Interview with Nadine Buss, Cinematographer on Oscar® Nominated Stop Motion Short Film "Negative Space"

One of the surreal flashback scenes from Negative Space. Source: Vimeo.

“These are my guidelines for lighting,” Nadine Buss, the cinematographer of the Oscar®-nominated short film Negative Space, tells Stop Motion Geek, “feel, re-explore sensations,” she says, only to then lightheartedly add, “and remember the lights you saw.” Feel. If Buss’s creative fingerprint on Negative Space could be described in just one word, it would be just that.

A beautiful and heart wrenching story, Ru Kuwahata and Max Porter’s Negative Space – a stop motion short film based on a poem of the same title by Ron Koertge – is, in many ways, one story presented as two: One half of the narrative is of a young man – Sam – as he packs a suitcase for travel before then driving to the funeral home where his late father’s viewing is being held. It’s a narrative colored by Buss in the hard, icy light of winter, which contrasts sharply with the sunny, warm light in which the second story is painted – that of the relationship between Sam and his father throughout Sam’s childhood, told through a series of flashbacks.

The main character - Sam - waves goodbye to his father as he leaves to go to work. Source: Vimeo.

Yet, despite their thematic through-line, the two tonal halves of Negative Space’s psyche remain separate – the young Sam remains in warm light, the adult Sam in cold light. That is, until one pivotal scene – the last of the flashbacks, a scene which lies 3 minutes and 27 seconds into the film’s 5-minute runtime.

The close-up of the palmy beach billboard in Negative Space. Source: Vimeo.

The act of Sam packing his father’s suitcase for his father’s work having remained a ritual through which father and son bond throughout Sam’s childhood, the prelude to the scene involves an adolescent Sam waving goodbye to his father as he leaves their home for his work, a suitcase packed by his son in hand. At that moment – 3:27 – the film cuts to a scene of what looks to be a palmy beach bathed in the same warm light as before – one which we assume is Sam’s father’s work – only to then cut back to a much wider shot. It’s of Sam’s father opening his suitcase in a hotel room, where the sunny, palmy beach is revealed to be a billboard in the background, outside the hotel, seeming to suggest that this – one of Sam’s memories – is the first moment in which Sam himself realized that the world in which his father worked is a colder, darker one than that of his childhood. The room itself is bathed in a colder light – one not dissimilar from that in which we see the adult Sam painted.

Sam's father unpacking in a hotel room with the billboard in the background in Negative Space. Source: Vimeo.

Upon opening his suitcase, Sam’s father pulls out his phone to then to text Sam one word. It’s the last time that we as the audience see Sam’s father while he’s still alive, perhaps symbolizing that it is how Sam remembered his father after his passing.

Sam's father texting Sam from his hotel room in Negative Space. Source: Vimeo.

At the moment he sends the text, the camera dollies past the wall separating Sam’s father’s hotel room from what lies beyond, revealing Sam standing in his house on his other side. Yet here, something is different – Sam, too, is colored in the same, cold blue light as his father was in, though momentarily is illuminated by an artificial light. And yet the light is still noticeably less warm than the light in the previous flashback scenes. As the camera falls on Sam, a notification appears on his phone which he then pulls out of his pocket to read.

The camera dollies from Sam's father in his hotel room to Sam in his home in Negative Space. Source: Vimeo.

“Perfect,” Sam says in narration, reading the text. “That one word from him meant a lot.”

That word – that moment – truly does mean a lot. It means everything. For it is in that moment that Sam’s past life with his father fuses with that of his adult life as he grieves for his father. It’s a moment in which Sam, as an adolescent, realizes what the world truly is like – symbolized by the colder, darker light – and what their packing ritual means within it, and it’s a shift conveyed entirely through Buss’s lighting.

Sam receives the text from his father in Negative Space. Source: Vimeo.

Nadine Buss (cinematographer) setting up the lights for the funeral scene. Photo courtesy of Ru Kuwahata.

