

I also took a lot of my own stills while scouting and the biggest influence visually for the movie was the community itself. What I did look at were classic New York movies and that was an inspiration to me. I think the most recent film I watched was probably made in the late ‘80s or probably early ‘90s. I think that a big part of my choice was instinct.īTL: In terms of the lighting, were there any films that were studied as far as the look is concerned?īrooks: I made a conscious effort not to watch any musicals while we were prepping. I instinctually started to get a sense of the space and at the same time was testing cameras. I just started to fall in love with the place and at the same time, I’d be testing cameras. It all sort of worked together, because when I arrived in Washington Heights in March 2019, we’d go to Washington Heights in the morning and we would scout. That, with the combination of their anamorphic lenses, really, I felt was the right choice for the look of In the Heights. I’ve had a very long standing relationship with Panavision, and I tested Alexas and the Panavision DSL.

I went to many of the rental houses and tested different things. When I knew Jon was going to do a musical and that it was going to be in New York, where I grew up, I knew immediately I wanted to be a part of that.īTL: How did you come to a decision on which camera to use?īrooks: I tested lots of cameras over the course of prep.


I was very aware of the project and when Jon Chu became attached to it-Jon and I went to USC film school together and we did a short musical in college called When The Kids Are Away. Below the Line: How familiar were you with the stage musical before signing onto the film?Īlice Brooks: Before signing on to the film, I had wanted to shoot this movie for years before being signed on to the film, but I had never seen the stage show on Broadway at all.
