Idan Menin on the cinematography of Lost on a Mountain in Maine

Based on the eponymous novel by Donn Fendler and Joseph B. Egan, the feature Lost on a Mountain in Maine tells the harrowing tale of a 12-year-old boy fighting for survival after becoming separated from his family during a fierce storm in Maine's unforgiving wilderness. Directed by Andrew Boodhoo Kightlinger and produced by Sylvester Stallone, the movie was photographed by cinematographer Idan Menin. With a distinguished background in music videos, Menin is well-practiced in crafting innovative visuals for artists such as J. Balvin, Imagine Dragons and Will.i.am. Menin worked with Panavision’s Woodland Hills and New York locations to assemble the camera and lens package for his all-terrain work on Lost on a Mountain in Maine, which he details here.

Panavision: How was the project first described to you?

Idan Menin: When Andrew and I first met, he described the movie as a classic film in the style of Black Stallion, with the influence of Nicolas Roeg’s Walkabout. He struck a chord with me in his summary of the film’s core. Andrew said that when you strip all the aesthetic, plot and adventure away, ultimately this film is about a boy who wants a hug from his dad and a father learning to say ‘I love you.’ That really stuck with me and became such a guiding light. During production, he would speak to the crew at the start of the day and reiterate that. I found it to have a strong effect in getting the team on the same page and invested in a palpable way.

How did you and Andrew define the movie’s visual style?

Menin: Andrew and I share similar instincts and sensibilities. We both admire movies with massive scope and scale while having an equally strong admiration of small, intimate dramas. In developing the look and visual language of Lost on a Mountain in Maine, Andrew and I wanted to create an aesthetic that felt timeless while still suitable for a period piece.

We felt it was important to create two distinct languages that are separated by the wilderness. Before Donn is lost and during sequences with his family and the search effort that follows, we take a formalist approach with the camera: The frame is rigid or, if moving, it has a weight to it. We blocked out scenes and shot moving masters that found their way from establishing shots to closer coverage, whether by moving the camera itself or through the blocking. When in the thick of the wilderness with Donn, after he is lost, the camera opens up in a way. We become more improvisational with our blocking and movement, centering the camera on Donn and reacting to him.

It was very important to me that we maintained a strong contrast with rich blacks and highlights that were actually bright, akin to what you can expect from a print stock. Where appropriate, we pushed the highlights quite far to immerse the audience during the more jarring and ethereal moments of the film. In a similar vein, when Donn is alone in the darkness, we leaned into an ambient and toppy moonlit look. I camp quite often, and I find myself fascinated at the quality and almost paradoxical nature of moonlight. I wanted the audience to share that unnerving feeling when you're in the woods and there's just enough light that you can make out shapes and forms but not enough to know exactly what lies ahead.

Andrew and I spoke a lot about the idea of a heightened or cinematic naturalism. We drew our inspiration from the existing sources and qualities of light in any given scene or environment, but we sought to give it some flair and steer it in such a way that it underlined the emotional core of the moment.

What brought you to Panavision for this project, and what made up your primary equipment package?

Menin: Panavision has been a close collaborator of mine since my very beginnings as a DP. Mike Carter and Jesse Zhu at the Woodland Hills office have been huge supporters and great friends for a long time. The level of support and care I receive at Panavision is unparalleled. Early on in our prep process, I took Andrew to Woodland Hills and we did a lens day where we did a blind test comparing virtually every available lens set we could get our hands on. With lenses, I tend to pursue feeling and emotion first, and then I take in the logistical and technical considerations. After meticulous testing, review and comparison, it finally came down to the Zeiss Super Speeds and Panavision Ultra Speeds, which are a personal favorite. The two were very close in characteristics, and so we opted for the Super Speeds for their smaller form factor and consistent front diameter.

We also carried Panavision Portrait Lenses, which are a class of their own — I love how no two are the same. I described to Mike and Jesse what I was looking for, and they brought out a smattering of options. Once we narrowed it down to three key focal lengths and effects, with the help of [senior vice president of optical engineering and lens strategy] Dan Sasaki, we made little tweaks and adjustments to get us to the finish line. The choice to use portrait lenses came from Andrew’s and my desire to externalize Donn’s inner experience as his hunger, starvation and loneliness reach their apex. They bring an ethereal quality to those moments that I really love.

The 11:1 [24-275mm T2.8 Primo zoom] was with us for a few key moments in the film. Most notably, we used it during the climax in the same hallucination sequence as the portrait lenses. When Donn is struggling to keep going and feels his time left to live is drawing to a close, he sees his bed sitting in a clearing in the forest and approaches it. Building on the magical and ethereal moment, Andrew and I wanted to do a Hitchcock zoom, and the 11:1 was essential in achieving that. 

For our camera, I chose the Alexa Mini. I knew we would be putting it through the ringer, whether it was intensely hot day exteriors, cold nights, or deluges of SFX rain and atmospheric effects, and I felt confident it would survive the journey and perform as expected. With the help of 1st AC Alex Cameron and his team, we built the camera to be able to quickly switch, at a moment’s notice, from a standard build to a heavyweight 11:1 setup or a lightweight ‘backpack mode’ that allowed me to scamper up rocks and boulders while handholding the camera. The latitude and dynamic range of the Alexa sensor and Arriraw gave me a lot of confidence in our exterior wilderness scenarios, where I often had limited control of the daylight beyond good scheduling practices. We also carried the SXT as a backup body, for double-up days and for occasional instances where we needed higher frame rates. In those instances, Steadicam and B-cam operator Dean Egan would use the SXT. During additional photography, we carried the Alexa Mini LF to shoot VFX plates and aerials.

