This column, “The Colour of The Pool”, written by Angela Cerasi of Peachy Keen Colour, was originally featured in the Australian Cinematographer Society’s “AC Magazine“.

 

Earlier this year, Ben Cunningham ACS was awarded a Golden Tripod for outstanding cinematography for Shark Island Institute’s 2024 feature documentary, The Pool. He sat down with colleague Angela Cerasi to discuss the pivotal role that colour played in the film, which was lauded as a “stunning cinematic masterpiece.”

 

Now streaming on Prime Video, DocPlay and Apple TV, The Pool is a poetic portrait of the Bondi Icebergs swimming pool and the community that gathers there. The spectacular 50 metre stretch of sparkling blue is the most photographed pool in the world; and as we discover, used by people from all walks of life as a meeting place, a resting place, a workout place and a place of romance and ritual.  

 

 

From the get-go, award-winning filmmaker Ian Darling AO had a clear vision that colour was to be a major element in The Pool. Early references included Slim Aarons poolside photography, LeRoy Grannis surf photography and Australian Coca-Cola ads from the 80s and 90s. To help bring this vision to life, Darling brought together the particular skillsets of Melbourne-based DOP Ben Cunningham ACS and Brisbane-based Senior Colourist Angela Cerasi.  

 

The scope and variety of characters, events and weather to document was vast. From die-hard squad swimmers at dawn to the mass of tourist blow-ins during Summer. There are the almost biblical mornings sun-drenched in a glow. The deeply bruised skies of a storm and the immense swells that pound the cement walls. There is the still of night when the pool is drained for cleaning under sodium light, and the high-energy, colourful race days. 

 

 

With his background in natural history (where the modus operandi is taking lots of time to capture fleeting moments), Cunningham was in his element.  He was given 100 shooting days. Often these were half days or even quarter days – usually split into sessions at either end of the day to try to capture magic hours. Colour-wise, the cinematographer was always on the lookout for pops around the pool – a canary yellow swimming cap, neon pink flippers or a crimson-red water bottle. As the director explained, “The pool is the character in the film, where it has a personality. It’s like it has sixty arms and legs.” Just like wildlife, Cunningham strived to capture the pool in all its different colours and moods. 

 

 

He explained, “After being briefed by Ian and scouting the pool at various times of day I knew I needed to approach the film like a wildlife film – spending many hours on location waiting for the moments where beautiful light intersected with the storytelling elements Ian wanted to tell.  Sometimes that meant dark moody light and other times bright colourful light. We shot it in 10-12 day blocks over the course of a year so we could experience all the seasonal elements.” This process gave editor Sally Fryer ASE a wealth of light and shade to work with to weave the story. 

 

 

After listening to Cerasi speak about the beauty and meaning of colour in her podcast, The Art of Colour Grading, Darling knew he had found the right collaborator. They spoke early and in-depth about the visuals, with Darling sharing the film’s themes of fun, joy, simplicity, love, compassion, friendship, dreaming and community. Knowing the film’s deeper meaning is the key for Cerasi and gives her the information she needs to find the optimum look for the story. She explains, “It’s easy to copy a grade from a visual reference and create a similar look. But the end result can feel superficial if you don’t know why you’re making it look that way. How are we actually trying to make the audience feel and what story are we telling?” 

 

 

A typical documentary will shoot in 10bit, but understanding the importance of colour in The Pool, Cunningham pushed for the 16bit colour depth of the Sony Venice’s X-OCN codec. He knew there would be a lot of movement and spectral highlights due to the location and also understood this could break a weaker codec. Underwater was captured on the Sony FX3, some spectacular ocean splash was filmed high-speed on the Phantom and there was some DJI Mavic 3 Pro Cine drone too. Matching between these cameras in the grade was not an issue, and the decision to shoot Venice as the A-cam was a dream for Cerasi who adores the camera’s colour fidelity, skin tones and the fact it can handle anything thrown at it. 

 

The poolside location did bring its own unique challenges though.  Cunningham explains, “Given the location is prone to large and often unexpected salt water splashes from the ocean swell hitting the outside wall of the pool I had to be extremely careful choosing camera positions and when moving the camera around the pool. Often, we were limited to a few positions on the deck so lens choice became very important too. For this reason, we employed the use of three Fujinon Premista zooms – 19-45mm, 28-100mm and the 80-250mm. Occasionally I used my Canon 50-1000mm when needing to shoot close ups from a log way back in one of the safe zones around the pool deck.” 

