Hello everyone - it’s been a while! :)
We hope you’ve all been keeping safe and well during this difficult year. Our Director of Photography Michael Filocamo has taken residency on the Instagram account of The Australian Cinematographers Society, where we have launched a first glimpse at stills for Birthday Boy.
Here is what Michael had to say:
The story of 'Birthday Boy' really caught my attention. It's not often you see a lead character who's FTM (born female and transitions to male). Let alone a film that explores this identity at an all-girls private high school. It raises interesting questions of binary gender and the violence that can occur when undermined in hyper-gendered environments, like in single-sex schools that push a very heteronormative idea of being a woman or man.
This film had incredible community support and a mostly queer crew. It was great to see Leo cast a trans actor to play a trans role and many trans actors throughout the film. Leo and I went for a reasonably naturalistic look but wanted to make the school scenes feel as uncomfortable for the audience as they did for our lead. So we played with the shutter angle to sometimes blur or sharpen the action with the intention that the audience would feel something is off but couldn't quite tell you why.
Director - Leo LeBeau Producer - James Bell
1st AC - Tonino Petruzzellis
2nd AC - Beatrice Dagama, Bernat Bonaventura
Gaffer - Evance Breteuil
Colourist - Marco Valerio
You can check out the post over at http://Instagram.com/austcine
And don’t forget to stay up to date with us on social media Facebook / Twitter / Instagram - @bdayboyfilm
Virtual hugs, Birthday Boy team~