Red Epic X Rental & Canon C300 Rental — A Field in England

With a Canon C300 and Red Epic X rental, how could A Field in England be anything but visually remarkable?

It couldn’t be.  As a matter of fact, it’s more than just visually remarkable.  It is remarkable, period.  Old-fashioned, original, weird.  But we’ll address that later.

Acclaimed English director Ben Wheatley’s latest film is a black and white psychedelic Civil War story set almost entirely in a single field and shot for about £300,000 using AimImage and ICE film’s Red Epic X and Canon C300 cameras. (Where else have we seen that pairing?)  They used both cameras quite a bit,  chopping and changing between the Red EPIC X rental and the Canon C300 depending on the effect they wanted.  And what effect was that?  Well, they wanted a film that was once dreamy, but sharp in vision.  They wanted a film that could go from deep focus to shallow depth, depending on whether they were shooting a natural landscape (i.e. a field) or the landscape of an actor’s face.  To say nothing of the insect close-ups.  And that’s what these two cameras can do when working together–they can create a “furious visual panache and… ominous, often abstract beauty” when trusted to the right eye, at least according to The Independent. 

Have a look at how Wheatley and director of photography Laurie Rose conceived and executed the uniquely ‘unfussy’ visual style and the “unconventional kit used to create such a unique aesthetic”:

Cinematography from A Field In England on Vimeo.  Red Epic X rental and Canon C300.

That’s right–Wheatley and his team coupled their Red EPIC X and Canon C300 with lenses made of glue and bits of children’s toys (long live The Mesmerizer).  According to The Hollywood Reporter (and AimImage), they ended up with “terrific look” of “ravishing monochrome vistas punctuated by extreme close-ups of plants, animals, insects and tormented human faces.”  And we admire them for that.

We’ve got loads more to say on the project–and how it continues to live on not only as a story, but as an actual masterclass in film making–however, it’s probably best to focus on the cameras here and let the film’s official site do the talking.  (Warning: You can and will spend all day on this site.)  And if you end up wanting a slightly more boiled down version than the film’s site allows (a version we promise will only pique your interest), there is always Wikipedia.  Finally, if you haven’t already had the pleasure of experiencing A Field in England, perhaps in an actual field in England, head to your local iTunes and get ready to obsess.

Considering going black and white?  Consider a Red EPIC X rental.