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Feature Film

The Bromley Boys

A funny yet touching coming of age football memoir played out to the sights and sounds of late 60s Britain.

“A funny yet touching coming of age football memoir played out to the sights and sounds of late 60s Britain. Based on the hilarious novel by Dave Roberts, it recounts the author’s highs and lows supporting his beloved Bromley FC - the worst football team in the country at the time.”

Lens/Camera Information
Prime lens series: Anamorphic/i 2x
Focus lengths: 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 75mm, 100mm,
Non Cooke lens: Rear Anamorphic Converted Zoom
Original Aspect Ratio: 2.67:1
Cameras: Arri Alexa XT
Format: Digital
Rental Company: 1 Film Unit

DOP Information
Director of Photography: Bart Sienkiewicz http://www.bartsienkiewicz.com
Agent: Screen Talent http://www.screen-talent.com/
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/bartsienkiewicz

Production Information
Production: The Bromley Boys
Producers: TJ Herbert, Dean Fisher
Director: Steve M Kelly
Colourist: Jason R Moffat
Production Company: Itchy Fish Film, Scanner-Rhodes Productions
Distributer: Hyde Park Entertainment https://www.hydeparkentertainment.com/
IMDB link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2179231/

DOP Bart Sienkiewicz on their camera, lens and equipment choices:
“During my conversations with Director, Steve M Kelly, we agreed we wanted to create a colourful look and given the 60’s period of film, I felt anamorphic photography would suit the subject matter and style well and was excited when our camera rental, 1Film Unit, wanted to support the production by offering us their new Cooke Anamorphic/i lenses, despite our modest budget.
What I love about the s35 Cooke Anamorphic range is the vintage characteristics: The infamous ‘Cooke Look’ texture and rendering of skin tones, paired with beautiful focus fall off (as well as distinct rendering of those areas that fall outside the focus plane) with the fast stop of T2.3 (exc. the 65mm Macro and 180mm). I also like that you have a choice between the standard and SF versions, as in the case of our film, not all anamorphic projects require horizontal flares.
The shooting workflow was made easier as the lenses are colour and contrast matched, have decent close focus and excellent mechanics / uniformed layout of focus and iris – which made the job for my 1st AC, Matt Choules GBCT, quicker and afforded him more time for other tasks.
Most of the film was shot classically off the dolly, with a few crane and steadicam days as well as some handheld sequences in between.
We carried two Arri Alexa XTs packages with the focal lengths: 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 75mm, 100mm of the Cooke Anamorphic/i lenses. For some specific football sequences we also used a rear anamorphic converted zoom provided by Lester Dunton. I shot most of the film at T2.8 with a 1/8th Black Pro Mist filter to add a bit of halation.
We originally framed for 2.39:1 aspect ratio but the director really liked the full uncropped 2.67:1 ratio, and as all the Cooke’s covered this format perfectly it allowed us to use the full width of the captured image for the final cut.
My goal was to create a 60s period look with a dreamy, coming of age feel and Cooke Anamorphic/i lenses definitely helped to achieve my vision.”