Cinematography of Nomadland Blog investigation 3/13

The narrative of Fern (Frances McDormand), a lady who has lost everything in the Great Recession, is told in Nomadland. We witness Fern start her life as a van dweller and an Amazon employee. She resolves to live a nomadic lifestyle and relocates to the desert, where she will join a nomadic group. She moves in and out of numerous nomad settlements as the film goes, doing various occupations and bonding with various interesting personalities. Fern is eventually forced to confront her fear of attachment and must choose between settling down and continuing her life on the road. The film's conclusion leaves us wondering what will happen to Fern and what she will choose. 

Joshua James Richards, the director of photography, and the director, Chloé Zhao have pulled off an astounding achievement. Shots of numerous gorgeous settings, such as wide desert vistas, snow-capped mountains, and flowing rivers, are not difficult to capture nicely in Nomadland. Even the tiniest, least intriguing locales are represented brilliantly—fast food outlets and the interior of Fran's van are rendered magnificently. The photography is nonetheless incredible for a film with such a simple premise. Natural light is so significant in these films that it might be considered a starring character, encapsulating nature's presence and complexity. New Naturalism provides an alternative cinema in an age of more virtual, computer-generated imagery. While many other filmmakers have borrowed New Naturalism's aesthetic language, Zhao and Richards are pushing the concept further by including real people in their films. They encourage viewers to see the healing power of empathy in a dispersed community of like-minded beings, as well as the mystery of a bereaved woman's revelation in the desert, in Nomadland.

With a tiny staff of just 27, production on Nomadland lasted four months, beginning in the autumn of 2018 and ending in February 2019, with a brief break for the Christmas and New Year vacations. The road journey stopped in Nebraska, South Dakota, Nevada, California, and Arizona, where the RTR sequences were filmed, including the spectacular stratified rock formations of Badlands National Park.

 

Because of the budget and subject matter, the production had to be kept simple. “In retrospect, it was losing all the trappings of what a conventional film set is that forced us to think differently... Because you have all these limitations, you have to think, ‘Okay, well we don’t have money for lights, so it’s natural light. We don’t have money for a crew, so there’s going to be like eight of us… [I]t was an approach that was forced upon us, and I’m really grateful for that because it introduced to me a way of filmmaking that I’m really excited about.”

Work Log

Monday: worked on blog investigation

Tuesday: Made edits to my script 

Wednesday: Worked on mp3 blog presentation 

Thursday: Worked on mp3 blog presentation

Friday: Shorten period