{"id":13753,"date":"2024-09-24T13:10:06","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T13:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/?p=13753"},"modified":"2024-09-24T13:10:06","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T13:10:06","slug":"florian-berutti-goes-to-kenya-for-samia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/?p=13753","title":{"rendered":"Florian Berutti goes to Kenya for\u00a0Samia\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Based on the true story of Samia Yusuf Omar, Samia<\/em> follows her early life. Growing up in an environment where female runners aren\u2019t taken seriously, all Samia wants to do is run and compete. Despite the number of setbacks she encounters, Samia defies odds and is determined to go to the Olympics and at the age of 17 is selected to represent her country at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Directed by Yasemin Samdereli, Samia<\/em> was masterfully captured by DOP Florian Berutti. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally wanting to pursue a career as a director, Berutti was initially rejected from INSAS. It wasn\u2019t until his fourth attempt at entering the school that he was accepted for cinematography. \u201cEven at school, I never saw myself as a DOP,\u201d begins Berutti. \u201cAfter school, I worked as a colour grader for three years and I was mainly colour grading documentaries. The main director I started with, Claude Schmitz, I was a fan of his theatre work. I told him when he shoots a movie that I should be his DOP. I don\u2019t know why I told him that because I didn\u2019t feel like a DOP, but one day it happened and he called me as a DOP. That\u2019s how I got into cinematography.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Samia<\/em> started production in December 2022, another DOP was attached to the project. Berutti joined the film later on, replacing the other DOP. \u201cThey called me because I\u2019d made two features with Tarantula the co-producer from Belgium,\u201d says Berutti. \u201cThat was in April 2023 and the shoot started in July, so it was very last minute. I was pretty sure they wouldn\u2019t take me because I\u2019m used to doing more steady work and I\u2019d never really done handheld movies. The first time I spoke with the director, Yasemin explained that she really wanted the beat of the human level and to be inside the story instead of trying to create beautiful shots. It was more about being involved in the characters. She wanted everything handheld, so that we were always with the actors. The shots didn\u2019t have to be perfect, she just wanted to capture the energy of the actors. I hadn\u2019t really done those kind of movies, but I was surprised and excited to shoot the project. It was a real challenge for me. Every shot for me is usually very important, but I knew I\u2019d have to be prepared for this movie and so I had to improvise and that\u2019s exactly what she wanted, but it\u2019s the opposite to how I usually I work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the limited prep-time Berutti had he watched all the rushes of Samia\u2019s life that he could find. \u201cYasemin also wrote a story for herself. It wasn\u2019t a script, but more like literature. She gave it to me to give a special feeling about how she saw the character. For Yasemin, the whole point of the movie was trying to show a very human side of this character that we would never know because of her tragic death. She was really trying to find a personal perspective on Samia. I know that lots of people around the movie wanted to focus on the races and make the film more of an epic, but Yasemin wanted it to be a family drama that focuses on a girl struggling for her dreams. She also came with some visual references and the main ones were City of God<\/em> and Slumdog Millionaire<\/em>. We tried to keep the roughness of this approach. When I arrived in Kenya, I realised how everything is so beautiful, the colours and harshness of the sun. So, we quite quickly decided to go for this documentary type style and it should stay simple and not try to make something sexy or beautiful, but rough as it is and was in Kenya.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Berutti had previously shot a film in Morocco and Russia, so he was used to working on shoots abroad.  \u201cFor Samia<\/em>, we shot in Kenya. I had a really great Kenyan crew and they really knew their job. In Kenya everyone was speaking English, but I\u2019ve also shot a movie in Russia, where nobody spoke French and barely English. On the set I didn\u2019talways understand what people were saying, but I was very focused on what was going to happen. There was even one sequence on this feature I made in Russia, where I had to follow on a long lens exactly what the actor was saying while improvising even if I didn\u2019t understand one word of the Russian language. When you are shooting in a foreign country you are more a silent person on the side, looking and focusing on what you are doing. I\u2019m less distracted and people come less to ask me stupid things. Because of the languages and cultures, it gives you a fresh view on what you are shooting. It\u2019s a great feeling.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For Samia<\/em>, Yasemin wanted to have this rough energy throughout the film and as a result there wasn\u2019t any shotlist created before shooting. Berutti ultimately found this a challenging process as he had to follow everything that was happening in the moment. \u201cAlso, in terms of lighting I couldn\u2019t do much. I was trying to be prepared for everything that could happen. I couldn\u2019t really build a direction of lighting, I had to make a global light where I knew I could shoot in every direction. Yasemin was speaking for a long time with the actors and getting them in the mood, but there wasn\u2019t any blocking. It was quite an experience, but it was exciting for me to go in a direction that I\u2019d never usually go. It was interesting to try something completely different.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Berutti opted to shoot the film with the Alexa Mini. \u201cThe DOP before me started on the Alexa LF with Hawks anamorphics\u201d. I knew that I had a very small crew on the camera side. There were only two: Loic Carrera and Martin Frippiat. I was really worried that if we used the LF and anamorphic lenses, we would face lots of focusing problems. It would be very challenging because of all the improvisation. Even if I\u2019m used to working with quite closed lenses, I knew it would be a nightmare on the LF. I decided to go back to the Mini and that\u2019s how we finished. Because of the naturalistic look we were after Anamorphic wasn\u2019t for me an option. We also needed a second set of lenses for the second camera and in Italy the rental where we were supposed to rent, Panalight had a LOMO superspeed set and I own a full set of LOMO super speed and even a small EKRAN zoom. It was more a rational choice. Generally, the choices on the movie were more rational than aesthetical. I knew I\u2019d have the vintage feeling; I love using these lenses and I\u2019d used them a lot so I knew nothing bad would happen.