December 5, 2025

Alice Brooks, ASC returns to Oz in Wicked: For Good

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 336: Alice Brooks, ASC

For cinematographer Alice Brooks, ASC, shooting both Wicked and Wicked: For Good concurrently was a huge feat. The giant sets, precise camerawork and complex, live lighting cues for the musical numbers required detailed planning and prep. But first, Alice and her long-time collaborator, director Jon M. Chu, broke down the scripts and discussed the emotional intentions for each scene. “When we first start talking about a movie, we talk about emotion,” says Alice. “I love getting an emotional cue for the camera the same way an actor would. What is the emotional intention in the scene? An actor gets to tell the story through their breath and through their looks and through their being. And I get to tell the story, the emotional story, through camera and lenses and lighting.”

Separation, seclusion and surrender were the emotional themes in Wicked: For Good. “It became very clear that the first movie would live in this ever-present daylight,” explains Alice. “And the second movie would have this weight and complexity and maturity and density to it and live in the shadows.” 90% of Wicked takes place in the daytime, with the sun setting as Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) embraces her power, sings “Defying Gravity” and flies away. In contrast, Wicked: For Good takes place mostly at night, in the shadows, forest, and underbelly of Oz while Elphaba is in hiding.

Alice chose to frame the characters Glinda and Elphaba in contrasting ways for the story. Now separated from Elphaba, Glinda (Ariana Grande) is central to the world of Oz. Alice kept her center punched, carefully composed and choreographed. Elphaba is framed always to the right or left, with tight close-ups and static hand-held shots, to emphasize her loneliness. When the two are together, Alice repeated the same motifs from the first movie, with Ephaba framed to the right and Glinda to the left, often holding hands.

Though Wicked: For Good is a huge fantasy movie, Alice and the production crew tried to do as much practically and in camera as possible. The “Girl in the Bubble” dance sequence was done entirely with carefully choreographed mirrors and flyaway walls that were removed as Glinda dances. Alice planned it out using her daughter’s bath toys and her husband’s shaving mirror. The art department storyboarded it, then the special effects team was able to figure out all the mirror technology needed to pull it off. The camerawork had to be very precise, with many of the frames exactly matching the last, combining both a Technocrane and a Steadicam.

Unreal Engine was an indispensable tool for Alice to aid the film’s sophisticated lighting and shot design. She used the software to pre-visualize outdoor sets, making sure the sun was at the right angle for perfectly backlighting Glinda in her bubble over Munchkin Land. It also helped her discover where the sun would hit tall buildings and spires of the Emerald City. Unreal assisted with pre-lighting, finding where practical light sources could be integrated and built into interior sets. She even tested different camera lenses to see how they would look in the space under certain lighting conditions and at various angles and heights.

Alice is the cinematographer for the upcoming animated Spiderman: Beyond The Spider-verse as well as an animated version of the Dr. Seuss book, Oh The Places You’ll Go with director Jon M. Chu.

See Wicked: For Good in theaters.

Find Alice Brooks: Instagram @_alicebrooks_

SHOW RUNDOWN:
01:22 Close Focus
08:41-51:09 Interview
51:36 Short ends
01:01:40 Wrap up/Credits

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social

By Illya Friedman

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November 28, 2025

DP Jess Hall’s retro look on The Fantastic Four: First Steps

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 335: Jess Hall

Cinematographer Jess Hall, ASC, BSC reunited with director Matt Shakman to bring the retro-future world of The Fantastic Four: First Steps to life. The two had collaborated on several projects together, such as Marvel’s Wandavision. “I have a lot of faith in Matt Shakman,” says Jess. “I went into it with a lot of goodwill behind me. I was very aware that this was one of the original Marvel, it is the first family of Marvel, so I took that responsibility very seriously. I got very well prepared and I made sure that I was making choices that I thought would bring success to the project as well as tell the story that Matt wanted to tell.”

Fantastic Four: First Steps required a higher level of pre-production planning than most, involving intense collaboration with the special effects team and production design. Many complicated sequences were prevised to meticulously establish the intended 1960s aesthetic. Jess achieved this period look through his lighting, camerawork, and lens choices. For the majority of the cinematography, he chose the relatively new Panavision Ultra Panatar II lenses, which coved the IMAX camera and were customized to his specifications. He also used a 16mm camera and Hasselblad lenses for some of the newsreel sequences.

Color was crucial for establishing the 1960s aesthetic, and Jess infused it with a comic book vibrancy. He was inspired by a 1968 Fantastic Four comic book, creating a unified color palette for the LUT that featured blue, green, orange, and pale blue.

