John Bailey, ASC captures a conflicted singer's onstage and offstage lives in Country Strong.
Shana Feste was only 4 years old when Robert Redford's Ordinary People (1980) was released, but eventually, that film sparked her own desire to make movies that were character-driven dramas. It also led her to recruit Ordinary Peoples director of photography, John Bailey, ASC, to shoot her first feature, The Greatest (2009). They recently reteamed on her second, Countiy Strong. "I've been very lucky to get John for my first two movies," says Feste. "I trusted his setups to tell the story, and that allowed me to do my job as a director and focus on the actors. John has worked with lots of firsttime filmmakers, and he's particularly gracious."
Country Strong focuses on country-music singer Kelly Canter (Gwyneth Paltrow), who battles alcoholism and depression as she watches younger, rising stars threaten to eclipse her success. The film was shot almost entirely on location around Nashville, Tenn., and much of the drama takes place in small, intimate spaces such as hotel rooms, dressing rooms and tour buses/vans. When Canter takes the stage, however, there is no question that she is a star. "The intention was to have a strong contrast between the onstage and offstage lives of the characters," says Bailey. "One great theme of the film regarding Gwyneth's character is disjunction, the contrast between her conflicted personal life and die charismatic quality she has onstage as the queen of countiy music."
In a departure for the cinematographer, who has long been a fan of the anamorphic format and the photochemical finish, Country Strong was shot in 3-pert Super 35mm and finished with a digital intermediate. "Shana and 1 agreed we wanted a widescreen aspect ratio, and I wanted to shoot anamorphic, but the studio refused to let us cut negative, even for a movie that has no visual effects," says Bailey. "I decided there was little point in shooting 4-perf anamorphic if [the resolution] was going to be degraded by the filmout from a DI. Most of the major studios now routinely require a DI whether it makes sense or not, because they want a single digital master for all downstream markets. I'm not giving up, however - I will always fight for anamorphic, cut negative and a photochemical film finish! I do this for aesthetic as well as archival considerations."
Shana Feste was only 4 years old when Robert Redford's Ordinary People (1980) was released, but eventually, that film sparked her own desire to make movies that were character-driven dramas. It also led her to recruit Ordinary Peoples director of photography, John Bailey, ASC, to shoot her first feature, The Greatest (2009). They recently reteamed on her second, Countiy Strong. "I've been very lucky to get John for my first two movies," says Feste. "I trusted his setups to tell the story, and that allowed me to do my job as a director and focus on the actors. John has worked with lots of firsttime filmmakers, and he's particularly gracious."
Country Strong focuses on country-music singer Kelly Canter (Gwyneth Paltrow), who battles alcoholism and depression as she watches younger, rising stars threaten to eclipse her success. The film was shot almost entirely on location around Nashville, Tenn., and much of the drama takes place in small, intimate spaces such as hotel rooms, dressing rooms and tour buses/vans. When Canter takes the stage, however, there is no question that she is a star. "The intention was to have a strong contrast between the onstage and offstage lives of the characters," says Bailey. "One great theme of the film regarding Gwyneth's character is disjunction, the contrast between her conflicted personal life and die charismatic quality she has onstage as the queen of countiy music."
In a departure for the cinematographer, who has long been a fan of the anamorphic format and the photochemical finish, Country Strong was shot in 3-pert Super 35mm and finished with a digital intermediate. "Shana and 1 agreed we wanted a widescreen aspect ratio, and I wanted to shoot anamorphic, but the studio refused to let us cut negative, even for a movie that has no visual effects," says Bailey. "I decided there was little point in shooting 4-perf anamorphic if [the resolution] was going to be degraded by the filmout from a DI. Most of the major studios now routinely require a DI whether it makes sense or not, because they want a single digital master for all downstream markets. I'm not giving up, however - I will always fight for anamorphic, cut negative and a photochemical film finish! I do this for aesthetic as well as archival considerations."
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