Welcoming Grace shot on Zeiss Aatma

Welcoming Grace was shot by cinematographer Pascale Marin, AFC and directed by Hélène de Roux and was among the very first projects brought to life with the new ZEISS Aatma lenses.

In this short film, two virtual friends meet for the first time in real life, but things don’t go as smoothly as expected. Sharing the same space and time unsettles Grace and Audrey in ways they can’t quite put into words, despite their will to enjoy their time together in the City of Light. It will take a “kidnapping”, a ray of winter sunshine, and a timeless melody to try to reconnect…

“When we first tested the Aatmas, the particular bokeh and the softness of the focus fall off on faces stroke us immediately. This look is subtle enough not to distract the viewer from the characters and the story, but on a subconscious level it’s powerful! In the context of our story, there was almost an eerie quality to their bokeh at full aperture. We immediately thought of using it to help convey our main character’s unease: she cannot express it in words, but the lenses allow us to make it tangible. In another context it wouldn’t tell the same story obviously, but here, showing different depths of field to tell how differently the characters feel was key. Grace’s world at T1.5 is almost abstract, with those colourful bubbles in the background, while Audrey’s T5.6 surroundings are more realistic.

Shooting in early January allowed us to take advantage of the Christmas lights in Paris, but in the cold and in the snow, we were also happy to work with robust, reliable lenses! The different locations (Gare du Nord, Notre Dame, the house in the country) play key parts in the story, and we relied on the lenses’ geometry to film them easily and faithfully. This mix of legacy and modern features that is at the heart of the Aatmas made them the right tool to welcome Grace!”