June 12, 2026

Smoke, spotlights, Silicon Valley secrets in The Audacity

The Audacity DP Richard Rutkowski, ASC made Vancouver look like Palo Alto, used lens filters instead of special effects to create wildfires, and dramatized the themes of the show with spotlights and framing.

Podcast highlights include:
-How Richard and his crew made Vancouver look convincingly like Silicon Valley and why establishing a sense of place was a creative priority from day one.
-Why glass filtration is still one of the most powerful tools in a DP’s kit.
-Richard breaks down exactly how he built the show’s haunting wildfire look using physical filters in camera, with minimal reliance on post.
-His philosophy of handheld as intimacy, choreographing the camera to follow the actor so that performance drives the frame.
-How visual motifs like frame-within-a-frame compositions and strategic spotlight placement were purposeful to the show’s themes, rather than being visually inventive for its own sake.

Find Richard Rutkowski: http://see-no-evil.net/
Instagram: @richardrutkowskidp
The Audacity is streaming now on AMC+
Hear our previous episode with Richard Rutkowski on Masters of the Air. https://www.camnoir.com/ep255/

SHOW RUNDOWN:
02:02 Close focus
22:27-01:11:32 Richard Rutkowski interview
01:11:45 Short ends
01:19:14 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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June 5, 2026

Bonus Episode: Peter Deming, ASC

Peter Deming, ASC on shooting Evil Dead 2 with director Sam Raimi and working with director David Lynch on Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, and Twin Peaks.

Find Peter Deming: Instagram @peter_deming

Spider Noir is now streaming on MGM Plus and Amazon Prime.

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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June 5, 2026

Shooting in the dark: the making of Spider Noir

Cinematographers Darren Tiernan, ISC and Peter Deming, ASC are the DPs of Spider Noir, the new MGM Plus and Amazon Prime series starring Nicolas Cage as the hard-boiled 1930s New York detective version of Spider-Man. The character is based on Marvel Comics featuring Spiderman Noir, and first introduced in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Tiernan and Deming created a series that looks like a classic film noir using vintage lights, custom LUTs and a “noir vocabulary.”

We dive into:
-How the production created a dual release simultaneously in both black and white and color.
-Lead DP Darran Tiernan worked for months on LUT development and a workflow that kept every department aligned on both versions from day one. Monitors on set showed what the scenes would look like in black and white.
-Why both Darren and Peter used old tungsten lights with Fresnel lenses instead of LEDs whenever possible. Not out of nostalgia, but out of necessity for getting the hard light that defines film noir.
-How rigorous preparation, from shot decks before the first meeting to photo boards and green screens on location, allowed creative freedom to take risks in the moment when the cameras were rolling.
-Why the goal was never to recreate classic noir but to absorb its philosophy of shadow, composition and expressionistic light and apply it to this specific story. That distinction is what makes Spider Noir feel fresh rather than like a period piece.

Find Darran Tiernan: https://darrantiernan.net/
Instagram: @dazt

Find Peter Deming: Instagram @peter_deming

Spider Noir is now streaming on MGM Plus and Amazon Prime.

SHOW RUNDOWN:

03:10 Close Focus
14:42-01:06:55 Darran Tiernan interview
01:06:58-01:39:36 Peter Deming interview
01:40:40 Short ends
01:53:43 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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May 29, 2026

James Laxton, ASC Frames Class and Generation Gaps in Beef 2

James Laxton, ASC is the Academy Award nominated cinematographer of Moonlight. His latest project is Season 2 of Beef, the acclaimed Netflix series created by Lee Sung Jin. This season explores themes of love, class, and generational cycles.

Key Podcast Highlights:
-How James and Lee built a color palette of spring, summer, autumn, and winter that stays continuous through lighting, costume, and production design to give each couple their own visual world.
-Why shooting on the large-format ARRI 265 was a thematic decision, presenting characters as larger than life symbols of forces far bigger than themselves.
-How light and framing portray the power dynamics, from a harsh, undiffused backlit golf course confrontation to wide symmetrical frames of opulence that trap characters inside the class structures surrounding them.
-How James and Lee established a shared visual language, honoring the DNA of Season 1 while pushing the show somewhere entirely new.

