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They say life starts at 18.
“They say life starts at 18. Jerome and Eddie are all set to give Ali the 18th birthday to remember... but for all the wrong reasons... 18 is a story of friendship, love and regret. In partnership with Network Rail and 23Red we have created ‘18’ a dramatic film with a storyline developed through school workshops, scripted by Shazia Rashid, directed by Teddy Nygh and with a cast of acclaimed actors including: BAFTA-nominee Aimee Kelly, Harry Kirton, Shaquille Ali-Yebuah and Steve Oram.”
Lens/Camera Information
Lens series: S4/i
Focus lengths: 18mm, 27mm, 40mm, 75mm, 100mm
Original Aspect Ratio: 2:35
Cameras: Arri Alexa Mini, Arri Amira, Movi Pro,
Format: Digital
Rental Company: Take 2 https://take2films.co.uk/
DOP Information
Director of Photography: Bani Mendy https://banimendy.com/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/banivision_dop/
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/ban1vision
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BaniVision_DOP
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/banimendy/
Production Information
Production: 18
Producers: Nick Bedu and Leah Henry
Director: Teddy Nygh
Colourist: Tom Mangham
Post Production Company: The Mill online edit & colour http://www.themill.com Offline Oliver Parker https://www.oliver-parker.com
Production Company: Fully Focused https://www.fullyfocusedproductions.com/
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8998904/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
Awards
Drum Grand Prix and Drum awards x2
DOP Bani Mendy on the look of the film and the camera & lens choices :
“Teddy (the director) & I discussed how this film should feel for a while and the way we approach drama is always based on feeling rather than ‘look’; this is hard to quantify and so we go with our gut and talk in terms of references to other films, art and photography. Next we try to do tests and figure out what technology can best help us achieve the intended emotional response that we hope to evoke. We decided on shooting with S4’s because they feel natural and I rarely feel the need to add anything in terms of filtration. When shooting a short, or anything these days really, I have very little time and so need to know my gear intimately; S4’s are like second nature to me and I’m aware of what they will do, when and why; making them an even more obvious choice for this film.
For the opening of this film, the intention was for the audience to feel warm and happy, to fall in love with our characters and invest in them; for these scenes we shot clean, with only ND. Later on, things take for the worse and to aid in creating this colder, darker and more oppressive environment; I used low contrast filtration to give a little head start in the grade.
Collaboration with art department, make up and costume were fundamental to achieving the feeling we wanted and we worked with them in terms of colour, texture and tone; extensively in preparation for 18. We only had one house, which needed to be home for three of our characters and so extensive location recce’s were a must.
Another key choice in this film was deciding when to use Movi, handheld and tripod; these decisions were informed by the emotional tone of each scene and the intention was to ebb and flow in synchronisation with our actors.
I was personally very happy with the look that Cooke helped us achieve and have since married the Alexa sensor with Cooke glass on several occasions; and am planning on doing so again, this time with the new full frame anamorphics; which I’ve been testing recently. ”