In our interview, Buss tells us about her personal journey into filmmaking, telling us how she went from wanting to be a “cameraman” for TV documentaries to becoming a director of photography and cinematographer in animated films. She also gives us an in-depth look at the specifics of the production of Negative Space as well as her process on the film. She also tells us about her inspirations for Negative Space and also gives her advice to aspiring cinematographers. You can read our interview below in full.

A.H.: Your job title – “stop motion cinematographer” – is, as is true with most of the jobs in the stop motion industry, a very niche career. Can you tell us a little about what got you interested in film, animation, and cinematography, and at what time in your life you realized that you wanted to become a cinematographer for animated films? How did you get from your first few jobs in the animation industry to where you are now – the cinematographer of the critically acclaimed short film, Negative Space?

Nadine Buss: When I was 17 years old, I wanted to be a “cameraman” for TV documentaries.

After cinematography studies, I first worked as camera operator and as assistant DoP on television sets. But when I worked as camera operator for magazine TV there was no time (never!) to do – to create – lighting. Then, by chance, I discovered animation. My first experience as a “cinematographer” on animated film was a TV series for young children with puppets called Hilltop Hospital. A friend of mine who worked on this production told me they were looking for an additional “DoP”. So I met Christian Eydoux, the H.H. cinematographer, and he explained me how to do lighting on these small sets and puppets – fiction film lighting in “miniature”! I loved that so much! At last, I could do the lighting as fictional film lighting…Amazing!

The packing scene from Negative Space. Source: Vimeo.

A.H. Uriah: Can you tell us a little bit about your work on Negative Space?

NB: When Nidia from Ikki Films asked me to work on Negative Space, I accepted immediately; this project was both unique and exciting!

Working with Max and Ru was very enjoyable. Max would take care of the technical questions: we communicated through email, then with Skype two or three times. Then he sent me some visuals (paintings and images from actual live shoot) so that I could have an idea of the different moods in the film (there are two time periods: Sam as a child and Sam as an adult). Max and Ru are very well organised people. I was also given the dimensions of the set and the list of shooting and lighting equipment available. I was in charge of gathering all this and I completed the list at Manuel Cam Studio with Jean Louis Padis, the co-producer.

Sam standing in the vestibule of his apartment building after packing in Negative Space. Source: Vimeo.

In September and October, the shooting took place in the Centre region, about two hours from Paris. We were in a place that was not an actual studio but we put up three sets (2 sets with puppets and 1 rostrum camera). I would go there regularly for 2-3 days to set the frame and the lights on the sets. Then Sylvain, the animator, could work on the first set and pass to the following one when he had finished. Sometimes I would be preparing several shots from one sequence on a set and Max would adjust the settings for each shot, following my notes. He also did some lighting set up on the rostrum camera. We also talked a lot on the sets so that I could adjust and have a result that was the closest possible to what they had in mind. They trusted me and gave me a lot of freedom. Max and Ru would validate the lighting together.

In the end, the November shooting of Negative Space took place in Paris. It is always difficult to put together the planning for the shooting of an animation short that will last several weeks between many people and their respective engagements. I was myself involved in other projects at the time, including the promotion of my own documentary film. That was the reason why Jean-Louis, the co-producer, proposed to Ikki and also Max and Ru that Simon Gesrel – who often works at MC – could replace me during those days.

Max Porter (co-director) checking the final light. Nadine Buss (cinematographer) and Philippe Baranzini (production assistant) seem happy with it. Photo courtesy of Ru Kuwahata.

A.H.: You mentioned that Max sent you “some visuals (paintings and images from actual live shoot) so that I could have an idea of the different moods in the film (there are two time periods: Sam as a child and Sam as an adult).” Can you describe for us a few of the specific visual materials that he sent to you and how you went about, from that point, “finding the mood” of a few of the various shots in the film? Secondly, when you see a visual reference image, do you imagine your shots fully-developed visually in your mind and draw a sketch of what you want the shot to look like, or do you think about and plan your work in a different way?

