Belfast cinematographer breaks down the ways black-and-white gives the film clarity and naturalism

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Belfast (2021 movie) Close this dialog window Streaming Options

The past is rarely black-and-white. But in Belfast, it is.

The highly personal film from writer-director Kenneth Branagh follows 9-year-old Buddy (Jude Hill) as his family grapples with the onset of the nationalist conflict known as the Troubles in Northern Ireland. As Ma (Caitriona Balfe) and Pa (Jamie Dornan) debate what is best for their family’s future, Buddy tries to make sense of the shifting world.

The moment cinematographer Haris Zambarloukous read Branagh’s script, he pictured depicting the script’s view of the past in black-and-white (though there are a few contemporary and fantasy sequences in color). The two have collaborated on films together for over a decade now and shared a fondness for shades of grey in their work.

“We decided on it together in a way,” Zambarloukous tells EW. “We have worked in black and white in the past — sections of our films have had black and white. Death on the Nile starts in black and white, the first 10 minutes. So, it was a language we knew well, and our mutual love of black and white is for similar reasons. So when I read it, I did suggest to Ken that straight away, one of the first things we talked about was, ‘Should we do the contemporary part in color, and [the past in] black and white?’ He was like, ‘I’ve been thinking the same things too.’”

From there, they worked together to create a palette that feels a blend of glossy Old Hollywood glamour and kitchen sink realism, all accomplished on a low budget, quick shoot nestled between COVID lockdowns in the U.K. in summer 2020.

With already many critics’ associations award nominations to his credit, Zambarloukous is poised to get some Oscar attention. But before he dives into the whirlwind of award season, we called him up to discuss the creative choice and how Belfast differs from a wide range of awards bait shot in black-and-white this season.

BELFAST Credit: Rob Youngson/Focus Features

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Why was it important to Branagh to shoot this in black and white?

HARIS ZAMBARLOUKOUS: We were both thinking in similar ways. One of the things that I love about black and white, and I know Ken likes this as well, is in our filmmaking, we always try to remove any distractions. We try to minimize movement. We try to minimize the set dressing, and really have you focus in on the performances and the actors. Of all the things that black and white does, it amplifies the emotion that’s there and it seems to be a more lucid, more direct way of feeling what the actors are feeling. It’s less descriptive than color. You don’t get as much information, but you gain something else. In particular with great performances — you can’t add an emotion when it’s not there — but when it’s there, it seems to be a very immersive way of capturing emotion.

Was there a specific emotional tone or mood you wanted to go for in contrast to other ways to utilize black and white?

We certainly wanted to be a slightly more glossy black and white. It had to be really clear. I don’t think a 10-year-old child sees things grainy. They have quite a clean view of the world. So that was one thing we wanted to do. In terms of the technical aspect of it, it was definitely large format, very clean photography. You feel every freckle and every detail. Ken calls it forensic photography, and that’s a very good word for it. We wanted a really wide scope of where our blackest black and our whitest white was to have every bit of gray in between that. We’d really work with the skies and how we could darken those, or how we could pop the faces that teeny bit. That was definitely something I learned from watching and reading kind of about Joseph Walker, who was [director Frank] Capra’s cinematographer. He always had a way of giving people a third of a stop extra brightness just to make them pop a little bit. So, we stayed within naturalism, but we wanted to add something magical in that too.

It’s very well cataloged that this is inspired by Ken’s childhood. Did you look at a lot of photographs or images from his own childhood and how much did those influence the look of things?

I didn’t look at photographs, but we literally walked the streets. We walked; we cycled; we went to Belfast; we stood where he would stand. We really took that in, and it was a moving experience. It’s not your typical location scouting. This was our eighth film. We’re open with each other and share our past together, but there’s something about when someone opens up about their past or something that had an impact on their life and is candid and is open that always leaves you a little vulnerable. But it also opens up to the other person, that gateway of conversation and engagement where you also share your past and what has impacted your life. So there was the filmmaking aspect of this, but there was also candid conversation about what’s important in life and why am I who I am.

You mentioned this glossy effect, and that really felt like Old Hollywood to me. A lot of the film shows us how Buddy processes things through cinema. So was that also intentional and part of why you chose that look?

