The Cinematography Podcast Episode 334: Jeff Cutter

Cinematographer Jeff Cutter first collaborated with director Dan Trachtenberg on 10 Cloverfield Lane. Their successful partnership continued on the Predator prequel, Prey, which became Hulu's most-watched streaming premiere. Jeff and Trachtenberg found they had a strong bond over their mutual interests, such as films like Die Hard with “muscular” camerawork. As gamers, the two often use cinematic moments and cutscenes from both videogames and movies as visual references during pre-production meetings.

For Predator: Badlands, Tractenberg created a previsualization (previs) of the major sequences. He and Jeff then discussed the overall visual tone and the right approach for the camerawork. A key thought exercise they use is determining how each scene could be shot as a oner, even if the final plan doesn't involve a single-take sequence. Jeff explains, “The exercise just lets us, it really lets you figure out who is the scene about? What is the context and what is the subtext?” He finds that it's a creative way to focus and narrow down the visual choices to make each scene distinct.

Jeff built upon the visual foundation he established for Prey. For that film, he and Trachtenberg wanted to subvert audience expectations of a Predator movie, focusing on a naturalistic approach that relied as much as possible on natural daylight, firelight, and moonlight as the primary sources.

Defining the Predator: Badlands look by color palette:

-The Yautja Planet (Predator Home World): Jeff chose a distinct brown and blue palette accented with warm tones. The look is designed to evoke a sense of harsh but beautiful reality, defined by sandy deserts and stark rock formations.

-The Planet Gena: Shot partly on location in New Zealand, this environment called for a greener, more naturalistic look, with a bluer color for nighttime scenes.

-The Weyland-Yutani Base: This section connects Predator: Badlands to the larger Alien universe, notably through the Weyland-Yutani corporation and its synthetic main character, Thia (played by Elle Fanning). Inspired by the industrial, ominous atmosphere and moody lighting of films like Aliens and Prometheus, Cutter aimed for an industrial look dominated by cyan, blue, and green tones.

See Predator: Badlands in theaters

Find Jeff Cutter: Instagram @jeff_cutter

SHOW RUNDOWN:

01:53 Close Focus

12:01-1:04:42 Interview

01:05:03 Short Ends

01:13:10 Wrap up/Credits (with a little blooper at the end)

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