What role do visual references play as you’re conceptualizing the look of a project?

Menin: Over the years there, have been a handful of photographers I find evergreen for inspiration, and I often find myself influenced by their work. Sebastião Salgado’s intimate and naturally lit portraiture and landscapes are a North Star of mine, while Lillian Bassman’s high-contrast and soft-focus slow-shutter work always dare me to be bolder. I also referenced Rembrandt and Caravaggio for their warm and single-source motivated depiction of light. Lost on a Mountain in Maine is a period piece in a rural state, which meant our interior scenes would be predominantly motivated by window light and, depending on the location, kerosene lanterns or incandescent lamps.

Andrew and I also had countless film references we pulled, some for light, others for color or a specific camera technique, and some for the emotional feeling it instilled. Among these were images from Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love, Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners, Scorsese’s Silence, Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men, Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, Carroll Ballard’s The Black Stallion and Nicolas Roeg’s Walkabout. We took all these images and printed them out and posted them in a collage on one of the main walls of the production office. Every day, the team would come in and walk past this wall of images, and I think it had a profound effect on everyone. I’m a big fan of this concept of iterating in the art form. When preparing and visualizing something, for me, being surrounded by imagery and artwork can be so engaging.

What was the biggest challenge you and your collaborators faced for the production?

Menin: Our most challenging sequence by far was the mountain. To pull this off took the coordination of virtually every department over the course of nearly two months. In preproduction, very early on, Andrew, [production designer] Darcy Scanlin, [1st AD] Caroline Aragon, [producers] Heather Grehan and Braden Aftergood, [unit production manager] Ryan Cook and I all identified that the sequence would have to be broken down into sections that we could approach separately and then weave together through editing and VFX. There was the hike, the scramble — where Donn insists on continuing without his father — the climb and the peak.

With the diligent work of the locations department, the hike and scramble were accomplished on location. We were blessed with the perfect weather that day, and with SFX supplementing the mist and haze, we were able to establish the early part of the hike and weather conditions effectively. We had our stunt team facilitating our shooting in the rock scramble by creating pathways of rope, holds and harness points for cast and crew. This was an instance where the camera department had our Mini configured in its backpack mode so that I could maneuver and climb easily.

The climb and the peak required a more controlled approach. For safety, weather and logistical purposes, shooting on a mountaintop was out of the question, so our focus was on how to pull this off realistically in a stage environment. We went back and forth on whether it should be constructed in a parking lot or on a stage and how much would be CG and how much would be constructed. Andrew and I were very against the idea of building a small section of the mountain and surrounding it with greenscreen. After many discussions and lobbying for our more in-camera approach, we elected to construct two sections, the peak and a section of the climb, and surround it in gray muslin. With the help of SFX supervisor Johann Kunz and coordinator Dimitra Bixby and their team, we then filled the stage with haze, mist and a deluge of rain.

Production designer Darcy Scanlin’s team did an exemplary job and were meticulous in their research for the layout and scenic work required for the mountaintop. In prep, they constructed a scale model from stones they found, and we would place scale figures and plot out angles and blocking on our phones. This approach, paired with actual plates captured on Mount Katahdin, gave editorial the pieces they needed to sell the ascent, storm and descent from the mountain.

I have always been drawn to both the adventure side and the smoke-and-mirrors aspect of filmmaking, and the mountain required both of them. I don’t know what could be more fun than one day being in the great outdoors climbing mountains with cameras and the next day being on stage getting pelted with fake rain!

I also want to highlight the shot of the search party and Donn Fendler’s father in the woods at night. In the script, the description was, ‘Darkness. Men shouting. Flashlights blaze. Searchers fan out across the mountain calling out for Donn. Mr. Fendler among them.’ At a first glance, this eighth of a page seemed simple, but on a film of our size, the cost of a night exterior at this scale can be prohibitive. But I found this little piece of script to be so important in its tone setting and as a closing to the sequence of Donn getting lost that I was desperate to capture it in a striking way that didn’t break the bank. We decided to source and hand out hot hands [heat-resistant gloves] to the background actors, and then each one received a tungsten Dedo light that they could safely carry and pan through the woods. We then modified the flashlight in Mr. Fendler’s hand to include a high-powered beam since he was close to the camera, and we filled the forest with haze. The whole thing cost us a couple hundred dollars to pull off and turned out to be one of my favorite single frames from the film.

What inspired you to become a cinematographer, and what keeps you inspired today?

Menin: As a child, I was introduced to classical European painters through my mother’s work for the Belgian Tourism Office. I quickly became enamored with how they could replicate life or depict an impression of life through color, light and shadow. As I grew up and started to watch more movies, I saw the same thing, but on a scale that I couldn’t begin to wrap my head around. It was upon watching the extensive behind-the-scenes documentaries from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy that I finally began to grasp how this art form was made, and I was hooked!

Once I picked up a camera, and especially once I got my first 35mm SLR, I became obsessed with the power that an image can contain. Like the great Dutch masters, I could immortalize a moment with light and shadow. Or in a different sense, I could mold images to my own perspective like the impressionist painters I sought to emulate as a kid. It felt like a sort of wizardry that scratched the itch of my 10-year-old self that wanted to be a painter.

Since then, I continued to expand my influences through cinema, photography, backpacking and architecture. As an adult, I have been deeply inspired by the words of Roger Ebert, who described film as an ‘empathy machine.’ I strive to take all that I have learned and will continue to learn in my craft and point it in the direction of building empathy through cinema.