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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October 31, 2025

Tobias Datum: creating the sci-fi world of Murderbot

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 331: Tobias Datum

Murderbot is the story of a security unit, part-human and part-machine, that has hacked its governing module to act in its own free will: mainly to be left alone to watch TV shows. Cinematographer Tobias Datum views the Apple TV+ series as a visual exploration of a synthetic being’s journey toward humanity and self-discovery.

Tobias worked closely with show creator and director Paul Weitz, continuing a collaboration that spans over ten years with Paul and his brother, Chris Weitz. The production team included production designer Susan Chan, VFX supervisor Sean Falden, and colorist Tim Vincent. As a cohesive group that had worked together before, they were instrumental in establishing the show’s distinctive visual identity.

Working with the team, Tobias set the visual tone during pre-production to ensure a smooth, consistent flow throughout the shoot. He faced the challenge of lighting and shooting a cohesive environment that spanned multiple, drastically different settings. Murderbot takes place on an alien planet, on space ships and space stations, and in Murderbot’s own head as it watches its favorite galactic soap opera, Sanctuary Moon.

For the alien planet, the goal was to ground the setting in a believable, “earthly reality” where human life could exist, all while adhering to the production’s budget and schedule. A volume stage was extensively used for scenes shot inside the ships, space stations, and for the stylized Sanctuary Moon segments. Exterior planet scenes were shot on location at a sand quarry pit in Ontario, Canada. A large, two-story exterior set for the habitat was constructed there, while the habitat’s interiors were built on a separate soundstage.

The diverse settings of Murderbot presented unique lighting issues. Fortunately, the design of the planet was grounded in reality, so Tobias lit for a desert planet with minimal vegetation. He used a translight as a backdrop and integrated practical lighting directly into the sets. The main habitat, designed as a translucent bubble with many windows, required careful management of its natural glow. Tobias used negative fill to strategically tone down the intensity. Dr. Mensa, the human leader of the group, acts as an anchor for the story’s emotional stakes. To maintain narrative focus, Tobias consistently lit and framed her with clarity, regardless of her position relative to the other characters. At first, he was concerned that lighting the Murderbot character would be problematic, especially when it wears its highly reflective helmet. “Murderbot’s a mirror ball, you know,” he explains. “So that meant lighting is going to be visible, and you don’t want every shot to be a VFX shot. Once I saw the very first stage of that suit, I was like, ugh. But then when we started doing tests, it’s kind of forgiving. I don’t think we had a lot of equipment removal from Murderbot’s helmet.”

Tobias’s journey began at film school in Berlin before he was accepted into AFI as a graduate student. There, he began building his portfolio while working on his colleagues’ films. He credits a strong work ethic—constantly taking jobs and learning through experience—with his success as a director of photography. He reflects on his career with gratitude. “It’s a great privilege and we’re getting paid for this stuff. It’s like every time I walk on a set, I’m just like, am I lucky. This is a great way to make a living.”

See Murderbot on AppleTV.

Find Tobias Datum: https://tobiasdatum.me/

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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October 24, 2025

Pål Ulvik Rokseth: forging the fiery world of The Lost Bus

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 330: Pål Ulvik Rokseth

Pål Ulvik Rokseth, the Norwegian cinematographer behind director Paul Greengrass’s gripping drama The Lost Bus, faced a singular challenge: how to transform one of the deadliest wildfires in California history into a visceral, cinematic character. The film dramatizes the true story of bus driver Kevin McKay and schoolteacher Mary Ludwig. The two heroically navigated 22 schoolchildren to safety during the devastating 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California.

The partnership between Pål and Greengrass began on another harrowing true-life drama, 22 July, about a deadly terror attack on a summer camp in Norway. Greengrass asked Pål if he’d be interested in working in the United States on The Lost Bus. Just a few weeks later, Pål was prepping in New Mexico, eager to tackle the director’s signature action-packed, docu-style storytelling.

