A Single Man is a revelation in a number of ways. It’s the directorial and writing debut from Tom Ford, the leading fashion designer who is best known for his luxury clothing, accessories, fragrances and cosmetics. Actor Colin Firth, who often plays the flummoxed leading man, reveals an incredible new dimension to his thespian talent. And the Spanish cinematographer, Eduard Grau, was just 27 when he lit the film. The fact that it might just scoop a pantryful of awards in the coming season is another pleasant surprise.

Set in Los Angeles in 1962, A Single Man is the tragi-comic story of George Falconer, a British college professor (Firth) who is struggling to find meaning in his life after the death of his long-time partner, Jim (Matthew Goode). Based on the acclaimed 1964 Christopher Isherwood novel of the same name, it follows the introspective and suicidal George through a single day, where a series of encounters ultimately lead him to decide if there is a meaning to life after Jim. George is consoled by his closest friend, Charley (Julianne Moore), a 48-year-old beauty, and finds himself stalked by one of his students, Kenny (Nicholas Hoult).

The circa $6m film, premiered last September at the Venice Film Festival, where it garnered a 10-minute standing ovation, the best actor prize for Firth (now the subject of major Golden Globe and Oscar buzz), and lavish praise for the director. “Tom Ford gets it spectacularly right,” wrote Screen International. “An impressive helming debut,” offered Variety, and, poignantly for the cinematographer Grau, from the Times Online: “A thing of heart-stopping beauty....”

 

It could be you

The story of Grau’s engagement on A Single Man is the stuff of dreams. Whilst standing in a queue at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2007 for a midnight screening, he found himself chatting to an independent American producer, Chiemi Karasawa and exchanged contact details. When he visited New York, a year and half later, Grau met up for a coffee with her, showed his reel, and ten days later received a call from producer Robert Salerno in Los Angeles enquiring about his availability for Tom Ford’s first picture.

“I read and then re-read the script on the flight over to meet Tom,” he says. “It was amazing. I loved it and was sure I wanted to shoot it. When I met Tom he told me he had seen lots of reels, but mine stood out because it had a European, very personal style that he wanted in his film. We got on really well and, after two hours of meeting, he offered me to do his film, my first in the US. You think these things never happen, but it happened to me.”

Grau, a Catalonian, spends his time between Barcelona, New York and London, shooting commercials, music videos and any other kind of projects, as far as he finds something interesting on them, although he admits to being more focussed on features in the last two years. As a student he attended ESCAC, the Barcelona Film School, specialsing in cinematography, but also trying his hand at directing as well as producing. But it was at the National Film & Television School in Beaconsfield where he decided to focus only on cinematography. A Single Man is his third feature, after completing Honor De Cavalleria directed by Albert Serra, and Lindy Heymann´s Kicks. Just recently he finished Buried, directed by Rodrigo Cortés.

“I love cinema in all of its many different aspects,” he says. “At film school I found I was an average director, but discovered I was best at creating pictures, moving images that could say something using the light and the camera. I think I am good at helping other people to be good. I also realised the DP is one of the ones who has more fun on set – both creatively and with the crew.”

 

Creating the look

Working closely with the director on establishing the look for A Single Man, Grau began by eyeing Life Magazine covers from the 1960s, examining the textures, colours, grain and overall design of the images. He also investigated the photography of famous American photographer Robert Richardson, noted for bringing a street aesthetic and visceral nature into fashion photography, whose influence is evident in major fashion publications to this day. For other steers on textures and tones, and to witness how the camera and lighting let the story unfold, Grau and Ford also looked at features including American Beauty (DP Conrad Hall), Juno (DP Eric Steelberg), The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (DP Janusz Kaminski), The Graduate (DP Robert Surtees) and Chinatown (DP John A. Alonzo).

“Tom had a clear idea about what he wanted in terms of colours and shapes,” says Grau. “So we started from there and built up other things – like the style, the textures and how the camera would tell the story in an interesting way.

“Tom also wanted lots of close-ups, not just of faces, but extremely tight shots of eyes, really red lips, as well as mirrors and reflections. We liked the idea of the images exploring this guy who is looking into himself and then out at the world, trying to discover what he wants both within and without. What a mirror reflects is not what it is, but how you see it.”

Overall, Grau describes the look of A Single Man as a sharp, modern image, but reminiscent of the past. Accordingly, he selected Kodak 5279 500 ASA, one of the older Vision filmstocks that has now been discontinued. “I think we were one of the last productions to shoot on this stock in the US. We fell in love with its colour, texture and grain,” he enthuses.

