Achieving diversity in cinematography requires constant
and continuous action
Erika Addis ACS, National President, Australian Cinematographers’ Society
THINKING OF YOU
Of course, at this time of year, we send our congratulations to all of those nominated for their cinematographic achievements in the forthcoming awards season. But whilst we’re thinking of them, our thoughts are also consumed by the devastation experienced by many others of late.
To reiterate the heartfelt sentiments written by Kirsty, our web editor, in our Weekly Dispatch of January 10th, 2025, “The Cinematography World team stands in solidarity with the communities affected by the devastating fires in Los Angeles.
“From across the Atlantic, our hearts go out to everyone impacted – to those who have lost homes, livelihoods and loved ones, as well as the firefighters and first responders working tirelessly to protect lives and property.
“Los Angeles holds a special place in the hearts of filmmakers and creatives worldwide as a cornerstone of the global entertainment community, and its strength and resilience will, I’m sure, continue to shine through during these difficult times.”
With respect, we dedicate this edition to them and our many friends caught in the chaos. Stay strong.
Ron Prince Editor in Chief
EDITORIAL TEAM
Ron Prince has over three decades of experience in the film, TV, CGI and VFX industries, and has written about cinematography for 20 years. In 2014, he won the ARRI John Alcott Award from the BSC. He also runs the international content marketing and PR communications company Prince PR.
“Count” Iain Blair – Our Man In LA, is a British writer/musician who lives in LA and writes extensively about film/entertainment for outlets including LA Times, Variety and Reuters. He interviews movie stars and Hollywood’s top filmmakers.
Darek Kuźma is a film and TV journalist, translator/interpreter, and a regular collaborator/programmer of the EnergaCamerimage Film Festival. He is an ardent cinephile who has a lifelong romance with the visual language of cinema.
David Wood is a freelance journalist covering film/TV technology and production. He was a former technology editor at Televisual, and is a regular contributor to Worldscreen, TVB Europe and Broadcast.
Kirsty Hazlewood has over two decades of editorial experience in print/online publications, including the IBC Daily, and is a regular contributor to the folk/roots music website Spiral Earth.
Natasha Block Hicks is an artist/designer/maker, who spent a decade as a freelance film and TV camera assistant, and indulges her love for cinema and cinematography through research and writing.
Cover Image: The Brutalist, shot by DP Lol Crawley BSC in VistaVision on KODAK 35mm film. Image courtesy of A24. All Rights Reserved.
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SHIFTING THE PERSPECTIVE
Many industry members became aware of the Women In Cinematography (WIC) collective due to the furore that swept through the global filmmaking community following the publication of the article, written by Camerimage’s festival director, Marek Żydowicz, in the November 2024 edition of Cinematography World (CW024).
Despite his purported ‘Call For Solidarity’, Mr Żydowicz’s remarks highlighted the unconscious sexism that still pervades the festival circuit and many areas of the industry. The resulting responses and eventual apology from the festival, as well as discussions from cinematography associations the world over, brought to the fore an acknowledgement of the systemic barriers facing women working in the field and, of course, this extends to all cinematographers from underrepresented backgrounds.
A truly equitable industry requires commitment from every stakeholder
It is not enough to claim that, as gender and ethnicity in filmmaking crews are not currently equally represented, festivals can do nothing about it. WIC recognises that camera and lighting crews at this time are not made up of a 50:50 gender split and in the global north tend to be made up of majority white crew members. However, to work towards a more inclusive industry that is truly based on merit, we all need to take action as well as consistently hold those in power to account in order to remove barriers that traditionally exclude minority groups.
Notwithstanding the rocky start, WIC were happy to be present at Camerimage Festival in November having organised a number of events, which proved extremely popular. WIC’s purpose is to highlight the work of female cinematographers and those from underrepresented groups by collaborating with organisations to ensure fairer representation during public events and festivals. We are looking forward to presenting panels at AFC Micro Salon, Euro Cine Expo, and the Manaki Brothers Festival later in the year.
Camerimage has a history of excluding women cinematographers, who have received only 3.2% of main competition nominations in 32 years; only 11 individual women, three of which shared a nomination with a male counterpart. Yet another exceptional moment happened at the most recent festival as a result of WIC’s efforts. WIC invited Marek Żydowicz and several cinematography associations, such as the BSC, AEC, ASC and FSF, for a meeting to discuss what actions could be taken to address the imbalance at the festival. As a result, the Polish Cinematography Society (PSC) and Camerimage organised a meeting that was attended by over 50 international representatives from cinematography associations and organisations for the first time ever to discuss these important topics.
Sadly, Mr Żydowicz did not attend, but the shared goals of those present created a strong sense of community and a unified purpose going forward and we believe WIC’s work will now extend beyond the confines of Camerimage and hope that each society will action new approaches that will help to eventually remove these systemic barriers.
The petition started by WIC to request more transparency and fairer representation at
Camerimage now has more than 4,000 signatures from people in over 85 countries, and has been officially endorsed by 55 societies and organisations. Camerimage is such an important and wonderful festival in the filmmaking calendar and has influence stretching beyond Poland into the international awards sphere. Publishing its diversity and inclusion policy, drafted by WIC, was an important first step and we hope that in the future it will embrace transparency around its selection committees, as demonstrated by festivals such as Cannes, Sundance and Venice.
It’s important that Camerimage keeps up-to-date
Transparency and diversity in selection committees are essential in demonstrating a true commitment to fair representation, as well as training those committees and subsequent jurors about unconscious bias. This would ensure that the people choosing the nominated films come from diverse points-of-view that are more representative of the international filmmaking community and are relevant to the category for which they are selecting. Festivals worldwide are embracing this approach and it’s important that Camerimage does so to ensure it keeps up to date.
