El Conde cinematographer Ed Lachman, ASC

El Conde is a a dark comedy/horror film that portrays former
Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as a 250 year old vampire.
Director Pablo Larraín wanted to play with the idea that a
dictatorship is a blood-sucking drain on society with lasting
generational impacts. Cinematographer Ed Lachman immediately liked
Larraín's message. “El Conde is his allegory of how we are seduced
into yielding to fascism. And it isn't just in Chile. It's like the
last 50 years, we're facing that all over the world. That's why I
think the film has something to say- if you can get past the gore.”
Ed had been a long time admirer of Larraín's work. He found
Larraín's films to be conceptually brilliant with camera placement
and movement to tell the story. “They say a cinematographer and a
director is a marriage. But I always like to think of it as a dance
partner- you hear the same music, but do your steps compliment each
other? And I've certainly felt I have that relationship with
Pablo.” Ed knew he wanted to shoot El Conde in black and white,
referencing gothic vampire movies such as Nosferatu and Vampyr
(1932). Working with Netflix Latin America, Larraín obtained
approval to originate the film in black and white rather than shoot
in color and then desaturate it later. For production design,
special effects and costumes, all the color choices could be made
for the best look in black and white. Ed decided to use the ARRI LF
camera, and fortunately, ARRI had just developed a monochromatic
sensor for them to use. He enjoys shooting with an actual black and
white camera because the exposure latitude and grain structure is
different, and he can use monochromatic filters meant for black and
white cinematography. El Conde features some amazingly realistic
scenes of vampires flying. The night flying sequences had to be
done with a blue screen, which did require a color camera. But all
of the day flying sequences and stunts were shot with the black and
white camera. The flying sequences were done practically, with no
special effects. A 120ft crane suspended the camera operator, who
moved through the air with the actors and stunt acrobats on wires.
Ed used the EL Zone System, a method he invented, to figure out the
proper exposures for the cameras on El Conde. He's developed the EL
Zone system over the past 10 years, in an effort to measure light
values and standardize exposures for digital cameras, and won a
technical Emmy in 2023 for the technology. The system uses 18% gray
as the standard, which is a universal photography standard. The
camera’s sensor data is used as a reference point and filmmakers
can view the entire exposure of a shot on a monitor to make
lighting adjustments easier. El Conde is streaming on Netflix:
https://www.netflix.com/title/81590652 Find Ed Lachman, and learn
more about the EL Zone System: https://www.elzonesystem.com/
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