Conrad W Hall

Conrad W Hall - Cinematographer (Panic Room, Olypmus Has Fallen)

This interview goes into depth about Conrad Hall’s range of artistic styles across his films, notably ‘Panic Room’ and ‘Olympus has Fallen’ and sheds light into why the cinematographer has made certain creative decisions. 

Panic room: 

• Gritty and gloomy look 
• For the most part, the film has a look of being largely unlit look, through its use of low contrast lighting. However the ambient lighting and few practical lights within the scene highlights the characters. 

• A key scene, whereby the two burglars turn on the work light, creates a high contrast look, with a lot of shadows cast. This gives the audience a break from the previous dim lighting and presumably maintain's their interest. 

• Conrad Hall makes it clear that the audience must be considered when making the film and thus the visual aesthetic is greatly important. 

Olympus has Fallen: 

• The jolted and swift camera movement captured the battlefield concept, enhancing the sense of chaos. 

• A lot of crane work, tracking the intense action and characters. 

The interview also demonstrated the respectful working relationship between the cinematographer and the director such as Conrad Hall's relationship with David Fincher. 

How this informed our film: 

• I have to communicate consistently with the director Lauren, collaboratively discussing the visual look for the film during the pre-production process and ensuring that she is happy. 
• The interview ultimately got me to question what the visual style of our film is and how this will serve as a storytelling device, as well as satisfying the audience. 
• I learned that a film needs a sense of dynamism to maintain the audience's engagement with the film. In Panic Room (2002), this was shown through a change from dim lighting to high contrast lighting, as Conrad W Hall mentions ''the audience needed a break" and to "get into a new space". In our film, this can be captured through a change in lighting and setting by arranging  high contrast lighting set-ups for the scenes when Michael is at home, to the scenes outside, filmed in natural daylight, when Michael finds happiness.