Barbie Cinematographer Talks Creating Barbieland’s “Artificial Reality”

Barbie is now in its fifth weekend in theaters, and this will likely be the first time it won’t take the top spot at the box office. In addition to being praised by critics and moviegoers alike, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie managed to earn  $1 billion in only 17 days, beating multiple box office records. A lot went into creating Barbie Land for the movie, in fact, the production caused a worldwide pink paint shortage. Recently, the film’s cinematographer, Rodrigo Prieto, spoke with The Wrap and talked about bringing Barbie Land to life, and the movies that inspired the film’s aesthetic. 

“The first thing was, what is Barbie Land? How will that look? How will it feel? The first conversations were about this idea Greta had about authentic artificiality, and how she wanted to feel like we are in some sort of toy world, but not completely,” Prieto recalled. “She didn’t want it to look like they were small necessarily. You want it to feel like it’s their world and it’s believable, but at the same time, she has a heavy influence from movies of the ’50s and musicals and The Wizard of Oz was a big influence. Singin’ in the Rain, movies of that ilk. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg was a big influence that I used as a lighting reference and for color. So we started talking about this notion of being in a box in a way, of painted backdrops, of feeling the stage like you did in The Wizard of Oz, and feeling that you’re in a studio. So I think our first conversations had to do with that and how to then distinguish the real world. and feeling that you’re in a studio.”

Prieto added, “I did want the lighting to feel not completely like we’re stage bound. One of our first decisions was that every day in Barbie Land has to be sunny. Then I decided, OK, we’re gonna keep the sun backlighting the characters all the time, no matter where the camera’s looking. Then in terms of the fill light – which in the real world, you have the sun and then it’s basically the skylight on top of you and then the reflection of objects from the sunlight, that’s what lights your face.” 

Kate Mckinning Praises Barbie‘s Production Team:

While chatting with ComicBook.com before the SAG strike, Kate McKinnon (Weird Barbie) spoke about the world created by Barbie‘s production designers and joked about not wanting to leave. 

“Everyone who worked in the production — artists, true, sculptors, artists, designers — this movie is a canvas for the art of so many incredible people,” McKinnon told ComicBook.com’s Jamie Jirak. “Just getting to wear and walk around their art was like, ‘Oh my God, this is the greatest, and I don’t want to go home.’”

What Is Barbie About?

In Barbie, to live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken. From Oscar-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig comes Barbie, which hit theaters on July 21st. Barbie stars Oscar-nominees Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, alongside America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell. The film also stars Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, Jamie Demetriou, Connor Swindells, Sharon Rooney, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Dua Lipa and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren. Gerwig directed Barbie from a screenplay by Gerwig & Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach, based on Barbie by Mattel.