Julio, this is the first time you’ve worked with director Bruno Garotti. What was your approach for “Confessions of an Invisible Girl”?
Yes, this has been my first collaboration with director Bruno Garotti and I have to say that it has been a great experience. Bruno is so focused on getting good performances from the actors. It all starts with the amazing cast he always brings to his projects. As a cinematographer, I believe that the best thing we can do, in regards to actors, is to respect, protect, and gently try to enhance their performances while trying not to interfere too much, technically speaking.
We wanted to have a slightly different approach for the different worlds that were portrayed in the film such as Tetê’s school, or the elderly grandmother’s apartment, which was located in Rio’s historic Copacabana neighborhood.
From the beginning, we knew that this film would need camera movements that would follow the actors closely, most of them young, and be able to adapt to their improvised moments.
“Confessions of an Invisible Girl” was shot during the height of the pandemic in Brazil. How did this affect your work?
Shooting a feature film during a worldwide pandemic is no easy task. Working with the production safety team during preproduction, shoot, and postproduction, we had to respect strict protocols, get PCR tested all the time, and pay attention to every detail in regard to Covid protection. And of course this is all very important. Also, filming is always intense, but during a pandemic, your concentration needs to be doubled.
Something interesting to mention is the fact that this film has been color graded remotely. Color grading was done by Julia Bissiliat, resident colorist, as well as Francisco Neto (known as Chiquinho), senior colorist and postproduction supervisor, both from DOT Post House. It’s been an honor to work alongside them; finding the best solutions for each moment of the story. In fact our work started much earlier, during preproduction, when we gathered remotely with the Netflix team in Brazil, Laura Futuro and Bernardo Caron. We discussed the whole pipeline all the way to the end, covering live grading on set, dailies, deliveries, but also creative choices and how to better achieve them.
