Mr. Robot - how do they get that creamy look?

M

Montezuma

New member
Does anyone know how to get the Mr. Robot look? Lifted blacks, very creamy skin tones, an overall softness to the image while maintaining sharpness. I know it was shot on Epic Dragon with Cookes, but when I use that combination of gear the result is much more digital looking than what they achieve. I know that some of this has to do with lighting and skill, but I'm clearly missing something in front of the lens or in post. I'm assuming this has a lot to do with filtration, but I've recently tried Pro Mist, Black Pro Mist, and Hollywood Black Magic, and the results bring a different look with more highlight blooming and too much of that 80's glamour softness. The Mr. Robot look is also super popular in modern commercials. Not that I am trying to rip off this look, I just really want to understand how it is achieved when clients want a similar look.

Thanks!
 
I'd guess in addition to all the things mentioned, there is some customized LUT and color timing they are using on the post side to finish off the look...Cool and informative video from the cinematographer. Nice to hear he hates using fill light as I try to avoid that as well, although it's much easier to do that when shooting lighter skinned actors.
 
Out of ideological reasons i don't watch made-for-TV shows but often i get asked to simulated this or that look. Recently Mr Robot was mentioned in some pre-pro for a feature so i watched a few clips to see what's up.
Basically the point is to introduce "otherness" to the frame. You can do it with lighting but the show's lighting is very conservative. Here it's done with intentionally distorted framing: way too much headroom or placing the actors either way off center or dead in the center offsetting the balance of the frame (this shoe doesn't do dead center). Here they also use lenses framing portraits with lenses that are normally not used for portraits.

This is the practical answer. Philosophically the DP's answer in Zak's clip is OK but he doesn't go far enough (probably good as its hard to talk about any deeper meaning with TV shows and thus going deeper might appear pretentious).

If you WERE working on something deep and wanted to understand the reason behind introducing otherness to any work of art: it's to subliminally introduce the idea that what's being said or being seen is NOT what one should pay attention to. At the same time, if it's NOT what one should care about then why show/say anything at all? In essence, to get the real gist of the idea, one needs to say "something" but that "something" isn't completely irrelevant - on some level it is as it's NOT what's important, on the other it isn't as THROUGH this seemingly irrelevant text/image one get to the real idea. So a.) you need to know what's really trying to come to the surface through image/text then b.) find appropriate form to both introduce the idea of the otherness ("don't pay attention to what you are seeing/hearing") and steer the viewer to what that "something" might be.

I get asked for this kind of stylized framing on commercials all the time because director is trying to introduce ANY possibility of depth to otherwise blatant banality of trying to see whatever it is we are selling that day.

I did this a lot (otherness through dead-center framing, sometimes with way too much headroom) on my personal doc:
http://shoulderthelion.com/press_photos.html
 
Patryk_Rebisz said:
Out of ideological reasons i don't watch made-for-TV shows but often i get asked to simulated this or that look. Recently Mr Robot was mentioned in some pre-pro for a feature so i watched a few clips to see what's up.
Basically the point is to introduce "otherness" to the frame. You can do it with lighting but the show's lighting is very conservative. Here it's done with intentionally distorted framing: way too much headroom or placing the actors either way off center or dead in the center offsetting the balance of the frame (this shoe doesn't do dead center). Here they also use lenses framing portraits with lenses that are normally not used for portraits.

This is the practical answer. Philosophically the DP's answer in Zak's clip is OK but he doesn't go far enough (probably good as its hard to talk about any deeper meaning with TV shows and thus going deeper might appear pretentious).

If you WERE working on something deep and wanted to understand the reason behind introducing otherness to any work of art: it's to subliminally introduce the idea that what's being said or being seen is NOT what one should pay attention to. At the same time, if it's NOT what one should care about then why show/say anything at all? In essence, to get the real gist of the idea, one needs to say "something" but that "something" isn't completely irrelevant - on some level it is as it's NOT what's important, on the other it isn't as THROUGH this seemingly irrelevant text/image one get to the real idea. So a.) you need to know what's really trying to come to the surface through image/text then b.) find appropriate form to both introduce the idea of the otherness ("don't pay attention to what you are seeing/hearing") and steer the viewer to what that "something" might be.

I get asked for this kind of stylized framing on commercials all the time because director is trying to introduce ANY possibility of depth to otherwise blatant banality of trying to see whatever it is we are selling that day.

I did this a lot (otherness through dead-center framing, sometimes with way too much headroom) on my personal doc:
http://shoulderthelion.com/press_photos.html
Click to expand...

EXCELLENT take on the subject.

From cinematography, to story, to painting, to music.... we all have seen and heard so much that expectation is now fully half of how we experience everything...if not more.
Patryk's statement is a great primer on how to begin to be creative within a framework of expectation. Or to better understand how to see beyond your own framework experience and thinking.



As to the OP's point about the "creaminess" of the look: Monochrome jumps out at me even before anything else does.
YES, the Cooke lenses contribute, and yes, the lowered contrast contributes. But it's the monochromatic nature of each shot that will get you there. TRY IT.
This is probably why grabbing a RED and some Cookes didn't get you there automatically, nor did diffusion.
All those techniques lend SO MUCH more to the PERCEIVED end result in a nearly monochromatic situation. TRY IT.
Find a frame you shot at low contrast or whatever you did to get you on your way to this look, and first CC it to be as monochromatic as the Mr. Robot scenes are....THEN do all your normal steps that you would to try to get this "creamy" look and see if it isn't WAY easier now.
BUT do not forget that the ART DIRECTOR is also heavily responsible for this look as well - so just CC'ing in a monochromatic look on your footage may not give you these kinds of results if you started with more color-diverse footage.
 
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doubledark said:
Charles, what strength filter do you prefer using?

cheers
Click to expand...

I'm not Charles, but when I do use filters I find a 1/8 Black Frost works for my tastes.

It is also the base layer in the Hollywood Blackmagic filters I use. Which allows me to carry over the look of the HBM filter without the softening effect of the HD Classic Soft filtration. I generally use the HBM in 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 with the higher degree being used on tighter close-ups.
 
I generally use a 1/2 or 1 Black Diffusion FX for the basic look. My other standard filter to give a little more glow is Glimmerglass which I'll typically use in the same strengths. I've used the Hollywood Blackmagic also as David describes, which I think of as an updated version of a black Pro-Mist (halation plus softening).

I used to follow the "increase the density for closeups" mantra but I have weaned off that in recent years out of speed and possibly laziness! Frankly I feel like we have much more control in post available every day and I'm less focused on baking in looks via filtration than I was in the past. Filters are always a pain on exteriors, trying to fight double reflections, kickback and veiling, so there are times I'll pull them if we are in the heat of battle and just reintroduce in the grade.
 
^ Thanks, to both of you. Not having to change filters with focal length makes this more appealing to me (I need to shoot very fast, changing lenses and setting ND is already enough of a struggle, but if I get to work with a camera with internal NDs I know I'll want to try these out).
 
Not in direct response to the OP's inquiry, but related, the Hollywood Reporter says Mr. Robot just renewed for S4, they are certainly doing something right. I personally find the cinematography to be quite interesting, well done, and edgy, nicely matched to the overall aesthetic of the storyline. They take major chances with the frame composition, really disregarding the rule of thirds and framing the talent in interesting ways at the far edges of the frame that at first almost appear to be a mistake but after you watch the scene, make total sense.
 
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