WIC is not asking Camerimage or other festivals to enforce quotas or guarantee 50% of films from female cinematographers, but to ensure fair opportunities for under-recognised filmmakers. A 50:50 gender balance could become a reality much sooner if festivals take active steps to level the playing field.
For instance, adding a new competition for mid-budget films would open opportunities to many experienced filmmakers who are beyond their debut, but still excluded from the glass ceiling of big budget films that tend to be included in the main competition. This also extends to the TV competition, where having only the pilot as eligible for nomination excludes those cinematographers who find themselves already excluded from pilot opportunities. Let the festival not reinforce the barriers already facing underrepresented cinematographers in their working lives and instead celebrate the talent demonstrated in their work.
The power of WIC lies not only in its advocacy but also in the support and collective strength of its allies the world over. The support we felt on the ground at Camerimage – by the audiences attending our events, the cinematographers and societies who made their voices heard in the PSC meeting, and those who collaborated and sponsored our events – show that now, more than ever, filmmakers who have been traditionally marginalised can expect support and recognition from those who have the power to create a more inclusive environment. A truly equitable industry requires commitment from every stakeholder; festivals, studios, filmmakers and audiences alike.
WIC has over 50 active members from all over the world. We are available to collaborate, please get in touch! womenincinematography@gmail.com
NOMINATIONS
FOR OSCAR,
BAFTA, ASC & BSC BEST FEATURE
FILM
CINEMATOGRAPHY AWARDS NOW COMPLETE
Awards season is nigh, and the nominations for best cinematography in feature films, from the Academy, BAFTA, ASC and BSC, are now complete.
Academy members voted for the following five as their Oscar favourites: Lol Crawley BSC for The Brutalist (A24); Greig Fraser ASC ACS for Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros. Pictures); Paul Guilhaume AFC for Emilia Pérez (Netflix) and
Edward Lachman ASC for Maria (Netflix).
The ASC had seven nominees for best cinematography in a theatrical feature film (sponsored by Keslow Camera): Jarin Blaschke for Nosferatu ; Alice Brooks ASC for Wicked (Universal Pictures); Lol Crawley BSC for The Brutalist ; Stéphane Fontaine AFC for Conclave (Focus Features); Greig Fraser ASC ACS for Dune: Part Two ; Edward Lachman
ASC for Maria ; and Phedon Papamichael ASC GSC GCA for A Complete Unknown (Searchlight Pictures).
In the UK, BAFTA and the BSC had identical nominations in the category of best cinematography in a feature film for The Brutalist, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, Emilia Pérez and Nosferatu, with their respective DPs noted above.
DPs RECOGNISED WITH CAMERIMAGE, BIFA & EFA AWARDS
Polish-born cinematographer Michał Dymek PSC was awarded the Golden Frog, the top prize in the main competition at the 2024 Camerimage Film Festival, for The Girl With The Needle, directed by Magnus von Horn. Dymek received the honour during the festival’s closing ceremony, where the award was presented by the Camerimage competition jury, chaired by Cate Blanchett.
In the other main competition awards, Lol Crawley BSC won the Silver Frog for lensing The Brutalist, whilst Paul Guilhaume ASC was awarded the Bronze Frog for Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez
DP Ben Fordesman took home the Best
Cinematography Award at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) 2024. Fordesman was recognised for his stunning work on Love Lies Bleeding, Rose Glass’s noir thriller set in a dystopian near-future America. This marks Fordesman’s second BIFA win in the category, following his 2020 triumph for Glass’s debut feature, Saint Maud
Meanwhile, Benjamin Kračun BSC was honoured with a European Film Academy Award for Cinematography Excellence for the satirical bodyhorror, The Substance. The jury commented: “Just as Elisabeth Sparkle’s world in The Substance contracts, so the cinematography of Benjamin Kracún simultaneously excels.”
REMEMBERING ROGER PRATT BSC
Renowned British cinematographer, Roger Pratt BSC, passed away in December last year, aged 77, leaving behind an impactful legacy in the film industry. Born in 1947, his early fascination with film was sparked by his father, an Anglican vicar who showcased scientific Christian films in their church and, by age nine, Pratt became intrigued by the mechanics of filmmaking.
After enrolling at the London Film School in the late 1960s, he decided to focus on cinematography, and began as a camera assistant on Bleak Moments (1971, dir. Mike Leigh, DP Bahram Manocheri), and later worked as a clapper/loader on Monty Python And The Holy Grail (1975, DP Terry Bedford), forging a lasting bond with the movie’s director Terry Gilliam.
Pratt’s career progressed through traditional roles, culminating in his debut as director of photography on The Sender (1982, dir. Roger Christian). He collaborated with Gilliam on Brazil (1985), The Fisher King (1991) and 12
Monkeys (1995), and worked with Sir Richard Attenborough on four films, including Shadowlands (1993). Other notable credits include Batman (1989), two Harry Potter films, The End Of The Affair (1999), which earned him an Academy Award nomination, and Chocolat (2000, dir. Lasse Hallström).
A pragmatic technician, Pratt described cinematography as blending science with art. He joined the BSC in 1986 and retired after shooting Keeping Rosy (2014, dir. Steve Reeves).
ARRI introduces ALEXA 265, a new-generation 65 mm camera that responds to filmmaker needs.
Inside the small and lightweight body is a completely revised 65 mm sensor that delivers higher dynamic range and improved low-light performance. With its easy workflow, REVEAL Color Science, versatile accessories, and innovative filter system, ALEXA 265 sets the 65 mm format free.
WOMEN IN CINEMATOGRAPHY ANNOUNCES
KEY SESSIONS AT EURO CINE EXPO
Women in Cinematography (WIC), the global collective advocating for inclusion and equality in the film and TV industry, will participate in the Euro Cine Expo Symposium in Munich, June 2025.
WIC will present a series of dynamic sessions aimed at inspiring and empowering the cinematography community, whilst promoting diversity and collaboration within the field.