It certainly was. We’ve had to do a more classic Hollywood look on some of our films. So, what I was curious to try and do is to take very naturalistic lighting, almost no lighting, almost like a Days of Heaven approach, and create our contrast and our lighting through our placement within a space. If I wanted someone brighter, we would talk about this with Ken and we just staged things closer to a window. It really was naturalistic lighting. It is not a usual approach. You would usually say, “Let’s place them where we want to. And then let’s use artificial lighting to create the tone and the contrast.” Old Hollywood films were lit with artificial light. What we wanted to do is try and recreate that look using naturalistic lighting and available light. That was a dance between me, Ken and the actors and the placement; that it would all be symbiotic.

BELFAST Credit: Rob Youngson/Focus Features

At times, the film can feel almost like a news reel — in the market riot, for example. And then other times, it’s much more romantic and nostalgic. Were there certain things you were doing to help us distinguish those moments?

The biggest thing that we did was be really still in those key dramatic moments, the emotional moments. You let shots go longer, let natural light play a part. If it was a cloudy day or a day where the clouds would go in and out and that had an effect, we’d let that fluctuation of light play. And we would keep long shots and slightly wider shots. We felt that by doing that, we earned the kinetic shots, the riots, et cetera. You have to exaggerate things in order to make an Irish film in a way, where you got to celebrate the joy and the victory. You really mourn the losses. Once that mourning has really taken place, you’ve got to have a kinetic dance. It was those kinds of emotions and that celebration of life that we used as an influence to how we would shoot a scene, and when we’d be intimate, when we would be silent, when we’d listen, and when we would be kinetic.

Did you shoot on black and white film stock or convert it in post?

We did shoot digitally, and it’s our first digital film. There is a reason I prefer capturing in color, and it’s to do with how effective I can be in the color correction process. I can key into certain colors, for example, a blue sky, and assign a tonality to it, a level of gray. I can actually key a face that has a little bit of red in it, which all faces have, and make it a little brighter, a little darker. If I had do this with black and white film, it would be a very, very lengthy process where you’d literally have to rotoscope around areas and change the tonality. This makes it much quicker. And we had limited resources, limited time. The only advantage I see in capturing in black and white is if you don’t want someone to change it, which we didn’t have that issue.

You also have these moments that are these bursts of color. Were those something Ken had in the script? And how did you decide where to place those and what you wanted them to signify?

Those were completely Ken’s ideas. He thought that that was quite a unique way of doing things, and that that really was from his imagination. He always felt that he escaped in these films and that movie-going was a burst of color in his life. He wanted to infuse that in the black and white and make it specific to the film that he was watching.

BELFAST A scene from the Kenneth Branagh film ‘Belfast’ | Credit: Focus Features

You also have an extraordinary depth of field, especially shooting with a lot of natural light, as in a shot where Buddy is looking out a window and Ma and Granny (Judi Dench) are in focus in the background. Was that something that you wanted throughout, or how did you decide where to utilize it?

That was certainly something we thought about from early on and we wanted to use wider lenses closer. But we could have not done that if it wasn’t for Jim Clay’s [production] design. Jim Clay built sets designed for us to do that, where we could stack things up. Ken was always talking about that military presence that was just everywhere in Belfast at the time — a beautiful contrast of everyday life going on while a military presence is scattered through. The way that Jim’s sets were made, he would allow that. We had very limited sets, but within those sets, you could look out into the alleyway and therefore, you could place a soldier walking in the alleyway behind the homes. You could do a scene in the backyard, but they were specifically made to look into the living room so that you could have another thing going on in the living room.

It reminds me a lot of Gregg Toland’s work. Was that a touchstone?

Yes. You don’t need to go too far in your lenses either. There’s a clarity to it and there’s a silence to it. It’s also a way to not do too much. When you go with too long a lens and no depth of field, you’re almost imposing something on the film. You’re forcing where and how people look. We found a minimalism and a clarity, but at the same time, we allowed things to happen. Certainly, Gregg Toland was a master of that, as was Arthur Miller in a film like, How Green Was My Valley. There’s quite a few films that I’ve loved that play with the frame. And I wouldn’t just call it depth of field. It’s a depth of field in both the blocking and the production design. I could have had all the depth of field in terms of focus, but if we never placed people there or action there, it would’ve never been seen.

Westerns and High Noon and Shane, and those sorts of films come into the action a lot. Were you using any of those as an influence?

All the films you see in the film were references. A Belfast street, a terrace street, is quite similar to a Western street. It was easily juxtaposed, but those streets are very much like that. They had an end to them and they were terraced and quite symmetrical. We certainly wanted to echo [those films], but it’s something that you actually see in Belfast. Those influences fell naturally into the film because we allowed enough elements to exist that you could do it effortlessly.

