PRODUCTION
BIG PICTURE CONVERSATIONS WITH FRIENDS
started to explore film. It’s great, in that you can get the camera quite small, can work with a lot of available light, it’s very sympathetic to skin tone,” says Lavelle. “When Lenny first saw the tests that we did there was the word ‘effortless’ used, in terms of not feeling and noticing the camera and not feeling and noticing the light.” Another difference, “we tried to get rid of that very narrow depth of field in Normal People a little bit and stood back slightly.” Leanne Welham directed alongside
Abrahamson. Welham, who directed His Dark Materials, has also shot a low-budget film called Pili, set in Africa. “In her personal work she’d found this naturalism that I thought was important to be able to work alongside Len and Suzie,” says Norton. “And she’d done some solid intense TV production very recently, so she had the ability to take on the scale of the project. She was really collaborative, from the beginning.”
One of Normal People’s achievements was
to capture a seemingly natural intimacy, with the help of intimacy co-ordinator Ita O’Brien. This time, “you could see the evolution of the intimacy coordinator as a new thing….to Ita
“WE KNEW WE LOVED THE
LOOK OF NORMAL PEOPLE, BUT FELT WE COULDN’T DO THE SAME THING AGAIN”
being part of the crew,” says Abrahamson. It helped that the production was well-resourced, adds Lavelle. “We were backed from the producers to not be pressed on time on those scenes and let the actors take the lead.” In the edit, Abrahamson worked with
long-time collaborator Nathan Nugent. “[He’s] so much a part of the inner creative
team,” says Abrahamson. “He surprises me frequently with versions of scenes.” Each element of the production has both
retained elements of Normal People and changed gear. The composer Stephen Rennicks, a long- time collaborator with Abrahamson, created the score for Normal People. “With the music, there’s a tonality that’s different,” says Abrahamson. “The people are a little bit older, there’s a sophistication in Stephen’s music that’s amazing.” “All these things…organically lead to
a show that feels quite different, but part of the same extended family of Normal People,” concludes Abrahamson. Having taken a back seat with this
production, how does Sally Rooney feel about the final result? “It did mean that it was a little bit nerve-wracking,” says Norton. “She is really pleased with how it’s turned out and how the characters have come to life.”
26
televisual.com spring 2022
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