Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment’s Joker: Folies à Deux picks up where Joker leaves off. Still, the method that cinematographer Lawrence Sher, ASC and Senior Colorist Jill Bogdanowicz took to the color required something of a different approach. Here, the Joker (Joaquin Phoenix) has a literal partner in crime, Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga), and the film presents an assortment of unexpected big, bright musical numbers. Folies à Deux has inspired strong feelings in audiences, some of whom really admire the direction the filmmakers took the story in and others wishing it had preserved much more of the tone and attitude of the first movie.

Bogdanowicz, a frequent collaborator with Sher, worked closely with him on Joker, starting before the commencement of principal photography by building a unique show LUT for him. The LUT codified aspects of the look of the dark, oppressive Gotham City that he and director Todd Phillips had discussed and enabled the DP to show collaborators on set a good approximation of how skin tones, costumes and sets would read in the final film. 

Along with some key input from her father, Mitch Bogdanowicz– a lifelong imaging scientist at Eastman Kodak– the LUT was built to enhance certain visual qualities of late ’70s/early ’80s film neg and positive stocks, encouraging a somewhat subdued palette to emerge — including the subtle cyan tint in the shadows — and holding back strongly saturated colors that might undermine the film’s gritty realism.

Bogdanowicz, who sees each film as its own unique work, used that same LUT as a starting point for Folies à Deux but then went about the intricate process of expanding it before shooting in ways that would permit these musical moments to read as much brighter and happier. Even if all that might only be happening inside his mind, the bright, colorful aesthetic might be meant to conjure an even darker worldview than Joker‘s.

Sher’s lighting, along with the costume and production design, obviously sets the tone for these musical scenes. Still, to let all the color express itself, Bogdanowicz tweaked the Joker LUT in some crucial ways. “The musical numbers,” she says, “open up the look and involve much more color separation. [Sher] and I both like to work with as few show LUTs as possible. Usually, just one. So, I did some work, along with Company 3’s internal color science department, to come up with a single LUT that worked for both the grittier scenes and the beautiful musical performances.”

Sher, who shot Joker: Folies à Deux with ARRI Alexa 65 cameras, shares Bogdanowicz’s love of the image quality of celluloid. Her efforts to achieve that filmic quality started with the new, expanded show LUT but extended through every facet of the color grade. “He always wants to maintain the quality of ’roundness’ that cinematographers talk about when they talk about the look of the film,” she says of an intangible sense of depth, richness and separation of subtle color differences that comes out on celluloid naturally but can be lacking in imagery captured on even the most high-end sensor.

Likewise, the colorist built grain within DaVinci Resolve, augmenting the size and amount of the “grain particles” not just shot-by-shot but also individually among the red, green and blue channels of the images. “It adds depth and texture in the way that real film grain works,” she explains. “It’s not just one flat layer of grain.”

Regardless of the polarized response Folies à Deux has received, Bogdanowicz is proud of the film– its unique look, dramatic approach and everything else. “Todd and Larry and everyone involved took the story in a bold new direction,” she says.  “Joaquin Phoenix is great. Lady Gaga is incredible. And I think it’s a wonderful movie!”

Joker: Folies à Deux is now playing in theaters everywhere and in expanded formats such as IMAX or Dolby Cinema where available.