A feature film shot on Vantage Ones by Karl Kürten
A word from Hawk
As Hawk London’s first fully serviced feature, On Falling has a special place in our hearts. We would like to thank Director of Photography Karl Kürten and Director Laura Carreira for involving us to service their feature from the first day our London office was open for business.
Karl Kürten during his first Test at Hawk
Since then, On Falling has returned from festivals in Rome, Spain, Egypt, Greece, Canada and Dubai with several awards. To name a few accolades; The Sutherland award for best first feature, Best Director in San Sebastian’s film festival, alongside the film being long-listed in the 2025 BAFTAs. During the pre-release screenings the film was picked up by Conic Distribution, with the Guardian and Variety complimenting the film as an impressive debut in the genre of social realism.
On The Story
The story follows Portuguese immigrant Aurora (Joana Santos) who works as a warehouse picker in a vast fulfilment centre in Scotland.
Trapped between the confines of her workplace and her flatshare Aurora seeks to resist loneliness and alienation, where even simple talk begins to threaten her sense of self. The film sets its protagonist against a landscape dominated by an algorithm-driven gig economy designed to keep us apart.
On Falling is the directorial debut of Portuguese-Scottish writer and director Laura Carreira. This intimate and unwavering portrait of a migrant examines her relationship to the precarious labour that constrains and defines her.
On Karl & Laura
As a Director of Photography who focuses on authenticity and honesty within his work, Karl Kurten and Director Laura Carreira built upon the relationship and visual language they fostered together from a number of short film collaborations, before working on this feature.
They knew the aim of the film was to show the bleak reality of working in a warehouse. Before deciding on the means to achieve On Falling’s realistic visuals, Laura knew she had to get closer to her main character. As part of her research, Laura planned to talk to some warehouse pickers to help ground her understanding of Aurora.
Laura noted a few things from her interviews. Pickers work from dusk till dawn without such luxuries as access to natural light. These notes would dictate the film’s look.
With a subject matter close to Laura’s heart, the film explores the ideas and challenges of immigration alongside the harsh, time-pressuring work environment of a gig economy propelled by consumer culture. Within this context, On Falling expands its scope to explore more humane topics that can resonate with many. The film is less about picking boxes and more about depicting our society’s concepts of poverty, shame, and loneliness.
On The Look
On Falling – is essentially a portrait of Aurora.
The look was not to be enhanced to make reality into a spectacle, but to portray the brutal lifelessness of Aurora’s situation. As a result, the Director and the DP choose a realistic, documentary approach to the cinematography.
Both Karl and Laura choose lenses that offer a flexibility in their characteristics, especially when shooting wide open. For this, the Vantage One Spherical Primes paired perfectly with the Arri Alexa 35 and Arricam LT for On Falling.
As the film explores the vital struggle to find meaning and connection as an individual in an ever more isolating society, the Vantage Ones were a perfect fit. Both Karl and Laura chose to shoot spherical and pair the lenses with the Alexa 35 in open gate mode, providing a 3:2 box-like aspect ratio which traps the viewer in the scene alongside the main character.
Adding to the film’s visual language these lenses were mainly used at their characterful wider stops, adding to the protagonist’s isolation. To show this idea further, the decision was made to shoot supporting characters at a deeper T stop, with the deeper depth of field showing how other characters are more integrated with their surroundings. This contrasts with the further sense of isolation created by shooting Aurora with a shallower depth of field.
Aside from the visual characteristics, the crew found the design of the lenses to benefit their production and workflow. Namely, the Vantage Ones’ size, weight and incredibly close focus used for extreme close-up shots. These close-ups suggest the feeling of discomfort and portray Aurora’s shame and embarrassment in certain sequences.
On Filming The Story
Karl and Laura’s dedication to bring this story to life was achieved through thorough research, planning and the dedication of the whole crew. As a result, On Falling made an impressive first feature worth every minute of its watchtime.
When viewing, it is easy to follow Aurora’s every step due to the precise scene blocking, ‘dance-like’ long takes, intuitively handheld operation, and meticulously planned static shots which all played a part in On Falling’s lifeless and isolating look.
In order to convey their ideas, the duo of Director and DP have set out a few principals they had to follow. Those were:
- Filming in a real warehouse which gives them a 360 location
- Making lighting less noticeable
- Using a smaller camera set up
Another rule that both decided to implement was to shoot the film in chronological order, using all 5 locations. This not only helped the director stay on top of things, but also had a massive impact on the way the actress Joana Santos grew into Aurora’s character.
We were delighted to be involved in servicing this feature, and to see the film develop from start to finish. On Falling is out in cinemas on Friday 7th March. We’re looking forward to Karl and Laura’s next cinematic adventure.
Article written by: Anastasia Plisova Edited by: Ben Cridge on 06.03.25
