Cinematographer Quyen Tran on Palm Springs, Unbelievable, A Teacher, baking for charity, shooting during the pandemic, and more

With a background in photojournalism and documentary,
cinematographer Quyen Tran is drawn to emotional stories and giving
voice to victims. But she also has a talent for shooting comedies,
such as The Little Hours, the series Camping, and most recently the
hit movie Palm Springs. Palm Springs is a comedy about two people
trying to escape a time loop, reliving the same day over and over,
like Groundhog Day. The film became hugely popular and critically
acclaimed during the pandemic, probably because it resonated with
everyone locked down and feeling like each day was the same. Palm
Springs was shot on a relatively small budget and a pretty fast
schedule, so Q was able to call in a few favors to help stretch the
budget. She enjoyed working with Cristin Milioti, Andy Samberg and
JK Simmons, who was a great foil for Andy Samberg's character. A
great deal of the movie was actually improvised- while it was
definitely scripted, there were many alternate takes that made it
into the movie. Since the film is about a constantly repeating day,
the actors improvising different takes kept the story fresh and
each take could be a bit different each time. Q also shot a few
episodes of the Netflix series Unbelievable, a true story about a
young woman who is raped and then recants her story. Years later,
two female detectives track the serial rapist and prove her story
true. The series won a Peabody Award for showing a humanized
exploration of rape survival. Q and director Lisa Cholodenko knew
they wanted very literal and subjective camerawork, making the
camera seem like it was always from the character Marie's point of
view of being sexually assaulted. They had the actress Kaitlyn
Dever block scenes in pre-production so that she could help
contribute and feel comfortable in the environment. Q chose to
place a camera under a table in the interrogation scene so that it
could still get a close up on her face, and give a feeling of
disembodiment and detachment from her body. The FX/Hulu series A
Teacher explores grooming and sexual abuse, but this time with a
male victim. Quyen shot the show in a naturalistic way as she did
with Unbelievable. She wanted to stay true to the material and help
the viewer emphasize with the victim. One of Q's passions in life
is cooking and baking, and during the pandemic in her down time, Q
and her friend and fellow DP, Jeanne Tyson, decided to start
Doughrectors of Photography. In exchange for a donation to the LA
Food Bank or other charity such as Vote Blue, patrons receive a
loaf of homemade sourdough and/or cookies. Doughrectors has now
donated over 100,000 meals to the L.A. Food Bank, and they continue
to bake and raise money. Most recently, Quyen was shooting Maid
with director John Wells in Victoria, BC. They had to follow strict
COVID protocols, including quarantining for two weeks before
shooting. She was able to have a lot of prep time over Zoom with
the director. The crew had to have masks on at all times of course,
and were tested 3 times per week, taking their time and limiting
the amount of people in the space. You can check out Doughrectors
of Photography and find out how you can donate and get some
delicious baked goods on Instagram at @doughrectorsofphotography
You can hear our previous interview with Quyen Tran:
https://www.camnoir.com/ep26/ Find Quyen Tran:
https://www.qtranfilms.com/ Instagram: @qgar Find out even more
about this episode, with extensive show notes and links:
http://camnoir.com/ep110/ Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras:
www.hotrodcameras.com Sponsored by Aputure:
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