High School, the new bio-series about indie-pop sensations Tegan and Sara, provides a prime example of how filmmakers can use visual language to help tell their stories. I had the opportunity to speak with cinematographer Carolina Costa about her work on this series.
Working to define a style
Given that the series is based on the grunge and booze era of the 90s, Costa and director/showrunner Clea DuVall spent a lot of time preparing for the show’s sense of timing. If you’re going to create a piece of period work that most of your audience will remember, it’s important that you get it right. After reading the pilot, Costa prepared a mood book for DuVall filled with images showing off his clothing style and MTV screenshots. Watching High School, it’s easy to see the value of Costa and DuVall’s work. The show is an immersive 90s experience.
through light
The low-light that Costa uses for most of the show both reflects the grunge videos that dominated the ’90s and reflects the characters’ journey of discovery. It’s not just blurry for us to think about Nirvana’s videos. It’s also dark, so it’s a bit difficult for us to see the characters, like they’re struggling to find themselves. A lot of videographers will only use low light for aesthetic purposes. I appreciate seeing a skilled cinematographer use light to help tell us about a character.
The Green Day concert appears as much in the plot as a neo-punk concert from the 90s. Costa gets the mood and light down to a tee. Even when reinventing the lighting setup from old Green Day concerts in New York City and Chicago used as prime examples, Costa still uses flashing rainbow light as a cue to feel. emotions that the characters are experiencing, effectively telling the story through light.
Through framing and blocking actors
Costa and DuVall spend a lot of time setting up their characters in different parts of the frame to show the characters’ developing relationships. As the characters get closer to each other, their relationship deepens; when they are further apart, it is a little more on the rock.
There are two specific scenes in the series that really illustrate how Costa and DuVall use blocking to help tell the story. At two different points, we see Tegan and Sara tell the same story from their individual perspectives. At the end of the second part of these stories, we find the characters close, but still separate, a very creative way to show the development of their relationship.
I specifically asked Costa about the logistics of the bedroom scene. Costa explained that it took quite a while to put up the ceiling and plan to raise the camera. For Costa and DuVall, the effort to tell their story is worth it.
The show is relatively multi-episode as we have multiple points of view separated by title tags in each episode. Since we were able to view some plots from multiple perspectives, Costa focused the camera on the main point of view. This means that we can see exactly the same moment captured from a similar field of view, but with a different focus point. When it was Tegan’s story, Sara lost her focus; when it was Sara’s story, Tegan lost focus. The supporting characters also get the level of focus Sara or Tegan gives them. This allows Costa to tell a story about each character and the people they can align with simply by adjusting the focus.
Aspect Ratio
Costa and DuVall planned to intentionally change the aspect ratio of certain moments on the show. Every time a point changes, the display changes to 4:3 instead of the more cinematic ratio used in the rest of the show. First, the 4:3 ratio is used to represent the MTV era, the TV ratio of the ’90s. For Costa and DuVall, however, this is more than just a gimmick. The change in aspect ratio really forces the viewer’s attention to a small screen; it feels more saturated. Aspect ratio transitions are used to provide a quick and powerful window into the world of the new point of view, before stepping back to show a broader view of the character’s world.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I really admire the intention to make the film. Here, in High School, we are treated not only to a class about style and mood, but also to a class that uses the language of cinema to help tell a story.
Catch it High School on Amazon Prime.
Image used with permission of Carolina Costa and Amazon Prime.
