I met Brian McGinn
[one of the show’s directors]
after he gave notes on a cut of a narrative project I shot. Brian and I subsequently collaborated on a few commercials, and then when Chef’s Table got the green light from Netflix, he introduced me to David Gelb, Andrew Fried and Will Basanta. Prior to this I didn’t have any documentary experience.
David Gelb first mentioned Chef’s Table to me while we were filming his documentary A Faster Horse, about the Ford Mustang in Detroit. We spent something like 40 days filming during
the coldest, snowiest winter in Michigan history.
In our downtime we had a number of conversations about the scope, style and needs of Chef’s Table. I’d met both Gelb and director Clay Jeter at USC back in 2004 and we’d all collaborated on a number of passion projects over the years and have always loved great food…
Q
Which shoot during the first season was the most challenging?
WB
The scheduling challenge of trying to pull off a cinematic, intimate, essentially feature-length documentary on a nine-day TV schedule was a major task for the entire team. But individually, for me, the Patagonia episode featuring Francis Mallmann was challenging on a number of levels. It was the first episode of the series I’d shot and also really a departure from the previous two episodes because we were traveling so far, and because Francis didn’t have a kitchen in the strictest sense.
on the coast of Patagonia. From there we had a rough six-hour 4×4 drive through the Patagonia plains, on what could loosely be termed a mud road, to the edge of Lago de La Plata where we loaded all our gear onto boats for a 1.5-hour journey up the lake to Mallmann’s cabin on La Isla. It’s possibly the most remote location I’ve ever been to in my life.
There was no power of any kind on La Isla, so we had to haul a small generator just to recharge our batteries…but mostly we had to shoot all natural light. Knowing this, Clay (the director) and I got a Leica mount for the RED so we could use a Leica Noctilux f/0.95 still-photo lens for super-low-light situations. That really saved us on a number of occasions where we were just shooting by fire and candlelight.
Q
Why is filming food such a challenge?
WB
Like Adam mentioned, we had a pretty high standard set by David on Jiro. For me enjoying something delicious is such a visceral experience. In a truly transcendent culinary experience, all senses — sight, smell, feel, sound and, of course, taste — are intertwined, and that’s true whether you’re eating at a three-star restaurant or at a taco truck at 2 a.m.. So capturing that with the very limiting tool of sight
[and a little sound]
alone is tough. Clearly there are certain basic techniques, like using soft light, that are useful, but I think so much of it has to do with emotion, and individual narrative as well.
On Mallmann, much of the food we shot was outside on a hilltop, at sunset in Uruguay.
Francis was cooking on seven different fires, and as soon as something came off the flames he’d plate it and we’d shoot it.
Because the audience can’t taste what’s on screen, it was important to place it in the correct environment to feel the food. I also think the narrative aspect of seeing a dish come to fruition, from concept, to sourcing, to cooking and finally to the plate, really helps the audience connect with the dishes.