Kamal Lazraq’s Hounds, shot entirely at night, is a plunge into the underworld of Casablanca, with a father and son who must dispose of a man’s body before daybreak. DP Amine Berrada created very dark images that convey the characters’ endless wandering, using ARRI’s ALEXA Mini.
Berrada said: “Kamal preferred a highly immersive, documentary-style camera for this film. As he wanted to work with non-professional actors, we tried to provide optimal shooting conditions. All our choices were made with this constraint in mind. We shot the film in sequence so that the actors wouldn’t get lost. It wasn’t possible to ask them to do several takes or respect any marks. So, we had to adapt to their acting the whole time, which is why we decided to shoot the film handheld. I also used 360° lighting to give the actors free rein and follow them if necessary. As a result, I couldn’t have any legs on the ground. I would set up light sources high up so that they wouldn’t show in the images.”
“I loved playing with the codes of film noir in this film, especially the strong contrasts. Indeed, it is very painterly, like starting from a blank canvas, which leaves a lot of room for lighting. Starting with black, you can decide which details you are going to reveal and what remains hidden. Often, all I could see was the reflection of an eye, a few shimmers on the skin. I didn’t light anything else. In the streets, I made use of the surrounding light. Casablanca is a city with a lot of sodium lighting; I often had to turn off streetlamps to give the light direction and prevent images from being uniformly orange. I liked this saturated sodium hue and often tried to accentuate it to give the impression of a city on fire. I also used battery-operated Chinese baubles, with a slightly cyan white for colour contrast.”
So, why did Berrada select the ALEXA Mini? He said after some comparative tests using different camera models, he finally opted for ARRI. “It’s a camera I know well. I knew how it would react, mainly in low-light environments. I also like its compact size, especially because I shot the entire film handheld, including a lot of car scenes. I was looking for a raw, rough texture, but without necessarily adding grain because I liked the natural noise of this camera. To achieve this, I used the ALEXA Mini between ISO 1600 and 2000. This required very precise lighting. You can’t go wrong with exposure, otherwise noise builds up and the image becomes flat. In return, I had less dynamic range, but that didn’t bother me.”
Berrada continued: “The ALEXA Mini’s Super 35 format also suited me very well. I paired the camera with Summilux lenses. I love this combination, the volume it gives to depict faces as they emerge from the dark. They almost look like sculptures. I also really like the shine on the faces, which came out well using this combination. Mainly, I shot with lenses ranging from 35mm to 65mm, with apertures between 1.4 and 2.8, particularly to preserve the luminous hum of the city in the distance. It’s really a film of faces and characters. We didn’t see the point of doing a lot of wide shots.”