Pål’s vision was to give the fire a palpable presence. “Paul wanted this fire to be a character,” he explains. “It has its own cinematic tool as a character that evolves through the story and then gets closer to our characters.” The cinematographer expertly captured the increasingly darkening skies, the ominous amber light, and the raw terror as the fire’s destructive force grew. To achieve this visceral power, Pål worked closely with visual effects supervisor Charlie Noble, melding the practical and digital inferno into something that felt immediate and real.

When he first read the script, Pål was uncertain how they were going to shoot the story on a bus with 22 kids surrounded by fire. His solution was an artful manipulation of natural and artificial light. To depict the moment the smoke enveloped the town, the crew shot exterior scenes at dusk, cleverly capturing a darkness that felt both realistic and unsettling.

Real wildfires produce a distinct, saturated amber and reddish light. Pål reproduced this effect using 5k tungsten Skypans to illuminate the environment. The crew didn’t shy away from practical effects either, using piped-in propane gas and smoke machines to simulate the omnipresent threat of the blaze. They built controllable, flammable sections of buildings, like the school set, and even an on-set “forest” that could be intentionally lit to capture the immediate impact of the fire. The entire set—including the re-created hills and forest—was constructed on a backlot in New Mexico, with only a few exterior scenes shot near Santa Fe in Ruidoso, where the natural mountains and trees provided authentic backdrops for the bus’s journey. Adding to the realism, actor Matthew McConaughey often personally drove the bus when a stunt driver wasn’t required.

Pål’s preparation initially included plans to use a volume stage to generate realistic fire backgrounds, but Greengrass quickly decided he preferred the grounded look of shooting on the backlot. This forced a pivot. While they abandoned the volume stage, Pål did shoot certain sequences on a stage with the bus mounted on a gimbal against a bluescreen for fire visual effects.

Greengrass always prefers a realistic, documentary style, and most of the cinematography was handheld. Pål himself often operated one of the cameras, choosing the ARRI Alexa 35 paired with Canon Super 16 lenses. This combination was selected specifically for its ability to capture the complex depth and color palette of fire.

For Pål, shooting documentary style is both the biggest challenge and the best reward. He enjoys being able to pre-light and shotlist, but he had to embrace the non-precision of Greengrass’s style. “I tend to like to be on a dolly and frame up and light it, and it’s very comfortable,” he notes. “But with this way of doing it, you have to just follow the characters in their environment and then suddenly you find yourself being in this close-up, and it looks beautiful. I think it’s very liberating to tell the story with the camera dynamically.”

Find Pal Rokseth: https://www.xo.film/dop/pal_ulvik_rokseth_fnf
Instagram: @palulvikrokseth
See The Lost Bus on AppleTV.

Hear our previous interview with director Ron Howard and DP Lincoln Else. Their documentary, Rebuilding Paradise is about the town of Paradise rebuilding after the Camp Fire. https://www.camnoir.com/ep86/

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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October 17, 2025

Ula Pontikos, BSC captures unease in The Man in My Basement

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 329: Ula Pontikos, BSC

The psychological thriller The Man in My Basement is about Charles Blakey (Corey Hawkins), a Black man in Sag Harbor, New York, who is down on his luck, unemployed, and facing foreclosure on his ancestral family home. In a desperate financial situation, Charles accepts a bizarre and extremely lucrative offer from a mysterious, wealthy white businessman named Anniston Bennet (Willem Dafoe). Bennet proposes to rent Charles’s basement for a hefty sum—enough to clear his debts—for a few months.

To translate director Nadia Latif’s four-year vision from film to screen, cinematographer Ula Pontikos, BSC, chose to root the story firmly in Charles Blakey’s viewpoint. Ula and Latif meticulously planned the camera movement and character staging, choosing when characters would enter the frame together or remain distant to explore themes of togetherness and division. The Man in My Basement was shot in Wales, standing in for Sag Harbor, New York. Ula’s experience shooting in both the UK and the East Coast was a huge benefit. Though she had her doubts about filming in Wales for Sag Harbor, she found that the light in Wales was surprisingly similar to that of the eastern United States.

