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
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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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October 3, 2025

Bryn Mooser and Paul Trillo of Asteria on AI in filmmaking

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 327: Bryn Mooser and Paul Trillo

Bryn Mooser and Paul Trillo of Asteria on AI in filmmaking

Asteria, an AI-driven film and animation studio, recently merged with Moonvalley, an AI research firm, to create generative video technology for filmmakers. Their AI model, Marey, is a visual intelligence model trained only on data that is fully licensed by the company. Unlike other AI companies that use large language models (LLMs) that process text, Marey is designed to understand and generate physical movement. Asteria hired a group of filmmakers who contributed to Marey’s research for six months, followed by a three-month alpha testing period with outside partners. Users can now access Marey online at Moonvalley with a subscription.

Co-founder Bryn Mooser and Paul Trillo, a director and partner at Asteria, saw a clear need to involve filmmakers and artists in the inevitable future of AI, which is already integral to the film and television process. As Paul puts it, “AI is a bunch of forking paths with different people approaching it in different ways.”

Asteria’s AI is just a tool for filmmakers to use. “We don’t need it to know how to make a movie,” Bryn says. “We make the movie, and we already know how to make the movie.” Both Paul and Bryn want to be thoughtful about how AI is used, and to constantly ask why they are using the tools, and if there’s a new way to use them. They don’t believe those in the film industry will be replaced or no longer have jobs.

“Right now, using AI is optional as a filmmaker,” says Bryn. “But learning about it is not optional right now. We have to learn about it. We know that this is an inevitability that a lot of it is gonna be in the way that we make stuff.”

Bryn sees it as another evolution and democratization of the filmmaking process. “My first documentary I was nominated for was shot on the Canon 5D with a GoPro,” he says. “That was a moment where the democratization of indie film and documentaries allowed me to be a filmmaker when I couldn’t have before. Now we sit at a time where the same opportunity for this democratization is happening, but it’s studio level films.”

Asteria will launch its first live-action feature with Natasha Lyonne’s film, Uncanny Valley, which will combine AI-generated footage with traditional filmmaking techniques.

Find Bryn Mooser: Instagram: @brynmooser @asteriafilm

Find Paul Trillo: Instagram: @paultrillo

Demo Marey online: https://www.moonvalley.com/marey

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YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast
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By Illya Friedman

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September 26, 2025

Matty Libatique: the NY of Highest 2 Lowest, Caught Stealing

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 326: Matthew Libatique, ASC

Cinematographer Matty Libatique, ASC, has had a productive year. Shortly after moving to New York, he began work on Spike Lee’s film, Highest 2 Lowest. Immediately after wrapping that project, Matty prepped for Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing, and then, following a short break, he collaborated with Bradley Cooper on Is This Thing On? (which releases in December.) He found it fascinating to explore New York City through the lenses of three distinct directors, feeling privileged to shoot three New York-centric movies back-to-back.

The New York depicted in Highest 2 Lowest and Caught Stealing are starkly different, depending on where people from different socioeconomic backgrounds live. Both films effectively convey the diverse realities of living there. “When you look at both films, separately, you have a feeling of New York, you feel like you’re living in New York inside of these films,” Matty explains. “And it’s because the directors live in New York and have grown up in New York.” During location scouting with both Lee and Aronofsky, Matty noted their deep familiarity and emotional attachment to where they chose to shoot. He feels that movies faking New York locations lack the inherent authenticity of shooting in the real city.

Highest 2 Lowest is a reinterpretation of the Akira Kurosawa classic, High and Low. Matty used High and Low as an influence, even though Lee was not making a direct adaptation. He found the Kurosawa film helped him see the hierarchy between the affluent and the poor, and the literal rise to the top of a hill by the wealthy industrialist from his humble origins. These themes became the seed of his visual inspiration.

In Highest 2 Lowest, Denzel Washington’s record executive David King inhabits a high-rise, literally looking down on the world from a high vantage point. The film is intensely character-driven, and with a large ensemble cast, Matty often shot with two to three cameras per scene. The film used an actual exterior of the Olympia building in Dumbo, Brooklyn while the crew shot on a volume stage set for the interiors. Matty found shooting on the volume stage and working with Unreal Engine to create the background images for the penthouse set to be the most challenging aspect of the shoot. It demanded far more advance planning and preparation to perfect the background images than the production schedule allowed. He had to make early, calculated decisions and plan far in advance for shooting the plates that would be used as the backgrounds.