Find James Laxton: http://jameslaxton.com/
Instagram: @mrjameslaxton
See Beef s. 2 on Netflix
Hear our previous episode with James Laxton on Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk: https://www.camnoir.com/ep63/

SHOW RUNDOWN:

02:09 Close Focus
14:17-55:08 James Laxton interview
55:54 Short ends
01:07:09 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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In Cinematography Podcast, Latest Posts, Podcast Episodes

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May 22, 2026

Evoking dread in Something Very Bad is Going to Happen

Krzysztof Trojnar is the cinematographer of the Netflix series, Something Very Bad is Going to Happen. It’s a genuinely unsettling horror show about a woman whose anxiety about an upcoming family wedding spirals into something far darker, with Krzysztof’s camera work enhancing the feeling of dread.

Key Podcast Highlights:
-How the visual language of the show deliberately evolves across episodes, moving from Steadicam to gimbal to handheld to body rig, mirroring the protagonist’s psychological deterioration in real time.
-Committing to a single lens for nearly the entire show. Krzysztof shot roughly 90% of the series on a 25mm, and he explains exactly why that choice creates presence without distortion.
-Fabricating a custom 360° body camera rig from scratch, because nothing like it existed as a rental. The rig used a Steadicam vest fitted with an industrial bearing to orbit the camera around the actress in the show’s harrowing final episode.

Find Krzysztof Trojnar: https://krzysztoftrojnar.com/
Instagram @krzysztof_trojnar
See Something Very Bad is Going to Happen on Netflix
Hear our previous episode with Krzysztof Trojnar on the series Baby Reindeer: https://www.camnoir.com/ep269/

SHOW RUNDOWN:

02:17 Close Focus
13:35-58:31 Krzysztof Trojnar interview
59:14 Short ends
01:07:08 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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May 15, 2026

Lawrence Sher ASC: filming Apex in the Australian wilderness

Lawrence Sher, ASC, is the cinematographer of Apex, the action thriller currently sitting at number one on Netflix. Apex stars Charlize Theron as a woman hunted through the Australian wilderness by a relentless pursuer, and it’s one of the most visceral and visually grounded survival thrillers in recent memory. The entire film was shot on location in the Blue Mountains of Australia.

Key Podcast Highlights:

-How the extreme remoteness of the locations forced a documentary-inspired toolkit, including the Sony Venice bodies packed into backpacks, lightweight lenses, very few lights and a skilled drone pilot.
-Building a visual philosophy around what you can’t control. Lawrence embraced shifting sunlight, unpredictable weather, and inaccessible terrain as creative assets rather than obstacles.
-Using a “documentary grammar” framework to justify camera angles and movement, drawing on the visual language of climbing films like Free Solo and The Alpinist.
-How streaming has changed a cinematographer’s relationship to their work. Lawrence sees Netflix’s democratizing reach as a genuine second chance for films that deserve a wider audience.

Find Lawrence Sher: Instagram @lawrencesherdp
See APEX on Netflix
Check out Shotdeck: https://shotdeck.com/
Hear our previous episodes with Lawrence Sher:
https://www.camnoir.com/ep350/
https://www.camnoir.com/ep293/
https://www.camnoir.com/ep56/

SHOW RUNDOWN:

02:32 Close Focus
13:01-56:48 Lawrence Sher interview
57:13 Short ends
01:07:44 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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April 10, 2026

Ted Hope, Hope For Film: the rebirth of independent cinema

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 352: Ted Hope

Producer Ted Hope has worked in the film business for over 40 years, producing dozens of features with several Academy Awards nominations and wins. After leaving Amazon Studios in 2020, Hope went back to his roots as an independent producer and began writing his Substack blog, Hope For Film. He argues that the independent film ecosystem as we know it has reached its final days. However, far from being a tragedy, Ted definitely has hope for film. He sees what’s happening in the industry today as a necessary seismic shift. Hope has a vision for a more “punk rock” future of cinema, with a decentralized, artist-owned future that prioritizes “freak flags” and human empathy over corporate consolidation.

