RecipesThe Substance
Coralie FargeatBenjamin Kracun

The Substance

2024Neon & SaturatedCold & Clinical

The Cinematography

Benjamin Kracun built two visual worlds for The Substance that mirror the films obsession with duality. Elisabeths world is clinical, almost sterile — white bathroom tiles, fluorescent overhead light, the cold precision of a body being maintained like a machine. Every surface reflects, every light source is harsh and unforgiving. When Sue emerges, the palette detonates into saturated neon: hot pinks, electric blues, golden stage lighting that makes skin look impossibly perfect. Kracun never lets you forget this is a horror film disguised as a beauty commercial — the lighting is always slightly too perfect, too controlled, creating an uncanny valley of visual pleasure. For Fujifilm, the contrast between Eterna for the clinical sequences and Velvia for the neon excess captures the films split personality.

Recipes

The Bathroom
Sterile white tiles, fluorescent overhead, clinical precision and quiet horror
Film SimulationEterna/Cinema
GrainOff
Color ChromeOff
CC FX BlueOff
White BalanceFluorescent 1
WB ShiftR-1 / B+1
Dynamic RangeDR100
Highlight+2
Shadow-2
Color-3
Sharpness+2
Noise Reduction+0
Clarity+3
ISOISO 200-400
Sue On Stage
Hot pink and electric blue stage lighting, impossibly saturated skin
Film SimulationVelvia/Vivid
GrainOff
Color ChromeStrong
CC FX BlueStrong
White BalanceFluorescent 2
WB ShiftR+4 / B+2
Dynamic RangeDR200
Highlight+0
Shadow+2
Color+4
Sharpness+0
Noise Reduction-2
Clarity+0
ISOISO 800-1600
Shoot this look

These recipes run on Fujifilm's film-simulation engine — any current X-series body will do. A pairing to start from:

Fujifilm X100VIFixed 35mm-equiv — cinematic in a jacket pocketSony TOUGH SD (UHS-II V90)Fast enough for the 40MP bodiesSpare NP-W235 batteryA full day of shooting, not half
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Recipes are starting points — every camera body renders differently. Shoot a test roll and adjust to taste.
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