Spike Lee frequently incorporates various film formats in his movies, and Matty saw an opportunity to use both a 16mm and a new KODAK Super 8 film camera once the action in Highest 2 Lowest shifted outside the controlled apartment environment. He use both the 16mm and the Super 8 on the subway and in scenes of the Puerto Rican Day parade, also combining them with different film stocks. Lee cut between these distinct formats, which made a sense of heightened chaos. Matty says, “It was just an effort to create chaos, you know, and having the unmatched visual images cut together to sort of just mimic a chaos around this character.”

Caught Stealing recreates the New York City of the 1990s, with Martin Scorsese’s After Hours serving as a major reference. Matty felt that the character Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) needed a distinct look to articulate the story. He thought about the rust-red tint of the Lee Marvin film, Point Blank, and used a Camtec Color-Con2 to deliberately bleed red color into a few key scenes.

Even though Caught Stealing is entertaining and full of action, it was important to Aronofsky to tell a strong, narratively-driven story, with performance and character making the sequences as exciting and brutal as possible. “Like all Darren movies, there’s a construct, there’s a box, he sets up the architecture of the film,” Matty says. “It’s always story driven and narratively driven. So you know you’re subjectively following a character or you’re adhering to a narrative precisely, because he’s very precise. And all his collaborators just sort of have the responsibility to bring their talents to the table.”

Matty enjoyed tackling a fun, popcorn genre film with Aronofsky, a cinematic space they hadn’t explored together before. “It was fun—it really was fun to work with somebody that I’ve worked with for years,” Matty concludes. “We’re much older than when we met. And we’ve made a lot of films together. And it was fun.”

Highest 2 Lowest is streaming on Apple TV+, Caught Stealing is in theaters, and Is This Thing On? will have its theatrical release December 19.

Find Matty Libatique: Instagram @libatique

Hear our previous interviews with Matty: 2019, 2021 pt. 1 and 2, 2022, 2024 

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By Illya Friedman

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September 19, 2025

John Conroy on grounding the political thriller Zero Day

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 325: John Conroy, ASC, ISC

For the Netflix six-part political thriller, Zero Day, cinematographer John Conroy, ASC, ISC worked with director Lesli Linka Glatter to create a visual style that felt grounded in reality. Their goal was to make the story, which follows a cyberterrorist attack, feel like it could happen tomorrow. This approach allowed them to focus on the human element and the psychological impact of the events rather than sensationalized drama or violence.

John shot all six episodes of the series, a creative choice he found deeply rewarding, although he doesn’t feel the need to always be the lead DP. “Ultimately, if you’re lucky enough to be shooting, you should feel lucky enough that you’re shooting,” he says. “Doing all six was really great because I felt that I could curate the whole look of the show by episode by episode. But if I was only going to do two episodes, I would have enjoyed it just as much.” The cohesive approach was important since they prepped the episodes over 10 weeks as three separate films. John and Glatter shotlisted scenes on weekends, deciding what images would create the most impact for beginnings, transitions and exits for each scene. He made notes in his script to track the desired look, light, and emotion for each scene.

John says working with Robert De Niro was a pleasure. “It was one of the privileges of my career to shoot him. And he was very gracious and took notes and was very helpful with the camera crew and overall it was just like a really really good experience.” John found a subtle way to enhance De Niro’s performance through lighting and camera tests. “People’s faces look different when you light them from one side or the other,” he notes. “I found with Bob that when he was lit from his right hand side, that he looked more severe than when he was lit from the left hand side.” John used this technique in interrogation scenes to emphasize the character’s increasing pressure and tension. For more emotional scenes, he lit De Niro from the left to convey a more nuanced and serious tone. Framing each shot was important to the story as well. John always shot De Niro’s character, George Mullen, around high doorways and down long hallways, making him seem trapped and under increasing pressure.

A key element of the show’s look is John’s use of single-source lighting, keeping things simple and uncomplicated as much as possible. But he encountered a challenge with the Zero Day Commission offices, whose walls consisted of several layers of glass. John collaborated closely with the set builders to plan his shots and manage the numerous reflections in the office sets. To prevent unwanted double reflections, they created custom black panels to black out panes of glass behind the camera. The lights were cued to dim as actors walked through a shot, controlling reflections.

John’s passion for cinematography began at an early age, inspired by his father, Jack Conroy, who was also a cinematographer. At just 12, John began loading 16mm film for his father on documentaries and commercials. He then worked as a focus puller until he decided to move into cinematography after working on The DaVinci Code. He and his father were able to work together on the TV series Broadchurch, with Jack shooting second unit.

