Welcome to The Queue — your daily distraction of curated video content sourced from across the web. Today, we’re watching a video essay that unpacks the cinematographic style of Ari Wegner.
One of the most exciting cinematographers working today, Australian-born Ari Wegner‘s name may sound familiar to you if you tuned in to this year’s Academy Awards race. Her stunning (awards-deserving!) work on Jane Campion’s Western drama The Power of the Dog was nominated for a cinematography Oscar. And in the timeline in my head she won (apologies to real-life winner, Greig Fraser).
That said, even if you’re not familiar with her name, there’s a good chance that if you’ve found your way to this article you’re at the very least familiar with Wegner’s work. Her deft hand and ecclectic style can be found in the claustrophobic frames of the 2016 film Lady Macbeth; the vivid, giallo indebted vision of Peter Strickland’s In Fabric; the austere landscapes of Van Diemen’s Land in True History of the Kelly Gang, and more recently, the grainy funhouse mirror of Zola.
Like many incredible cinematographers before her, the thread uniting Wegner’s work is an adaptability to suit a film’s visual look to the story it’s trying to tell. As the video essay below testifies, her diverse toolkit and keen ability to shift and accommodate a story’s visual needs make her a cinematographer well-worth knowing. And while she certainly doesn’t need the Academy’s approval (especially with two exciting projects on the horizon — a re-team with director William Oldroyd and A Fantastic Woman‘s Sebastián Lelio), we’d sure like to see Wegner become a household name in the homes of cinephiles.
Watch “Cinematography Style: Ari Wegner”:
Who made this?
This video essay on Ari Wegner’s cinematography is by In Depth Cine, a YouTube account dedicated to providing its audience with practical rundowns and explainers on some of the more technical aspects of movie-making. Gray Kotzé, a documentary DP based in South Africa, is the man behind the channel. You can check out Kotzé’s portfolio on their website here. And you can check out In Depth Cine on YouTube here.
More videos like this
- This video essay on Ari Wegner’s cinematography is part of a larger series that highlights the creative style of different folks. You can click here to check out the series’ playlist which includes a look at the work of the likes of Ellen Kuras, Gordon Willis, and Bradford Young.
- Here’s another sample of In Depth Cine’s work: how Quentin Tarantino shoots a film at three different price levels.
- And here’s another, about how to tell the difference between anamorphic versus spherical camera lenses.
- And here’s In Depth Cine’s breakdown of a bunch of cinematography-related questions, including how they collaborate with colorists.