‘Sound of Metal’ Cinematographer Daniël Bouquet Talks Framing and Lighting Ruben and Joe’s Final Scene

Awards Daily chats via email with Sound of Metal cinematographer Daniël Bouquet about filming all of the concert scenes in the same location and the accidental prominence of circles in the film.

Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal begins with a little bit of claustrophobia. Ruben (Riz Ahmed) and Lou (Olivia Cooke) are tightly knit together on stage, a two-person punk band performing for an audience we never really see. This makes the focus on the two bandmates and lovers, because that’s all they are focused on, too. Even after the show, Ruben and Lou are packed into their Airstream with little to no space to breathe. They truly are intertwined.

As I learned in my conversation with cinematographer Daniël Bouquet, sometimes showing less can be more when it comes to settings and telling the visual story of characters. Bouquet utilized restraint in his work, knowing that Ruben’s journey later in the film would lead to expanding his world in more ways than Ruben could ever imagine.

Awards Daily: When I talked to the production designer Jeremy Woodward about the concert/bar scenes, he said that they were all filmed in the same location. I noticed that the lighting and filming in the opening scene are very unique, very insular—you don’t really see the audience.  What did you do to achieve this? And also make sure we as an audience didn’t realize that you were filming the same location?

Daniël Bouquet: Yes, that’s true and they all happened on the same day. We wanted to create different textures and instead of redressing the space a lot, we decided to place the band set-up in different corners. One concert on stage with audience in front and one concert on the floor with audience around. That created already a very different feeling. We used large pieces of black fabric to separate the rest
of the space.

AD: Actually, thinking about it, it’s really interesting that we don’t get many shots of buildings or a sense of “place” until Ruben reaches the deaf community and Joe. The house is almost a character, too. Was that something strategic in helping drive the narrative? And if so, what do you think it says about the bigger picture regarding Ruben’s journey?

DB: The life in the Airstream was a bit like sardines, but before his hearing problem, also very free. I felt that in the community he could slightly “open up.” That came intuitively with more space and wider setups. I’m usually a fan of showing less. So I avoid a language where we establish first and then drift closer in. We would be close, go into someone’s head, but wider to get some air. I like projects where the environment is a character, too. Especially when it’s part of the human character’s journey.

AD: In many of the scenes between Ruben and Joe, where the two of them are just talking, Ruben is often more closely framed than Joe, with Joe at a distance. But then in their final scene together, Joe’s framing becomes as close as Ruben’s during his final talk to him. And Ruben’s framing becomes more distant to the audience at one point. What were you trying to do with the framing here? This is one of my favorite scenes in the entire film.

DB: I feel that the limitations were helping us here, too. On some scenes we simply had to choose in how many angles (read film stock) we could cover a scene. Also because we improvised some as well. And Darius knows pretty well what he is looking for in a scene. So we didn’t do many takes. In most of the scenes it was very much about how Ruben would experience the situation. In this specific scene, Joe’s part was too important to just cover in a medium. And we also wanted to give him more weight in this conversation. Bringing him closer made him even stronger.

AD: The lighting in this scene is really interesting, too. It’s darker on Ruben’s side, and like a harsher light on Joe’s. How did that add to this important scene?

DB: The kitchen is an important place for the story because it’s where the people in this community meet and where they communicate. And Joe sits there very often. The light bulbs are also being used to show someone is entering. Because they obviously can’t hear that. The bulb was already hanging above the table, and I thought that Joe would have this on when he sits there on early mornings. Apart from diffusing the light outside to keep it dusky, I thought it would be more interesting not to polish everything too much. Both have light coming from the back, but for Ruben’s position, it felt more natural to give him more light from the front window. So for me his shot is brighter than Joe’s. Joe has the white from the wall behind him and the dimmed bulb above his face. It made him even stronger for me.

AD: Did the look or feel of the film subtlely change for when Ruben can hear versus when he can’t? And if so, what did you do to achieve this?

DB: I think that what you feel is that we slightly moved physically closer towards Ruben when he started loosing his hearing. For the rest we wanted to be subtle on the visual language because the audio perspective is already very strong and dynamic.

AD: I’m obsessed with the use of circles in this film. It’s something I discussed with Jeremy Woodward, how circles are important to the deaf community. I even notice it in things like the way the tables are set up in the farmhouse and even the coffee mugs. And even during the party scene outdoors at the end, all of the people are grouped in smaller circles, compared to the deaf communities larger circles. Was that something you were cognizant of? Even in the last scene, Ruben looks up at the sun—the ultimate circle.

DB: Wow, maybe that happened intuitively. I wasn’t aware of the circles yet. But now you that mentioned them, I totally see them everywhere.

Sound of Metal is available on Amazon Prime Video.