Director’s Vision

The film

At a glance
Subject
Karine Roche, visual artist
Theme
Oasis urbaine
Role
Director & DOP
Camera
Ursa Mini 4.6K G2
Lens
Laowa Proteus anamorphic
Location
Abu Dhabi

For this project, I set out to match the camera to the art. Exposé d'artiste is a short documentary about Abu Dhabi visual artist Karine Roche, her studio, and her process. She builds in layers, ink over resin over textile, so I wanted a frame that read as layered too, foreground, subject, and depth all doing something at once. I shot it anamorphic on the Laowa Proteus set so a piece could sit in the foreground while she worked behind it, mirroring the collage, and worked on false colour to keep the true colour of the work through mixed studio light. I kept the film observational and close: the most honest thing you can show about an artist is the work happening.

Filming The Making

Karine builds in layers, ink over resin over textile, so I wanted a frame that read as layered too. I shot it anamorphic, on the Laowa Proteus set, so a piece could sit in the foreground while she worked behind it, and the composition mirrored the collage.

The recurring theme, the urban oasis, meant constantly balancing the floral and the architectural in the same frame, warm organic material against hard studio structure. I worked on false colour to hold that balance in exposure so the colour of the work read true.

I kept the film observational and close, staying with the hands and the surfaces, letting the process set the rhythm rather than a script.

Director’s note

The most honest thing you can show about an artist is the work happening.

The approach, by the numbers An artist filmed as carefully as the art is made.
5
media
digital, ink, oil, resin, textile
2.39
anamorphic
layered Laowa Proteus frame
1
theme
oasis urbaine
1
studio
Abu Dhabi, the set

The Craft

Craft spec

How it was shot
Role
Director & DOP
Camera
Blackmagic Ursa Mini 4.6K G2
Lens
Laowa Proteus anamorphic
Grade
DaVinci Resolve, false colour
Subject
Karine Roche, artist

The anamorphic glass gives the studio scenes their depth and their soft, wide character, and false-colour monitoring kept the exposure precise on work where the colour is the point.

Everything was graded in DaVinci Resolve to keep the palette of the art intact rather than letting a studio’s mixed light pull it around.

Inspirations

Exposé d’artiste stands as a cinematic portrait of an artist and her process, the making filmed as carefully as the art is made.

Karine Roche’s work went on to be recognised with the UAE Sustainability Prize at the Art Circle Awards 2023, her recognition as an artist, which the film sits alongside.

References

Visual language
Register
Cinematic artist portrait
Frame
Layered anamorphic depth
Balance
Floral against architectural
Nod
Art Circle Awards 2023 (the artist)