Midnight Mass, directed by Mike Flanagan, uses camera angles and movement to tell a story within a story. We reveal its camera secrets in this video:
Midnight Mass, directed by Mike Flanagan, uses camera angles and movement to tell a story within a story. We reveal its camera secrets in this video:
Thanks Sareesh, for pointing out some of the techniques used in this series. I wonder whether the choices making would be directors choice or dop choice, or a symbiosis of both. pretty advanced stuff.
agree about the grading: the final scenes in the church barely reflected that it
was largely lit by candle light, and became a little cold and sterile, rather than the smoke and bells of Benediction. Odd really, because such an ambitious piece.
classic villagers with torches heading towards the castle/denouement.
wonderful casting and performances, and whoever wrote it really knew his scholarly stuff. Turgid comes to mind, yet for a piece to be so challenging in ideas,
so wordy really, is brave and and indicator of more cerebral writing, quite hard to
cope with, it demands rather than sops, if that means anything. It took me somewhere. The connection between body and blood of christ, and what you call the vampire, I would like to call the Angel, but is it a Fallen angel? Not an angel of God but Old Nick hisself?
You’re welcome! Camera angles are typically the director’s domain, unless he or she willingly relinquishes it to the cinematographer.
Many thanks Sareesh for your analysis. Really appreciate the time and effort you put into these videos – I always want more! I haven’t seen this series, and don’t normally like horror/vampire movies, but I will make an effort to watch this one! I actually prefer an explanation before watching a film. For me anyway, it makes me appreciate it all the more as I watch out for how the various elements come together. Looking forward to your next one!
Excellent commentary on “Midnight Mass”. To be honest, I only watched the first three episodes. For me, it came off too religious. I’ve seen movies produced by religious groups that try science fiction, horror, etc. And “Midnight Mass” came off like a religious production. I found the dialogue unrealistic much of the time. In some scenes, the conversations came off inappropriate and presumptuous. I felt like I was being manipulated, but in an obvious way. Also, like you said, everyone seemed to speak a bit too eloquently, almost Shakespearian. For a small town, this seems like a stretch. I liked some of the cinematography for the most part. Although sometimes the color grading was distracting to me. It almost seemed forced. Anyway, I always appreciate your commentary. I always gain new insights from your breakdowns. Thank you.
Thank you. The color grading is really inconsistent. Initially I thought it was by design, but it seems random. In some scenes it seems like they just threw on a LUT.