Director’s Vision
The film
- 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 Craft
Craft spec
- 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
- Register
- Cinematic artist portrait
- Frame
- Layered anamorphic depth
- Balance
- Floral against architectural
- Nod
- Art Circle Awards 2023 (the artist)