The sessions will offer practical tools, expert insights, and opportunities for meaningful dialogue.
Key topics will include: From Concept To Screen – Effective project preparation and execution; Health & Safety On-Set – creating a secure and supportive environment for all crew members; Self-Promotion –building your profile through festivals, PR, and industry collaborations; and It Takes A Village – the value of mentorship, collectives and the community in achieving a healthy work-life balance.
A full line-up of distinguished speakers will be announced soon. The Euro Cine Expo Symposium
provides a platform to engage with leading voices in cinematography and explore innovative solutions for advancing representation in the industry. For more information visit https://eurocineexpo.com
2024 IN REVIEW: SKILLS FUND HIGHLIGHTS
The Animation Skills Fund experienced significant growth in 2024, with contributions exceeding £200,000 and increased industry diversity. Initiatives included bespoke training, Trainee Finder, and Make A Move programmes. Key courses, such as Creative Animation, and an animation layout course led by Robin Shaw, addressed industry calls for more skilled layout artists.
The Children’s TV Skills Fund expanded its Make A Move program to 13 productions, the highest-ever, and grew its new entrant initiative, Dream Big! by 60%. This programme, offering 3-6 month paid placements, was opened to animation companies for the first time, with placements partly-funded by the Animation Skills Fund.
The Film Skills Fund saw a 37% increase in production contributions, doubling financial
contributions to £1.6 million. Training programmes, including BIFA Springboard, Producing Truth and First-time Feature Producers, supported producer development.
The High-end TV Skills Fund grew with contributions from 166 new productions, securing £2.5 million more than the prior year. Initiatives encompassed expanding Trainee Finder to film and TV, and promoting access through bursaries and social mobility discussions.
Over 400 professionals joined courses to support DDN crew inclusivity. The Unscripted TV Skills Fund provided tailored career support amid sector challenges,
offering coaching for 142 individuals and co-funding training with the High-end TV Skills Fund. It supported 125 part-funded placements, a substantial increase over previous years.
BRITISH & NETHERLANDS FILM COMMISSIONS SIGN MEMORANDUM TO BOOST SCREEN INDUSTRIES
The British Film Commission (BFC) and the Netherlands Film Commission (NFC) have signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen collaboration between the UK and Netherlands screen industries and attract inward investment for film and high-end TV production.
Both countries’ screen industries are thriving. In 2023, the UK reported £3.11 billion in inward investment from film and high-end TV production, whilst the Netherlands Film Fund’s
incentive scheme has generated over €783 million in production spending since its 2014 launch.
Notable productions filmed across both territories include Killing Eve (BBC America), The Hitman’s Bodyguard (Millennium), Dunkirk (Warner Bros), The Couple Next Door (Sony/Starz) and Baptiste (All3Media/ BBC/Two Brothers).
The MOU formalises efforts to create a seamless, filmfriendly service for productions operating across both regions. This partnership aims to foster greater cultural, creative and economic exchange. Roeland Oude Nijhuis, Netherlands Film
Commissioner, emphasised that “creativity thrives when we work together,” whilst Adrian Wootton OBE, chief executive of the BFC, highlighted the potential for both nations to benefit from inward investment and crossterritory productions.
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SUNBELT RENTALS ACQUIRES JLL GROUP
Sunbelt Rentals UK & Ireland has announced the acquisition of the JLL Group, specialists in technical broadcast and production solutions, broadening its capabilities to offer a wider range of equipment, specialist knowledge and innovative solutions for the film, TV, broadcast and events industries.
Founded in 2009, the JLL Group is a UK-based production and equipment rental partner, known for its expertise in delivering technical production across a variety of sectors, including corporate events, conferences, live events and film and TV productions.
The acquisition will bring a team of experienced technical production specialists into Sunbelt Rentals’ Film and TV division, who will be based out of the company’s new facility located in Wembley, North London, which has been designed to support the growing needs of the industry.
Commenting on the acquisition, Phil Parker, CEO of Sunbelt Rentals, said, “This acquisition represents an exciting opportunity for us to expand our offering to our customers, streamlining their experience and ensuring they receive the highest levels of customer service.”
SOC HONOURS TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNERS
The Society Of Camera Operators (SOC) recently awarded its Technical Achievement Award - recognising ground-breaking technologies that advance the art and craft of camera operation - to Nodo Film Systems for its Inertia Wheels Max. Two additional technologies were also recognised with honourable mentions: the Trinity 2 Ecosystem by ARRI Americas and the Mantis by Blkbrd.
“This year’s honouree represents the exceptional talent and innovation propelling our industry forward,” said Simon Jayes, chair of the SOC Technical Committee. “Inertia Wheels Max is a
product that addresses a very specific challenge. This innovation will help shape the future of camera operation, enhancing both the artistry and efficiency of the craft while setting a new industry standard.”
Nodo Film Systems’ Inertia Wheels Max revolutionises precision and control for camera operators with its patented motorised Mass and Drag technology, powered by PCB Stator Motors for smooth, latency-free performance. Compatible with gimbals and remote heads, such as Ronin 2/4D, Inspire 3 and MōVI, features such as shake effects, single-press limits and
adaptive dampening have made it a game-changing proposition for professional camera control.
ARRI ANNOUNCES ALEXA 265 CAMERA & ARTEMIS 2 LIVE CAMERA STABILISER
ARRI has introduced the Alexa 265, a next-generation 65mm digital camera building on feedback from its predecessor, the Alexa 65. The compact Alexa 265 features a redesigned 65mm sensor with 15-stops of dynamic range and improved low-light performance (up to 6400 EI), delivering exceptional image quality. Despite a sensor three times larger, the camera is lightweight (3.3kg) and compact, enabling use in tight spaces and with drones and stabilisers.
