In Guillermo del Toro's version of Mary Shelley's haunting classic, a pivotal event in the life of Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) is the death of his mother, Claire (Mia Goth), in childbirth. His passing ignites Victor's obsession with mastering mortality through science, culminating in the formation of The Creature (Jacob Elordi). “This moment is very depressing,” says cinematographer Dan Laustsen of Claire's funeral, filmed in Scotland using a telescopic crane camera and a somber palette. “We're floating right above them carrying the coffin and the camera shooting down,” he says. “And everything is cold and blue, but we have red as a contrast color.” Laustsen's choice of a large format Arri Alexa 65 and a 24mm Leitz Thalia lens allowed for a visual style that captures emotional close-ups without compromising the grandeur of the environment. To soften the digital image there was a diffusion filter mounted behind the lens, an effect that the cinematographer suggests “breaks up highlights and skin tones in a very beautiful way.” In shaping the kinetic language of the camera, Laustsen says, “We wanted to move and paint with the camera so we could get close to the actors from a wide angle. It's an organic way of making a film that I think works very well with the way Guillermo likes to tell a story.”
