Netflix’s independent feature Purple Hearts, directed by Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum and lensed by Matt Sakatani Roe, certainly proves that an indy-budget film with a captivating story and compelling photography can compete with films budgeted in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Roe selected the Cooke Optics S7/i FF Prime Lenses for what is commonly referred to as the Cooke Look. That decision helped Purple Hearts to become number seven in Netflix’s Most Popular Films List just 28 days after its release on July 29 with 220.6 million hours watched, as well as becoming the number one film on Netflix in the UK within one week of its premiere.
“Cooke lenses have been my lens of choice since I started doing narrative projects,” said Roe. “They were with me on my first TV show, my first major studio film production, and on most narratives I’ve shot. It’s because of the way Cooke lenses render tones and have this three-dimensional plane. With a close focus range, faces just project depth, the out-of-focus falls off. It’s almost like a smooth circular pattern that glides your eye to the character and then to the rest of the frame without being distracted by overly sharp areas while maintaining detail. It’s simply a very pleasing image. And whether it’s full frame, S35, or anamorphic, the Cooke 65mm is my favorite focal length.”
Rosenbaum and Roe had previously worked together on a number of back-to-back projects, their most recent before Purple Hearts was the Disney+ feature Sneakerella, which Rosenbaum directed and Roe lensed.
For Purple Hearts, Rosenbaum and Roe wanted the cameras to be “with” the characters, according to Roe. “We wanted the cameras to be subjective, feel the depth of the space, like the camera work is being done with the characters. That told us what lens we wanted to be on, and after doing my lens tests, the S7s just stood out.”
With lens testing completed at Keslow Camera in Los Angeles, Roe would have the camera and lens rental house supply him with a set of Cooke S7/i FF Prime Lenses consisting of the 18mm, 21mm, 25mm, 27mm, 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 65mm, 75mm, 100mm and 135mm for two – and sometimes three – of the original Sony VENICE cameras shooting full frame, 17:9 X-OCN ST (eXtended tonal range Original Camera Negative standard quality) with a 2:1 matte. “I really wanted to max out those cameras for the Cooke S7s,” said Roe. “I wanted everything the lens could give me.”
In addition, Roe used his personal Cooke Panchro/i Classic FF set of 18mm, 25mm, 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 75mm and 100mm for the film’s B unit, and would double up with the 100mm from both lens ranges when needed.
“The S7/ i 65mm was my go-to lens on the B camera that I was operating,” said Roe. “It was my hero lens for close ups and dialog scenes. I could get as close as nine inches, which is great for details and textures that brought the film to life. And for the A camera, we would mainly use the 32mm and 40mm.”
