March 6, 2026

James Whitaker: Good Luck Have Fun Don’t Die’s visual chaos

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 349: James Whitaker, ASC

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die DP James Whitaker, ASC played with different genres, with over 70 setups a day in the Norm’s diner set. He used LED walls and projectors to cast real, interactive light on the characters in the film’s climax, and swapped to a different camera system for certain scenes to play up the glow of cell phones.

Key Podcast Highlights:
-Shooting the opening sequence of the film in a set replica of Norm’s Diner
-How director Gore Verbinski’s complex, hand-drawn storyboards allowed the crew to maintain a “ballet-like” precision during Rockwell’s complex physical performances.
-Using LED walls and projectors to cast real, interactive light on the characters in the film’s climax
-Swapping to a Sony Venice 2 when the cell phone light source wasn’t strong enough in some scenes

Find James Whitaker: Instagram @jameswhitaker_dop
See Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die in theaters
See James’ most recent series, DTF St. Louis, on HBO Max
See Patriot on Amazon Prime
Hear our recent interview with Nicole Whitaker: https://www.camnoir.com/ep338/

SHOW RUNDOWN:
02:05 Close Focus
12:14-01:00:49 James Whitaker Interview
01:01:30 Short ends
01:06:46 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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In Cinematography Podcast, Latest Posts, Podcast Episodes

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February 20, 2026

Into the Dark Ages: the gothic vision of The Dreadful

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 347: director Natasha Kermani and DP Julia Swain

In the medieval horror film The Dreadful, director Natasha Kermani and cinematographer Julia Swain transport audiences to the brutal landscapes of the Dark Ages. The independent film shot in Cornwall, England over 17 winter days.

Key Podcast Highlights:
-Development: Kermani spent years crafting the folkloric tale, prioritizing a “gothic storybook” aesthetic that blends historical iconography with psychological dread.
-The Power of Partnership: Kermani and Swain have collaborated on several projects. Early on, they worked together to map out the film’s framing, lens choices and color story.
-Practical Immersion: The crew built a practical cottage set on location, allowing for seamless camera movement between the interior hearth and dark forest.
-Embracing the Elements: Filmed in the dead of winter, the production utilized the low December sun and natural ambiance to create an authentic, oppressive atmosphere without the use of hard, artificial lighting.

Find Natasha Kermani: Instagram @natakerm

Find Julia Swain: Instagram @juliaswain

See The Dreadful in theaters and on VOD now.

SHOW RUNDOWN:
01:59 Close Focus
14:23-01:03:57 Natasha Kermani and Julia Swain Interview
01:04:43 Short ends
01:09:24 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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February 6, 2026

Sean Bobbitt on 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’s madness

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 345: Sean Bobbitt

In the landscape of post-apocalyptic cinema, few franchises carry as much visual baggage as the 28 Days Later franchise. Known for pioneering the “fast zombie” and the gritty, digital lo-fi aesthetic of the early 2000s, the series has always found a novel visual approach for every entry. For the latest installment, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, cinematographer Sean Bobbitt, BSC, faced a unique challenge: honoring the jagged zombie movement of the franchise while carving out a look that feels entirely new.

While 28 Years Later was shot on iPhones and set its own tone, Bobbitt was determined to make The Bone Temple stand apart. The goal was to capture a duality within the setting. Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) has created a special space within The Bone Temple, where the chaos parts around him. Bobbitt explains, “We just wanted to highlight the fact that this was a place of peace and tranquility, and acceptance, but also bonkers madness by using much more traditional cinematic techniques and a much slower camera.”

However, the film doesn’t sacrifice the kinetic energy the series is known for. To capture the fights between the infected and a group known as the “Jimmies,” Bobbitt used the ARRI Trinity camera system. By using a gyro-stabilized remote head mounted on a Steadicam rig, they created a fluid, immersive way for the camera to navigate the chaos with 360-degree movement.

The trademark jagged movement and speed of the infected is created by using a narrower shutter angle. A typical shutter angle is 180 degrees for natural motion blur, while the 28 franchise uses a narrower 90-degree, or even 45-degree shutter angle. Bobbitt expanded the signature shutter settings to apply to the Jimmies, a visual way to represent the thin, blurring line between the humans and the zombies. “There are all sorts of statements being made about humankind,” in The Bone Temple, says Bobbitt. “There’s a lot of humanity and humor in the script which drew me to it.”

