Cinematography by: Łukasz Żal, PSC
Cold War / Zimna wojna (2018)*
Directed by Paweł Pawlikowski
Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1“We wanted the opening of the film to resemble a camera operator trying to record some folk musicians. Zula [Joanna Kulig] is a trigger for the camera so when she appears, the camera moves more. In Paris everything changes. The contrast gets higher, the vision becomes narrower and lenses are longer to separate Wiktor [Tomasz Kot] and Zula from the background. Back in Poland we wanted everything to become wider, they have become part of the landscape and it’s a magical time.”
“An important idea for this film was to always keep a high contrast in the production design because in Poland there is no sun in the winter. There was also an idea to treat this feature like a painting where you have a lot of details and structures so not to have a flat picture. A huge inspiration for me was the photography of Ralph Gibson. I was shooting for as much contrast as I could. We were using a lot of spotlights but also building a lot of negative fill, using large surfaces and a big butterfly.”
“We knew at the beginning that we wanted to use this particular ratio [1.37 : 1] because it worked quite well and resembles old cinema. It’s a great ratio to create not obvious compositions that are emotional and symbolic. You are also able to suggest what is beyond the frame.” — [x]
*Academy Award nominee for Best Cinematography in 2019