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Berutti, one of the most challenging aspects of production was the limited schedule. The film was shot across a period of five weeks. \u201cWe had maybe four or five sequences a day, so it was more like shooting a series than a feature film,\u201d explains Berutti. \u201cThere was no moment to stop and think. Also shooting in a foreign country that you don\u2019t know is challenging. The schedule was done in July and that was the rain season and this movie was supposed to be in full sun. We were also working with children. For my first feature in Belgium, we also had lots of kids. We shot that in France and in France I think the kids can only shoot for two hours before having a break and then can only shoot for a little bit more. But in Kenya, we were shooting six days a week and 12 hours a day and the kids were nearly in every shot. It was challenging for them more than it was us. The poor kids also had to learn so many lines.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Due to Samia\u2019s limited budget, Berutti had to be creative when it came to capturing the running sequences in the film. \u201cWe were thinking about bringing with us very skilled Steadicam guys for sports, but we quickly realised this wasn\u2019t in our budget. So, I had to figure out how to shoot the kids running, which is why I decided to go with the Ronin 4D. At the time nobody really used it. I struggled to find one to rent, but in the end, we bought one. I was able to run with the camera and have really steady shots and to even have the camera backwards. So, I could run full speed and still have good shots. I\u2019ve since used the Ronin 4D for another feature, N<\/em>ino dans la nuit<\/em> and I really learnt how to use it. When you are in really bad situations you need to find solutions. It was great to find this tool. I also had some very rare LOMO photo lenses which I adapted for the Ronin, so I was quite lucky they could work with the camera. I only received the camera two days before shooting in camera and I was completely new to how it worked. The first day of shooting was the kids running in the street of this city in Kenya, so it had to work. It\u2019s incredible how fast the camera is.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final underwater sequences also required a creative approach due to the budget restraints and were shot in a small swimming pool in Italy. \u201cWe blacked out the whole pool and I had a huge 6X6 bounce on top. It was a very low cost way of doing underwater scenes, but we had a great operator. He really knew the job and on this scene I didn\u2019t have to do that much, but for me it was more challenging to try and make something believable in a very small pool with a very low level of lighting. Strangely, it worked quite well. In grading we went for something dirtier because of the water of the pool was very blue, so we added green to the texture.\u201d However, the most demanding sequence to shoot were the sea sequences due to the physicality of shooting Samia in the water. \u201cWe had to go 150 metres away from the shore and I had this Alexa on my shoulder. It was a very chaotic scene. Yasemin didn\u2019t want to rehearse, it was more jumping in the water and following Samia. Physically it was very hard to do because of the splashbag and I\u2019d never shot something like this. I was in the water trying not to drown and just following Samia in the water.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite the setbacks and limitations, Berutti found the overall process to be a great experience and ultimately rewarding. \u201cIt was a great experience to do something that is totally out of my habits,\u201d he says. \u201cWe were also frequently changing locations and I really had to be open to shoot at places I didn\u2019t even scout. For example, there was supposed to be one big scene where they are jumping in the water and leaving the coast of Libya and this was a set we scouted in Italy. It was done on a huge cliff and I was supposed to have lots of light and everything was prepared, but even for that sequence there was a storm and at the last moment production called me 3 hours before the call and said we couldn\u2019t shoot there. So, we had to redo everything inside of an abandoned bay. I hadn\u2019t seen the bay, so I had to improvise there a lot, but in the end, I wasn\u2019t even stressed as I realised that everything I\u2019d planned might not happen. It was a great experience to really understand that I\u2019m capable of reacting to all these unknowns and finding quick solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m used to grading the rushes everyday and I\u2019d never worked with a DIT because I used to do it myself to see whether I was making mistakes. The thing that saved me was grading the rushes every day, so I can slowly see the movie that I\u2019m making. This helps on every movie, but it was really important to see what direction I was going in on this movie. We were in such a rough improvisation and working with a second camera I didn\u2019t have much time to see what was being framed, or the exposure on the other camera. I had no clue how it could all be editable. I had to really let go and that was challenging for me not to have control of everything. Grading the rushes in the evening was sort of a way of me retaking control back,\u201d concludes Berutti. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Camera Crew: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Franco Baratti … Focus Puller <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mario <\/em>Cadau<\/em> … key grip: Italian unit <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roberto Leone … Drone Pilot \/ camera operator <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julian Oburu … focus puller  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lucas Sevrin … gaffer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By OLIVER WEBB<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Based on the true story of Samia Yusuf Omar, Samia follows her early life. Growing up in an environment where female runners aren\u2019t taken seriously, all Samia wants to do is run and compete. Despite the number of setbacks she encounters, Samia defies odds and is determined to go to the Olympics…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":13760,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-productions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13753"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13764,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13753\/revisions\/13764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}