Cary Fukunaga explains the cinematography of True Detective
By Josh Hill
True Detective didn’t win many Emmy Awards this year but the one it did take home on the live telecast of the show went to the right guy.
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Director Cary Fukunaga took home Emmy gold for his work behind the camera on True Detective and that’s hardly surprising given how amazing the first season looked thanks to his work.
Fukunaga gave an interview recently in which he broke down the background cinematography of True Detective.
"“A lot of our show is just two guys talking. To avoid having them just talking against a wall, I blocked the scenes in places where there’d be enough depth to create these multiple layers of the storytelling.”"
He continues to say that the the backgrounds he chose have specific meaning and emphasis on the tone of the show and the nature of the characters.
"“It might be about how an oil refinery, or lack of nature, or encroaching nature in the background somehow spoke to the conversation that was happening between the characters. I saw the frames as being like dioramas at the natural history museum–foreground, middle ground with the characters, and then deeper commentary beyond that.”"
Just watching the series it’s no surprise that Fukunaga took home the Emmy Award for Best Director in a Drama Series, but hearing him talk about it convinces you more. This wasn’t just some stock director who was working as a company man, rather this was the work of a true artist and it’s likely not the last we’re going to hear from Fukunaga on the award circuit throughout his career.