BONUS Episode: Oscar-nominated cinematographer Xiaoding Zhao on the movie Shadow and working with director Zhang Yimou on eleven films, including House of Flying Daggers

The Cinematography Podcast Bonus Episode: Xiaoding Zhao Illya sat
down with cinematographer Xiaoding Zhao and Shadow producer and
translator Ellen Eliasoph at Cameraimage 2019 to discuss the film
Shadow. Director Zhang Yimou and Zhao worked together to create a
very distinctive color palette, wanting it to appear to be like a
Chinese ink brush painting. The costumes are also all in gray or
black for the same ink washed look. It also enabled the color of
red blood to show bold and bright against the duller background.
For Shadow, Zhang Yimou chose to make most of the action design in
constant rain, which proved a huge challenge for Zhao. Getting the
proper lighting was difficult, because he wanted to use a softer
light on the actor's faces, but illuminating the hard contrast on a
wet and dark exterior was also important. Zhao actually started off
life as a professional speed skater, but got injured and couldn't
continue, so he began taking photos and videos of his speed skating
team. He found he really enjoyed the work and was admitted to the
prestigious Beijing Film Academy. Zhao and Zhang Yimou have made 11
movies together, including the acclaimed House of Flying Daggers,
for which Zhao received an Oscar Nomination in 2004. You can stream
Shadow right now on Netflix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGetemRDuVY Find Xiaoding Zhao:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1618536/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cr31 Special
thanks to Shadow producer and translator Ellen Eliasoph Zhao was
featured in the May issue of American Cinematographer:
https://ascmag.com/articles/asc-close-up-zhao-xiaoding Sponsored by
Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com Find out even more about
this episode, with extensive show notes and links:
http://camnoir.com/bonusshadow/ Website: www.camnoir.com Facebook:
@cinepod Instagram: @thecinepod Twitter: @ShortEndz