Complex lighting setups were essential, incorporating miniatures, bluescreens, blackscreens, and motion capture performances. Jess opted for tungsten lights on Mr. Fantastic’s (Pedro Pascal) lab set—a deliberate, retro choice that grounds the technology in the past. He found controlling the light challenging on bluescreen and blackscreen stages, as the lack of background required him to carefully conceive and control the light sources to maintain a sense of photorealistic depth.

The production team prioritized creating as much of the film practically as possible to achieve the photoreal look director Matt Shakman wanted, with characters and scenes enhanced with VFX in post. Both Ben Grimm “The Thing” (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) performed in motion capture suits. Rather than working on a volume stage, blue screens and black screens were used for the space sequences. A miniature scale model of the Fantastic Four’s ship helped bring it to life, while a realistic 1960’s Times Square set was built for the New York action sequences. For the planet-eater Galactus, Jess had a unique practical concept: treating him like a miniature. An extremely detailed costume was constructed, and Galactus moved through a small-scale set. Jess used specialized lighting and camerawork on his suit to create the illusion of the villain’s immense, terrifying size.

Find Jess Hall: Instagram: @metrorat
See The Fantastic Four: First Steps streaming on Disney+

SHOW RUNDOWN:
01:56 Close Focus
13:10-59:54 Interview
01:00:08 Short Ends
01:10:09 Wrap up/Credits

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social

By Illya Friedman

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November 21, 2025

Jeff Cutter: melding the alien worlds of Predator: Badlands

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 334: Jeff Cutter

Cinematographer Jeff Cutter first collaborated with director Dan Trachtenberg on 10 Cloverfield Lane. Their successful partnership continued on the Predator prequel, Prey, which became Hulu’s most-watched streaming premiere. Jeff and Trachtenberg found they had a strong bond over their mutual interests, such as films like Die Hard with “muscular” camerawork. As gamers, the two often use cinematic moments and cutscenes from both videogames and movies as visual references during pre-production meetings.

For Predator: Badlands, Tractenberg created a previsualization (previs) of the major sequences. He and Jeff then discussed the overall visual tone and the right approach for the camerawork. A key thought exercise they use is determining how each scene could be shot as a oner, even if the final plan doesn’t involve a single-take sequence. Jeff explains, “The exercise just lets us, it really lets you figure out who is the scene about? What is the context and what is the subtext?” He finds that it’s a creative way to focus and narrow down the visual choices to make each scene distinct.

Jeff built upon the visual foundation he established for Prey. For that film, he and Trachtenberg wanted to subvert audience expectations of a Predator movie, focusing on a naturalistic approach that relied as much as possible on natural daylight, firelight, and moonlight as the primary sources.

Defining the Predator: Badlands look by color palette:
-The Yautja Planet (Predator Home World): Jeff chose a distinct brown and blue palette accented with warm tones. The look is designed to evoke a sense of harsh but beautiful reality, defined by sandy deserts and stark rock formations.
-The Planet Gena: Shot partly on location in New Zealand, this environment called for a greener, more naturalistic look, with a bluer color for nighttime scenes.
-The Weyland-Yutani Base: This section connects Predator: Badlands to the larger Alien universe, notably through the Weyland-Yutani corporation and its synthetic main character, Thia (played by Elle Fanning). Inspired by the industrial, ominous atmosphere and moody lighting of films like Aliens and Prometheus, Cutter aimed for an industrial look dominated by cyan, blue, and green tones.

See Predator: Badlands in theaters

Find Jeff Cutter: Instagram @jeff_cutter

SHOW RUNDOWN:
01:53 Close Focus
12:01-1:04:42 Interview
01:05:03 Short Ends
01:13:10 Wrap up/Credits (with a little blooper at the end)

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social

By Illya Friedman

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November 14, 2025

Jeff Cronenweth, ASC: stepping out of the grid on TRON: ARES

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 333: Jeff Cronenweth

Two-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth, ASC is known for visually defining modern classics like Fight Club and The Social Network. With TRON: ARES, he melded three distinct realities: the digital Grid, the gritty real world, and the retro feel of the grid in the original TRON.

Jeff’s involvement with TRON: ARES began through his long-standing relationship with Jared Leto. After working together on Fight Club, Leto, who stars as Ares and is a producer on the film, personally asked Jeff to meet with director Joachim Rønning. Jeff found that Rønning had established a remarkably clear vision for TRON: ARES from the start by storyboarding every scene. Having a clear plan was crucial, given the complexity of the environments and the technical demands of the shoot, which included a challenging seven weeks of night shooting in downtown Vancouver.

