DIRECTOR DE FOTOGRAFÍA

SU TRABAJO NO SE CIÑE A UNA ESTÉTICA PARTICULAR, SU FOTOGRAFÍA ES FLEXIBLE,

EQUILIBRADO DE FORMA DIFERENTE, with that said, MUCHO DE SU TRABAJO, ESPECIALMENTE
CON PARK CHAN WOOK, HA TOMADO LUGAR EN EL SUSPENSO Y GÉNERO DE TERROR, POR LO
TANTO TIENDE A TRATAR ESTAS HISTORIAS CON UN TONO LIGERAMENTE MÁS OSCURO Y
CINEMATOGRÁFICO, EL CUAL ES LIGERAMENTE SURREALOSTA Y ELEVADO DE LA REALIDAD

FILOSOFÍA

LA CREACIÓN ES NO SOBRE OBSESION EN HACER COSAS NUEVAS QUE NADIE HA CREADO ANTES,
PERO COMBINA COSAS QUE AJUSTAN LA PELICULA CON EL BAKANCE CORRECTO, OBTENIENDO
ESTE BALANCE CORRECTO ES UNA DE LAS RAZONES PORQUE EL NO MANTIENE EL MISMO ESTILO
ESTÍLISTICOS EN TODO EL PROYECTO.

To him, the right balance is attained by having a Deep appreciation and underdstanding of the
story

He credits his early work as an actor as giving him a solid grasp on storytelling

“the reason I keep mentioning the drama of a piece is because only by understanding the
characters and what they go through can I provide and capture all the movement I want and to
capture”

“for example in old boy I saw the overall movement as the chasing of the characters and as such
there is a lot of long lens and zoom lens work, shots taken from behind and lens handheld
camerawork, more fluid I guess I would say. “

I believe if I understand the characters I can accurately build up relevant, sympathetic scenes
within whatever overall genre is required”

After gaining sufficient understanding of the story and characters, when working with Park, they´ll
then set out to storyboard the film,

Although he says that probably about 40% of the storyboarded shots change, he likes having the
as a base to start from Since they´ve worked together on so many projects, Park is readily
accepting of lots of his ideas. Chung credits Park as being a good director for his ability to discern
and accept, or reject, ideas which he puts forward

This is what gives the films their overall style and tone. When it comes to translating these ideas to
the screen, he prefers to shoot with a single camera whenever possible, as it is quicker to light and
means he never has to sacrifice any angles or lights that may have to be moved due to the
placement of a second camera with that said he has used multiple cameras on films such as “It”,
for the purpose of capturing performances more easily or to speed up production
Accesorios

Although many aspects of his cinematography like the way the camera moves, the colour palette,
grade and focal length selection changes depending on the story and whims of the director there
still are some elements of his style which are present throughout his filmography

For example: many of his movies are photographed in 2.35 aspect ratio 2:35:1

In many films he uses a hard backlight with a soft fill

In “it” this was done by using tungsten Vari –Lite VL1000s rigged to the ceiling to provide backlight
from any angle and then filling in the space by rigging 17 Kino Flo Image 85 s with daylight tubes to
a pipe above the set. The Kino Flos were fitted with egg crates so that the light from above didn´t
spill too much onto the walls, which maintained deeper shadows and more contrast. He´s used
this similar technique with different lights in different positions in his other films, dating back to his
early work. Backlight characters with harder lights and filling in with something soft and diffused to
retain detail in the shadows.

In some films his lighting is more naturalistic and in others it’s a bit more exaggerated, depending
on what’s best for the story.

Although Chung has mentioned that keeping things looking fairly natural and real is a good way of
making horror films look and feel scarier

For interiors he often employs a subtle use of colour, particularly a mix of off-green and tungsten
light, which he has done in many films to bring in a slightly sickly feeling of dis-ease.

He may use atmospheric smoke to give shape to the light.

When it comes to choosing a camera his previous work was captured on 35mm film but after the
digital revolution he has mainly stuck to shooting with digital cinema cameras. (Kodak Vision3
250D 5207)

He almost exclusively uses Arri cameras; like the 435 (Arriflex 435) or Arricam ST for film and the
Alexa XT or the Mini (Alexa mini) for Digital. He pairs these with a mix of spherical and anamorphic
lenses . When using film he preferred sharper lenses such as Zeiss Ultra Primes or Zeiss Maste
Primes, but now that he shoots digitally he prefers lenses which are a little bit softer or that have
vintage characteristics such as Hawk V-Lite Vintage 74´s or Panavision G Series anamorphics.
Chung carries Angenieux Optimo zooms on most films, usually the 24-290mm. When working with
the Alexa now, he uses a colour accurate monitor and remote iris control on the camera so that he
can ride the exposure to levels that he is happy with by wireless changing the iris. Chung works
with a Rec 709 LUT which may be tweaked live on set by his DIT based on his feedback.

His main focus is on getting the contrast right on set and has said that he usually leaves the overall
colour in the grade down to the director and their preferences. For example, a lot of his work with
Park is quite punchy and saturated with strong contrast and deep shadows, while on “Me and Earl
and the dying girl” the grade is more washed out and desaturated. He isn’t the biggest fan of the
Steadicam and often prefers to use a dolly and tracks for camera moves with the greater stability
and control

From comedies to thrillers to horror film, Chung hoon Chung is familiar with multiple genres. His
greatest ability is being able to read the correct cinematic tone for the story and characters and
adapt his technical choices to get the right balance. Sometimes the right balance is manic and
stylized. Sometimes the right balanced is natural and real, sometimes is dark and moody, Chung is
able to separate himself from any one aesthetic and aesthetic and craft a cinematic language
which is always right for the story