“We had to be extremely quiet moving”: DP Filip Drożdż on piano

Founded in 1927, the prestigious International Chopin Piano Competition provides the dramatic stage for To Jacob Piatek Piano. Following some of the talented performers from around the world participating in the competition, Piątek’s crowd-pleasing documentary, which premiered at Sundance 2023, was filmed by his longtime collaborator Filip Drożdż, who discusses his work on the project below.

director: How and why did you end up cinematographer on your film? What were the factors and qualities that led to your being hired for this job?

Yeast: I have known the director Jakub Piotek for a long time. We have worked together on many different projects and we get along very well. We’ve been working for the Frédéric Chopin Institute for the past few years, so when Jakub came up with the idea of ​​making a feature-length documentary about the competition, I was ready. I already had some basic knowledge of the world of classical music; I knew the places, the people, and how to move silently through the labyrinths of the National Philharmonic.

director: What were your artistic goals for this film and how did you realize them? How did you want your cinematography to enhance the film’s storytelling and treatment of its characters?

Yeast: Our first idea was to make this film very personal. We wanted to get to know the young pianists and their lives outside the music halls. Very soon we realized that most piano concerts and films about pianists were shot completely static and away from a person. That was our starting point for the artistic research for our film: we wanted to stay close to our characters and capture the energy of these young people who are very mature for their age but still going through the changes and challenges of becoming young adults. We wanted to see how the sensibilities of young pianists are balanced between two realities: the reality of classical music and the reality of today, with TikTok, social media, video games. This defined the aesthetic of our film. Our camera had to be very mobile, observant, but very smooth. We didn’t want to add any extra expression, we just focused on the music and the performers.

director: Were there any specific influences on your cinematography, whether it was other films, visual art, photography or anything else?

Yeast: Before filming, we looked for inspiration, even though most piano-related movies were the exact opposite of what we wanted to do. The films of Herbert von Karajan, a great conductor and director, were very interesting and spectacular; however, we planned to focus on the people rather than the musical performances. We wanted our camera to feel free, to express the emotions of young people who crave life and music. So it had to be sensual, transitioning between filming music performances and conversations. We realized early on that we needed to be in the film – not necessarily in a shot, but as a conversation partner.

director: What were the biggest challenges posed by the production for these purposes?

Yeast: Filming the musical performances was a challenge because I didn’t know how we were going to cut them in the editing room, so we had to shoot a lot of long takes. And we had to move very quietly! Another challenge was the need to photograph several pianists at the same time. We had to organize two or three separate teams to follow other pianists, keeping the same style of camerawork. Overall, the race was a very intense experience, a physical challenge that kept us busy from morning until late at night. As a team, we also had to build personal relationships with all the pianists, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to be a part of their very personal experience.

director: What camera did you shoot with? Why did you choose the camera you did? What lenses did you use?

Yeast: We shot most of the footage on the Canon C300 Mark II and C500 Mark II. I chose it mostly for its image quality, beautiful skin tones, and reliability. During testing, we chose an older lens, the Opton Oberkochen, which has beautiful blur, good contrast, and is still sharp.

director: Describe your approach to lighting.

Yeast: We have always preferred natural light. But we weren’t the only camera crew at the race. There was public broadcasting on Polish TV and they put their own lamps in various places that were not necessarily good for us. We had to negotiate with them for any changes.

director: What was the hardest scene to pull off and why? And how did you do it?

Yeast: For me, the scenes in the final stage were the most difficult to shoot, mostly because of the tension. We didn’t want to disturb the pianists who had been preparing for this moment for years. We had to be very gentle and know when to leave them alone.

director: Finally, describe the ending of the film. How much of your look was “baked in” versus realized in DI?

Yeast: We were aiming for a natural look with not much contrast. At the beginning of the color grading, we decided to give a specific look to different places, but nothing too obvious. In the Philharmonic, we opted for warm colors because of the wooden walls and red seats. But most of the species was “baked”.

TECHNICAL BOX

cameras: Canon C300 Mark II, Canon C500 Mark II

lenses: Option Oberkochen, Zeiss Super Speed

Lighting: Natural light

Color Gradation: DaVinci Resolve