Jeff chose ARRI DNA LF lenses for their character, flare, and artifacting, even for the digital setting, and the film was framed for IMAX. The core challenge for Jeff was using visual language to differentiate the film’s three central environments, drawing inspiration from the franchise’s past while exploring something new.

1. The Main Grid: Predictable Perfection
Referencing the “pristine” aesthetic of TRON: Legacy, the new film’s main Grid environment is defined by machine code—a world that is predictable and perfect.
Look: Sharp, clean lines, saturated colors, and a highly geometric, mechanical feel.
Color Coding: The classic blue/gray/white color palette is reserved for the good guys, while the presence of the bad guys is immediately signaled by the use of red.

2. The Real World: Embracing the Grit
In TRON: ARES, for the first time, the computer programs emerge into the real world. Reality required a darker, grittier visual separation from the digital realm.
Look: Shooting in Vancouver’s downtown allowed reflections in large glass buildings to enhance the environment’s texture. Practical locations, like a chase that concluded with lightcycles crashing into bales of recycled paper on a pier, further grounded the action.

3. ENCOM/Mainframe Grid: A Nod to the Original
To connect back to the franchise’s roots, the scenes where the character Ares ventures into the original ENCOM grid to find Flynn needed to match the look of the 1982 film.
Reference: The 1982 TRON’s grid scenes were shot in black and white and then hand-painted to achieve the glowing effect.
To mimic this analog feel, Jeff intentionally doubled the amount of grain and desaturated the color, creating a look that closely matches the original. 

Light is both a symbol and a weapon in Tron: Ares. To get the look, visual effects, costumes, props and cinematography had to work closely together. LED lights were installed in costumes, props and sets, and practically controlled through a dimmer board. This gave the VFX team a base to build upon. The lightcycles, some of which were built as practical, towable props, had LEDs built in and connected to dimmer boards as well. The lights provided real, interactive reflections on the actors and surrounding environment. Jeff also used light beams on set to simulate a recognizer scanning a high-rise office. The VFX crew could then track and enhance these practical effects in post-production.

Jeff’s choices were crucial for the post-production team. “We all knew what the goals were and what the scenes were going to be about,” he says. “It was a wonderful experience because it took all of us to be in harmony all the time.”

See TRON: ARES in theaters
Jeff is currently shooting The Social Reckoning, with director Aaron Sorkin.
Hear our previous interviews with Jeff Cronenweth:
https://www.camnoir.com/ep150/
https://www.camnoir.com/ep72/

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social

By Illya Friedman

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November 7, 2025

Cinematographer Dan Laustsen brings Frankenstein to life

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 332: Dan Laustsen

For nearly 30 years, cinematographer Dan Laustsen, ASC, DFF and director Guillermo del Toro have produced one of cinema’s most visually distinctive collaborations. Sharing a deep affinity for rich colors and dark themes, their partnership has yielded five films characterized by an unmistakable aesthetic.

Del Toro’s idea for Frankenstein had been discussed since their work on Crimson Peak in 2015. Finally, del Toro let Dan know he was ready to get to work on Frankenstein. Dan re-read Mary Shelley’s original work before reading the screenplay. While the script proved a very faithful adaptation, certain scenes were adjusted to better serve the cinematic format. “Because I think Guillermo is a genius director, when he asked me to do Frankenstein, of course I wanted to do that,” says Dan. “His approach to everything is so fantastic. And to me it’s a story of love and forgiveness, it’s father and son, it’s not a horror at all. For me it’s much more beautiful, for me it’s really about father-son relationships and forgiveness.”

As with every Guillermo del Toro movie, the color palette for Frankenstein was extremely important. Red, steel blue, cyan and amber dominate the film, but the beginning features creamy white and warm, romantic colors to represent the creature’s innocence and the initial bond between Frankenstein and his creation. Crucially, these colors were not altered in post-production. Dan explains, “When we are coming into the D.I. (digital intermediate) of course, we are cleaning it up, but the color palette is exactly the same.” Changing the colors post-shoot would ruin the integrity of the design. “The whole color palette of the movie, the lights, the costumes, the hair and makeup, and the set design is so specific, that if we change anything in post, in the D.I., the whole color palette will change. So we never do that.”

