Talk to Me cinematographer Aaron McLisky, ACS

Cinematographer Aaaron McLisky is thrilled that Talk to Me, a small
Australian independent horror film, has found such a huge audience.
It has become A24's highest grossing horror movie in North America.
The movie is about a group of friends who discover how to become
possessed by spirits with an embalmed hand, creating a thrilling
party game. The main character, Mia, has recently lost her mother,
and her grief makes the idea of finding her mom on the other side
both compelling and dangerous. But soon, the supernatural forces
can't be controlled any longer. Aaron had heard rumors about the
Talk to Me script and was intrigued to find out more about the
project when directors Danny and Michael Philippou direct messaged
him on Instagram. The twin brothers had no feature film experience,
but are self-taught YouTube filmmakers. Their channel, RackaRacka
is huge, and features a series of horror/comedy shorts completely
shot and edited by Danny and Michael. During the development and
pre-production of Talk to Me, Aaron and the brothers discussed how
they wanted the film to look cinematically and frequently
workshopped and filmed sequences. Aaron always wants to elevate the
story through cinematography, making sure that every frame and
every camera movement speaks to a world that's truthful to the
characters. He wanted to be sure that the camera work elevated the
tone of the horror movie, by showing or withholding information as
needed. As a former editor, Aaron constantly thinks about editing-
how certain sequences will go together and how much coverage might
really be needed. Once production started, he found it exciting to
be bold, keeping coverage of each scene minimal, and confident that
they didn't need more. He kept scenes lit with practical lighting
and green fluorescents as much as possible, making Mia seem sickly
and possessed. During the possession scenes, Aaron chose to
contrast the sequences with unmotivated lighting, and as Mia's
psychological decay progresses, the film subtly becomes darker and
more desaturated in the grade. Aaron was born in Australia but
lived in Indonesia for much of his childhood. He fell in love with
photography there and knew he wanted to study film, so he returned
to Australia. After completing his degree, he got a job at a
production company as an editor, eventually moving into directing
commercials and music videos, but he didn't enjoy it. Aaron found
he was always more interested in visual images as a storyteller, so
he decided to start over as a cinematographer. He was fortunate
enough to shoot a music video for YouTube stars, The Bondi
Hipsters, who then asked him to be the cinematographer for their
television series. Aaron also served as the primary cinematographer
of the FX series, Mr. Inbetween. Talk to Me is still playing in
theaters and is available to purchase on VOD. Find Aaron McLisky:
http://aaronmclisky.com/ Instagram: @aaronmclisky Sponsored by Hot
Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com Sponsored by Aputure:
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