Spotlight: Utah Cinematographer Kenneth Merrill

Join us on set with Cinematographer Kenneth Merrell, during his latest feature film, Oubliette. He discusses his processes in filming this thoughtful psychological thriller in Provo, Utah.

Kenneth: “Shooting a feature film in 10 days means shooting very fast, and having a small G&E crew of 3-4 people on most days meant being extra efficient. Because we would need to move quickly and often do 180+ degrees of coverage in a scenes, we tried to create a common lighting schema across scenes that we augmented with a few extra units. In most scenes, we were pushing Arri S60’s through the windows with a cool tone to contrast against the warm interior lights. We set up several practicals that we could play off with Astera Helios banks that become our go-to key and rim lights.”

Enigma 3: “What was your approach on lighting this film?”

Kenneth: “In the story, our character Lucy lives through an experience again and again as it becomes more and more distorted and unnerving, so we designed our lighting to change throughout the film, going from warm and inviting to more low-key and horror-esque. For the high-key scenes we would often bounce Source 4’s into the ceiling as a fast and effective key for a room. In the later scenes, we swapped that bounced ceiling light for direct cuts and spotlights on the characters using those lekos. No matter what fancy new LED technology I have available on a shoot, I always request a few lekos because they’re such a versatile light.”

“We’re shooting on the Arri Amira and Mini LF and in general, we’re trying to keep them as light weight as possible so that we can maneuver in this smaller location in little corners and bathrooms.”

Enigma 3: “What was you biggest concern in terms of outfitting for this film?”

Kenneth: “As the cinematographer, one of the primary considerations I had was the glass, because it’s a psychological thriller and I wanted the lens to have an interesting feeling to it, especially when wide open. So I picked the Blackwings by Tribe 7. They’re really sharp with some beautiful chromatic aberrations. They have great contrast and occasionally we get this beautiful little flare off the side. They are the perfect blend of modern design and image look for me.”

Check out Kenneth Merrill (@kennethcmerrill,) his talented Gaffer, Justis Aderibigbe, (@junglebooge,) the director, Jacob Johnson (@sir_lees,) and the rest of their team. Oubliette is currently in post production coming 2024.