The new camera shares the Alexa 35’s LogC4 workflow, Reveal Colour Science and accessories, offering efficient workflows with Codex Compact Drives and on-set HDR/SDR monitoring. A unique filter cartridge system enhances creative flexibility, whilst advanced colour science ensures accurate and natural tones. With its wide dynamic range, reduced noise and efficient power management, Alexa 265 aims to redefine 65mm filmmaking, broadening creative possibilities for filmmakers.
In addition, ARRI has launched the Artemis 2 Live, a compact, modular camera stabiliser, designed for live productions, including sports and events. Lightweight and ergonomic, it features a short post for increased manoeuvrability in tight spaces and new monitor brackets supporting popular 5” and 7” monitors.
The system is upgradeable, adaptable to various power sources, and compatible with ARRI’s cine-style stabilisers, ensuring seamless use across live and film applications.
large format image sensor with accurate positional data that is read and stored at time of manufacturing. This immersive lens projection data – which is calibrated and stored on device – then travels through post production in the Blackmagic RAW file itself.
Blackmagic Design is taking pre-orders for the new Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive camera – the world’s first commercial camera system designed to capture Apple Immersive Video for Apple Vision Pro – with deliveries due to start in early 2025.
DaVinci Resolve Studio will soon support editing Apple Immersive Video, enabling filmmakers to create 180-degree, ultra-high-resolution content with Spatial Audio for Apple Vision Pro. This update, also arriving early in 2025, provides a comprehensive workflow for producing immersive video experiences.
“ We can’t wait to see the amazing action, drama, concerts, sports and other incredible experiences our customers will capture in this powerful new format pioneered by Apple.” said Grant Petty, CEO of Blackmagic Design.
Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive features a fixed, custom lens system pre-installed on the body. The sensor delivers 8160 x 7200 resolution per eye with pixel level synchronisation and 16-stops of dynamic range, enabling cinematographers to shoot 90fps 3D immersive cinema content to a single file.
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MRMC SIGNS BROADCAST DISTRIBUTION PARTNER JB&A
MRMC has appointed Tom Shelburne as key account manager in the Americas for the broadcast market, and announced the signing of JB&A as its US distribution partner.
Shelburne previously held senior sales roles with leading organisations including Vu, Mo-Sys, Pixotope and Vizrt. In his new role he will be responsible for developing MRMC’s presence with strategic broadcast customers in the Americas.
As a provider of high-end customer service and solutions for the video production, broadcast and pro-AV markets for over 20 years,
JB&A will bring value and reach to MRMC’s robotic product line, which has seen significant expansion over the last 18 months.
Paddy Taylor, head of broadcast at MRMC, said, “Tom’s industry knowledge and understanding of the Americas region, together with his extensive technical expertise, make him a valuable addition to the MRMC global team. With over 20 years’ service in the creative industries, JB&A has the experience and drive to help us expand MRMC’s US customer base. These appointments demonstrate our strong commitment and ambition to continue to grow in this highly competitive market.”
ZEISS INTRODUCES SUPREME
ZOOM RADIANCE SET
The new Zeiss Supreme Zoom Radiance lens set includes three purpose-built T2.9 high-end cine zooms: 15-30mm, 2880mm and 70-200mm. Featuring the same T* blue lens coating as the popular Supreme Prime Radiances, they offer a similar look with consistent flares and warmer colour rendition.
“With the new Supreme Zoom Radiance lenses, we offer the only modern cine zoom family with a very characteristic look that not only matches the look of
Zeiss Supreme Prime Radiance, but is also well-suited to be used with other prime sets, such as regular Supreme Primes to add nice flares and provide more creative versatility on-set”, said Christophe Casenave, head of business unit cinematography at Zeiss.
“Overall, this ensures a cohesive look for productions that want to combine both prime and zoom lenses, enhancing the creative potential for filmmakers.”
The three lenses – 15-30mm T2.9, 28-80mm T2.9 and 70-200mm T2.9 – are available as a set or individually
from Zeiss Cinema dealers.
APUTURE LAUNCHES STORM 80C AND STORM 1000C POINT SOURCES
Aputure has announced the expansion of its Storm family of point source lights, with the Storm 80c and Storm 1000c. These tunable colour lights feature the new Blair-CG light engine (Blue/Lime/ Amber/Indigo/Red/Cyan/Green), offering a colour spectrum said to be greater than any other professional LED fixture available.
Complementing the new lights are matching accessories, including all-new compact Fresnel lenses, which provide high-end optical performance along with reduced size and weight.
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Storm 1000c, we can properly replicate any colour you wish. And most importantly, you can finally trust that what your eyes see on set will match what the
Achieving flawless chromakeying requires even, shadow-free background lighting, a challenge often resolved by ensuring sufficient separation between the subject and the background.
However, in confined spaces or permanent set-ups, this separation may not be feasible. Dedolight offers an innovative solution with the Asymmetric Background Light, designed for precise and efficient background illumination. The system employs elongated reflectors with carefully-adjusted emission angles, complemented by an elongated diffuser. This unique design allows
a background to be lit absolutely evenly from top-tobottom, with no difference in brightness levels, using a white light, that can be delivered in any colour temperature between 2700K and 6500K. This has great advantages for green/bluescreen studios, among others.
A key feature of the Dedolight Asymmetric Background Light is its ability to prevent parasitic/ stray light from spilling onto the performer, whilst the asymmetrical backlight provides essential separation from the background. This backlight maintains consistent distribution and intensity, even when the performer moves laterally or stands close to the background.
camera captures,” explained Ted Sim, Aputure cofounder and president.
The Storm 80c and Storm 1000c feature an extended white light adjustment of 1,800K-20,000K CCT with 100% +/- green control, the full ASC MITC range of adjustment. The new Blair-CG light engine is cited as the best tunable colour light ever produced in an LED, delivering the greatest range and highest colour accuracy.
All Storm lights feature IP65 weather protection and all of the professional connectivity options used in modern lighting, including Sidus Mesh, CRMX, DMX, sACN, and Art-Net.
