This DP Used a Genius Hack to Light a Historic Location

Showing a culture clash through lighting and lenses
The period setting and collaborating with White were big draws for Curtis on this project. But he also appreciated the chance to shoot two difficult cultures in unique Scottish locales.

"Because shooting period, if you are working out of London, there's a lot of National Trust houses and castles and what have you that are filmed quite a lot," he said. "So to be relocated up to [the] north of the border and the borders themselves, which is just within England from Scotland, we were going to be able to use some places that were not photographed very often and quite fresh landscapes and interiors that were new to people."

Cinematographer Oliver Curtis' last period shoot was in 1998—the BBC's Vanity Fair miniseries, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA. So it seemed only right that he return to this world and bring all his knowledge of how to shoot intricate costumes, difficult locations, and more in the new show from Apple TV+, The Buccaneers.

This is the second collaboration between Curtis and director Susanna White, after previously working together on Danny Boyle's series Trust.

The show, based on an unfinished Edith Wharton novel, follows nouveau riche New York families and their young daughters, boisterous young women ready to seek marriage partners. They travel overseas to London, attracting all manner of characters (and lovers) with their money and ebullient personalities.

We spoke with Curtis via Zoom about the challenges of lighting this show and all the considerations a period project of this scale needs.


The Buccaneers — Official Trailer | Apple TV+www.youtube.com

Showing a culture clash through lighting and lenses
The period setting and collaborating with White were big draws for Curtis on this project. But he also appreciated the chance to shoot two difficult cultures in unique Scottish locales.

"Because shooting period, if you are working out of London, there's a lot of National Trust houses and castles and what have you that are filmed quite a lot," he said. "So to be relocated up to [the] north of the border and the borders themselves, which is just within England from Scotland, we were going to be able to use some places that were not photographed very often and quite fresh landscapes and interiors that were new to people."

He also appreciated the chance to shoot New York and British characters and show the differences between their lives through visuals.

"It's a clash of cultures," he said. "It's a sort of perennial tale of two cultures sort of colliding and people's contrasting needs and desires. So it's a universal tale. You've got these young American women coming from moneyed families to meet potential suitors and husbands with titles and estates to bequeath. So it's a wonderful clash of cultures, which from a cinematography point of view is really fruitful territory."

But this difference was not only in characters and their behavior but also the differing levels of technology.