DP Diana Olifirova creates cinematic sitcom using Cooke Anamorphic / i – YMCinema
Unconventional cinematography for an unconventional story can be used as a logical approach to creating a cinematic sitcom. “We Are Lady Parts” is a A sweet and silly sitcom shot by talented and courageous DP Diana Olifirova, who used Cooke Anamorphic / i glass to make this TV series more picturesque.
The Channel 4 sitcom, “We Are Lady Parts,” brings an unconventional story to mainstream television – Muslim women being themselves and chasing their crazy dreams. The series follows an eponymous British punk rock group made up entirely of Muslim women. “We Are Lady Parts” shows the ups and downs of the band – Lady Parts – seen through the eyes of Amina Hussain (Anjana Vasan) – a geek microbiology doctor. student, looking for love and recruited to be their unlikely lead guitarist.
Watch the colorful trailer below to explore this madness and epic. Next, we talk about the cinematography behind it:
“We Are Lady Parts” was shot by Ukrainian independent filmmaker Diana Olifirova currently based in London. After studying cinematography for 5 years in Kiev, she did a master’s degree at the NFTS (The National Film and Television School). Diana is not afraid to express herself fully through the lens. His cinematography is characterized by very colorful and vivid images, centered on the object, which is mainly a human being.
For a solid reference to that claim, explore her short video about her and shot by her. The video that was shot during the lockdown in London is defined as a space odyssey and the character’s four dimensions change it:
For “We Are Lady Parts”, the goal was to push the cinematic look and break the stereotype of television comedy shot in a very conventional way. Diana states that she really had the opportunity to come out of the genre. “As a director of photography, I think when there is a lot of quick dialogue and humor in the scene, it’s difficult to create a photograph that makes the image complementary to the story, while also reinforcing the emotion of the scene. And the image is very fast because of the pace of the editing. So it is extremely important to make sure that the eye is going directly where it should go and not to be distracted by anything else … like thinking that every picture is a painting – my role is to ” help audiences connect and get the most out of their viewing. experience, ”she emphasizes.
Diana chose Cooke Anamorphics to shoot the series. “It was always going to be anamorphic because on this occasion, it was a question of transmitting the personality of the characters”. Diana says she always has trouble explaining the choice of lens to anyone, and in her opinion, it’s an incredibly emotional choice. “I always say it’s like he’s painting the background because the blur should make the background look like a painting, so it doesn’t really distract you from what’s in focus.” . On some lenses this blur of the image looks very technical, but the Cookes make it look and feel very picturesque, ”she says.
Diana opted for a 2.35 wide format to present all the characters at once on wide shots without having to crop the compositions too much. Regarding the focal lengths, Diana used 32mm and 40mm a lot.
We don’t have a lot of information about the cameras used. However, in the picture we can explore the ARRI Mini LF and… the polished Digital Bolex which was built from the ground up as a camera “for filmmakers, by filmmakers”. The camera had a Super16-sized Kodak CCD sensor and could record Cinema DNG 2048 x 1152 files with 12-bit color depth. Unfortunately, this exceptional camera is no longer manufactured.
“We Are Lady Parts” is an example of an irreverent musical performed with anarchic cinematography, enhanced by colorful anamorphic imagery, which reinforces the cinematic look and thus breaks the boundaries of mainstream television. You should really check it out. “We Are Lady Parts” can be broadcast on Sky Go, All 4, Virgin TV Go in the UK and is available on Peacock in the US and select markets.
Have you watched “We Are Lady Parts”? What do you think of the imagery? Did you find the anamorphic look convincing? Say what you think of the cinematography behind it