(L-R) Chloe Guymer (Fairy) and Bojana Novakovic (Tippi). Picture Greg Noakes.

The Australian television drama Satisfaction garnered awards, critical praise, and a loyal fan base after premiering on the Showcase cable network in 2007. The risqué series is set at 232, an up market city brothel, and follows the private lives and secret profession of five high-class escorts and their manager.

“Love, loyalty and loss are three recurring themes,” says cinematographer Darrell Martin. “The program explores the relationships of these women with each other, their clients, and the people who are swept up in their secret lives. It is definitely an adult drama that only a cable network could make as it features a lot of sex and nudity, as one would expect from such a setting!”

Martin worked with establishing director Ken Cameron and production designer Marita Mussett on setting the right visual tone for the series. The producers, the network and the entire creative team felt it was essential for 232 to have a lush, glamorous, almost hyper-real look. Something simultaneously beautiful, cool and sexy.

“We knew that the look has to be glossy and expensive which would contrast with the characters’ lives outside of work,” Martin says. “Ken and I wrote out a list of films that we felt the sex scenes were not exploitive but tasteful. A majority of the films on our list were done by the same European directors: Julio Medem (Sex and Lucia), Bernardo Bertolucci (The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, The Dreamers), Nicolas Roeg (Don’t Look Now), Adrian Lyne (Unfaithful) and Jean-Jacques Beineix (Betty Blue).”

A decision was made early on to produce the series in Super 16mm film format. “Luckily, the Producers (Andy Walker and Roger Simpson) and Ken are film people through and through,” Martin says. “Shooting the show on Super 16 not only gives us a lightweight and portable system that helps us in cramped locations but film also give us a glossy, high-class look that to me no other medium can match:”

The first season was shot primarily on KODAK VISION2 200T 7212 and KODAK VISION 500T 7279 films. In season two, the 7279 was replaced by KODAK VISION3 500T 7219 film. “The new 7219 film is the most significant development by Kodak in recent years,” Martin says. “Having a 500-speed stock in 16mm with almost the same amount of grain as the 200T film is crucial when you are shooting a television series which will be broadcast in HD format. The new VISION3 negative is extraordinary. If the eye can see it – it is there with amazing clarity in the dark areas, which is fantastic for use in a brothel scenario.”

Martin keeps two ARRIFLEX 16SR 3 cameras rolling most of the time, mainly from the same angle of coverage but occasionally cross shooting where possible. ”A lighting nightmare!” he says!  He uses two 11.5-138mm Angenieux zoom lenses and a 7-81mm Angenieux HR zoom for wide angle and close proximity shots. Martin also carries a full set of Zeiss Superspeed lenses, and a 6mm Century lens which he uses for some wide angle shots.

Other than a set of 85 filters with NDs and the occasional polarizer, Martin chooses to handle any needed diffusion in post. He prefers to keep the image as sharp as possible for the HD transfer. One technique that Martin is adamant about using is back-winding.

“I had seen this done on Tony Scott’s film Man on Fire,” he says. “On the second season, director Paul Maloney and I wanted an effect that would disorientate the viewer. At Melbourne Panavision, the camera tech James Poulson retrofitted an ARRI 16SR2 with an old 16mm film winder, which looked clunky but did a great job giving us the desired effect.   We used it on flashbacks and dream sequences, often at speeds of 5-12-36 fps with slight zooming as we went both forward and backward on the winder. It gave us a really fractured effect and one that could only have been done in-camera and on film.”

Martin credits his camera crew for the vital role they play in the collaborative process. “I’ve worked with my A camera focus puller Sunny Wilding and his loader Aaron Farrugia on the last five projects,” Martin says. “Dan Maxwell did a brilliant job on second camera with 1st AC Riki Byrne and 2nd AC Dora Krolikowska. Having a crew that was sensitive to actors who not only bare their souls but their bodies was paramount to the success of the show. I could not have asked for a better camera team to collaborate with than the one I have on Satisfaction.”