ADDING HDR ZING TO LOVE & ANARCHY

Cinematographer Ulf Brantås has lensed top UK crime and period dramas, and now his Swedish rom-com has become an international hit. Steve May talks lipstick...

- Steve May

SOMETIMES, SHOOTING IN HDR brings unexpected benefits.

For cinematographer Ulf Brantås, and the production team on quirky Swedish rom-com Love & Anarchy, a Netflix original, they found it solved one of the country’s perennial conundrums – Swedish dress sense.

According to producer Frida Asp, everyone in Sweden wears black during winter, and in SDR that means they more often than not look like black blobs, devoid of detail. With HDR, black clothes were suddenly exhibiting texture and structure. 'At last, finally, we could wear black!'

Think Swedish telly and you’ll probably envisage Scandi noir, but Love & Anarchy is far lighter fare. The story of respectable married consultant Sophie, who embarks on an increasingly dangerous and flirtatious relationship with twentysomething IT bod Max, is laugh-out-loud funny. If you’re after a change of televisual diet, it’s as salty as pickled herring.

Director of photography Ulf Brantås says Love & Anarchy was fast out of the blocks. 'It took only six months from the idea popping up in the head of the director until we started filming. The prep time was incredibly short really,' he says.

UK viewers will be familiar with Brantås’ work. He’s shot a large number of popular TV dramas, including Jamestown, Whitechapel, Call the Midwife and Marcella. HCC caught up with him over Zoom to learn more about his approach to cinematography and to get an insight into making a raunchy sitcom in Dolby Vision. But let’s start with the basics...