by Jox on 07 Feb 2020, 16:26
The location discussion reminded me how this is how a film like HARD NIGHT FALLING could and should have been.
The castle they filmed at for HNF probably wasn't worse or better looking than the DEFENDER's villa, but there was absolutely nothing, no effort (that we could see in the final film at least) to shoot and magnify it.
Not even that but almost no basic, mandatory establishing shots to give the audience a perspective of where we are. And given that it took place at night, with just barely enough lighting to see something.
And when that's the case, with HD it's always worse because you can get away with almost no lights but looks dreadful (and I'm not talking about over-stylisation, I'm all fine with "naturalism" but that doesn't mean you have to pinch your eyes to actually see something)...
A bit off-topic but THE DEFENDER was the opposite of that, whether in night exteriors or the undergrounds it looked fantastic for what it is, and Alexandre Aja's regular DP Maxime Alexandre is no slacker or dilettante... (granted they shot TD in four weeks and not two)