Unconventional cinematography for an unconventional story can be used as a logical approach to craft a cinematic sitcom. “We Are Lady Parts” is a  sweet and silly sitcom shot by talented and brave DP Diana Olifirova, who utilized Cooke Anamorphic/i glass to make this TV series more picturesque.   

Break with conventional filmmaking

Channel 4’s sitcom, “We Are Lady Parts”, offers an unconventional story on mainstream TV – Muslim women being themselves and pursue their crazy dreams. The series follows an eponymous British punk rock band, which consists entirely of Muslim women. “We Are Lady Parts” shows the highs and lows of the band – Lady Parts – as seen through the eyes of Amina Hussain (Anjana Vasan) – a geeky microbiology Ph.D. student, who’s on the lookout for love and is recruited to be their unlikely lead guitarist.

Watch the colorful trailer below to explore this craziness and epicness. Then we talk about the cinematography behind it:

Shot by Diana Olifirova

“We Are Lady Parts”’s was shot by Diana Olifirova who is a freelance cinematographer from Ukraine, and currently based in London. After studying cinematography for 5 years in Kiev she did an MA course at the NFTS (The National Film and Television School). Diana doesn’t afraid to express herself totally through the lens. Her cinematography is characterized by very colorful and vivid imagery, centralized on the object, which is mostly a human being.

For a solid reference to that claim, explore her short video about her and shot by her. The video which was shot over the lockdown in London is defined as an odyssey of space and the four dimensions of the character changing it: 

Breaking the stereotype of TV comedy

For “We Are Lady Parts”, the goal was to push the cinematic look and break the stereotype of TV comedy being filmed in a very conventional way. Diana states that she really had the opportunity to push outside the genre. “As a cinematographer, I think that when there is a lot of fast dialogue and humor in the scene, it’s challenging to create photography that makes the image complimentary to the story, as well as enhancing the emotion of the scene. And the image is very fast-moving because of the pace of the edit. So, it’s incredibly important to make sure that the eye goes directly where it should go and not get distracted by anything else…like to think every image is a painting – my role is to help the audience connect and get the most out of their watching experience” she highlights.

Shot on Cooke Anamorphic/i: “An emotional choice”

Diana chose Cooke Anamorphics to shoot the series.“It was always going to be Anamorphic as on this occasion it was all going to be about transmitting the characters’ personalities”. Diana says that she always finds it hard to explain to anyone about the choice of lens, and to her opinion,  it is an incredibly emotional choice. “I always say it is as if it paints the background because the blurriness of it should make the background feel like a painting, so it doesn’t really distract you from what is sharp. On some lenses that blur of the image feels very technical, but the Cookes make the look and feel very picturesque”, she claims.

Wide 2.35 format, with a ‘native’ focal length

Diana opted for a wide 2.35 format to feature all the characters at once on the wide shots without having to crop too much from the compositions. Regarding focal lengths, Diana used a lot of 32mm and 40mm.

We don’t have much info regarding the cameras used. However, in the picture, we can explore the ARRI Mini LF and… the neat Digital Bolex which was built from the ground up as a camera “for filmmakers, by filmmakers”. The camera had a Super16 sized Kodak CCD sensor and could record 2048 x 1152 Cinema DNG files with 12-bit color depth. Sadly, this outstanding camera is not being manufactured anymore.

Final insights

‘We Are Lady Parts’ is an example of irreverent music comedy that is executed with anarchic cinematography, enhanced by colorful Anamorphic imagery, that boosts the cinematic look, and thus breaks the boundaries of mainstream TV. You should definitely check it out. ‘We Are Lady Parts’ can be streamed on Sky Go, All 4, Virgin TV Go in the UK and is available on Peacock across the US and selected markets.

Have you watched ‘We Are Lady Parts’? What are your thoughts about the imagery? Did you find the anamorphic look compelling? Let’s know what you think about the cinematography behind it