Plantasia

Lens/Camera Information
Lens series: S7/i FF and Varotal/i FF
Focus lengths: Various
Camera: Arri 235
Format: Film 35mm
Director of Photography: Piero Cioffi
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Production Information
Production: Plantasia
Producer: Chad Burris
Director: Jacopo Ficulle
Colourist: Jacopo Ficulle
Production Company: Terre di Cinema
Post Production Company: Amplitudo

DOP Piero Cioffi on the lens of his choice:

‘Plantasia’ was realized within the ‘Terre di Cinema’ workshop, a fantastic program that offers directors and cinematographers from around the globe the opportunity of pairing Cooke lenses and Kodak film stock in the beautiful setting of the Sicilian summer.

Jacopo’s script, set against the backdrop of the incredible plant collection of the Catania’s Orto Botanico, immediately captured my imagination as a fantastic opportunity to play with the hard Sicilian sun and the warm earthy tones that the location offered us.

We decided to use the wider end of the lens set to shift the environment from a mere backdrop to a third character, one that, slowly, both protagonists will have to accept to be similar to.

The S7/i offered a fantastic skin tones rendition, paired with a creamy bokeh that blended the busy foliage in the background without making it distracting, in particular on the 27mm. We also embraced their beautiful rendition of direct sources, producing just enough delicate veiling glare when looking at the sun peeking in between the branches.

For the close-ups of the plants and the longer end of the lenses, we paired the S7/i with a Varotal/i FF 35-95 zoom: it offered the same beautiful characteristics and the ability for us to pull the viewer even deeper in the connection between the beautiful rare plants and the cast.

The classic Cooke color rendition combined with the rich colors of Kodak film is an incredible match that created a life-like rendering like a few other combos.