For studios with curved walls or unique configurations, Dedolight offers shorter lights (50cm) in addition to standard 1-metre units, catering to both small and expansive studio spaces.
spacelight technique back to modern sounds tages?
We plot ted the per formance data of a Gemini 2 x1 Hard with measurements from a traditional 5kW incandescent spacelight, the results were clear: Gemini 2 x1 Hard exceeded expec tations, delivering superior output while LED technology.
With its new Rapid series, Nanlite has launched a softbox that can be setup in seconds and folds flat when collapsed. The Rapid 90 (SB-RP90) and Rapid 120 (SBRP120) parabolic softboxes feature an integrated design with a rapid-latch speed ring and excellent structural rigidity.
Both softboxes offer quick and easy set-up with a single pull-and-press movement to lock the ribs and fabric into place. The front diffusion
fabric attaches with hook-and-loop fasteners, and the softbox mounts onto the lamp head using a Bowens mount. To collapse, users simply pull the trigger, and the softbox folds in one second. The softboxes can then be folded flat for spacesaving storage.
Their fast set-up and breakdown make them suitable for fast-paced productions, news, documentaries and large sets requiring multiple softboxes. Both offer professional-grade lighting
performance, maintaining purity of colour and ensuring an even spread.
PGGB CEO LYNDSAY DUTHIE TO DEPART FOR NEW ROLE AT UCA
After nearly five years at The Production Guild Of Great Britain (PGGB), CEO Lyndsay Duthie has taken up a new role as pro vice-chancellor of academic partnerships and industry engagement at University For The Creative Arts (UCA), Farnham, Surrey, UK.
During her tenure at PGGB, Duthie launched many new initiatives, led the formation of six PGGB Nations & Regions Committees, and launched the organisation’s first Diversity & Inclusion Action Group
and Sustainability Committee.
Duthie also secured the PGGB’s first Royal Patron, HRH The Duke Of Edinburgh, and created an award bearing his name: The Duke of Edinburgh Film & TV Inclusion Award, which is presented annually at PGGB’s Talent Showcase.
Commenting on her move, Duthie said, “It has been a huge honour to lead such a prestigious organisation with some of the world’s best production professionals in the film and television industry. I am so proud of all that has been achieved in partnership
SHINFIELD STUDIOS’ MDs
with PGGB’s stellar board.”
Recruitment for the new PGGB CEO is now open. For more details, email, chair@ productionguild. com
NICK SMITH & IAN JOHNSON RETIRE
Shinfield Studios recently announced that joint managing directors Nick Smith and Ian Johnson retired from their positions at the end of last year. The daily operations of Shinfield Studios will be led by Dean Horne, vice president of global studio operations, and Charlene St Aubyn, financial controller, who have both been part of the team
since the early phases of construction.
UNIVERSITY OF
TV
Together, Smith and Johnson have overseen initial negotiations to acquire the 1,000,000sq/ft. site, the facilities masterplan design, securing planning permission and the successful construction and delivery of the studio’s 18 state-of-the-art sound stages and supporting facilities.
Having also built the management and operations team responsible for the day-to-
day running of the site, and attracting major productions from clients such as Disney, Sony and Netflix, the pair decided it was the right time to hand over to the established Shinfield Studios operations team.
Peter Rumbold, CEO of parent company, Shadowbox Studios, said, “I would like to thank both Nick and Ian for all of their efforts in helping to create a world class film and television studio in Shinfield.”
& FILM MUNICH INSTALLS SONY CRYSTAL LED VERONA FOR VIRTUAL PRODUCTION
Germany’s first Sony Crystal LED Verona video wall for virtual production has been installed in Munich at the CreatiF Centre, an innovation laboratory for the development and testing of new technologies in film and television production, at the University Of Television & Film Munich (HFF).
The wall measures 4 x 2.5metres and consists of a total of 40 modules, each equipped with four LED panels. It is intended to familiarise HFF students with the new standards in virtual production, and also serves as a technology platform for the CreatiF Centre – an HFF-funded research project – to research new approaches to the film production process, post-production and the usage of content.
The virtual production wall enables digital
backdrops and realistic backgrounds to be projected in real-time on a huge screen surface, revolutionising conventional greenscreen technology. This represents a milestone for the university, which is setting new standards in film production and underlining its role as a leading training centre for the next generation of creatives and filmmakers.
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DP DANIEL BROTHERS & DIRECTOR IRVING FRANCO TEAM-UP FOR ADAM THE FIRST
Cinematographer Daniel Brothers and director Irving Franco teamed-up to bring Adam The First to life, the story of a 14-year-old boy who sets out across the US to meet a series of men who could be his father. Raised in the wilderness by a couple who admit they are not his biological parents, Adam’s curiosity drives him to uncover his past.The powerful tale is told through a constantly moving narrative intertwined with impactful storytelling. Brothers explains what viewers can expect when they go to see the new movie starring David Duchovny and rising star Oakes Fegley.
“Adam The First is an Americana odyssey,” says the DP. “On one level, it’s a road movie; on another level, it’s a coming-of-age movie. It’s about our search for identity, understanding where we came from, realising whether that matters, and then finding that maybe it does. It has elements of magical realism that we’re nodding to but not fully showcasing. We’re asking the audience to accept that this is the nature of this world.”
Brothers’ biggest influence for the camerawork in this film was the book The Americans (1958) by Robert Frank, a collection of B&W photographs taken with a 35mm camera from the 1930s, ‘40s, ‘50s, and earlier. This reference point led Brothers to realise that the movie needed a realistic feel, immersing the viewer in the story as it unfolds.
“I wanted a feeling of intimacy, that we were right there with Adam as he goes on this journey,” remarks the DP. “I wanted it to feel like film, I wanted to shoot large format on Panavision’s DXL2 camera in order to give our landscapes a feeling of depth and grandeur.”