Director Nia DaCosta and Bobbitt have a history that dates back several years. They first met on a Steve McQueen film set where DaCosta was a production assistant whose job was driving Bobbitt to and from work. Bobbitt enjoyed her first feature, Little Woods, and went on to DP both The Marvels and Hedda with her. “She’s a great writer, a great director and the epitome of collaboration,” he says.

Their process involves a meticulous long prep, with extensive shot-listing and storyboarding. Bobbitt prefers the intimacy of a single-camera setup, which he usually operates himself, even on large films. On the Yorkshire set, he pre-lit the entire space, enabling the actors to have the freedom to move without being tethered to specific marks. “The lighting informs actors,” Bobbitt explains. “I try to light it as it should be, based upon my understanding of the emotion of the scene and discussions with the director.” Rehearsals are key for Bobbitt to make lighting adjustments for close-ups, while the actors feel comfortable and immersed in the world of the story.

Interestingly, The Bone Temple is Bobbitt’s first foray into the horror genre. As a former documentary and news cameraman, he says, “Horror to me is a real thing. It is actual dead bodies, and the horror of what humanity can do to each other. That is embedded in my soul forever, what I’ve witnessed.”

Bobbitt found a deep connection to the script’s humanity and humor. The appeal of the 28 franchise for him is that it isn’t just about monsters; it’s a human story about the horrors people inflict on one another. By bringing a documentary-trained eye to a fictional apocalypse, Bobbitt has crafted a film that respects the technical demands of the genre while never losing sight of the human pulse at its center.

See 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple streaming on digital soon.

Hear our previous interview with Sean Bobbitt:
https://www.camnoir.com/ep114/

Support Ben’s short film, The Ultimate Breakup! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theultimatebreakup/the-ultimate-breakup-short-film?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=the%20ultimate%20breakup&total_hits=2

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 10, 2026

Caleb Heymann: the cinematic playground of Stranger Things

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 341: Caleb Heymann

Cinematographer Caleb Heymann has been a key architect of the Stranger Things aesthetic since the tail end of Season 3. After starting as a second unit DP, Heymann was promoted to lead cinematographer for the blockbuster Season 4, and now its fifth and final season. The crew dedicated a full year to filming Season 5, spanning from January through December 2024. While the desert dreamscape was captured on location in New Mexico, the bulk of production remained in Atlanta.

Seasons 4 and 5 traverse a variety of locations, each requiring vastly different palettes. Heymann views each environment within the Stranger Things universe as a “cinematic playground.” To ground the show’s supernatural elements, the production leans heavily on location shooting and in-camera effects. “There are definitely certain anachronistic visual elements that we wanted to pay homage to,” says Heymann. “The lightning can be a little over the top. It intentionally rides that line between expressive and theatrical. But I think we try to not overdo it, because everything in front of the camera is already taking you there.”

The production constantly balanced both digital and physical effects. “We always try to push it and see what we can get in camera. The art department does an incredible job and builds us huge sets,” says Heymann. Creating the Upside Down was a monumental task for the art department, who must redress nearly every location for night shoots. The iconic vines, for instance, are physically constructed by “nether technicians.” To make the dimension’s signature hellish glow, the crew often used practical red lighting on set rather than relying solely on post-production color grading.

Heymann and the Duffer brothers selected a different camera system for each season, choosing cameras that best fit the story’s needs. For Season 5, Heymann needed a distinct visual motif to represent Will’s “trance state” and the POV of the demogorgons and demo dogs. He stacked two center-spot diopters, which blended the image while losing focus at the edges. To heighten the disorientation, the team shook the camera manually and with a camera shaker on a Technocrane.

“It was absolutely a dream experience already being a fan of the show to be able to come in and join this group of awesome people who work on it and to ultimately get to work with the Duffers,” says Heymann. “I learned a lot from them, just in their attention to detail and sensitivity to camera movement. And they’re always about pushing everybody to do their best work.”

See Stranger Things Season 5 streaming on Netflix.

