Cinematographer Joseph Eriksson explains how a little bit of planning can make a big difference
Joseph Eriksson is a cinematographer based in Stockholm, Sweden. Pursuing a passion for film he’s had since childhood, lately Joseph has been finding himself in the driving seat of productions – which has led him to reflect on the importance of good planning.
“I mainly call myself a director of photography,” begins Joseph. “But I’ve realised I now direct a lot as well. I started out doing a lot of fashion, and at that point it was mostly a case of showing up, bringing a camera, finding nice angles and trying to fix something together in post that looked good.”
This impromptu style of filmmaking was born from necessity – but with Joseph now working on more narrative-led projects, he has looked to adopt a traditional approach to preparation.
“As time went on, I evolved. I have tried to focus more on pre-production whenever possible, to give myself the best grounding.”
Every aspect of filming that can be organised before principal photography begins, removes pressure from the most high-stakes portion of production.
“There are a lot of steps in pre-production. But it depends on who you’re working with and what the client’s like,” details Joseph. “It’s always different from project to project, and the team you work with will change the approach.”
Storyboarding
A recent film Joseph worked on involved only a small crew. “I had a gaffer who helped set up the lights, and a first assistant director who helped with timings and scheduling,” describes Joseph. “I was directing and filming, so I had a lot on my mind.”
In this kind of scenario, it was all the more important to have a coherent plan.
“I don’t always do it this way, but it’s probably best,” Joseph suggests. “I started with the script, then built a storyboard around reference clips. I don’t storyboard with a pen and paper or anything – I try to find real images from films, so I use databases of existing frames. I started laying it out and storyboarded it quite strictly.”
A detailed approach at this point in time led to a comprehensive to-do list. It was then simply a case of ticking things off.
“I knew exactly what kind of locations, equipment and lighting we needed. All of that was based on pre-production, which made it much easier to organise everything and manage timings.
“For this project, I was meticulous,” Joseph continues. “I wanted to get the final film as close as possible to the storyboard. Of course, that’s impossible in some ways, depending on the natural lighting and other factors. But in terms of angle and composition, I tried to make it as close as possible to my references – and I think we came quite close.
“This approach also helped with timing. I knew, ‘Okay, we’ve finished this scene. I don’t need to keep redoing it; I don’t need more angles.’ When we had it, I knew that was it, and we could continue to the next one. We actually worked faster than planned, which is super rare,” he points out. “It really worked for this kind of production.”
Selecting Equipment
Joseph is an advocate for knowing his equipment inside-out long before stepping foot on set. This lets him plan a production that plays to the strengths of his kit. Before starting Out of Stock – a project he filmed with the FUJIFILM X-H2S – Joseph made time to learn how he could best put this camera to use.
“I did some tests to figure out how capable it actually is,” Joseph recalls. “I fell in love straight away. I was super confident that I could do a lot with minimal rigging. It’s so practical as it is – a small camera with internal ProRes and great codecs – that quite early on, I realised I wanted to minimise additional equipment.”
Joseph’s camera tests influenced everything about the film, from storyboard onwards. Knowing how he wanted to use the camera helped him decide on angles and compositions, and having a good knowledge of the camera settings available informed his inclusion of in-camera effects.
“I filmed another project on the X-H2S last week,” Joseph adds. “I jumped a lot between filming in 6.2K open gate and 4K/120p. That was all based on the storyboarding – when you know one scene needs to be in slow motion, and so on.”
Preparing for Lighting
When it comes to lighting, Joseph’s preference is to accentuate whatever is naturally occurring. “If I can choose, I like to base things on natural light. If I had complete freedom, I wouldn’t use any lights at all – but that’s not normally possible because I live in Sweden. You can’t just show up and hope there will be good lighting, so I need to be prepared.”
That means being ready with an assortment of fixtures and accessories to improve whatever light the Swedish sun serves up on a given day.
“I like to base things on natural daylight and then maybe shape it a bit, either with diffusion, sun sails, bounce and negative fill – or maybe a few smaller lights we can soften up. If there’s a window, I like to have it as the main light and then supplement it a bit from the same side. That way, the fall-off is much nicer than if it was totally natural.
“I want people to see the things I do and think it’s not artificially lit at all, so I try to make it subtle whenever it is. You need to be ready to build something from the ground up if you don’t have the right circumstances. But nothing beats natural daylight.”
Considering the Edit
It may seem a long way away, but Joseph likes to think about post-production during pre-production. Having an established plan for the final look of a project helps at every point of the filmmaking process.
“I normally find good reference films that are edited and graded how I want my film,” remarks Joseph. “I don’t need a lot of different references, just one or two that help set my mind to an aesthetic.”
Paying attention to how these films are cut helps with the creation of a well-timed storyboard. “That is more about how I’m interested in editing it pacing-wise, and also for differentiation with the scenes.”
Avoiding visual repetition is important. “For instance, Out of Stock is in the middle of the day, at night, in the evening – it’s inside, outside. It moves all over the place, which is nice for the edit because it’s always evolving and changing.
“Since I do mostly commercials, I know you need to catch the viewer’s attention,” Joseph concludes. Creating something snappy and memorable is on his mind right from the start of pre-production: “You need to make the audience happy for the short time you have them.”
