Cinematographer Maz Makhani on the Netflix film The Guilty, directed by Antoine Fuqua

The new Netflix movie, The Guilty follows Jake Gyllenhaal as Joe
Baylor, an LAPD police detective who has been demoted to working at
a call center as a 911 dispatcher. The film was shot during the
height of the Covid-19 pandemic in November of 2020 in just 11 days
with a very small cast and crew on a controlled soundstage.
Additional actors remotely voiced their roles as 911 callers
seeking help. Cinematographer Maz Makhani and director Antoine
Fuqua had about one day of prep together before they started
shooting. Maz and Fuqua walked through the set with Gyllenhaal for
rehearsal while working out the blocking and coverage. Once the
shoot day arrived, Fuqua could not physically be present as he had
to quarantine after a COVID scare. He ended up directing the film
remotely from a van parked outside. They wanted the film to have a
“God's Eye” perspective, so Maz used a very wide lens that showed
the entire room. Antoine and Maz both favor a high-contrast
lighting style that helped the dark subject matter, making the film
feel real and raw. They mainly used the ambient light from the
screens on the set and three digital cameras so that it had a more
live and urgent feel. Since Antoine could not be on set, it was
fortunate they chose digital so that he could see what was
happening via a remote feed in real time and could communicate via
text, cell phone and radio. Find Maz Makhani: Instagram
@mazmakhani_dp You can see The Guilty on Netflix Find out even more
about this episode, with extensive show notes and links:
http://camnoir.com//ep142/ Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras:
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