Filmmaking: The Featherweight

The Featherweight is set in the mid-1960s and presents a gripping chapter in the true-life story of Italian-American boxer Willie Pep — the winningest fighter of all time. Now in his mid-40s and down on his luck, Pep decides to make a return to the ring, at which point a documentary camera crew enters his life. The film premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival and was directed by Robert Kolodny.

 

Robert Greene edited the project, which was shot by cinematographer Adam Kolodny. Here, Kolodny shares details on the film's production, including his camera and lens choices, with Greene joining in to discuss the edit and workflow.

 

PRODUCTION

 

Hi Adam! Tell us about your camera selection.

 

"The film was primarily shot on the Arri Alexa Mini using the Super16 sensor mode. For the Madison Square Garden fight recreations, we also incorporated Kodak 500T/7219 shot in 16mm an Aaton XTR Prod and Super8 footage shot on a Canon 514.”

 

What about your lens selection?

 

“The lens choices were made early on in prep. Rob and I spent a lot of time watching reference materials and landed on a visual style primarily based on elements of Al Maysles and D.A. Pennebaker’s camerawork — something that could only be accomplished by shooting mostly on zooms. I chose the Canon 8-64mm and 11.5-138mm S16 zooms as our workhorse lenses. They’re incredibly small and lightweight for their range, which is important when shooting on-location and maintaining the physicality and ergonomics of a camera contemporary to the era and style, such as the 16mm Auricon cameras used by Maysles and Pennebaker. They also offered beautiful vintage characteristics, which I utilized along with the camera’s sensor and a specific cocktail of filters to begin building the illusion that our film was a genuine article of mid-60s direct cinema. 

 

What about your lighting choices?

 

“My lighting approach was largely driven by wanting to give Rob and the cast space to move, improvise and interact with the set. This allowed us to block organically, keeping the film grounded in realism. In practice, this meant lighting nearly 360 degrees for a lot of our sets, utilizing windows during the day and practical lamps in darker settings, as well as rigging lights into the ceiling when possible. On one of our more ambitious sets early in production — Bill Gore’s gym — I asked gaffer Dave Williamson to shoot a series of Arri HMIs (M40s and M18s) through the gym’s row of second story windows. Inside we selectively used the gym’s fluorescent shop lights to add additional illuminance where it was needed. In Pep and Linda’s home, I worked with (production designer) Sonia Foltarz to place an array of period accurate practical lamps around the house, which we would selectively dim and re-bulb to suit our needs. Almost every interior utilized a hazer to provide a layer of nostalgic atmosphere and emulate the cigarette smoke-filled rooms that our story unfolds in.”

 

What would you point to as one of the more challenging scenes to shoot?

 

“One of the most challenging requirements of the project was the recreation of archival boxing match footage from earlier in Pep’s career — specifically three fights at Madison Square Garden that take place in 1942, 1948 and 1949 respectively. I spent a lot of time in prep watching fight footage from that era, as well as researching film stocks, cameras and lighting units to best adhere to the reality of what was possible at the time.

 

“Our set was a small boxing gym in Hartford, CT, that in no way resembled the old MSG. Our grip team, led by key grip Mike Keane, draped tremendous black solids all around the ring so the surrounding area fell off into darkness. This created a look accurate to fight coverage of the ‘40s and ‘50s, which were shot on 50asa film stock necessitating massive stadium lights to illuminate the ring. I lit the ring from above with a softbox filled with 2K open-faced tungsten lights. Gaffer David Williamson also built ‘light trees’ with clusters of par cans that we’d conceived of together — which were positioned in-camera to create a sense of scale and depth to the space, as well as create shape and backlighting for the action in the ring.

 

“These fights were the only time that we utilized actual analog film during production. Along with our main Alexa Mini, we also used a 16mm Aaton XTR Prod and Super8 footage shot on a Canon 514. In the edit, all of these sources were combined with real period archival film of crowds, as well as actual wide shots from Pep’s recorded fights. Throughout the single shooting day that we had to pull all of this off, I worked closely with stunt coordinator Ernie Reyes Jr. and fight choreographer Rafael Kayanan on positioning the cameras so we could sell the punches and hits being performed by our actors. The fight choreography was based on the actual fighters being depicted on-screen, adding another layer to the immersion.

 

“All of this effort was tied together in the color grade. We worked with colorist Sam Daley to differentiate the eras photographically. The first fight in 1942 is entirely black & white, emulating Kodak Panchromatic Film stock of the time. As we get into the late ‘40s, we begin to introduce color film, as well as standard 8 and 16mm film, as if shot by ringside spectators. Sam was able to tie together all of our disparate formats into three cohesive recreations.”

 

Can you talk about collaborating with Robert Kolodny as a filmmaker?

 

“Rob and I have been making films together since we were children. It is difficult to accurately articulate the short-hand that we’ve developed, but it certainly allowed us to collaborate efficiently on-set. My brother is an encyclopedia of cinema knowledge, so he was truly invaluable in prep, showing me a curated array of direct cinema works. By the time we were on-set, we’d developed a shared language and broken down the script page-by-page with associated visual references and shooting strategies. We also had a meeting most nights after wrap to rework the shotlist for the coming days. On-set, this allowed Rob the freedom to focus on addressing the concerns of other departments and gave him more time to work with the cast. We meticulously designed the style of camera operation together, and he defers to my lighting knowledge — however we would find time to discuss emotive or story-driven lighting decisions. Rob preferred to be in the action of the scene, and was usually as close to the actors, boom op and myself as he could be — a necessary position given the immediacy and kinetic nature of the film. This proximity also allowed us to find actual documentary moments, composing shots on the fly and using codewords to roll on candid moments with the cast.”

 

EDITING

 

Robert, can you comment on the workflow for the project and how the film came together?

 

“When I first connected our writer/producer Steve Loff with director Robert Kolodny back in 2018, I knew I still wanted to be involved, especially if Rob wanted me to be on as editor. I also served as a producer, mostly as a creative sounding board for our team, including Rob and producer Bennett Elliott. So Rob and I were talking about how the film would come together from the very beginning. Our assistant editor, Kellan Hayley Marvin, was on day one as well, and we worked remotely. The edit took place shortly after we wrapped production, all in Missouri.”

 

Was director Robert Kolodny on-hand for much of the editing process or did you work independently?

 

“Rob came to Missouri several times through the editing process so we could work directly together after Kellan and I created the first long assembly. Rob and I have worked together many times, but this was the first time I was able to work as editor, with him directing. The process was incredibly rewarding and creative, and it was amazing to watch Rob — who edits other projects himself — come into his own as a director. He certainly did that during production, but it was a thrill for me to witness it first-hand in our highly collaborative editing room. He knew the movie he wanted to make, and the documentary framing of the film really allowed us to explore, take risks and find the language.”

 

What system were you using for the edit?

 

“We stuck to good ol’ Premiere Pro, working with Team Projects.”