Mandy / 2018

Look Inspiration
1980s action films
Hitcher, Black Rain, Cobra, Days of Thunder

Synopsis - In the Pacific Northwest in 1983, outsiders Red Miller and Mandy Bloom lead a loving and peaceful existence. When their pine-scented haven is savagely destroyed by a cult led by the sadistic Jeremiah Sand, Red is catapulted into a phantasmagoric journey filled with bloody vengeance and laced with deadly fire.

Look development

This was my 3rd feature collaboration with Benjamin Loeb (Hello Destroyer, King Cobra). Since Ben joined the project last-minute, we set up color with an expedited creative brainstorm and camera discussion - with that I prepared a few look concepts for him to keep in mind prior to shoot. Once the project moved into edit, I began working with both Ben and director, Panos Cosmatos to push those previous look directions in context of the film and we worked together to set much more extensive looks throughout. Panos had a clear vision of how extreme the look needed to be, along with some awesome 80s references including, Days of Thunder, Hitcher and Cobra - along with color grading, it was clear that some creative effects, flares and film texture were going to be imperative in order to fully realize the color story Panos had in mind. We pushed in bold color palettes, intensive grain and transformative color grading by way of technical channel mixing to dial up the intensity for a few specific scenes.

Director
Panos Cosmatos

Director of Photography
Benjamin Loeb