Cinematographer Eric Branco on the new Showtime series, Let The Right One In

The new Showtime series Let the Right One In expands on the ideas
introduced in the now-classic 2008 Swedish horror movie and the
American remake. A man, Mark Kane (Demián Bichir) and his tween
daughter, Ellie (Madison Taylor Baez) move in to a New York City
apartment, where she befriends the lonely, bullied boy down the
hall. But she has a huge secret that her father helps her keep- she
is a child vampire who must survive on blood and can't go outside
in the daytime. The series Let The Right One In explores the
relationships and conflicts within families, the horror of
vampires, and brings in new characters, crimes and mysteries to add
layers to the story. Cinematographer Eric Branco had seen the
original Let The Right One In, shot by legendary DP Hoyte van
Hoytema, as well as the American version, Let Me In, lensed by none
other than Greig Fraser, and it remains one of Eric's favorite
movies. He was thrilled to have the opportunity to bring his own
look and feel to the story and make it his own. Eric focused on the
idea that for the young vampire girl, the indoors is safe and the
outdoors is not, so the home features very warm light with lots of
yellows, while outside is a shadowy, cool blue and green. He also
played with the natural contrast of light between night and day. At
night, it was important to play up the danger and horror elements
with action taking place in shadows and tunnels, with yellow
streetlights selectively showing bits and pieces, building
suspense. Let The Right One In is much wider in scope than the
movies, featuring many other storylines and locations, which
created its own challenges. Eric and the crew had to work within
the time constraints for the child actors, especially at night.
Planning, blocking and rehearsal became an essential part of some
shoot days. When they were shooting the pilot, they had to wait
until dark, during the summer solstice- the longest day of the
year. That left them with about 2 ½ hours to shoot with the lead
actress, Madison Taylor Baez. The most challenging day for Eric was
when they did a night shoot at Coney Island with very limited time
on the Wonder Wheel with the actors. He and the camera department
planned extensively and strategically placed cameras all over to
cover all of the action, after several scouts and extensive
rehearsals before dark. Eric says that when you have to work with
that many cameras and with so much riding on timing and
coordination, it becomes more like a team sport and it feels
amazing to pull it all off. Eric also likes to have an open,
trusting relationship with the actors and let them have more
freedom of movement within the frame to explore their characters
and enhance their performances. Eric thinks the trust is built on
the DP's end, especially when you're shooting something in an
unconventional way like on Let The Right One In. Let The Right One
In is currently on Showtime.
https://www.sho.com/let-the-right-one-in Find Eric Branco-
Instagram: @ericbranco Find out even more about this episode, with
extensive show notes and links: http://camnoir.com/ep189/ Hear
Eric's previous interview on The Cinepod:
https://www.camnoir.com/ep95/ Sponsored by ARRI:
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