Interview by Silvia Tarquini
Would you like to tell us about the genesis of Il mio corpo vi seppelliràWould you like to tell us about the genesis of Il mio corpo vi seppellirà? The film was released in 2021 and opens the programme promoted by the Collettivo Chiaroscuro Che sguardo vogliamo.
Il mio corpo vi seppellirà originated from a short film shot years earlier, titled Cucito addosso (‘tailored on’, in Sicilian), the story of a travelling tailor who moved across the Sicilies during the period of Italian unification. From that came a screenplay which, to this day, I consider one of the most beautiful I have ever read: the story of four Sicilian brigands during the unification of Italy. The director is Giovanni Laparola, who also wrote the screenplay – an author with a very distinctive vision, capable of conveying a truly special idea of the project. It was a challenging and extremely bold screenplay from a production point of view, as the story was set entirely outdoors, with no cover sets at all.
Where was it shot? And what other kinds of complexities were you referring to?
We chose to shoot in Puglia, rather than in the Sicily where the story is set, because Puglia offered a greater variety of locations and, above all, the concrete support of a Film Commission. From there, a complex pre-production began: alongside the actors — the four brigand protagonists — there were also animals playing a central role, particularly horses. We had more than eight of them, involved in most scenes, including particularly elaborate sequences such as the overturning of a carriage. In these scenes, the horses were running while pulling carriages specially built by the art department, with all the associated challenges: it was necessary to plan at least two teams for each horse, so they could be replaced when tired. From the very early stages, it was an extraordinary adventure, further enriched by the major work carried out by the Costume, Production Design, Hair and Make-up departments, and of course Cinematography.
Moving on to your cinematography, what were your starting points? You mentioned the importance of costumes and production design, given that the film is set in the 19th century. How did you work with those two departments? And what other choices did you make for the cinematography?
The stylistic approach and the film’s look emerged directly from the screenplay: to simplify, it was a balance between an almost Tarantino-like imprint and a constant search for highly distinctive, carefully composed shots. This approach inevitably led to tight and complex production schedules, rarely sustainable day after day. The Costume department had to work with great precision on materials: fabrics and garments — partly made specifically for the film, partly sourced through rentals — were treated, aged and transformed to convey authenticity. The same principle guided the Production Design: wood, built elements and selected locations had to evoke a historical period that felt dirty, dusty and, in some ways, dramatic. The cinematography followed a research path consistent with all of this. In the short film I mentioned, shot years earlier, we worked digitally with the Red One, one of the first digital cameras of that time, characterised by strong contrast and a rather limited dynamic range. To compensate for these aspects, I chose to return to a more ‘physical’ approach, introducing glass filters in front of the lens, intervening directly on the image to ‘dirty’ the CMOS sensor and make the result less digital and more organic. In that research process — also in relation to the Apulian locations of the short film, with their white masserie and sparse vegetation — I decided to work extensively with filters. Among these, I often use an attenuator, a graduated ND that acts across the entire surface of the filter; but beyond that, I tested and found the sunset grads particularly effective when used in combination. In practice, I used a stronger filter from above and another, lighter one inverted from below: the two graduated filters overlapped, creating not only a greater ‘texture’ in the image, but also a chromatic modulation across skies, the stone of the masserie and the sand, producing a very distinctive sense of heat. I carried this solution into the feature as well: for all exterior day scenes we consistently used these two crossed filters. It was a choice that made the work on set more complex — also for the DIT, who had to manage a challenging continuity — but the image acquired an almost analogue quality and a natural warmth; the sunset grads, in fact, generate a warm cast that is not uniform, but softly graded from top and bottom.
Which camera did you shoot on?
We were able to work with two ARRI cameras: an Alexa Mini and a Studio with a mechanical shutter which, in the initial idea — especially for the horse chases — gave me greater reliability, avoiding issues in motion. I have always liked alternating between these two cameras, particularly in the early days of digital: the mechanical shutter offered more stability and dependability and, at the same time, operating handheld with such a heavy camera has always been very interesting for me. That was in fact the camera I used for the second unit. As our main camera, instead, we had the Mini, often mounted on a Steadicam and operated by Giovanni Gebbia, a remarkable operator I was fortunate to collaborate with: he worked, among other films, on La leggenda del pianista sull’oceano, and he is someone I have tried to continue working with.
And which lenses did you choose?
I developed the choice of lenses together with Panalight. At the time, there wasn’t yet the possibility of choosing from a wide variety of lenses: rental houses had a more limited offering and investment in optics was still relatively modest. I was particularly fond of the Zeiss T1.3 and the 2.1, but the former — since we were working with two cameras — did not provide a sufficient range of focal lengths. The choice therefore fell on the 2.1, which I was nonetheless very satisfied with. These lenses did present a significant operational limitation: the tight space. It was complicated for the assistants to work with them, because mounting two motors — one for focus and one for the iris — was difficult, especially on the Studio camera with a mechanical shutter, which has a very bulky front and encloses the lenses more tightly. Lens changes were also complex, with constant adjustments due to differences between focal lengths. In the end, though, I managed to keep the assistants happy as well. I have to say that Alias Gallione, my first assistant, thanks to his skill and incredible speed, together with the whole team, handled the situation excellently.
I also had access to a Zeiss 25–250 T3.5 zoom, which proved very useful for all the more ‘stolen’ or telephoto moments, which were numerous — especially in the bauxite quarry, an extraordinary location characterised by an incredible red sand, where we shot the stagecoach assault scene. In that situation we worked with two cameras: one fitted with the Optimo zoom and the other with prime lenses. The combination worked very well and, together with DIT Mauro Toscano, we were able to find a good balance also thanks to the use of Soft/FX filters, which allowed us to harmonise the rendering between the zoom and the Zeiss T2.1 primes.