This year has a really astonishing number of films in black and white. There’s Belfast and The Tragedy of Macbeth and Passing and C’mon C’mon and probably more I’m not naming. Why do you think it’s so popular it right now?

It’s finally getting the regard it should have. Because we did this after lockdown as a personal film and we felt that we could make this the way we wish to make it, we were given the courage to just enjoy the moment and the opportunity and make the most of it. For us, this was a moment to do something in an uncompromised fashion in the way we thought would best tell the story. In terms of as a global thing, I do think that in photography, black and white has never stopped. Portrait is always best in black and white. I wouldn’t say that now you see less black and white photography in print, in magazines, in billboards. Motion pictures always had the option once color was introduced. The filmmaker chose and slowly, that seemed to go away. I would say, when you look at all these amazing films, they’re all very different aspects of black and white. I wouldn’t say that they look in any way similar. They look as different as the many color films that were made this year.

Do you think that there is a possible pitfall for it to become like a parlor trick or a trend in some way, and how do you avoid that?

At the end of the day, the biggest issue with most films is what’s the story and what’s the performance? If you try to stay true to the story and try to stay true to the performance, then the way you tell it is your individual take on it. Two filmmakers could make the same script in black and white and it would come out so different. I was grateful for this opportunity to shoot something with a majority of it being in black and white. You take that opportunity and make the most of it. And you never know what the next project will be.

A version of this story appears in the February issue of Entertainment Weekly, on newsstands Friday and available to order here. Don’t forget to subscribe for more exclusive interviews and photos, only in EW.

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Belfast: Jamie Dornan recalls filming the one scene that left him in ‘floods of tears’

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Jamie Dornan has opened up about the one scene in Belfast that left him in “floods of tears” during filming.

Dornan– who recently appeared in the BBC series The Tourist – stars in Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical, black-and-white film about a young boy growing up in Northern Ireland during unrest in the Sixties.

In the film, Dornan plays a father trying to protect his family from violence that erupts in Belfast as the city is rocked by The Troubles.

In a new interview with People, the actor – who is from Belfast – recalled the emotional process of filming the movie.

There was one scene in particular, however, that left him and the cast in “floods of tears”.

“The final day we did a scene where we’re all walking down the street and they’re playing Van Morrison’s ‘And the Healing Has Begun,’ and we were all in floods of tears,” he recalled.

“That song means so much to me anyway, most Van Morrison music means a lot to me, if you’re from that part of the world, it just does. And even Ken [Branagh] was walking with us, because there’s a point when Ken was in the movie too.”

The 39-year-old continued: “I’ll never forget that moment. The privilege I felt to be in that movie with those people and have had that experience in the final day was incredible.”

Jamie Dornan and Caitríona Balfe in ‘Belfast’ (Rob Youngson/Focus Features)

Morrison – who is Northern Irish – recorded “And the Healing Has Begun” in 1979.

Elsewhere in the interview, Dornan recalled his childhood in Belfast as “truly brilliant”.

“It wasn’t all doom and gloom,” said the actor. “As much as there was a civil war raging for that amount of time, there was also lots of light as well.”

Belfast is in cinemas now. You can read The Independent’s three-star review here.

‘I got pulled up on it’ Judi Dench details ‘nightmare’ of latest film

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Dame Judi Dench recalls being asked to play Ophelia

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Set in the late 1960s, Belfast is a semi-autobiographical film that chronicles the life of a protestant working-class family and their young son’s childhood during the tumult in the Northern Ireland capital. Judi Dench plays the grandmother of a young boy called Buddy (played by lead actor Jude Hill), which the film follows and the wholesome relationships that surround him. The Oscar-winning Dame joined This Morning hosts Phillip Schofield and Rochelle Hulmes to talk about her latest film, directed by the hugely successful Kenneth Branagh. Creating a sense of nostalgia for the actor, Judi recalled her earliest memories of an uncle who helped her master the Northern Irish dialect.

On getting the Belfast accent, Judi laughed: “It’s a nightmare! “I had an uncle who lived in Belfast who was much younger than me and he came over and stayed with us in York and he used to say this little rhyme and I used to make him repeat this little rhyme… and I used to say that every day before filming!" The ITV hosts burst into fits of laughter before Rochelle praised her accent for being “so good”. READ MORE:Call The Midwife’s Cyril to lose job in ‘appalling’ circumstances?

