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This horror-fantasy coming of age film about a girl trying to save her little sister in a country house from her fearful grandmother was a big hit in Mexico. It became the 3rd highest grossing film of 2023 and the first Mexican movie to ever have its own ride in Six Flags. The magical look created by Sarfati, got international attention and it’s the second collaboration with Director Isaac Ezban, regarded as Mexico’s next horror / fantasy top director.
This scene, filled with in-camera effects, blurs the line between reality and nightmares for our character. A diverse array of physical camera and set building techniques were employed.
For the film's opening scene, the camera descends from the sky, through the forest and seamlessly gliding through a haunted town, all captured in a single, uninterrupted shot. The magic behind this moment lies in the delicate release of the camera from a magnet into the hands of the Ronin 2 camera operator. Watch the "making-of" video here:
In this climactic whirl towards the end of the film, our character takes her own mother's life, unaware of the tragic mistake. Such a profound occurrence demanded that the camera itself spin. Our character's life is in a whirlwind and this is what the camera communicates.
In this intense scene, two rituals occur simultaneously. To highlight their differences, one is lit by the aggressive flames from real fire sources, while the other unfolds in a high contrasted, fast moving red environment. Lighting and camera movement, tell the story from a very cinematography perspective.
Lighting and composition were planned to emphasize the obscure and mysterious atmosphere of the house and convey the plot point, in which two girls are about to be left alone with their evil grandmother. Nala is deeply affected by the unsettling events in a world where truth is seldom spoken.
As the malevolent grandmother's plan to extract the young sister's blood succeeds, the lighting takes on greater contrast, intensifying visual dramatism. Even during daylight scenes, the dim white illumination shows no hope, and the shadows are softly filled with the recurring cyan hue that accompanies this room throughout the film, adding to the visual feeling of being trapped.