Director Karen Cinorre’s Mayday tells the story of Ana, who is transported to a dreamlike and dangerous land, where she joins an army of girls engaged in a never-ending war along a rugged coast. Though she finds strength in this exciting new world, she comes to realize that she’s not the killer they want her to be.
Sam Levy was the cinematographer on the film. His past projects include three films for director Noah Baumbach (Frances Ha, Mistress America, While We’re Young) as well as the Oscar-nominated Lady Bird and director Spike Jonze’s Changers: A Dance Story.
We reached out to Levy, who also served as a producer on Mayday, to talk about how the film evolved, its look and working with Cinorre.
How early did you get involved on this film?
Writer/director Karen Cinorre and I are longtime collaborators and also happen to be life partners. Mayday is a project we have been developing together for a long time.
When Karen first told me about her idea for this story, I was instantly hooked. It felt innovative and audacious, something I simply had to help bring to life. We began to work on developing the film, both as cinematographer and director, but also as producers pushing the film along on its journey.
What direction were you given for the look? Were you provided with examples?
I tried not to let other films penetrate my approach too deeply. We did, however, look at the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger — The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus in particular. These are breathtaking works that to this day are groundbreaking. We also watched Elem Klimov’s visionary Come and See as an example of a beguiling war film with dynamic action sequences.
The photographer that inspired Karen and me the most is the brilliant Rinko Kawauchi, especially her book “Halo.”
How did you work with the colorist? Was it all remote?
I worked closely with DI colorist Marcy Robinson at Goldcrest in New York, who used Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve on the film. Marcy and I worked together when I shot Frances Ha and While We’re Young for Noah Baumbach. She is family, and Mayday simply would not look the way it does without her devotion and hard work.
While we worked in person at Goldcrest, because of COVID we were in adjoining rooms. We were tested several times a week and wore masks.
Can you talk lenses and lighting?
There was never a question in my mind that Mayday was an anamorphic movie. I worked very closely with the brilliant Kavon Elhami and Kelly Samuels at Camtec in Los Angeles in testing the Cooke SF anamorphic lenses. At the time we began principal photography on Mayday, there were no large-format anamorphic lenses that I liked, so I happily picked the ARRI Alexa Mini. Camtec also went above and beyond in creating a custom Infrared Alexa camera for me to shoot a special sequence in the film.
We shot most of Mayday in Pula, a beautiful coastal city in Croatia. Together with my gifted DIT, Sean Goller, I designed a bespoke digital lab in several adjoining hotel rooms.
Each night we’d watch down the day’s work before grading the dailies. In another room we’d then watch dailies from the previous day with Karen and editor Nick Ramirez.
Are there some scenes that stick out as challenging?
There are many scenes with our main actors riding motorcycles through the woods. These were the trickiest moments to pull off –– it was important to Karen and me that the girls ride big muscular bikes and look tough as nails doing it.
We had to do many tests to get it just right with the stunt team, but eventually we found the right combination of camera angles and stunts. The day we finally discovered the right cocktail of camera rigging and stunt work that worked for Karen and me was extremely satisfying.
Looking back on the film, would you have done anything different?
Spent more money on wigs.
Any tips for young cinematographers?
Be patient. A career in cinematography takes time, not only for opportunities to arise, but also to learn the craft. When I look back, moments in my life when I thought work was slow were actually valuable moments when I could study, read and have room for introspection.
Also, be disciplined. When you are working, put your phone on airplane mode and focus. It will set you apart from every other person in the room. Everyone on sets these days is constantly texting, checking email and Instagram. The more you are on your phone, the more you are just like everyone else. Do you really want to be a DP, or is it just something you say? Do yourself a favor and be in the moment. Use your eyes. Look around and really take in what is front of you.