 

 

The creative brief to Cunningham was always to “capture a kaleidoscope of colour”. One of his favourite scenes is the “purple mermaid scene”. If you’ve seen the film, you’ll know the one. With a hypnotic Icelandic song as a soundtrack, we watch the meditative beauty of a swimmer in silhouette against a sublime dawn of purple-pink. The waves smash against the pool wall in slow-motion and the fan-like splashes catch the bright yellow glow of the first sun. Cunningham knew he was shooting something special at the time and was excited to see how Cerasi would elevate it even further in the colour grade. 

 

 

Cerasi suggested a hybrid in-person and remote workflow for the grade of The Pool for some very good reasons, and Shark Island Productions dived in without hesitation. When the budget allows, Cerasi believes this hybrid grade workflow gives the best of both worlds. Time for intense collaboration, and space to let it ruminate and breath. Cerasi had three days with the director in the 4K theatrette at Soundfirm Sydney, five days  remote in her Brisbane studio and two days back in Sydney to present her  work of the completed film and do any changes or tweaks. 

 

The initial three days together included setting a look for key scenes throughout the film. Cerasi explains, “Unfortunately Ben was shooting and couldn’t attend these days, but we’d talked at length prior and agreed that the Sony s709 LUT was a good starting point. It was also the LUT applied in the edit, so if Ian liked the way a shot looked in the offline, I had it on hand to apply to the 4K source material immediately.” Cerasi adds it’s important to her that the LUT is accessible within her node tree (as opposed to an Input LUT applied prior) because then she can use it creatively by grading ‘under it’ or using it at half-strength for example.

 

Contrary to what most people might assume, the remote grade days did not involve syncing up systems or live feeds using Colorfront. They were days when the director and colourist took time apart, and Cerasi was allowed the freedom to experiment, try and fail. Similar to a composer, Cerasi believes this time alone with her instruments fuels creativity and exploration. “The approved looks created in the first few days meant I was never going to bark completely up the wrong tree. I knew the world. But I had the freedom to play without the pressure of people watching you create while the suite’s hourly rate is ticking.” 

 

 

When re-grouping for the final two grade days, Cerasi presented her work – the finished film. The director could experience the documentary with fresh eyes, from start to finish, and feel every scene in context with each other.  Cerasi believes this is such a gift, and one you may not experience if you’ve watched the grade change step-by-step each day. 

 

Darling had wanted “to go for it” in the grade, for the pictures to be fun, bold and brave just like the winter swimmers. Experience tells Cerasi that directors often want this in theory, but when it comes to the pointy end when approval is required, especially when there are multiple stakeholders involved, ‘being safe’ often trumps. The end result is not always so bold and brave. To his credit, Darling was a complete visionary and rather than asking Cerasi to pull back on the bold look, wanted to push it even further. 

 

 

An example is the final scene where we see Bondi Icebergs in its full glory – in the height of a sizzling Summer. Soundtracked to a fun, Kylie Minogue song, there are tanned bodies everywhere, vibrant togs and hats and towels, splashes and selfies against the sparkling blue Pacific Ocean. This scene had to feel celebratory and joyous, like the volume was turned up.  With this in mind, Cunningham captured colour contrast at any opportunity; a huge orange inflatable ring against the turquoise pool, rainbow bunting flapping wildly in the ocean breeze.  

 

In the grade, an obvious solution to obtain this fun and sun-soaked vibe would be to increase the overall colour saturation. But in line with Cunningham, Cerasi instead focussed on the contrast. She explains, “With all colours saturated and pumping, the result can feel garish. This is because increasing saturation means an increase in colour brightness. 

 

Instead, to get a more dynamic and striking image we darkened colours to get richer colour depth. I enhanced any tonal and colour contrast captured by Ben so we were always using a full gamut of colour.” 

 

Cerasi goes on to reveal, “For our tastes, Ben and I thought the colour in the scene was looking great. But after the final review of the completed film, Darling opted to go bigger.” The colourist adds, “How refreshing to be pushed out of your comfort zone! It felt like I was grading a Pedro Almodovar film with bold clashing colour and dazzling Spanish sun!” Cerasi believes a lot of Aussie films lean toward de-saturation, to evoke something more cinematic and high-brow. “But what a delight when a director isn’t afraid to go with their gut and be true to their initial vision. To go unashamedly big and bold with colour.” The Pool was always intended to bring great joy and happiness to audiences, and it certainly achieved that.