many scenes of impromptu performance, including a scene at the end of the film where Peter stands alone on the ranch. This is a shot with a very long focal length, and the Burbank brothers' ranch house appears very small in the center of the picture, with a continuous mountain range lying on the edge of the frame. In fact, what we were expecting at the time was another shot—waiting for a little light after dark to shoot Phil coming out of the tavern because our tavern and ranch house were built in the same place.
It was very windy and people could hardly stand. I went to the bathroom halfway through, and as I walked out, an indescribable ray of light fell on the house behind the camera. At that point, we've actually finished filming the house and the crew is demolishing it in preparation for the next scene. So, there was a team of construction workers crawling on it, throwing some broken wood down, and there were a lot of staff vehicles and various props in the way.
In fact, we did not build the roof of the house. The roof and chimney are extended through special effects, and it can be said that any shot of the house involves visual effects. I thought to myself, if I could photograph the mountain and the house in the center, the rest could be solved later. It was very windy, and we were using a lens with a very long focal length, and you could see that the picture was vibrating, so we had to use human power to support the camera.
It's one of my favorite shots of the whole film, and it comes at a very special moment when you suddenly look at this ranch from a different angle. Until that moment, the place had been filled with tension, but now there was a sense of peace. At the time of shooting, I didn't know where the shot would be placed, but I knew very well that the shot was symbolic and beautiful.
Q: I've seen this movie twice, and the first shot you just mentioned — Peter staring at the rope — would feel very different if you re-watched it a second time.
Wegener: Absolutely. It's a pleasure that you brushed up on this movie, which was one of Jane's biggest wishes when jane and I made the movie. We wanted to find a way for viewers to go out of their way to re-watch the film and have a different experience every time they watch it. We wanted to feel like we were eating a dish with changing flavors every time we rewatched. We also have this in mind when designing and selecting lenses.
Q: Phil is strong on the outside and weak on the inside, but Peter is the opposite. In the film, Phil's first two shots are in a panoramic shot of Burbank Farm— a tracking shot from the location of the stables, showing Phil and the mountains in the distance, followed by a second shot of Phil walking toward the house. As for Peter, first a close-up of a few sheets of paper, and then a close-up of him making the paper into a flower. How did you conceive of the way these two characters appear?
Wegener: With regard to the character of Phil, we wanted the audience to feel his presence in this place and that this place was part of his identity. Even the way he walked carried a sense of power or ownership. We believe that even in a panoramic shot, the viewer can feel this from his posture as well as his appearance. At first, you may think he's a standard cowboy, a rancher— much of what the camera deliberately constructs— but later on, you'll gradually overturn your original views.
Peter fiddled with the paper flowers, giving the impression that he was very delicate, gentle, and meticulous. Jane always said that she wanted to show his innocence from the first shot. Peter was in the middle of a boy's and a man's stage, and there was still a hint of childishness left in him. He also has a feminine temperament, which we plan to convey in his first close-up shots, the lovely eyes that flash in his eyes. In fact, the inspiration for this shot came from the two weeks I was quarantined on my way back to New Zealand (we resumed filming after the lockdown due to the pandemic ended).
I was alone in a room for two weeks, and one day, as the sun shone into the room, I saw the effect of that vision in my own eyes. Finally, you can see the shadows of Curty's beautiful eyelashes and paper flowers in this picture. Therefore, we also set the audience's expectations and presets for the characters through imagery again.
Q: The paper-cut footage is another example of a different meaning that I found when I re-watched it, and the cropped strips of paper bear a striking resemblance to the leather strips that Phil pulled to make the rope. Peter also cuts the sheet music, and the piano becomes Phil's tool to torture Rose (Kerstin Dunst). In addition, Phil's first shot—the tracking shot looking out from the stable position—was repeated again the last time we saw Phil appear at the ranch.
Wegener: Yeah, I like to use repetitive shots or compositions to remind the audience how much has changed. That's the magic and power of movies, and your brain remembers, "Oh, I seem to have seen this scene." Then you subconsciously think that the world now is very different from the world you saw last time.
Q: You've said in other interviews that, in a way, it's a monster movie, and Phil is that monster. Some of the footage in the Burbank Brothers' house almost makes it seem like a Gothic horror movie. Are most of the indoor scenes that happen in the house filmed in the studio?