The movie was shot in Mississippi and showcases
locations because it is a road movie. I have to say we had an incredible team. My camera, grip and electric team – including our first assistant camera, Justin Hall, and my key grip, Josh Elam, and gaffer Casey Creek – they were ready for anything. We also had an incredible transport crew in the forms of Kaylon Damazio and Jared Tyree. The schedule was the hardest part, but we made our days almost every day, and I attribute that to the team and, frankly, the gear. We never had to wait on anything.”
The shoot took place towards the end of the pandemic, the first time the crew had been reunited onset after a long break. As productions started to gear back-up, it was important for Brothers to get hold of the right tools to achieve the desired look and feel.
“I have a relationship with Panavision, New Orleans,” he recalls. “I called them and asked about lensing because my first thought when building a look is the lens.
The lens is really the important thing
I’m a little more camera-agnostic; I can work with different capture devices, but the lens is really the important thing. The filmic look I was aiming for was something along the lines of Kodak Portra still film, which has slightly elevated shadows and black levels. It has a nice, soft, painterly curve to it, and the colour is not hyper-saturated. We ended-up custom-tuning a set of Panavision Primos on the
The DP had reliability in mind when choosing the right power supplier. With a tight shooting schedule, many remote locations, and no margin for error, he explains there was only one brand on his mind.
“With Anton/Bauer power, I have never questioned them. That is what I reach for; it’s just the industry standard. To have consistent, reliable power on-set and not be plugged into a wall is just mission critical. It was January, and even though it was Mississippi, the weather shift during the day would go from below freezing to hot because it’s the swamp.
“We never had to worry about power, whether it was from our VCLX floor batteries or our Dionic XT Gold Mount batteries. I never even think of anything else. For me, being able to have an image up all day and power the camera and peripherals like the SmallHD and Teradek is invaluable.
He adds, “We brought in the Teradek 655 to beta test the camera-to-cloud while we were in the swamp. So, we had our regular Teradek Bolt and our 655 right next to it on the back of the DXL2, and that was our setup. We combined the Primo primes with a big 11-to-1 Primo zoom because, as part of our driving forward idea, we were looking for ways to always have some kind of movement. Irving was particular about wanting to use slow, 70s-style motorised zooms throughout. So, we’d be wide, and we’d be coming in and finding Adam in the landscape with a big 300-millimeter zoom.”
The production had many lighting challenges to overcome during the shoot. One scene, a night exterior with David Duchovny, required the team to bring in a moonlight and car headlight mixed light temperature look.
Brother’s explains, “We were deep in the Mississippi swamp and had no way of getting condors
much of the natural beauty the state has to offer. During production, the team had a challenging 100-page script to shoot across multiple locations. The crew faced a car on fire, shootout scenes, night exteriors, and remote locations to problem-solve and come up with solutions for those.
Brothers recalls how they overcame some of their bigger challenges during the production.
“The most challenging thing we had was a lot of
Panavision DXL2 to achieve the right look.”
The crew could not afford to compromise on their power supply during production. Being sometimes four hours away from the nearest rental meant they needed to select the most reliable and robust gear.
Brothers explains, “We went with the industry standards: Anton/Bauer batteries, O’Connor 2575 supports, SmallHD monitors, Teradek wireless communications, and Litepanels Gemini lights.”
or balloons to set. My key grip Josh figured-out how to rig a series of 20x20 Ultra bounce rags up in all the trees. The ground was too soft for any sort of heavy equipment, so he achieved all that on 12-step ladders. Then we aimed an HMI light up into the trees. The headlights were achieved using Source 4 Leko’s with 750W tungsten globes. We supplemented the light with some of Litepanle’s Gemini panels to get the right look.”
During another key night exterior, with Larry Pine and the campfire, further lighting challenges needed to be overcome.
“We had our flatbed truck and the actors on the edge of a canyon. The set-up required a lot of previsualisation, because we were not able to build an actual house on the bed of the flatbed. So it was going to be achieved through VFX and compositing. We timed the scene so that there was barely any light in the sky for the master shot, giving us a nice deep blue outline of the distant trees. From there, we keyed the entire scene with a single propane flame bar. All the light in that scene came from that flame.
I wanted a feeling of intimacy. I wanted it to feel like film. I wanted to shoot large format
“Later, when we found the house that would eventually become Larry Pine’s home on the flatbed, I utilised the Gemini 1x1 panel to create interactive light on the side of the house to match the campfire in the backplate. That single Gemini panel had ample output to create a realistic fire effect on the side of the house. All this low-light work was possible thanks to the fast base ISO of the DXL2 and the incredible classic Primo primes.”
Adam The First brings a search for answers and a focus on meaning. As Adam embarks on his emotive journey, he encounters interesting experiences from the characters he meets along the way. The movie has been getting more and more attention post-release.
“The movie has gotten more attention than I ever thought it would,” says Brothers. “I loved the script. I loved working with Irving, and on top of that, it felt like, OK, we’re doing a thing and we’re hoping somebody notices.
“Adam The First is a small film with a
huge heart that
keeps engaging with people on some level because it hits so many heartstrings. It’s about family, growing-up, loss, and adversity. Throughout the production process, we faced all those things together because we were in the middle of a pandemic, and it was one of the first times I got to be back on a movie set with my crew.”
Adam The First, written and directed by Irving Franco, was released by Nova Vento Entertainment in select theatres in the United States and is streaming via Electric Entertainment.
Article by James Mckellar, Videndum Production Solutions.
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TAKE THAT!