Del Toro also enjoys using timeless filmmaking techniques, preferring to use practical effects and capture as much as possible in-camera. Nearly all the sets were meticulously built in Toronto, minimizing the need for bluescreen. Exterior scenes were shot on location in Scotland, and the iced-in ship in the Arctic was a massive set mounted on a gimbal to allow for authentic motion. Dan and a specialized crew even shot all the castle exteriors in miniature, featuring practical explosions done on the small set.

The Frankenstein sets were designed so that all lighting could be built in, either with practical fixtures or with external lights placed specifically through set windows. For the castle dungeon, Dan and his gaffer had to design a special rig to effectively simulate skylights shining from above.

Dan kept the camera movement fluid and floating, shooting the entire film on very wide-angle lenses. “Our idea was to shoot a period movie, but shoot it very modern. The camera is a part of the storytelling,” he notes. The camera becomes the third dimension to the storytelling, lending it the ability to be part of the action rather than a stationary, distant observer. Every shot was specifically designed and executed with a crane, a hothead, or a Steadicam, using just one camera. The wide lenses captured the entire set, which was critical to Dan. “Because the set is so beautiful, and the costumes are amazing. Everything is very organic, and we really like to see that as much as we could. And to move the camera again is storytelling in a dramatic way.”

Through his enduring partnership with del Toro, Dan has framed Frankenstein and his Creature’s story not in shadow, but in the unforgettable light of forgiveness. “Love and forgiveness are very strong things in the movie and the world,” he says. “For me, it’s not a horror movie at all, it’s a love story.”

See Frankenstein now streaming on Netflix.

Find Dan Laustsen: Instagram @dan.laustsen

Hear our previous interviews with Dan Laustsen: https://www.camnoir.com/ep152/
https://www.camnoir.com/ep36/

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social

By Illya Friedman

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January 15, 2025

Jarin Blaschke: Crafting Darkness in Nosferatu

Nosferatu is a gothic tale of obsession, about a young woman, Ellen, who faces a terrifying supernatural entity after her husband travels to Transylvania to conduct business with the enigmatic Count Orlok. As Orlok arrives in her town, he brings a plague of death and terror, forcing Ellen to confront the monstrous vampire and the darkness within herself.

Cinematographer Jarin Blaschke wanted to create a visually distinct and unsettling experience for Nosferatu, drawing inspiration from F.W. Murnau’s 1922 classic, while developing his own unique look. Both he and director Robert Eggers chose a more romantic approach to the film, with a palette of blue and black. Shooting on film with candlelight and moonlight added to the haunting atmosphere. Jarin tested several lenses and the film scanning process to get the grain and color just right. He wanted Nosferatu to feel very composed and controlled. “If it feels claustrophobic, we lean into that,” he says. “How you pan, when you pan, what’s the feeling of it, and how you guide the camera operator to execute that pan, all contributes to the overall feeling.”

Jared has collaborated with Eggers on all of his films, beginning with the short film, The Tell Tale Heart, The Witch, The Lighthouse and The Northman. The two share a love of fairy tales and the golden age of illustration. As with most of their films, the two had several months to prep for Nosferatu. They talked through the scenes and shotlisted the movie, while Jarin drew small storyboard thumbnails as a draft for the storyboard artist. “I love the luxury of a long prep time,” says Jarin. “The ideas that you come up with over the course of four months, as opposed to four minutes, are much, much better, you know? Like if I’m just reacting to stuff in the moment, I’m going to go for the easiest thing. But if I have time to come up with an idea and think about how to surprise people, that’s a lot more fun.”

This meticulous approach extends to post-production, where Jarin even directed the lighting for visual effects. “I enjoy being an obsessive perfectionist,” he admits.

You can see Nosferatu in theaters and on VOD January 21.

Find Jarin Blaschke: https://www.luxartists.net/artists/jarin-blaschke
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/18192666@N00/

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: https://hotrodcameras.com/
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The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social

By Illya Friedman

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July 3, 2024

BONUS EPISODE: Fancy Dance director Erica Tremblay and DP Carolina Costa

In case you missed it, we’re reposting our 2023 Sundance interview with Fancy Dance director/writer Erica Tremblay and cinematographer Carolina Costa, AMC. Fancy Dance is now available in select theaters and streaming on AppleTV+.