Key Podcast Highlights:

-How filmmakers should stop trying to emulate “mini-Hollywood” productions and embrace a DIY, experimental approach with room to fail.
-How the streaming era has killed the anticipatory joy of seeing a film when it’s simply dropped on a homepage, making it harder for the longer-term cultural engagement that helped independent films thrive.
-Why ownership is the new path forward, paired with self-financing and total IP control.
-Film’s best defense against AI is embracing cinema that mimics life and human complexity, with scripts that contain ambiguity rather than payoffs.
-Why filmmakers must understand and control the entire filmmaking process, from budget and shoot to distribution.

**A special note to our listeners: We have an exclusive discount link to subscribe to Ted Hope’s substack, Hope For Film! Get 50% a 1 year subscription at https://tedhope.substack.com/cinepod. This offer does expire on April 20 (4/20) at 4:20 PM PT. Yep, that’s on 4-20 at 4:20. Don’t miss out!**

You can also find the discount link in our shownotes for this episode at www.camnoir.com

Show Rundown:
03:07 Close Focus
06:44-01:13:14 Ted Hope interview
01:14:04 Short ends
01:25:42 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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September 27, 2023

River Wild director and writer Ben Ketai

Director and writer Ben Ketai’s latest movie, River Wild, is a thriller inspired by the original 90’s movie The River Wild, but with a reimagined plot. In River Wild, a group of friends take a white water rafting trip that becomes a desperate fight for survival as they get caught in serious rapids. Things only get worse once they realize that one of their friends has a dangerous and violent past.

River Wild was shot in Eastern Europe in just 25 days with the added burdens of water, kids, and animals thrown in. With such stunt-heavy scenes, Ben worked with stunt coordinators and experienced river rafting guides to carefully storyboard the white water rafting sequences. The rapids in the movie really exist, and professional rafters practiced for weeks to know exactly where and how to shoot the sequences on the river. Ben had to make sure that the water scenes looked amazing, and he wanted to capture the power of the water as a raft is sucked through it. Fortunately, he had a long prep period with the cast and came up with an efficient coverage strategy for each scene. For the closer scenes with actors on the rafts, the production was able to use a special Olympic kayak training facility, where the water was shallow and could be turned on and off.

As a Netflix movie, Ben knew River Wild was set to go straight to streaming on the platform. Though there was no big marketing push, it crept up to number three and stayed in the top 10 for over a month, and River Wild became the third most watched movie on Netflix in August. Ben says he doesn’t mind making movies that go straight to streaming- he likes the idea that more people can actually watch things there. His show, Startup, also spread and charted well on Netflix.

Ben and Ben Rock worked together on a series for Crackle called Chosen that was shot in 22 days for six 30-minute episodes. Both Bens fondly remember it as a lot of fun, and Ben Ketai thinks the challenge of a short time period and less money keeps you on your toes and forces you to be creative. On Chosen, he had the opportunity to make mistakes- with less money, there’s also not a lot of people standing in your way.

Growing up, Ben always wanted to make movies as a career and would use his dad’s video camera to make movies with his friends. As soon as he graduated from college, Ben moved to L.A. Luckily, his mom casually knew director Sam Raimi’s mother, and she was able to give him Raimi’s contact info. Raimi was just starting Spiderman 3, so Ben was able to get a job as an office PA for Ghost House Pictures. After working at the production company and scriptwriting for a few years, they asked him to direct his first movie, 30 Days of Night- Dark Days.

River Wild is available to stream on Netflix.

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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August 31, 2023

Director Alex Winter on his documentary, The YouTube Effect

It’s an “All Things YouTube and the Creator Economy” episode! We welcome returning guest, director Alex Winter whose latest documentary is The YouTube Effect. You may know Alex Winter for his role as Bill in the Bill & Ted movies, but these days he’s an accomplished documentary filmmaker. Many of Alex’s films explore the role of technology in our society, such as Downloaded, about the rise and fall of Napster, to Deep Web, about the online black market Silk Road.