NB: The visual materials got me to feel the moods and atmospheres that Max wanted to move towards creating in Negative Space. We referenced Inside Llewyn Davis as one snow reference; Richard Tuschman photography for interior scenes and scenes involving windows; in the translation of childhood memories and Sam’s feelings in the present, Darjeeling Limited and different photos were also used as inspiration to convey contrast – the lighting in the film is sunny in the past, when Sam is a kid, and a snowy cold in the scenes that take place in the present.

Max sent me also a very precise sketch with all the size of the sets in each room.

When I see visual references it gives me ideas and helps me to be more precise, so that I know which direction I’m going in and what I’d like to do. But it depends also on the sets and the materials used in the film that I’m working on.

When I’m planning my shots, I start by drawing a simple sketch, and from there I make a list of lights to rent. It’s also important to do image tests. This way I and the directors can find out precisely what we want for the different sequences/scenes before the shoot.

Sam walks to his car in Negative Space. Source: Vimeo.

A.H.: Your IMDb page lists your first project as being the animated short film L’odeur du chien mouillé, on which it says you were a cinematographer. Can you describe for us how your style and approach to cinematography have changed between L’odeur du chien mouillé and Negative Space? What lessons have you learned over the course of the intermittent fifteen years since then that, looking back on it now, you wished you had known starting out in your career?

NB: My IMDb page list is wrong! : ) Actually, it’s not my first animated project.

The short film L’odeur du chien mouillé is a cut-out film. I love that technique! It’s another way to explore the medium of stop motion. I really love that film (it’s a 35mm film), and I actually wouldn’t change my approach on it if I could.

I also worked with the director of L’odeur du chien mouillé, Eric Montchaud, on his second film, in 2014 – Anatole’s Saucepan (La petite casserole d’Anatole). In that film we explored another technique: In a way, it was like cut-out...but vertical. Another challenge! It was really great.

For my first short film as a director, the 2004 film In those days, I also did the lighting. Now I would change my approach on this one: The contrast…

Actually I don’t think my style and approach have really changed since my first film, although I am faster at the job now than I was when I first started! ; )

A scene in which Sam drives from Negative Space. Source: Vimeo.

A.H.: Could you talk about the process of color grading Negative Space? What did your collaboration with Thibault Pétillon look like?

NB: Color grading is the final and essential step of our work on light. The color grader has a vital importance. He adjusts contrast and saturation but can also make considerable changes to the image and eventual corrections.

We were lucky to work with Thibault Pétillon for Negative Space. He’s amazing. His sensitivity, his advices and his attention to our work were precious. Max and I explained to him what we wanted. He answered our expectations splendidly.

We brought in the last changes and transitions between shots that enabled us to come as close as possible to the expected atmospheres.

A.H.: What career and life advice would you give the aspiring cinematographers in our readership? Are there any resources that you would recommend to them or specific skill sets you suggest they acquire and hone?

NB: It’s hard to say. I do not claim to give advice!

For me, the biggest rule of lighting a scene is to understand what the director wants. Listen to him. And then suggest – find and do what is the best for the story, for the film.

These are my guidelines for lighting (enjoy! ; ) ): Feel, re-explore sensations, and remember the lights you saw.

And, obviously, watch and observe all that goes on around you, as well as films, paintings, and photographs.

Nadine Buss (cinematographer) and Max Porter (co-director) are doing a final check before shooting. Photo courtesy of Ru Kuwahata.

You can now rent Negative Space in full online by going here. You can watch the trailer for the film by going here, and you can visit the webpage for the film by going here.

This article is the third in a series of interviews coordinated by Stop Motion Geek with the creative team behind Negative Space. You can read the first article in the series – an interview with Bram Meindersma, the composer and sound designer of the film – by going here. You can read the second article in the series – an interview with Sylvain Derosne, the lead animator on the film – by going here. You can read the fourth – an interview with Edwina Liard, the producer of the film – by going here. You can read the fifth and last article in the series – an interview with Ru Kuwahata and Max Porter, the directors of the film – by going here.

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