Our regular round up of who is shooting what and where
LUX ARTISTS:
Rob Hardy BSC ASC wrapped block one of Blade Runner 2099 and now is shooting Super Girl, directed by Craig Gillespie. Pat Aldinger shot Altar directed by Egor Abramenko, followed by Absolut, Coach and Alpine commercials all directed by Henry Schofield. Sebastian Blenkov lit an untitled feature directed by Anders Thomas Jensen. Nicolai Niermann lensed a Dom Pérignon ad directed by Camille Summers Valli and an Orient Express spot directed by Jonas Lindstroem. Daniel Landin BSC shot a National Lottery TVC directed by Steve Rogers. Stuart Winecoff lensed for H&M with a director Albert Moya. Natasha Braier ADF ASC is shooting I Love Boosters directed by Boots Riley. Monika Lenczewska PSC shot a Burberry spot directed by Dexter Navy. Patrick Golan lit a Beats ad with a director Elliott Power. Arseni Khachaturan is shooting The Drama by Kristoffer Borgli. Krzysztof Trojnar is lighting block one of Netflix series Something Very Bad Is Going To
Happen, directed by Weronika Tofilska. Steve Annis lensed a Chase Sapphire TVC with a director Georgia Hudson. Jakob Ihre FSF recently wrapped on Paramount+ series The Department, directed by Martin Phillip and Joe Wright, and shot Ford and Hornbach commercials, both directed by Frederik Bond. Ben Carey lit a Skims ad directed by Harmony Korine. Łukasz Żal PSC has wrapped on Hamnet, directed by Chloe Zhao, and shot a Miele spot with a director Janicza Bravo. Arnau Valls Colomer AEC is shooting on the Jack Ryan franchise series, directed by Andrew Bernstein. Tom Townend shot a Malibu commercial with director duo Tim & Eric. Jess Hall
BSC ASC has wrapped on Fantastic Four, directed by Matt Shakman. Ruben Impens SBC lit Alpha directed by Julia Ducournau. Jasper Wolf NSC shot A Family, directed by Mees Peijnenburg. Justin Brown lensed a Puma spot directed by Seb Edwards, and a Hugo Boss TVC with a director Karim Huu Do. Adam Scarth is shooting Under Salt Marsh, directed by Claire Oakley. Ben Fordesman recently finished shooting Avalyn, directed by Ronan Day-Lewis. Oscar Faura AEC has wrapped on Moana, directed by Thomas Kail. Crystel Fournier AFC is prepping for Bandi, a series directed by Jimmy Laporal-Tresor. Ula Pontikos BSC shot block two of Blade Runner 2099. André Chemetoff is shooting Coutures directed by Alice Winocour. Darius Khondji AFC ASC has concluded on Marty Supreme, directed by Josh Safdie. Manuel Alberto Claro has wrapped on The House Of The Spirits, directed by Andres Wood. James Laxton ASC is lighting a second season of Lee Sung’s Beef Martijn Van Broekhuizen NSC is lensing a series directed by Hagai Levi. Alejandro Martinez has wrapped on Man On Fire, directed by Steven Caple Jr. Adam Newport-Berra lit
Sky’s six-part drama, Under Salt Marsh for DP is Adam Scarth. Simon Baker ACO Associate BSC was in Budapest shooting on the Netflix series Death By Lightning, about the assassination of President James Garfield, with DP
Splitsville, directed by Michael Covino. Julien Poupard AFC is shooting L’Ame Ideale, directed by Alice Vial. Kasper Tuxen DFF lit Sentimental Value, directed by Joachim Trier.
PRINCESTONE:
Of the agency’s camera/ Steadicam operators… Junior AgyemanOwusu ACO shot on
Adriano Goldman ABC ASC BSC. Michael Carstensen ACO lensed on Paramount +’s The Donovans with DP Stephan Pehrsson BSC and director Guy Ritchie. Matt Fisher ACO recently wrapped on Borge & Me for Paramount Films with DP Christopher Norr ASC and director Marc
Images: (top) Erik Henriksson at the wheels, photo by Emil Hll; (below clockwise from left) DP Jess Hall BSC ASC with a deep focus probe; Adam Scarth at the camera; Sebastian Winterø shooting Bullshit for Amazon; Hampus Nordenson on the ladder; camera/Steadicam operator Peter Wignall at the eyepiece; and two more pix of Adam Scarth on-set.
WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE
Images: (top clockwise) – Jake Scott shooting a Christmas
Turtletaub, and is now prepping for Good Omens with DP Gavin Finney BSC. Rob Hart ACO jumped between three productions – Elevden, Such Brave Girls and Fackham Hall – shooting dailies as Steadicam operator. Justin Hawkins ACO was B-camera op (alongside James Layton on A-camera) on the next series of Silo with DPs Jean-Philippe Gossard and Ollie Downey. James Layton ACO Associate BSC was on Silo S3 for DPs Jean-Philippe Gossard and Ollie Downey. Dan Nightingale ACO shot on The Night Manager S2 in the UK, Columbia and Spain, with director Georgi Banks Davies and DP Tim Sidell BSC, starring Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie. Peter Robertson ACO Associate BSC recently wrapped on The Agency, with Joe Wright show-running the ten-part series for Paramount/101Films. Joe Russell ACO shot for a few weeks on Out Of The Dust, the Netflix thriller directed by Jim Loach and Philippa Langdale, with DP Philippe Kress. Joe is now prepping for Masters Of The Universe with DP Fabian Wagner BSC ASC and director Travis Knight. Fabrizio Sciarra ACO GBCT worked in Ireland on the final block of Wednesday, directed by Tim Burton, starring Jenna Ortega. Peter Wignall ACO was in Tbilisi shooting the feature Hotel Tehran for DP Larry Smith BSC ASC with director Guy Moshe, starring Liam Neeson and Zachary Levi.