This Morning: The actress discussed her latest role as Granny in Belfast

READ MORE NCIS’ Michael Weatherly QUITS role on Bull after 6 seasons “But I used to get pulled up on it all the time like a naughty girl in class [with them saying] ‘No, that’s not right.’” While discussing the Dame’s performance as Granny, Phillip gushed: “You [Judi], as always, are quite brilliant.” Belfast, which is currently screening in cinemas across the UK has already been tipped for the Oscars and other major film awards. Besides Judi, the star-studded cast includes Jamie Dornan (as Pa), Caitriona Balfe (Ma), Ciarán Hinds (Pop) and Colin Morgan (Billy Clanton).

This Morning: Presenter’s Phillip Schofield and Rochelle Hulmes asked Judi about Sir Kenneth

Dame Judi Dench: A young Judi playing the role of Ophelia

Loosely based on the twinkly-eyed childhood of director Sir Branagh, Belfast largely plays out in black and white and features nine songs from East Belfast singer Van Morrison- who has also been shortlisted for Best Original Song at the Oscars. As per the synopsis: “At the centre of the film is Buddy, a young boy on the cusp of adolescence, whose life is filled with familial love, childhood hijinks, and a blossoming romance. “Yet, with his beloved hometown caught up in increasing turmoil, his family faces a momentous choice: hope the conflict will pass or leave everything they know behind for a new life."

During her interview on This Morning, Judi explained: “For Kenny, it was very emotional and certainly for me too…there was no question in my mind that I wanted to play his grandmother." The James Bond actor joked: “I initially said, ‘I’m much too young to play your grandmother,’ but of course, it turned out that I wasn’t at all.” To some audiences, the 61-year-old filmmaker is perhaps better known for directing Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, Henry V – for which he won a BAFTA – and the film adaptation of Hamlet.

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Meet the cast of Belfast

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Jamie Dornan, Judi Dench and Caitríona Balfe are among the stars to play prominent roles, while newcomer Jude Hill takes on the lead role as Buddy in his first major big screen role.

Kenneth Branagh’s new film Belfast has been billed as his most personal work to date – and he’s drafted in several well-known faces to bring his childhood memories to life.

Read on for everything you need to know about the Belfast cast, including who they’re playing and where you might have seen them before.

Jude Hill plays Buddy

Who is Buddy? The protagonist of the film, Buddy is a young boy based on writer/director Kenneth Branagh’s own childhood, who finds himself frightened and confused by the turmoil in his home city in 1969.

What else has Jude Hill been in? This is Hill’s first major screen role – while he has already been cast in the upcoming murder mystery series Magpie Murders on BritBox.

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Caitríona Balfe plays Ma

Who is Ma? Buddy’s mother, Ma takes responsibility for keeping her family safe – a sometimes tricky task during a period of bitter unrest – and is not keen on leaving Belfast behind.

What else has Caitríona Balfe been in? Balfe is best known for her role as Claire Fraser in Outlander, while previous film appearances include Super 8, Now You See Me, Escape Plan, Money Monster and Ford v. Ferrari.

Jamie Dornan plays Pa

Who is Pa? Buddy’s father, Pa would like the family to move elsewhere to make a better life for themselves – and is shown to be a loving family man who cares deeply for his sons.

What else has Jamie Dornan been in? Dornan has had a number of prominent roles of screens both small and big, with TV credits including Once Upon a Time, The Fall and recent BBC drama The Tourist. Previous film appearances have included the Fifty Shades franchise, A Private War and Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar.

Judi Dench plays Granny

Who is Granny? Buddy’s grandmother, Granny is extremely kind but sometimes a little sharp to her younger relatives, and often makes them laugh.

What else has Judi Dench been in? One of the most revered actresses working today, Dench has a host of awards to her name – including an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love and a further six nominations for Mrs Brown, Chocolat, Iris, Mrs Henderson Presents, Notes on a Scandal and Philomena. She also memorably played M in the James Bond franchise for seven films between 1995 and 2012, while she has collaborated with Branagh on several previous occasions including Henry V, Hamlet, Murder on the Orient Express and Artemis Fowl.

Ciarán Hinds plays Pop

Who is Pop? Buddy’s grandfather, Pa likes nothing more than cracking a joke – but is also a great source of wisdom for Buddy and his family.