Fancy Dance follows Jax (Lily Gladstone), a Native American woman on Oklahoma’s Seneca-Cayuga reservation. When her sister Tawi vanishes mysteriously, Jax becomes guardian to her niece Roki. Their search for Tawi is met with indifference from law enforcement. Facing financial hardship, Jax resorts to petty crimes that threaten custody of Roki, who’s placed with her non-Indigenous grandparents. Determined to keep a promise and celebrate their heritage, Jax takes Roki on a daring journey to the state powwow, hoping to find answers about Tawi’s fate and to give Roki the opportunity to perform the traditional dance she and her mother practiced together.

Fancy Dance director and writer Erica Tremblay and cinematographer Carolina Costa met when Erica was searching for a DP and Carolina was on a short list. Carolina loved the script, and saw the film was special just from reading the page- she could see all the visuals in her mind, and felt it was important to see these characters come alive on the big screen. She decided to keep the lighting natural and didn’t use many additional lights. They wanted the film to feel specific to the topography of Oklahoma in the summer- a hot, humid time, when the sky is a washed-out blue. Erica and Carolina had several conversations about what the film would look and feel like, including using natural moonlight to represent Tawi, the missing sister and mother. The moon is a symbol of matrilineal kinship which is vital to the Native American community.

One of the biggest challenges facing director Erica Tremblay was finding financing for Fancy Dance. It was hard to convince the right people to fund a film whose main character is an abrasive, lawless, queer indigenous woman. Erica grew up in the Seneca Cayuga nation, and drew upon characters she knew. She wanted her script to reflect the issues faced by Native Americans today, especially the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women who are never found. But she also includes humor, loving family connections and the celebration of joyous culture at the powwow. Erica was also a writer on the acclaimed FX series, Reservation Dogs.

Fancy Dance is available now in theaters and on AppleTV+

Find Erica Tremblay: Instagram @ericajtremblay

Find Carolina Costa: Instagram @ccostacine

Find Fancy Dance: Instagram #fancydancemovie

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras www.hotrodcameras.com

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

By Illya Friedman

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June 26, 2024

Baby Reindeer cinematographer Kryzsztof Trojnar

Netflix’s Baby Reindeer is a dark comedic thriller that chronicles the true story of a struggling comedian, Donny (Richard Gadd) as he’s stalked by a seemingly harmless woman named Martha (Jessica Gunning). As her pursuit of him escalates and becomes progressively unhinged, the audience learns more about why Donny may be so passive about stopping her advances.

Cinematographer Kryzsztof Trojnar reunited with his fellow Polish film school classmate, director Weronika Tofilska, on Baby Reindeer’s first four episodes. The show’s unique origin, a one-man stage play, proved a valuable resource for Kryzsztof. He immersed himself in the audio recording alongside the script, capturing the story’s rhythm and intensity. “It was all about how we create that intensity, how we create the intrusion of Martha, how we show her overtures in that pub.” says Kryzsztof. “It all has to be really close and really intense that as an audience you feel that intrusion.”

Both Kryzsztof and Tofilska were inspired by Coen brothers movies and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, admiring their treatment of character-driven narratives. Kryzsztof made sure to keep the perspective of the story firmly in Donny’s first person point of view. Wide-angle lenses frequently frame him in the center, and the use of Steadicam shots keep up the frantic pace of Donny’s increasing unease.

Kryzsztof and Tofilska chose lighting and a color palette they jokingly called “decomposing body” for Baby Reindeer. It creates a stylized world with a LUT heavy on earth tones of yellow, brown, and green. Against those colors, naturally lit moments and other hues stand out with a jarring vibrancy. Kryzsztof also favored unflattering, hard lighting for Donny as he feels more haunted and hunted by Martha. Martha, on the other hand, is lit in a flattering way, as she admires and flirts with Donny, making him feel adored.

Find Kryzsztof Trojnar: Instagram: @krzysztof_trojnar

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras www.hotrodcameras.com

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

By Illya Friedman

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May 22, 2024

Griselda cinematographer Armando Salas, ASC

Netflix’s gripping new series, Griselda, takes viewers deep into the world of Colombian drug lord Griselda Blanco. But behind the drugs and violence is a masterfully crafted world, built by cinematographer Armando Salas, ASC. Armando, known for his work on Ozark, brings a unique perspective to Griselda. His approach to color throughout the series tells a story that’s more about character than it is about the drug trade. “In the end, we’re making a work of fiction, and we really want to connect with the audience,” says Armando. “And the things you know and hear about Griselda Blanco is, you know, she’s a killer, a psychopath. There’s not a lot of redeeming qualities when you’re looking into the drug wars in Miami at that time.” Even through all the death and destruction in the series, director Andrés Baiz didn’t want Griselda to be too dark. He still wanted to find some joy and absurdity within the story.

