Shotdeck x ASC Lookback: Ari Wegner, ASC, ACS
Australian cinematographer Ari Wegner, ASC, ACS built her reputation through distinctive work on films including Lady Macbeth, In Fabric, and Zola, before her Academy Award–nominated cinematography on The Power of the Dog brought international attention. In 2023, she was welcomed into the American Society of Cinematographers.
For director Sebastián Lelio’s period drama The Wonder, Wegner photographed a story set in 1860s Ireland about an English nurse investigating a young girl said to be surviving without food. Wegner emphasized the nurse’s outsider status by placing the character’s vivid blue dress against the muted tones of the Irish landscape and interiors.
The production was photographed on the ARRI Alexa LF with Cooke S7/i FF lenses, often favoring wider focal lengths during dialogue scenes. To shape the film’s period texture, the team employed a digital-film-digital process that recorded the image out to Kodak 250D before scanning it back for the final grade.
Check out the film’s shots on Shotdeck and read more about Wegner at TheASC.com.
#ShotDeck #ASC #cinematography
LIVE DISCUSSION with Oscar-nominated cinematographer Ari Wegner (THE POWER OF THE DOG, EILEEN, DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS) this Sunday 1/7 at 3PM PT.
Whether shooting a film about a 19th-century Englishwoman bristling against the confines of a loveless marriage (William Oldroyd’s LADY MACBETH) or two strippers road-tripping to Florida for a twisted weekend of scheming (Janicza Bravo’s ZOLA), Galerie curator @ariwegner is known for synthesizing the distinct vision of each director with her own meticulous artistry of framing and light.
Wegner joins us this Sunday at 3PM PT to break down her distinctive storytelling principles, delving into the importance of prep, and anatomizing scenes from her work, including THE POWER OF THE DOG (for which she became the second woman in history to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography) and Sebastián Lelio’s THE WONDER.
/discuss/perspective-and-intuition-ari-wegner
“From a visual perspective the challenge was to closely track where the audience’s mind is in relation to our main character. You’ve got to help them visually, manipulate them, to fall in love with Eileen knowing you are going to take them to a very challenging place.”
Ari Wegner ASC ACS on her work on gripping psycho-drama 'Eileen'.
Hear more from Ari via the link in BC's bio! Catch 'Eileen' in cinemas from 1 December. 📸: Jeong Park
“We wanted to find a way to inject colour and life wherever we could, and to avoid the film being too visually depressing. 'The Wonder' is also a story about a potential miracle and Lib is very full of life and energy, so we wanted colour to play a big role – such as Lib’s vivid blue dress, the green walls and the vibrance of the fire light.
“We also did a lot of planning about curtains, shutters, specific wall colours and how shiny they should be. The sets were designed with these kind of lumpy, shiny green walls so they would appear both green and golden in the parts where they reflected the lamp and firelight.”
Ari Wegner ASC ACS on achieving the unique colour palette of 'The Wonder'.
Swipe for BTS and read the full interview via the link in bio.
📸: Netflix/Aidan Monaghan
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@ariwegner #FlorencePugh #TheWonder #cinema #film #dop #filmmaking #cinematography #BritishCinematographer #movies
So honoured to be invited to join the @the__asc ! Such heartfelt gratitude to everyone at the ASC, especially the wonderful DPs who championed my membership @greigfraser_dp@nancyschreiber_asc@amyvvincent@crescenzonotarile Thank you!!
I’m eternally grateful to all of the directors who have entrusted me with their projects, to all the incredible cast and crew who I’ve been blessed to collaborate with and for the everlasting support of my husband @leo_woodhead . Big love to you all! ❤️
A very special day, truly honoured.
What an incredible night!! 🥰 From someone whose natural habitat is behind the camera, thank you so, so much to the dream team who had me feeling so comfortable and glamorous last night! Y’all nailed it!!! The beautiful stylist @benjaminholtrop , custom tux by the incredible @asanchezfashion , vintage cut crystal from @cannonballandtilly , platinum tipped cowboy boots by @marcellvonberlin , make up by the wonderful @leah_rial , and of course hair by the one and only @paolapeach . Cannot thank you enough!! ❤️🔥
"We’d initially decided to shoot in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio, but when we started drawing, we found our drawings were going off the edges, and the film was telling us it wanted to be widescreen. At the same time, we both knew we weren’t being drawn towards 2x anamorphic. It felt like too strong of a look for what we wanted. When I mentioned the 1.3x anamorphic to Jane, that was really exciting for us, because it was a bit of the best of both worlds, spherical and anamorphic. Plus, a vintage lens is always a lovely thing to have on a period movie."
Cinematographer @ariwegner recounts her collaboration with director Jane Campion for #ThePoweroftheDog. Serviced by #Panavision Auckland with Ultra Panatar large-format anamorphic optics. Want to know more about inspiration, capturing landscapes, and storytelling through camera movement? Read the interview at the link in our bio.
Am always so incredibly proud and in awe of my sister @lydiawegner but especially today. Tonight her new solo show, Shifting Light, opens @arconegallery . Get along! Tonight 6-8pm or over the next month, show runs today thru April 13th. Big love! Your photography always explodes my mind!
Melbourne friends! This Thursday at ACMI, a one-off chance to see STRAY on the big screen in Australia. This film is so dear to me, I wish I could be there. As a DP, so many hours are spent on set looking down a strange little tube at a tiny little image, that image however is quite often designed to be viewed many thousands of times larger and this was certainly the case on STRAY. See it big, you won’t regret it! There’s also a Q&A after with director @dustinfeneley and production designer @whinnies , moderated by the wonderful @glendyn_ivin . Tickets available at the ACMI website. Wish I could make it! @strayfeaturefilm