Overall, it was a very distinctive — perhaps even extreme — exploration of the look. I really like taking risks and pushing the CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) as far as possible. I say this because, coming from film, I had developed a sensitivity tied to a very different type of image and look. For me there was a clear distinction: film offered a grain and a possibility of intervention in processing — such as bleach bypass — that allowed you to shape the image in a very specific way. In moving to digital, I found myself searching for that same quality, and working with filters partially gave me back that kind of result, bringing it closer to what used to happen in the lab. Today, instead, I pursue this work together with Red and my DIT: on set we intervene directly with CDLs to achieve, as I was saying, an image that is as defined as possible already at the shooting stage, while knowing that it is never truly a final result.
And for Il mio corpo vi seppellirà? Which colourist did you work with? What was the relationship between the set and post-production on the film?
Continuing along a path already begun with the short film, I aimed to achieve, from the very moment of shooting, a file that was as ‘final’ as possible, with a clearly defined look. In post-production, then, again with Red!, we worked to make the material consistent: the use of crossed warm filters was not always perfectly coherent — also due to lens changes — but we were able to correct minor discrepancies, further enriching the image with vignettes and other adjustments.
Would you like to tell us in more detail about some of the Apulian locations where you chose to shoot? Which ones have stayed with you the most?
The location scouting, carried out by the director together with Production Design and Production, was extraordinary. The aim was to find places that felt as real as possible. The most complex location was the so-called ‘vulva’, the hideout of the four protagonists: a cave with a very particular shape, which was genuinely sought out and found. It was located at the top of a mountain, reachable only on foot, where we shot for several days. To reach the set, everything had to be carried by hand, and this also influenced the technical choices, starting with the lighting.
Inside the cave we had to handle both day and night scenes: we therefore chose — also thanks to the work with Production Design and Special Effects — to use real fires, fuelled by gas, in order to achieve lighting continuity and build the lighting from that base. At the time, aside from SkyPanels, the widespread use of LED lighting as we know it today did not yet exist. In more recent projects I use, for example, the Muse lights by Vittorio Storaro and De Sisti Lighting, characterised by very low power consumption. In that context, however, the alternatives were limited: beyond the SkyPanel, any other source required the use of a generator.
We therefore carried by hand a small 6-kilowatt generator as well, needed to power and recharge the equipment, along with all the other technical gear, brought to set entirely by the crew. This is why I was saying that there was a certain degree of courage also on the part of the Production, which followed the creative flow of our director in order to allow him to shoot where he truly felt the story belonged.
In that location we shot several night scenes. To manage the firelight, I worked alongside tungsten sources, using a flicker master to alter and modulate the effect of the flame. A flicker master, when used on a single source, risks producing an unconvincing result, with overly dense blacks; by combining real fire with tungsten lights, which are warmer, we achieved a much more natural effect. Smoke also played an important role: inside the cave it was almost ‘real’, as the fire filled the space to the point that we would come out with our nostrils completely black, but we still used a smoke machine in many situations — not only there, but also in other locations such as the masseria or the hut, practically in all interiors.
An out-of-the-ordinary shoot…
But, in the end, it is part of our profession: without cover sets, we also had to face rainy days, trying to make up for lost time and maintain continuity. It was a complex production, with long scenes shot over several days, and therefore with the challenge of managing different lighting conditions within the same scene. The work carried out in post-production, with Red, was essential to compensate for these variations and build a coherent visual continuity. Already on set, I had tried to organise the shooting by breaking scenes down into coverage, so as to manage, at least in part, the differences in light from one moment to another.
Another strong aspect of the film, it seems to me, is the extensive camera work…
Yes, we chose to use the Ronin which, at the time, was not yet widely used in cinema and was perceived more as a television tool. The Ronin 2 had just been released, a significant upgrade compared to the previous version, which had several balancing issues and very long setup times. With the Ronin we were able to handle much of the more complex sequences, particularly the chases, working in combination with the Black Arm, a mechanical stabiliser. Mounted on quads or pick-ups, it allowed us to achieve all the moving shots, including the night ride through the woods and other sequences that Giovanni had storyboarded with great precision, aiming to translate exactly what he had imagined.
The Ronin was not used handheld, but exclusively in these configurations. Initially, we had also planned to use it in combination with a drone, but this solution was later abandoned: the aerial footage was shot separately, working with a highly skilled local operator from Puglia, over 2–3 days dedicated solely to that. The original idea was to use the Ronin as a modular system — detaching it from the Black Arm and mounting it directly onto a drone or a crane — but in the end we mainly used cranes and jibs where the Ronin replaced the traditional remote head. This resulted in an extremely versatile and, in some ways, experimental use of the system.
Naturally, there were challenges: at the time the system did not yet have the software and optimisations available today, and we had to deal with various signal and stabilisation issues. However, thanks to the work with Alias and Giovanni Gebbia, we managed to handle and effectively ‘tame’ the system.
Would you like to go into more detail, on a more ‘personal’ level, about your particular connection to this project? What prompted you to take the opportunity of the ‘Che sguardo vogliamo’ programme, organised by Collettivo Chiaroscuro, to present it to your colleagues and to the Cineclub audience?
I have always remained very attached to this project, which I consider truly unique. Unfortunately, the film had limited distribution: editing was completed just before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and it was not able to benefit from a theatrical release, which would likely have enhanced the work much more. Moreover, for reasons related to timing and production — not due to any structural shortcomings, but rather contingent difficulties — it was not possible to shoot all the scenes envisaged in the screenplay, which could have further strengthened the film’s overall coherence and impact. It will be a real pleasure to share it as part of the CCS event, for which I am grateful.
Thank you, Marco