Armando met with director Andrés Baiz, who wanted to hire a local Los Angeles DP who also spoke Spanish, since a majority of Griselda’s script is in Spanish. Growing up in Miami, Armando happened to know the story of Griselda Blanco very well. He also worked on a 2006 documentary called Cocaine Cowboys, about how Miami became the cocaine capital of the US. They did careful location scouting around LA for places that looked like Miami in the late 1970’s and early 80’s. Armando and Baiz wanted the show to have the right period look. “We didn’t take an intellectual conceit, I wasn’t only using lenses or camera technology that existed at that time. We were really more interested in finding the right feeling,” Armando explains. “And so, we looked at a lot of photography from the period, we looked at a lot of films from the period, we looked at modern films that were doing a good job of recreating the period, but we kind of landed our our own version. Again, it’s really just like capturing the vibe and building the world. And so we had a very aggressive and unique approach to the LUT and the color characteristics of our negative.” The Polaroid pictures Baiz took during location scouting became a big inspiration for the color palette of the show.

Throughout the six episode series, Armando used color to help tell a compelling character story. Griselda’s world is full of deep, rich colors as she’s living the high life. In contrast, Armando chose a bluer, more desaturated color for scenes with June Hawkins (Juliana Aidén Martinez), the Miami PD intelligence analyst. As she breaks the case and convinces law enforcement officers to go after Griselda, she enters a world of color. “And on top of that, we unleash the camera. We go flying down the sidewalk with her from multiple angles. It’s the fastest camera movements in the series. And over the course of the series, her storyline and Griselda’s storyline meet, and the color, the glitz and glamour of Griselda’s world has been mostly stripped out at that point. June has come into her own, and they meet in that world. The two arcs have now connected, and it’s one story.”

Griselda is available on Netflix. https://www.netflix.com/title/81133447

Hear our previous interview with Armando discussing his work on Ozark and more. https://www.camnoir.com/ep91/

Find Armando Salas: https://www.salasfilm.com/
Instagram: @cinesalas

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The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

By Illya Friedman

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October 4, 2023

Silo cinematographer Mark Patten, BSC

Cinematographer Mark Patten, BSC’s most recent project, Silo, is a post-apocalyptic science fiction drama that’s been a huge success for AppleTV+. The thousands of people who live in the silo don’t know why the silo exists, who built it, or why the world outside is uninhabitable. Citizens who express a desire to go outside, or are convicted of a crime, are sent outside to “clean” the cameras and never survive. After being recruited as the new silo sheriff, engineer Juliette starts to uncover shocking secrets and the truth about the silo.

Silo was shot in Essex, England in a huge former cold storage facility. The set had to be completely built out, retrofitting the space into a working film stage. Lighting rigs were hung even before the sets were built so that the set building and production design crew could see in such a huge dark space. The production crew built three working levels of the actual silo set, complete with the spiral staircase. Mark found the richness of the set decoration created a lived-in, worn down place that made the silo itself seem like a character. Everything is very analog or “lo-fi sci-fi” in this dystopian world. It was interesting to think about how society would act together, in a closed vessel, and maintain their sanity in a locked in culture, especially after just coming out of the pandemic. Mark thought of the Silo as a slow ship moving through time, and it felt like shooting a submarine film. The central staircase acts as a helix through the society of the silo, and Juliette is climbing her way up through the layers of it to solve a mystery.

Mark worked alongside production designer Gavin Bocquet to visualize the Silo’s society, honing in and letting the visuals sing. He decided to subtly use different color palettes for each level. It was a great way to add texture to the images, with the mechanical level becoming very desaturated, except for some touches of bright yellow and orange glow from the heat of the power generators. Since the silo is a mile down into the ground, there is no natural light at all, and Mark needed to figure out what would motivate the light all the way at the bottom. He decided the lighting in the top of the silo would be strongest, and the light would filter down from there. Practical lights were built in everywhere throughout the set and as characters descend to the lowest level of mechanical, the practical lights are the only source. Since every light source was designed and built in, there was no hard light anywhere to manipulate, so for Mark it was an exercise in restraint manipulating reflective light.

Mark recently finished shooting Season 2 of Andor on Disney+.

Silo is available to stream on AppleTV+.

Find Mark Patten: https://www.markpatten.tv/
Instagram: @kiesh

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

By Illya Friedman

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In Cinematography Podcast, Latest Posts, Podcast Episodes

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