Jarin Blaschke talks favourite scene with Robert Pattinson with The Hollywood Reporter

THR spoke with Jarin Blaschke, the cinematographer for The Lighthouse – which also gave us two new stills featuring Rob – and this is what he had to say about his favourite scene from the film:

Asked about a favorite sequence, he notes that he’s particularly proud of a scene in which Winslow descends upon a sleeping Wake to snatch a logbook resting on his chest. He then reaches for Wake’s lantern keys before pulling out his knife, which he aims directly at Wake’s throat.

“It was very difficult to not envision this scene as a series of static close-ups intercutting between Pattinson’s face, a POV of each detail he’s coveting, his hand reaching, then with the knife,” Blaschke admits, adding that instead he decided to place the camera on the other side of the action, dollying between magnified targets of Winslow’s attention in the foreground as Winslow’s hand remains in frame as the “performer.” This eliminated the need for cuts to Pattinson’s face while still connecting his points of interest.

“The decisive camera moves still indicate glances of his eye, even though we are completely on the ‘wrong’ side to do so,” Blaschke explains. “Simultaneously, we can also experience this as Thomas Wake, and all of this is happening ‘to us.’ And, because we are on this side, it then positions us to finally tilt up and form a medium close-up of Pattinson’s face at the end of the shot.” At this point there’s a cut to an extreme close-up of Wake’s eye opening, which the DP designed for “heightened impact due to the dearth of prior cuts.”

The decision to move the camera rather than rely on edits underscored Blaschke’s commitment to working economically as much as possible during the 34-day shoot. “The more shots you have, the less each shot means,” he says. “Consequentially, and equally important: Each cut in the film then loses its power too.”

Click on the link above to read the full interview.