The Stroller Strategy

La Stratégie de la poussette

in AFC newsletter n°227 Other ratio

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La Strategie de la poussette (The Stroller Strategy) is Clément Michel first feature. We exchanged a lot of visual references in preparation for the film. Mainly taken from films like Garden State, Being John Malkovich, a lot of crazy universes.

Clément wanted the film to have an original visual universe and step out of the recurring codes of comedy.
We mentioned shooting in 35mm because most of its references were mainly taken from 35mm films.
The idea was to stay shiny and light while retaining a "more serious" film aesthetic to anchor the film in the real world despite the wacky situations.
The 2.35 ratio was imposed from the start to serve aesthetics and lose our hero overwhelmed by events coming from all over.

We worked intensely with the Costume Designer (Alexia Crisp-Jones) on the characters colors so that they were always borderline believable

Same for the art department. We managed with Maamar Ech-Cheikh, the Set Designer, to convince the production to build the apartment on stage, which is rare on this type of budget.
Good for us since the shooting schedules of the babies were constraining. So we could instantly get back to a setup several days in a row while doing other scenes in the meantime.
We carefully considered the circulation of the apartment to always connect the different characters present. Especially between the kitchen and the living room to feel the presence. And set a few visual gags.

At first, the main character had visions repeatedly (influenced by his profession as an illustrator) when he thought of Marie.
The several daydreams gradually disappeared from the edit to give way to a more classic form of narration.
But these visions motivated most of the film’s aesthetic decisions originally.

Childish colors, combined with a present and cinematic contrast in a ratio of 2.35.

We gave up the ​​35mm in favor of an Arri Alexa (more or less dictated by the lab cost and the budget...) and opted for a Panavision Primo set and an 11:1 zoom.
Shot mainly with a single camera with the exception of the nursery scenes.

Workflow.
I used one main LUT which is an emulation of Fuji 35 DI film print. The LUT was loaded into the Alexa for monitoring.
The dailies/proxies were graded and processed at Digimage.
The different dailies colorists were coordinated by François Dupuy, and the communication and workflow setup totally fluid.
The final grading took place at Digimage on Davinci Resolve with Guillaume Lips.

I will add a special mention to Raphaël Personnaz who is beyond talented, a very technical actor who feels the camera, the timing for him and for his partners, and anticipates the placements. all lined with communicative good humor. It’s impossible not to enjoy working with Raphaël.
Charlotte Le Bon is not to be outdone, although it was her first feature film, she kept up to the standard with the same good humor and simplicity which makes the work simple and pleasant.

Official trailer


https://youtu.be/0vVzj7whNl8

Trailer with subtitles in English


https://youtu.be/MaNHqwcIVnk

Crew

B cam OP : Jérôme Carles
Steadicam OP : Olivier Merckx
1st AC : Boris Abaza
2nd AC : Hélène Degrandcourt
Data Manager : Haruyo Yakota
Gaffer : Christophe Sournac
Key Grip : Stéphane Canda
Colorist : Guillaume Lips

Technical

Camera : Panavision
Grip and lighting : TSF Grip - TSF Lumière
Lab : Digimage

synopsis

Thomas let Marie go, by dint of not getting involved.
A year later, still inconsolable, he finds himself with the baby of a neighbor in his arms.
He will use this temporary child to win back the woman of his life ...