December 19, 2025

Bryan Fuller and Nicole Whitaker: Dust Bunny’s nightmare whimsy

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 338: Bryan Fuller and Nicole Hirsch Whitaker

Bryan Fuller has one of the most recognizable visual signatures in modern television. Whether he’s dealing with a forensic pathologist who bakes pies (Pushing Daisies) or a sophisticated cannibal (Hannibal), his work consistently balances the grotesque with the gorgeous. His style of hyper-stylized morbid surrealism was influenced by French maximalism in the 90’s, such as Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen, Amelie). “Between Delicatessen, City of Lost Children, and Amelie, there was this experience I had in the 90’s and early aughts watching those films that gave me permission to push harder and go further in aesthetics that were on television,” Bryan explains.

With his latest project, Dust Bunny, Bryan makes the leap from showrunning to feature directing, bringing his unique aesthetic to a dark fantasy-thriller. His decades of experience absorbing highly visual cinema have all led to this moment. “When I look at Dust Bunny, I’m like, that’s a Barry Sonnenfeld shot. That’s a John Carpenter shot. That’s a Spielberg, because I’ve consumed all of these things and digested them and pooped out Dust Bunny.”

Despite Bryan’s self-deprecating description of the creative process, he was extremely meticulous about the filmmaking process. Cinematographer Nicole Hirsch Whitaker, ASC presented a comprehensive pitch deck that became the roadmap for the film’s visual identity. “After the meeting, presenting her whole board with all of these images… she wanted the job and did a lot of work to show how she wanted the job,” says Bryan.

Nicole, who shares Bryan’s reverence for the same films, dove deep into the script to pull references ranging from The Professional and The Haunting (1963) to the raw, intimate photography of Nan Goldin. “I do think that it’s important to make a good impression,” she says. “The deck is an impression of yourself as an artist that you leave behind.”

During the interview, Nicole shares the pitch deck she made for Dust Bunny and discusses it in detail. Watch on YouTube or link to it here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m0i5QVEarDFL248Vqvm3T-8a0watskba/view?usp=sharing

The most radical visual choice in Dust Bunny is its aspect ratio. It’s shot in an extreme 3:1 format (three squares wide), which is almost unheard of in modern cinema. This creates a triptych feel, where the frame is so wide it feels like a mural. It forces a sense of vertical claustrophobia, crushing the top and bottom of the frame. The camera emphasizes the floorboards and the space under the bed—precisely where the monster hides.

This discovery occurred while Bryan and Nicole were testing lenses. Once the framing matte came off the lens, revealing the open gate width of the sensor, Bryan realized the wider view fundamentally changed the film’s psychology. A subject centered in a 3:1 frame felt isolated in a way they hadn’t before, sharpening the camera’s emotional point of view. To further isolate the characters, Nicole tuned the ARRI Alpha anamorphic lenses to fall off at the edges, ensuring the audience’s focus remains locked on the performance.

While Dust Bunny was shot over 44 days in Budapest, the film’s visual language was decades in the making. For Nicole, the challenge was translating a legendary showrunner’s mental gallery into a physical reality. For Bryan, it was a homecoming to the cinematic influences that first gave him permission to be “too much.”

See Dust Bunny in theaters.

Find Bryan Fuller: Instagram bryanfullergram
Find Nicole Hirsch Whitaker: Instagram: @nicolewhitaker.dp

SHOW RUNDOWN:

02:23 Close Focus
07:01 Bryan Fuller interview
24:46 Nicole Hirsch Whitaker interview
01:06:23 Short ends
01:13:16 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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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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In Cinematography Podcast, Latest Posts, Podcast Episodes

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May 28, 2025

The Last of Us Season 2 DPs Ksenia Sereda & Catherine Goldschmidt

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 312: Ksenia Sereda & Catherine Goldschmidt

Season 2 of HBO’s acclaimed series The Last of Us sees a shift not only in its narrative focus but also behind the camera, with cinematographers Ksenia Sereda and Catherine Goldschmidt, ASC, BSC, taking the visual reins. The season quickly evolves from Joel and Ellie’s shared journey into a harrowing exploration of Ellie’s relentless pursuit of revenge following Joel’s brutal death. This quest is deeply colored by her grief and rage, yet intricately woven with a burgeoning love story between her and Dina.

Ksenia, returning after her work on the celebrated first season, and Catherine, a new addition to the team, split cinematography duties. Ksenia helmed episodes 1, 3, 5, and 6, while Catherine was responsible for episodes 2, 4, and 7.

The opportunity to continue collaborating with showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann was a welcome one for Ksenia. “For season 2, we wanted to push the look forward with how the characters develop,” she explains. “Not to reinvent the visual language but to think, what can we do better to help the characters and to tell the story, because it’s such a character-centered show. The main focus of it is following the characters you love and joining them on this big adventure.”

Ksenia developed a lookbook to maintain a holistic visual language, ensuring consistency across multiple directors and the entire crew. The video game The Last of Us was the blueprint for a distinct visual identity. It was important to preserve all the iconic visuals from the game, but unlike the video game, the television adaptation allowed for more character development and connection, with longer shots.

Season 2 introduces a host of new characters, storylines, and diverse color environments. Ksenia consciously avoided overly cool tones, opting for warmer colors, particularly for Ellie and Dina, to help the audience fall in love with them as their relationship develops. This warmth is also seen in the homey settlement of Jackson, a sanctuary carved out to evoke a sense of normalcy. In contrast, when Dina and Ellie journey to Seattle, the environment becomes green and lush.

Catherine Goldschmidt, ASC, BSC, stepped into this established world for Season 2. Her inaugural week plunged her directly into shooting the pivotal and harrowing Episode 2, which features Joel’s death. Catherine reviewed the corresponding cutscene from the game, treating it as a form of previsualization or storyboard, and then determined how to adapt it for television. “The video game acts as a reference, and there are some scenes in the scripts that are taken from the games, and there are some scenes that don’t exist and are new,” she says. “It’s about serving the show first and foremost, and still paying homage to the game.” Catherine also focused on grounding the lighting in realism, finding real world motivation for light sources that would authentically be available to characters in a post-apocalyptic setting. At times, she notes, “the lighting cues were even written into the script.”

For Episode 2, with its intense violence, Catherine knew the crew had to prioritize the actors’ performances, and respect the scenes that the actors wanted to shoot first. But most violent, brutal, and scary scenes in The Last of Us are balanced by moments of profound humanity, requiring careful attention to the characters’ emotional journeys. “I remember asking Craig and Neil, how are you guys planning to tackle that extreme violence?” Catherine recalls. “Craig just said, ‘Well we’re always trying to counterbalance it, it should always be a light and shade scenario.’”

Find Ksinia Sereda: Instagram: @ksiniasereda

Find Catherine Goldschmidt: Instagram: @cgdop

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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