In our series of DoP to DoP talks – Mikołaj Krawczunas, a DoP passionately interested in the latest technology, invites various cinematographers to share insights into their work. This episode features Fabien Benzaquen, cinematographer known for his virtuosity in capturing materials and textures such as skin and liquids. His dedication to enhancing the subtle and beautiful nuances within the frame has led him to collaborate with Chanel, Guerlain, Dior, YSL, Louis Vuitton, Helena Rubinstein and Lancôme perfumes and cosmetics.
Every artist has their signature style. What aspects of your cinematography do you feel define your unique voice in the beauty and cosmetics industry?
I don’t know if my style is unique because I’m unable to judge the skills of the other cameramen who work for cosmetics as I do. Let’s be honest, most beauty and cosmetic films look quite similar, and it’s very difficult to tell what comes out from post-production or from real cinematography… What I can say is my main goal is to keep my set-ups simple, most of the time with only one light direction. I also try to work fast, and get as much as possible in camera. I hope the result feels simple and clear as well, because I really think that simplicity is the main key for impactant images.
Can you share a challenging moment in your career that ultimately helped to shape your approach as a Director of Photography in this niche? How did you overcome it, and what did you learn from the experience?
Answering these questions! More seriously, I guess it’s the Dior Homme Genesis spot I shot almost 10 years ago (directed by Megaforce and produced by Iconoclast). It was basically one of the first films of this kind, and it was really challenging because we had «carte blanche», we had time to experiment, and we didn’t totally know what it would be going to look like. We did some basic SFX demo shots, and also tested a lot of effects, but for the first time it was some kind of narrative. Now a lot of perfume or cosmetic films look like that, and I had to repeat the shots I did for this one several times, but I learned to fine-tune them and made them better. This one really opened a breach.