Wegener: The few indoor spaces we built on location were the kitchen and the denim dining room. The rest of the chamber scenes were shot in a studio in Auckland, with some Gothic culture and film noir. Art director Grant Major created this house for us.
One of the biggest challenges of shooting in the studio, especially when the main set is a very expansive landscape, is to create a feeling of not being in the studio. We need dust that we usually see in the air. I often jump out before shooting, slapping and shaking things like old pillows to fill the air with dust. I have a sweater, and if necessary, I take it off and throw it around in the air before I start shooting. (Laughs) I'm sure there were a lot of funny shots in between shots that recorded me doing stupid things.
Q: There's one more shot that I really like. When the Burbank brothers first rode into Beachtown, the taverns they saw looked very different from the bars in the classic Westerns. In this panoramic shot, Phil's helpers cast deep shadows, and a cowboy lights a cigarette in the foreground that looks like a painting by Caravaggio.
Wegener: Maybe because I'm Australian, I'm used to this kind of scene, where the summer sun shines outside, and by the time I get inside, everything gets extra dark. For me, the feeling is very real. Then we designed the amber windows to bring a warm, yellow glow into the interior scene. I love the darkness around me, but I also have some flickering light in the picture, especially the eyes of the characters, or the details of the wine glasses on the bar.
Q: So how did you get the Moulin Rouge restaurant out of Rose? Although it is also a scene built inside the studio, the overall appearance is very close to the state of natural light.
Wegener: For panoramic shots that can be seen outside the window, we placed the background of a printed panoramic photograph taken by VFX supervisor Jason Hawkins in the South Island, New Zealand. We printed them on giant vinyl billboards and then moved them around the studio according to the orientation of the windows. First, I'll give them a little light so that I can reflect some light into the room. Then we'll introduce some artificial sunlight.
For me, the truth is imperfect, so we let the sun shine in in a strange way. If something feels too perfect, I tend to make a mess of it. We then used a Leko top lamp to light the flowers Peter had placed on the table and bounced them onto the Cine Reflect Lighting System. It's terrible to see Phil pick up those flowers, because from the first act of Peter's appearance, you know how hard he cares about them. And when Phil gets interested in them, you know something's wrong.
Q: Christian Bergerje is the only cinematographer I've talked to who uses a cinematic reflective system, a system of different mirrors. Are you using it more for special scenarios, like the top lights of the flowers just mentioned, or are you using it in some key scenes as well?
Wegener: I use it a lot. Many years ago, I met Jacob Balinje, Christian's lighting engineer, who introduced me to the system. Overall, I love reflected light, so I use them whenever possible. This is a magical tool. When we shoot in the South Island, we often use them outdoors to change the direction of sunlight. Sunlight is too strong, and I think the best way to fight it is to go with the flow. When you have these mirrors, you can direct the sunlight wherever you want.
Q: The dinner scene where Rose was going to play the piano for her guests was almost unbearable. Before she leaves the table to play, there are two wonderful shots.
In the first shot, from the piano room's point of view, we see the guests lifting their respective chairs and moving them into the room, while Rose sits alone at the dining table, the light on the top shining on her like a spotlight. Then the camera pans around, and Rose sits at the table in the foreground, while the guests in the background sit in their chairs.
Wegener: Jane and I talked a lot about how to shoot that scene and how we resonated with the audience from Rose's experience. I think that's why it's unbearable, because it's unbearable for her. It was the worst nightmare she had ever suffered. Like you said, the spotlight hits her, and there seems to be a crosshair on her, in fact, she is on the crosshairs of the whole picture.
It wasn't in the original script, but we came up with the idea on the spot, and the guests all laid out their seats in a dignified manner, leaving her there alone, ready to watch the play, until she had no choice, nothing to do, and walked to the piano. You'll really feel like all eyes are on her.
Q: Thomas Savage's novel begins with Phil's depiction of a cow castrated, but in the film, this scene takes place after Peter arrives at the ranch for a long stay. There's one shot that's great: Phil comes from a distance and walks straight to the camera, where all the cows in his way make way for him.
Wegener: This shot was inspired by our cattle herder Lyle, who was an American. He demonstrated the movement for us, through the herds, to separate them, and Jane asked him, "Do you think we can get Benedict to do this?" In general, to be on the safe side, we avoid getting actors close to a large number of animals. Animals are very intuitive, and they can sense whether you are firm and confident. They may or may not move.
It was really a pivotal moment for Benedict, where even the cow could sense Phil's energy and get out of the way.