Ula used light and color to reflect Charles’s state of mind, trapped in a house he can’t afford, with a man literally caged in his basement. A feeling of oppression was created both inside and outside the house with yellow-orange sodium vapor lights enhancing the film’s claustrophobic and uneasy atmosphere. The house was a set with a greenscreen in the windows to show the outdoor scenery from inside. Charles’s nightmare sequences and scenes in outdoor locations were lit with cyan and greens. The film ultimately builds to a climax steeped in red.

The most intimate and thematically crucial scenes took place in the basement. Ula chose to shoot these sequences in order, allowing the light story to progress. The lighting shifts from somewhat dim and shadowy with shafts of daylight to completely dark once Charles covers the windows to prevent people from seeing a man caged in his basement. The basement’s color palette was created with yellowy, tungsten lights mixed with LED lights. Ula also acted as camera operator, with a single camera for the basement sequences. To maintain tension for the camera, actors Corey Hawkins and Willem Dafoe rehearsed the basement scenes separately.

For Ula, the most challenging aspect of the movie was the technical difficulties of shooting through the bars of the cell in the basement. The camera’s field of view and depth of focus constantly shifted. Ula had to change lenses frequently, adjusting between showing more of the actors’ faces and showing more of the bars. “Shooting characters and the bars is very hard,” Ula explains. “Inevitably, somebody is going to lose an eyeline and somebody is going to go strange-eyed. It’s super restrictive. It’s very technical and at some point all of us were swearing about the bars.” Her solution required meticulous technical work: careful blocking and making sure both the camera and the actors hit their marks precisely. She was greatly impressed by the results: “It’s a testament to extremely technical, professional actors like Willem and Corey.”

See The Man in My Basement on Hulu.
Find Ula Pontikos: www.ulapontikos.com
Instagram: @ulapontikos

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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October 10, 2025

Cinematographer Kira Kelly, ASC on the unique visuals of HIM

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 328: Kira Kelly, ASC

Cinematographer Kira Kelly, ASC, had a rare opportunity in the movie HIM: exploring the genres of horror and sports, which are not usually combined. She and director Justin Tipping focused their discussions on Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), specifically how football-related brain injuries often cause hallucinations. This condition was central to building the feeling of surrealism for the main character, Cam.

Before beginning the 8 weeks of prep on HIM, director Justin Tipping created an extensive lookbook with ideas for the atmosphere, lighting and costumes. To establish the film’s unique, suspenseful, and surrealistic look, he suggested Kira watch The Holy Mountain and Black Swan. “Justin was open to lots of collaboration,” says Kira. “I feel like this film does have such a strong visual look because we were all working together to make the movie.”

Camera movement, color, and lighting are all integral to the movie’s storytelling. As Cam descends deeper into the underground compound, Kira used specific colors and lighting. She created a document to track the emotional influence of color for each scene, integrating the lighting into the set and programming the colors to change per sequence. Red with orange highlights was used for the Saviors party, reflecting the oxblood red of the team colors. Fuchsia and magenta were used to show rage. For the scenes on the training field, Kira used top lighting, so that the skin tones of the players would have some reflectivity.

Kira’s camera work parallels Cam’s psychological journey. “At the beginning, it should be fun,” Kira explains. “He’s playing football. It’s much more loose.” The crew used handheld and body cameras, plus a boomerang rig that sent the camera flying down the field. Once Cam feels trapped in the compound, Kira shifted the style dramatically. “That’s where we get into more of these center- punched static frames. He’s trapped figuratively, and all the ways.”