Find Caleb Heymann: https://www.calebheymann.com/
Instagram @calebheymann

SHOW RUNDOWN:

01:53 Close Focus
06:45-01:00:06 Caleb Heymann interview
01:01:10 Short ends
01:08:39 Wrap up/Credits

Support Ben’s short film, The Ultimate Breakup! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theultimatebreakup/the-ultimate-breakup-short-film?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=the%20ultimate%20breakup&total_hits=2

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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In Cinematography Podcast, Latest Posts, Podcast Episodes

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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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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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September 11, 2025

Alien: Earth director/DP Dana Gonzales reimagines a classic

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 324: Producer, Director, DP Dana Gonzales, ASC

Dana Gonzales, ASC is a producer, director, and cinematographer known for his collaborations with visionary showrunner Noah Hawley on projects like Fargo and Legion. Dana has once again partnered with Hawley to bring the iconic sci-fi horror franchise to television with FX’s Alien: Earth. Dana shares insights on his creative process, the challenges of honoring a cinematic legacy, his career path and the future of the industry.

For Dana and Hawley, tackling the Alien universe was a formidable task. “You’re taking on some strong material,” Dana explains. “The reason we’re reimagining it is because it is so popular and loved and people want to see more.” The goal wasn’t just to produce a new chapter, but to recreate the visceral feeling of the original. The team deliberately leaned into the aesthetic of the first two films, going so far as to create near-exact replicas of the original Alien spaceship Nostromo’s sets for the new Maginot spacecraft.

While the Xenomorph has become a familiar alien over nine films, Alien: Earth adds five new and dangerous creatures. The Xenomorph has its own story arc and development throughout the show. The new, eight-hour narrative format allows for a deeper exploration of the story and characters. “Not everyone has seen Alien that’s seeing Alien: Earth,” Dana notes. The goal is to to tell a story that works for both new and existing fans. “As we go down the road, things will be different, we’ll make different choices,” he adds. “But the key is to try to honor the original work. I feel like the audience depends on it. Episode 1 should feel like episode 8.”

Dana and Hawley’s deep respect for the source material extends to their technical approach. They wanted to capture the original film’s sense of existential dread, a feeling heightened by the decision to have the ship crash on Earth. This plot point dictated Dana’s plan for the camera work, with little coverage and long takes. They frequently stayed in a two-shot to maintain intimacy and tension. To further evoke the feel of the original, Alien: Earth was shot in 2.3:5 anamorphic, a first for the FX network.

Hawley directed episodes one and five, with Dana serving as cinematographer to establish the look of the show. Dana stepped into the director’s chair for episodes two, three, seven, and eight. “We can have honest conversations about what we want to do with these episodes,” Dana says. “We have a similar aesthetic.” Dana is also an executive producer on their joint projects, acting as a “creative executive producer” on set. In this role, he preps each episode, serves as the on-set decision-maker and manages second unit photography, ensuring the overall creative vision is maintained.

The trust between Dana and Hawley is a fundamental part of their collaboration. They begin by building the world, finding images and discussing the story arc. This partnership, which began on Fargo, has evolved into a creative shorthand. “Noah is the creator, he knows what he wants to do,” Dana shares. “Our shorthand, we get to what the shows will look like and feel like in a very organic way in a few conversations.” Hawley’s support allows Dana to push creative boundaries. “One of the most attractive things about this collaboration is that he’s got my back and I could push things creatively,” he says. “I try things, I throw it out there, I do whatever. And I think he comes to expect that and likes that.”

Dana first moved from cinematographer to director on the show Pretty Little Liars. As a cinematographer, he had strong ideas about camera placement and perspective, which he felt were central to storytelling. On directing, he advises, “You have to do the first one and you have to make mistakes.” Dana believes that a background as an episodic DP provides a unique advantage for directing. “As an episodic DP, you already understand working with different people, understanding time and streamlining the process. When you’re interested, and you’re in the room earlier, you can do a lot more for the show, fight for what needs to be in the show and take a position on the places where money is better spent.”

Find Dana Gonzales: https://www.danagonzales.com/
Instagram: @dana_gonzales_asc
See Alien: Earth on FX on Hulu

Hear our previous interview with Dana Gonzales: https://www.camnoir.com/ep122/

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: https://hotrodcameras.com/
Sponsored by Laowa by Venus Optics: https://www.venuslens.net/

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
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By Illya Friedman

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In Cinematography Podcast, Latest Posts, Podcast Episodes

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