Explore the Creative Process
with Anthony Dod-Mantle

From Pre-Shoot to Post-Production, Anthony Dod-Mantle Depends on Indiecam.

This month's American Cinematographer features a full-length article composed by Anthony Dod-Mantle in which he candidly unfolds the process of filming Trance. Dod-Mantle regales his readers with the details of the joys and challenges of filming Director Danny Boyle's film, TRANCE.

Dod-Mantle writes, "I am fascinated by these very small cameras that I can play with in my own way, and Danny loves it if I can slip a second or third camera in, or capture a little textural detail with something small while we're shooting. Throughout the shoot, the Indiecams were always near at hand for me to use to appropriate effect; this was often related to a degree of framing or particularly intense close work."

The indiePOV proved instrumental in capturing the surreal moments and the finest details in the midst of heart-stopping action. Mantle tells American Cineamtographer's readers that he used 3 or 4 Indiecams "in situ" and found them easy to conceal when working with other formats. The indiePOV performed enormously by delivering precise shots in very tight places, such as the interior of vehicles, thus mirroring the effect of being inside the minds of the major players in this film.

TRANCE starts out as the story of a high-stakes art heist that has gone off the rails, and spirals into the ambiguous territory of cerebral uncertainty that forms the aftermath. Starring James McAvoy and Rosario Dawson, the plot morphs into the central characters' motives, memories, and sub-conscious terrain. What do we remember? What do we forget? How much do we choose to forget? What lengths would someone go to find out what one has forgotten?

"Trance is fundamentally a humorous but intelligent, demanding exercise in a modern Hitchcock framework. There is a deliberate ambivalence to some actions. The audience has to pay attention in order to separate the lies from the truth, and the clues are in the faces of the actors. It was an enormous task to protect and enhance this idea in the grade."
- Anthony Dod-Mantle, American Cinematographer, May 2013 ( Vol. 94, No. 5)

Indiecam is delighted to be the "right hand man" for Anthony Dod-Mantle, again. Check out the online preview of this months edition of the American Cinematographer here or get a copy of the entire edition.