One of HIM’s most unique visual elements was the use of a Flir thermal imaging camera. Kelly and Tipping wanted to use the thermal camera to visually represent the internal trauma of what was happening inside the players’ bodies and brains during tackles. Kira and her crew created a rig to mount the Flir camera right above the ALEXA 35 and found that the images could converge and focus enough to allow the two images to overlay. The shots could flick back and forth between the regular camera and the thermal camera. In post, VFX added the brains and accentuated the muscles. The thermal camera effectively showed blood flow and hot and cold areas, adding a chilling layer to the physical impact of the sport.

Kira feels gratified that her vision for the visual style of HIM tells an effective story. “As a DP, every challenge I have is if an audience is able to understand the story,” she says. “If they don’t have the wonderful dialogue, if they don’t have the music, if they don’t have all of those other things helping the story along, could they tell what’s happening just with the imagery? And I feel like with HIM, I say, yeah, I think so. You can see it happening. And that’s what’s super exciting to me.”

See HIM in theaters and on VOD.
Find Kira Kelly: Instagram @kirakellydp
Hear our previous interviews with Kira Kelly: https://www.camnoir.com/ep67/
https://www.camnoir.com/ep273/

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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April 2, 2025

Daredevil: Born Again DPs Hillary Spera and Pedro Millán

Daredevil: Born Again cinematographers Hillary Fyfe Spera and Pedro Gómez Millán were both admirers of the original Daredevil on Netflix. As the lead cinematographer on the new series, Hillary wanted to bring something new to the look of the story. “The goal was to evolve it, to bring it to a more cinematic realm,” she says. This vision was achieved through the use of anamorphic lenses, lending a more elevated and cinematic feel. Influenced by 1970s cinema, particularly The French Connection, they established a strong visual reference point.

Production, initially launched in 2022, was interrupted by the writers’ strike. This hiatus allowed the showrunners to reassess the existing footage. Upon resumption, the production underwent rewrites and the addition of new material. Hillary was the DP for episodes 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, and 9, while Pedro shot episodes 4 and 5 and additional photography. Their collaborative approach was essential to maintaining a cohesive visual style. “We didn’t want every episode to look the same,” says Pedro, “so what can we do to make it better? It’s about being a team player and executing that one single vision that everybody’s on board for.”

A key challenge was visually representing Daredevil’s heightened senses due to his blindness. Hillary explains, “One of our challenges that we collaborated on was the sensory stuff. We’re trying to represent a visual thing that’s not visual, so it was fun to put our heads together and see what worked and what didn’t work.” Consistent communication was facilitated by a shared camera crew, ensuring a unified visual approach across episodes. The process kept the production dynamic and engaging.

To define the visual world of Daredevil: Born Again, both DPs employed a range of cinematic techniques. Color transitioned from a desaturated palette to increased saturation as the narrative progressed, with a heightened use of red to signify Matt Murdock’s return to his Daredevil persona. These choices were meticulously planned in collaboration with the production designer.

Hard lighting was strategically used to emphasize that there was nowhere to hide in the courtroom settings. Pedro enjoyed using hard light on Fisk/Kingpin, noting, “Let’s take the hard light and make it interesting, especially because these two actors can take it. It goes with the character and the story. He’s in the spotlight as the New York City mayor.”

Camera movement in the show was also carefully considered. Matt Murdock’s world is depicted with handheld shots, conveying a sense of immediacy, while Fisk’s world is characterized by locked-down shots, dollies, and wide-angle close-ups, reflecting his power and control. Hillary chose to use many long zooms throughout the show. “We called them ‘doom zooms,’” she explains. “This impending doom that’s happening in the first season, it’s all relentlessly crushing down. And so the zooms are doing the same thing- they’re pushing in and targeting one thing.”

You can see Daredevil: Born Again on Disney+
Find Hillary Fyfe Spera: Instagram @hillaryspera
Find Pedro Gomez Millan: Instagram @pedrogmillan

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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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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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By Illya Friedman

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