Verdigris: shooting narrative film in a documentary style

Marian and Jewel are an unlikely duo walking the streets of Dublin, Ireland. But as they go from door to door, getting locals to fill out census forms, a friendship blossoms. To bring the story of Verdigris to the screen, cinematographer and Canon Ambassador Tania Freimuth had to find equipment which allowed her to shoot narrative film in a documentary style, which could be used handheld all day, and wouldn't be conspicuous in the inner-city Irish neighbourhoods.

Tania, who shot Dream Big and Little Darlings, and whose work streams on platforms including Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer and Sky, describes the gritty 2023 film as "a narrative fiction film, genre social realism, shot documentary-style with naturalistic lighting". Telling the story of unhappily married and recently retired workaholic Marian, whose perspective changes when she meets young sex worker Jewel, required careful attention to gear to create the necessary visual language.

Verdigris, which premiered at Newport Film Festival, California, has already been recognised across the Irish awards scene, winning Best Narrative Feature at Kerry Film Festival and Best Indie at Galway Film Fleadh. Here, Tania shares how she brought it to the screen with the Canon EOS C500 Mark II, two Canon Flex Zooms and a set of Canon CN-E Primes.

One of the first conversations Tania had with writer and director Patricia Kelly was about precisely what kind of film Verdigris was. "Obviously it was a drama, but what kind of drama? What were her visual references?" says Tania. "Because the story is set in a 'real' situation, she wanted to have that grassroots feel for the story, that it's something that could happen to any one of us, and the films she had as references were mostly shot documentary-style."

While today's documentaries are often shot in a fairly structured way, with set-dressed in-studio interviews, here, documentary-style references "old-school documentaries", says Tania. These are typified by a handheld look and a mixture of long and wide lenses, with a tendency towards longer focal lengths, creating some separation between viewer and subject. Taking inspiration from the look and feel of films including Beach Rats, Never Rarely Sometimes Always and those made by Andrea Arnold, Tania started thinking about the way she would film Verdigris, and what gear best suited the project.

Taking her requirements for weight and ergonomics into account, Tania turned to one of her favourite bodies, the Canon EOS C500 Mark II. "The good thing about the EOS C500 Mark II and that range of cameras is that they can be rigged up," she says. "I recommended Canon for Verdigris for its form factor." Weighing approximately 1,750g, the camera can be carried around comfortably even when used with gimbals and handheld rigs. Having already used the Canon EOS C500 Mark II on Cyn, her film about John Lennon's first wife, Tania trusted the industry workhorse's full-frame sensor and colour spacing, along with its modular design.

Having initially considered shooting Super 16 for that signature documentary look, Tania decided to go for full-frame Cinema RAW Light to have the highest quality files for whatever life the film would go on to have. "The minute you go full-frame, your lens choices change quite dramatically," says Tania. "I knew we needed zooms because we were going to be outside, and having many focal lengths is an ideal choice." To cover the outdoor scenes, on location on an estate and the streets of Dublin, two of Canon's Flex Zooms – the Canon CN-E20-50mm T2.4 L and Canon CN-E45-135mm T2.4 L – offered the coverage and focal lengths Tania needed. "I didn't think there were any zooms which covered full-frame, so that sealed the deal."

Along with their industry-leading T2.4 iris for shallow depth of field and sensitivity, the two Flex Zoom cinema lenses – which are now complemented in the lineup by two Super 35mm options – offered the production a combined focal range of 20-135mm. "There were some scenes where we were filming one of the characters who works as a sex worker to supplement their income, and so we wanted to give it that slightly voyeuristic feel," says Tania. "The long lens was just enough to achieve that." For scenes capturing people walking around cars, or on the street at night, there was a need to be closer to the characters, so Tania switched from the Canon CN-E45-135mm T2.4 L F / FP to the Canon CN-E20-50mm T2.4 L F / FP. "That allowed us to get more of a human view, a bit more subjective, and more engaged, because the minute you put on a long lens, you're pushing people away from the action," she explains.

Throughout the varied shooting locations, from low-light scenes to action on the streets, Tania found the Flex Zooms held their own alongside the CN-E Primes, across their warm colour consistency, contrast and in how the lenses resolved, including in terms of sharpness and clarity. "They responded really well – they were a fast T2.4," she says. "It's good quality glass in there. Some lenses you could get the T2.4 and look at it and go, 'We're not going there, the lens just isn't resolving very well at that f-stop,' but these did." The full-frame Flex Zooms are the fastest cinema zoom lenses in their class covering their focal lengths, while each is also equipped with 11 iris blades giving beautiful, rounded bokeh.

When paired with the Canon EOS C500 Mark II, the Flex Zooms not only offered a run-and-gun handheld setup, but they were also compatible with the camera's focus guide. "We were shooting side by side with real people getting on with their lives," adds Tania. "We could move around quite swiftly, and didn't draw as much attention to ourselves on the street as we would have with a bigger rig." There was one moment, she remembers, when the crew was running short of time and Tania had to grab the camera as it was rigged with a Flex Zoom and go. "We were outside, with no time to put up any lighting, just using available lighting, and those scenes look great," says Tania. "Just really inky and nice, and you've got the starkness between the LED streetlights and then how the light just drops off.

"I think the lens is responsible for it looking the way it does, which I love."