The camera package, including Panavision XL Milleniums, was hired from Panavision Hollywood. Grau framed A Single Man in 2.35:1, using aspherical primo lenses, but also packing a PMZ Zoom to use as a more versatile tool.

“Tom and I both knew from day one that 2.35:1 framing would suit the script. I like the way shapes organise themselves in the frame in this format. Along with 4:3, to me it’s the most beautiful aspect ratio to work with. I don’t really like middle ground such as 16:9.”

The production shot at practical locations built in the 1960s around the greater LA conurbation, including Pasadena, Burbank and Santa Monica, over a surprisingly tight 23-day schedule.

“One of the things that that got me the job was the TV work I have shot in the UK, (Coming Up and Kiss Of Death) where it’s all about shooting to schedule,” he says. “All the films I have shot so far have been done in less than 23 days. It’s difficult for everyone on a short production – time goes by quickly, and you need to make decisions fast. We would have liked more time, but it was what it was.”

 

Working with the crew

Of course, being just 27 and in charge of the cinematography with major stars and veteran crew, might have proven daunting to some, but Grau appears to have taken taken it in his stride,

“I was surrounded by older and more experienced people. And yes, I got some looks and a few comments, especially during the first days. But I didn’t hide behind anything, and was always myself. I may not be the most experienced cinematographer, but I know what I like and what I want. So I concentrated on my job, and after a few days they were comfortable, and felt I had the skills to be there,” he says.

Grau admits that he didn’t know any of his crew prior to the shoot, “but really enjoyed working with new people, such as Jim Plannette, my amazing gaffer. He has major films like E.T., Braveheart, Legends Of The Fall, Magnolia, Oceans Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen, and The Road to his credit. When I met him I realised we were made for each other – the young kid and the seasoned veteran both, sharing a similar approach to filmmaking.”

As for working with Tom Ford, he says, “As one of the top fashion designers in the world, Tom is a very particular guy in the sense is that he is a genius like very few are. It was a joy and an inspiration to work with someone who is so creative, sharp and imaginative. It made my job easier, as he thinks about images and puts beauty in front of the camera. He would tell us the basics of what he wanted, like the positions of the actors, and we would take it on from there.”

Speaking about the lighting strategy on the film, Grau says, “Tom, Jim and myself all like the same kind of lighting and knew the approach – lots of contrast and plenty of softlights to see the eyes, faces and expressions, to create intimacy. We didn’t have a lot of time, but we did have a clear concept. So we would talk about it and Jim and I made it happen. We used a lot of directional softlight, sometimes bounce, often through diffusion, and at specific moments we used hard light. Things kept changing as per the needs of the scene or the space. It was all about creating the right mood.”

An example is a scene with when George visits Charley for an intimate supper. Grau discovered the walls and ceiling of the location to be almost entirely white, which can cause problems for lighting, yet with Plannette’s help created a scene with bounced light that is bright but soft, suffused with a passionate orange hue. The lighting placement was made all the more difficult as the handheld camera revolves around the dancing couple. To help solve the problem, whilst keeping the creative brief in mind, the scene was carefully choreographed and Grau fitted the camera with a 32mm lens, which took the camera within touching distance of the actors as required.

 

Moving the camera

The camera is intentionally often static in A Single Man, a concerted effort being made to only introduce camera movement in tune with the dynamics and rhythm of the story.

As an example, at the beginning of the film when George takes his morning coffee, the camera tracks around the empty house, before pulling back from his midshot to a wide view of the house “The way the camera moves through this scene was designed to evoke George’s feelings of loss, emptiness and solitude,” he says.

Of course, there were some happy accidents during the production. The film has a number of flashbacks, one of which is a B&W scene (shot in colour and desaturated in post) of George and Jim, filmed at Vazquezs Rocks (the same location that was also used for a Star Trek scene). It was the first day of the shoot, and the sun played to Grau’s advantage, not only allowing him to use just natural light, but to create in-camera silhouettes of one face whilst illuminating the other in the same frame. “I was lucky, the sun was in exactly the right place, and it played my role.”

In response to a question about what he learnt shooting A Single Man, Grau says, “I could probably write a book about that. Most importantly, I learnt how to approach shooting in the US, with a big crew and to choose talented people around you to bring their skills. It’s all about people, whether they are actors or the crew, trusting each other and making it work. It has also re-emphasised the importance of the director and the script. It’s made me realise that reading scripts and working closely with a director is maybe the most important part of my job.”

A Single Man is due for release in February in the UK. But if you can’t wait until then to see Grau’s cinematographic work, Buried, the story of a US contractor working in Iraq who wakes to find he is buried alive inside a coffin, will premiere at the Sundance Festival at the end of January.