What else has Ciarán Hinds been in? In a long and varied career, Hinds has appeared in a number of hit films including The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Persuasion, Oscar and Lucinda, Road to Perdition, Munich, Amazing Grace, There Will Be Blood, In Bruges, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Silence and First Man.

Lewis McAskie plays Will

Who is Will? Buddy’s older brother, Will is tasked with looking after the household when his father is away for work.

What else has Lewis McAskie been in? This is McAskie’s first major role, while he will also appear in upcoming psychological thriller Here Before.

The cast also includes: Colin Morgan (Merlin) as Billy Clanton, Lara McDonnell as Moira (Artemis Fowl), Gerard Horan (London’s Burning) as Mackie, Drew Dillon (The Hollow Crown) as Mr Kavanagh, Conor MacNeill (The Fall) as McLaury, Turlough Convery (Ready Player One) as Minister, Gerard McCarthy (Call the Midwife) as Bobby Frank, Olive Tennant as Catherine, Victor Alli (Death on the Nile) as Soldier, Josie Walker (White House Farm) as Aunt Violet, Vanessa Ifediora (Foundation) as Miss Lewis and Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton) in an uncredited role as Jacob Marley.

Belfast is released in UK cinemas on Friday 21st January 2022. Looking for something else to watch? Check out our TV Guide or visit our Movies hub for all the latest news and features.

Belfast star Jude Hill’s sister Georgia also making waves on big screen with lead role in new short film Torn

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He may be the star of Branagh’s Belfast, but Gilford schoolboy Jude Hill is taking a back seat and letting his younger sister shine in a new short film written and produced by the pair’s talent agent.

Shelley Lowry, who runs a performing arts school and actors’ agency, has penned her debut film Torn, directed by Joe McStravick and shot last summer around Portadown and Craigavon.

The film, which showcases some of the talent which Shelley has on her books, features a cast of seven, including 11-year-old Jude, who plays Buddy in Branagh’s semi-autobiographical movie Belfast. But while he has a few lines in Torn, it’s his nine-year-old sister Georgia who shines in the short film— much to the delight of her supportive big brother.

Shelley, who wrote the script back in 2018, said: “Torn is a story about how some young people have more responsibilities than others and how the decisions you make are largely based on your circumstances.

“Meadhbh McGrail, who was in the RTE Storyland short Cry Rosa, plays main character Maeve and Georgia Hill plays her little sister.

“Jude is in Torn too though he only has a few lines. He’s hugely supportive of Georgia and is delighted for her as she’s been getting a few roles recently.

“There’s a healthy sibling rivalry there but more than anything, the two of them are great friends and he’s so proud of her.”

While Jude has been snapped up by UTA and Berwick & Kovacik in the US, Shelley, who has a background in performing arts, will continue to look after him at home. The schoolboy, who was nine when he filmed Belfast, was chosen from 300 youngsters to play the part of Branagh as a child.

His talent has been hailed by Branagh and his Belfast co-stars, including Judi Dench, as ‘extraordinary’ and This Morning presenter Philip Schofield claimed he was ‘possibly the best young actor’ he’d ever seen.

But coming up behind him, sister Georgia is also making waves, having recently finished shooting the children’s television show Mimi’s World. She also appeared in kids’ shows Almost Never and Silverpoint.

Shelley said the initial idea of the short film was to provide a platform for her actors to showcase their talents, but since writing the script, many of their careers had taken off.

“Exciting things have happened for Jude and are now happening for Georgia, but one of our boys, Forrest Bothwell, appeared in a film, Mothering Sunday, with Olivia Colman and Colin Firth,” she said.

“Also, we have Lewis McAskie on our books, who played Jude’s brother Will in Belfast and also starred in Stacey Gregg’s film Here Before, which is getting a theatrical release next month.

“And we have some great young actors in Torn, Orla McDowell and Rosa Frazer.

“In fact, demand for acting classes for television and film has risen so much, we’ve had to start taking classes in Belfast as well as Portadown.”

Shelley said the film Belfast had shone a spotlight on Northern Irish talent. And she said global talent scouts were now on the lookout for the next big star.

“The eyes of the world are on Northern Ireland because of this brilliant film that Kenneth Branagh has made,” she said.

“When I was in LA with Jude, everyone I spoke to knew about the talent here. They’re waiting to see who’s going to be the next Dornan, Branagh or Neeson.”