The Cinematography of Barbarian (2022)

What's Good Y'all?!

Barbarian is on digital everywhere, & I'm hoping (fingers crossed) we can get it on bluray. I rewatched it recently & one thing that really stuck out to me, was how fantastically shot this film is. So I wanted to take some time out to highlight my favorite shots in the film!

The lighting in this shot is brilliant. How they were able literally darken everything, but the door and porch is beyond me. It could've possibly been graded that way, but it doesn't look like it was. The only thing that I can think of, is this is actually on a sound stage but if it was on location, kudos to the lighting team!

Re-Watching again, I noticed that a lot of the focal points in nearly every shot, are the center. That type of framing speaks to how much prep went into shooting and I love that. 

The focus again, is the center but that part aside, this was a dope transition from shot to shot.

I really love how this is framed and lit. Using the light to tell us where to look, is key here. We have the first light in front of Tess, and the second behind her, giving the shot depth. Great trickery to manipulate the eye because allowing us to see what's behind Tess, creates more uneasy tension.

I'm a sucker for rust orange light. What can I say?!

One of the real life, scary reveals of the movie. When she arrives the night before, the entire street is dark, and we now know why. She's literally in the middle of the trap. Monsters aside, this is terrifying to wake up to lol.

Whew, this is a great, chilling shot! Another fine job by lighting team to keep the focus on the window in two ways. One, darkening Tess' position and two, displaying that creepy silhouette on the opposite side. 

These 3 shots are all clear examples of how to make a beautiful shot out of whatever scenery you're in. The key here is, yep you guessed it, BLOCKING & FRAMING! Our world is built on symmetry, so find it and use to your advantage when you setup sequences. In this case, Tess is the center focus through each frame, and the depth of blocking changes. 

Another W for the lighting squad & cinematographer because HOLY S***!! The lighting of course, makes this shot what it is, but you also need a camera to capture the lit area with clarity and detail. This is also a great setup in building tension, putting the audience in the literal and metaphorical dark as to what is really going on. Love it! 👌🏾

This shot works way better in motion, but I had to give it some love because of how creepy it is. Having the view at foot level, makes every single step more and more dangerous as she walks forward. I was shook when I first saw this. 

Whew! Great use of a wide lens! This is a hell of a spooky shot capturing both doors within the frame, while keeping the space between them pitch black. 

This is another that looks better in motion than a shot. There's nothing really that special about this, but the color change from the last scene, acts as a reset for the film, until it goes left again. 

I really love this imagery. By this time, AJ's allegations have already been presented and framing the shot with a snake emblem as he pulls in, is a clear indication of his character. 

Three more shots that make great use of the normal set by framing and blocking, like I spoke about earlier. You can make any shot look gorgeous with prep, even if it appears like, "Nothing special," to the naked eye.

The pop of color is beautiful for such a sadistic moment. Under any normal circumstances, the breastfeeding video is moving and informative but.... It ain't that here 🤢🤢.

I really love that the aspect ratio changed, to help drive home that this scene takes place in the past, visually. Again, the framing focal point is centered in every single shot of this sequence to retain the clean symmetric aesthetic. I love it!!

It takes a real eye for planning to get the exact some positioning, in a different location and shot. Awesome camera work here! 

Face to face with 'Her.' This shot being practically lit (If not, it feels like it is) adds a real world terror to it. No big overhead light or pretty color. It's a dingy regular yellow shine from a run of the mill flashlight. Something we all have.

FANTASTIC shot! He is the baby on the screen beside him and 'She,' is ready to follow through with the instructions given in that video to... to... Well, you know what if you've seen it lol.

This shot is haunting! It also mirrors the same shot earlier, when the homeless man was trying to warn Tess at the window. The way she pulls back is exactly the same.

I can tell, that both of these shots were done practically first to capture the correct camera movement. Then the characters were placed in frame in post. I think it makes such an outrageous thing, feel more real, than putting each character in a digitally created background. If I'm wrong, they fooled my a**.

I love this shot of AJ's punk a** looking over top of the well. This single frame solidifies his whole arc as a character. He will always do his dirty deeds in the dark, only popping out when things seem safe.

Love this shot during the legendary magic hour. Such a beautiful back drop, but this moment feels 100% earned. Tess spent this entire time trying to be a decent human being and paid for. She finally said, "F*** IT!" 

And like that, we're done! Hope y'all enjoyed this post and film as much as I did! Fingers still crossed for that blu-ray release! What are your favorite shots? Comment below to let me know and as usually, thanks for reading! ✌🏾