Concept and creative process
'A Dark Adapted Eye' was a drama mini-series starring Celia Imrie, Sophie Ward and Helena Bonham Carter involved in a complex intertwined mystery thriller. The brief was to feature all three characters in the titles and to hint at the dark nature of the plot. I had the idea of mixing between the faces through a series of moving shadows, suggesting the light and dark of the plot and setting up a sense of mystery. Each actress was made up in character and then filmed individually using a motion control camera (at Peerless, camerman John Swinnerton). This meant that the moves would match each other in speed and could be mixed between smoothly. The moving shadows were created using a piece of black polyboard with holes cut out, passed over the lighting rig as the camera turned over. I wanted the shadows to feel authentic and not added on in post-production.