The YouTube Effect explores the origins of the website, which began in 2005, and its rapid growth into one of the most powerful media platforms today. Interviews with early YouTube creators such as Anthony Padilla of the channel Smosh, YouTube co-founder Steve Chen, and former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki are featured in the movie. The documentary also dives into the many layers of controversy around YouTube, both good and evil. As a free, easy to use public platform with little to no regulation, YouTube is a forum open to all, inspiring the Arab Spring protests and Black Lives Matter movement. But as we’ve seen in recent years, YouTube also spreads propaganda and can radicalize vulnerable people to dangerous causes.

Coming from the world of film, director Alex Winter sees both similarities and differences between the creator economy of YouTube vs. the traditional media economy. He thinks that the entertainment industry has made a mistake in trying to monetize in similar ways to YouTube. The shift into streaming by media companies hasn’t monetized well for anyone, nor is it sustainable- hence the current WGA and SAG strike. Both industries currently find themselves at a crossroads: they need to balance valuing money over the well-being of the workers/creators, and for YouTube’s part, to allow regulation in order to stop actual harm to our society.

YouTube is a public forum owned and controlled by one of the biggest corporations in the world- Google- with 4.6 billion views a day. People can watch all of their news, all their entertainment, all their TV, even all of our recorded human history there. It’s both a search engine and the largest media conglomerate on earth. And the creator economy continues to thrive. As The YouTube Effect points out, by allowing people to simply add their own content, there’s no barrier to entry to get started on YouTube. Ad dollars are attached to how many views the content receives. The downside is that YouTube creators feel the grind to constantly make content, because they’ll get replaced instantly by someone else.

We’re in a new phase of YouTube’s power, Alex notes, which includes monetizing disinformation and propaganda. YouTube provides no guardrails and no standards and practices for what is posted on the site, and very little on the site is monitored or taken down. As a monopoly, the company has no competition and very little incentive to delete content. As he explores in The YouTube Effect, channels such as Prager University- a right-wing non-accredited online “school”- is heavily funded by dark money, promoting conservative agendas. This disinformation will spread quickly- the Florida Board of Education has just approved PragerU Kids videos to be shown in K-12 schools.

Alex believes that YouTube needs regulation to prevent the spread of dangerous propaganda that’s funded by ideological interests with deep pockets. Education in media literacy and lessons in how to recognize disinformation for both adults and kids will also be key to creating safer content on the platform. YouTube won’t go away and it will evolve- people have created robust communities on the platform, and it is part of our society.

You can watch The YouTube Effect streaming on Kanopy, and on VOD: iTunes, Prime Video, VUDU and other platforms.

Find Alex Winter: https://alexwinter.com/
Instagram: @alxwinter

Hear our previous interview with Alex, discussing his documentary Showbiz Kids. https://www.camnoir.com/ep84/

WATCH THIS INTERVIEW on our YouTube Channel! Ironically (or not) this is our first interview actually recorded on-camera for YouTube.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCinematographyPodcast

Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com
Sponsored by Aputure: https://www.aputure.com/

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

By Illya Friedman

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May 9, 2019

Ep 34 – Lije Sarki – The Writer, Director and Producer, discusses making the beautiful new movie, Concrete Kids

Writer, Director, Producer, Lije Sarki talks to Illya about his latest project, Concrete Kids. The movie follows two nine year old boys on one adventurous night in Los Angeles. Lije discusses wearing many hats as the writer, director, and producer of the project, willing a project like this into being and aesthetic choices that served the production .  Concrete Kids was shot in 17 nights with a budget of only $25K.  Lije talks about the challenge of the search for the two young leads, shooting with kids almost entirely at night, and then securing sales and distribution for feature film.

By Illya Friedman

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In Cinematography Podcast, Film Festivals, Latest Posts, Podcast Episodes

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