Lensing Longlegs: DP Andrés Arochi

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 283: Andrés Arochi The new movie Longlegs is a psychological horror film that follows FBI Agent Lee Harker as she investigates a series of mysterious murder-suicides. The victims, all families, leave behind cryptic messages signed "Longlegs." As Harker delves deeper into the case, she uncovers a dark connection to the occult and must confront a terrifying supernatural entity. For cinematographer Andrés Arochi, technical mastery is key, but it's always in service to the story. “It has to come from something inside you that says, 'I want to create this' and then you find a technical way to do it,” he says. “For me it's always trying to be true to that instinct and to whatever feels right, and when you do it, then you're talking about yourself so it's easy to see yourself reflected.” Longlegs is Andrés' first international feature. For the past 12 years, Andrés has been working as a DP in Mexico. With no formal training, he began taking photos of friends in the music scene at age 17. Soon, he began creating projection video displays for concerts and shooting music videos and commercials. This led to work on huge music video and film sets as an on-set photographer, where he met Mexican cinematographers Guillermo Garza (the cinematographer of The Thicket), Alexis Zabé and Galo Olivares. Standing next to these skilled DPs with his camera in hand allowed Andrés to learn alongside them, and he would watch and ask questions, often copying their settings on his camera to experiment. In his spare time, Andrés would go out and practice the new techniques he learned, shooting low-budget films and music videos for friends. Fellow Mexican cinematographer Galo Olivares shot director Osgood Perkins' Gretel and Hansel, and he introduced Andrés to Perkins when the director was looking for a DP for Longlegs. Andrés was drawn to the humor in the Longlegs script, and loved that some comedy existed, even within a horror film. Unlike a lot of cinematographers and directors, Andrés and Perkins didn't create a lookbook or speak in depth about filmic references, such as The Silence of the Lambs and Se7en, which were influences for Longlegs. Instead, Andrés says, “When we did talk about movies, it was more movies that had nothing to do with the genre. We talked a lot about My Own Private Idaho, Drugstore Cowboy—a lot of Gus Van Sant 1990s indie America filmmaking. Elephant was an influence on the way we used Steadicam.” One artistic reference Andrés used was The Son of Man by artist René Magritte, a painting showing a man with his face hidden by an apple. Andrés loved the idea of keeping the face of Longlegs the killer hidden at first. Andrés chose to shoot on 35mm film and in a 4:3 aspect ratio for parts of Longlegs that take place in the 1970's. “Using film changes the emotion. Everyone stays focused and shooting on film makes it necessary for everyone to rehearse. So, I decided to shoot 35mm for everything in the 1970s and go with a 4:3 aspect ratio, then we did 2.39 and shot on digital with the Alexa Mini LF for the 1990s.” During the Longlegs shoot, director Osgood Perkins wanted the film crew to use their creativity. “Oz was always encouraging the whole team, like do what you feel,