John’s current work can be seen on Wednesday Season 2, the upcoming Dune: Prophecy Season 2, and the upcoming Fallout Season 2.

Find John Conroy: Instagram: @jccine
See Zero Day on Netflix.

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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/
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Facebook: @cinepod
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By Illya Friedman

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September 3, 2025

Larkin Seiple on shaping the horror of Weapons

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 323: Cinematographer Larkin Seiple

Cinematographer Larkin Seiple was ready to take a well-deserved break after wrapping the film Wolfs when director Zach Cregger sent him the script for Weapons. Larkin loved the horror mystery/thriller and that it follows the characters through the story from beginning to end. “It was the most fun I’d had reading a script for a really long time,” he says. Larkin, who is not a big horror fan, watched Cregger’s previous movie, Barbarian and enjoyed his approach to the genre. “In the first five minutes, I could instantly tell that Zach knew what he was doing. I was like, if this is what he’s doing with Barbarian, then I’m very curious to see what he wants to do with Weapons.”

Larkin and Cregger met, immediately connected, and began shotlisting and brainstorming for Weapons. Cregger was brutal about keeping coverage shots to a minimum, so the audience only sees enough to keep the story going. This meant few establishing shots or characters driving from one destination to another. But with a short shooting schedule and hundreds of scenes in the script, it was essential to have fewer shots when possible.

Crafting the look of Weapons proved challenging, due to the time of year they were shooting. Originally, the film was planned for winter, when the setting would be dreary and melancholy, but they ended up shooting during summertime in Georgia. “We ultimately wanted to find a look that kind of enhanced the scenery and the mood,” explains Larkin. “Something very melancholy, and this sense of something evil happening, and the sense of frustration.” Since the look was dark and moody, more windows were built into the sets so that diffused light could come in, which was shaped with negative fill. Night shots looked natural, with lights and a camera mounted on a condor crane in the neighborhood location.

With about 249 scenes to shoot, Larkin was very involved in scheduling and location scouting for Weapons. The crew had to move extremely quickly, averaging about 6-8 scenes per day. “You’re relighting and re-blocking six to eight times and trying to do it as quickly as possible,” Larkin says. “We found ways to do a lot of it in one shot or two, which affected the visual language of the movie. It was a very ambitious approach to the shoot. You’re working with child actors that turn into pumpkins after six hours.” The crew had two months of prep, which Larkin used to scout and create photoboards for each location. “It was a very laborious process, but there was no problem solving on the day. Photoboarding forces you to do all the problem solving because you’re there- unlike storyboarding, which is very cute,” he remarks. “Being on the ground and being on the location, you actually get to see what you’re up against.”

Weapons maintains constant camera movement throughout, speeding the story along and propelling each character’s point of view through their ordeals during the film. But the camera never reveals anything before the time is right. “There’s a maliciousness to the camera in that it does show you information but it’s not gonna help you,” laughs Larkin. “It’s very much trying to enhance what is going on, trying to put you in the shoes of the characters to be like, what was that? The camera ALSO wants to know what that was!”

Find Larkin Seiple: http://www.larkinseiple.com/
Instagram: @larksss

See Weapons currently in theaters.

Hear our previous interviews with Larkin Seiple. 
https://www.camnoir.com/ep178/
https://www.camnoir.com/ep220/

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

By Illya Friedman

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December 2, 2024

Special Episode: A tribute to Adam Somner, Assistant Director, Producer for Ridley Scott, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson, Alejandro González Iñárritu

We were incredibly saddened by the loss of 1st Assistant Director and producer, Adam Somner. You can hear his fantastic energy, enthusiasm and entertaining storytelling as a guest on The Cinematography Podcast. Here we have re-posted his 2021 episode in memorial and tribute to his blockbuster career. He will be greatly missed.

The job of the assistant director is to work in concert with the director and the DP to get everything done on a movie set. As a 1st AD, Adam Somner is trusted by the industry’s top directors to anticipate their needs, motivate the crew, figure out the schedule, and drive the entire production forward to finish each day on time. He finds the best way to keep everything moving smoothly on set is though humor, high energy and uniting everyone as a group, persuading people to do things on the schedule and timeline needed to complete the job.

Adam’s father, Basil Somner, worked for MGM Studios in England, and through him, Adam got a job as a runner/production assistant at age 17. He began working on movies in the late ’80’s, like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Superman IV, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? He worked under many assistant directors, observed how they took charge on set, and decided he was really interested in becoming an AD.

Adam has worked on eight Ridley Scott films to date, as well as several of the late Tony Scott’s films. He was first hired on a Ridley Scott film as a third assistant director on 1492: Conquest of Paradise and White Squall, then moved up to second assistant director on Gladiator, (with DP John Mathieson) where he learned how to manage a huge crew of extras and background action from the 1st AD, Terry Needham. On Black Hawk Down, Adam was promoted to first assistant director for the second unit. Black Hawk Down was shooting in Morocco, and the second unit was responsible for most of the helicopter sequences, with lots of moving parts and extras, involving real Black Hawk helicopters and real U.S. military soldiers. After Black Hawk Down, Adam got the call to begin working with Steven Spielberg on War of the Worlds, where he quickly learned to read Spielberg’s mind and keep an eye on the details. He’s worked with Spielberg on ten films now, including Munich, Lincoln, and Ready Player One.

A 1st AD is responsible for coordinating most of the background action. Adam’s ability to work on big sets with lots of action, extras and special effects led director Paul Thomas Anderson to hire him for There Will Be Blood, and Anderson has since become a personal friend. Adam finds Anderson’s on-set approach to be very thoughtful and measured. Unlike the action-heavy films Adam has worked on, he knew it was important to keep the crew and background actors quiet and subdued on Anderson’s films with heavy dialog, such as The Master and Phantom Thread.

For The Wolf of Wall Street, Adam was thrilled to work with director Martin Scorsese. Scorsese and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto had Adam sit in during their preproduction shotlisting process, so they were all thoroughly prepared. Scorsese loves shooting scenes with complex background action, and Adam delivered. He carefully rehearsed all the extras in different stages of panic as the brokers watched the stock market crash. For the famous in-flight orgy scene, Adam wasn’t totally sure how he wanted to deal with not just one sex scene, which is hard enough, but several at once. So he decided to hire a choreographer to help rehearse and plan all the action, making sure each background player knew exactly what they were doing and taking care that everyone was comfortable with their role in front of the camera.

Adam was excited to work with Alejandro González Iñárritu on some of Birdman, and as the 1st AD on one of the may units shooting The Revenant, where Iñárritu and the DP Emmanuel Lubezki “Chivo” wanted everything shot and rehearsed during magic hour. Rehearsals were incredibly important on both Birdman and The Revenant, since Iñárritu and Chivo shot many scenes in one single shot.

Adam’s most recent project was director Steve McQueen’s Blitz, and his last film with director Paul Thomas Anderson will be out in 2025.

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com

Website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Twitter: @ShortEndz

By Illya Friedman

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In Cinematography Podcast, Latest Posts, Podcast Episodes

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May 15, 2024

True Detective: Night Country cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister, BSC

HBO’s True Detective: Night Country has captivated audiences with its chilling atmosphere and compelling narrative. Cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister, BSC worked with director Issa López to craft the haunting visuals for the supernatural whodunit. “The detective procedural is part of the brand and it’s part of the show, but it should not affect the cinematography,” says Florian. “The cinematography is never motivated just in terms of solving the mystery. We must be sure to show every important fact or clue, to understand the mystery or to build up a bigger mystery. But it’s important to follow the characters and their internal struggles and secrets, the relationships, the darkness, the supernatural as the case unfolds.”

When he first met with Lopez to discuss shooting True Detective: Night Country, Florian liked the feeling of eerie isolation and darkness of the location. The influence of nature adds to the supernatural and to the characters’ fragmentation from each other. Florian found inspirational images by photographer Alexander Gronsky, who took photos of Russian workers in mines near the Arctic Circle. John Carpenter’s The Thing and the movie Sicario were also influences for the look of the series.

True Detective: Night Country takes place in Alaska near the Arctic Circle, with Iceland as the filming location. Most of the show was shot outside during the winter months, although it happened to be the coldest winter in Iceland in a hundred years. They used a soundstage only for the scenes where characters had to be outside in the snow naked or barefoot. Florian enjoys shooting in extreme climates, noting that proper clothing for the temperature is what matters the most. Even with the extreme cold, the ARRI Alexa 35 cameras all functioned just fine. The filming was over a period of 112 days, starting in October on the soundstage. Once winter really hit after Christmas, they began shooting in the snow and darkness. Each day provided about four hours of light, with just about five minutes of sunlight, then a few blue hours of sunrise and sunset.

True Detective: Night Country is available on Max.

Hear our previous interview with Florian Hoffmeister discussing his work on TÁR. https://www.camnoir.com/ep194/

Find Florian Hoffmeister: http://florianhoffmeister.de/
Instagram: @florian.hoffmeister

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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