LOOP TALENT:
The agency has signed DP Arthur Lok, who works in documentaries and commercials. Arthur’s work on the recent Adidas x Manchester United commercial, featuring Barry Keoghan, recently won Gold and Bronze at the Clio Awards in Branded Entertainment & Film. Emma Dalesman’s feature, The Buckingham Murders, is streaming on Netflix and remained in the top five for several weeks. Emma is also working successfully in commercials with Vogue and Feed Films. Martyna Knitter lit a National Geographic documentary in Cameroon, and is also shooting commercials with production companies including Academy. Natalja Safronova is in prep for a short with director Benjamin Adnams. Denson Baker ACS NZCS recently wrapped on the feature Shiver in Canada. Bertrand Rocourt has been working with Jeurgen Teller, most recently on the Charlotte Rampling and Kate Moss campaign, and is also prepping for two feature films. Jon Muschamp won Best Cinematography in a Short Film (BSC Club) for his work on Bookyville (2024). Ryan Eddleston has graded the BBC series Death Valley, and wrapped on Let’s Love starring Martin Freeman. Ali Asad is in post on the feature The Tunnel, from director William Brooke. Paul Mackay is shooting a feature. Matt North has been working with the BBC on a returning series. Dave Miller shot a TV series with Rangabee. Marti Guiver collaborated with director Kassandra Powell on a music promo as well as shooting a short for director Elina Abra. Lorenzo Levrini, Chris Fergusson and Kyle Macfadzean have been working in commercials all over the UK and internationally. Nick Bennett lit a recent Specsavers spot, which received a David Reviews Five-Star PickOf-The-Day. Chris O’Driscoll and Tom Turley have been shooting spots. Olly Wiggins has been shooting in Grenada. Grant SandyPhillips ACO has been working on a Band 3 project for Firebird Pictures. Ben Eeley ACO is back working on Mr Big Stuff S2. Michael Eshun-Mensah ACO in prep for a Band 3 project. James Anderson ACO recently wrapped on a series for Bad Wolf. Sebastien Joly ACO is working in his native France on narrative and commercial projects. Gary Kent, Laura Seears and Michael Vega all operated Steadicam on various commercials. Camera operators Jack Smith and Alice Sephton have been operating on shortform projects.
WIZZO & CO.:
Congratulations to Ryan Kernaghan ISC who received a BIFA nomination for his work on feature Kneecap, directed by Rich Peppiat. Ryan has now wrapped on Trespasses alongside director Dawn Shadforth. Susanne Salavati lit a feature on-location in Sweden, directed by Josephine Bornebusch. Aaron Reid continues to shoot Nicôle Lecky’s The Perfect Town alongside director Toby Macdonald. Tim Sidell BSC recently wrapped on
commercial; Emma Dalesman; Natalja Safronova; Martyna Knitter; Hampus Nordenson; and Alejandro Martinez shooting Man On Fire for Netflix.
The Night Manager S2, directed by Georgie Banks Davies. Simon Stolland is prepping an embargoed feature. Nick Dance BSC is shooting a documentary project and Charlie Goodger is prepping a drama. Ashley Barron ACS has graded her work on Doctor Who as well as How To Get To Heaven From Belfast Maximiliaan Dierickx SBC is prepping a feature. Nicola Daley ACS is shooting the final series of The Handmaid’s Tale, directed by Elisabeth Moss. Steven Ferguson lit Hijack for director Shaun James Grant.
Gary Shaw is prepping a feature. Molly Manning Walker shot a project with director Aidan Zamiri. Darius Shu has graded the short Where We Came From, directed by Nick Virk. Franklin Dow is juggling multiple narrative and documentary projects. Luke Bryant has graded The Seven Dials Mystery directed by Chris Sweeney. Hamish Anderson has been shooting a documentary directed by Christian Collerton. Scott Coulter is prepping Black Ops S2 alongside director Akaash Meeda. Oli Russell recently wrapped on Code Of Silence, directed by Diarmuid Goggins. Christophe Nuyens SBC shot a drama in Belgium and France. Jan Richter-Friis DFF has completed the grade on the Netflix drama La Palma Karl Oskarsson IKS is prepping for a drama in Iceland. Chas Appeti is shooting a drama. Matthias Pilz is lighting a feature in Germany. Sverre Sørdal FNF continues to prep a feature. Dan StaffordClark has completed on the final block of How To Get To Heaven From Belfast, directed by Rachna Suri. Joe Douglas shot with Tiny Bullet, Murren Tullett with Jake Mavity, and Will Bex with Paul Butterworth. Aman K Sahota lit for Emily Freda Sharp, and
David Procter BSC for Josh Cohen. Ben Magahy lensed with Finn McGough, Theo Garland with Henry Littlechild, and Fede Alfonzo with Will Thacker. Dmytro Nedria worked with Joe Pelling, Arran Green shot with Hugh Rochfort and Henry Gill with Otis Domnique.
INDEPENDENT TALENT:
Chas Bain is prepping for Trigger Point S3 with director Jamie Donoughue. Ole Birkeland is lighting Secret Service with James Marsh. Eben Bolter BSC ASC is shooting the latest season of Slow Horses with Adam Randall. Jordan Buck continues to shoot commercials with directors Sophie Edelstein and Forrest Davis. Jermaine Canute Edwards shot additional photography for Imran Perretta’s BFI feature Ish Miguel Carmenes lensed spots with directors GoshDam, Three Shades, Bedroom, Silence and Sye Allen. Chris Clarke has been shooting ads with Rosie Gaunt Mathieson, Adam Wells and Luke Logan. Oliver Curtis BSC has been shooting TVCs with Chris Cottam. Ben Davis BSC is prepping for Martin
Sherlock series. Stephan Pehrsson is on the new Showtime show Fixer James Rhodes is lighting James McAvoy’s, California Schemin’ George Richmond BSC went on-location with Nicolai Fuglsig to shoot a commercial. Chris Ross BSC is on Marvel’s Visionquest Martin Ruhe is signed-up to continue The Agency S2. Mark Waters has completed on Grantchester S10. Erik Wilson BSC is shooting Bart Layton’s Crime 101 Linda Wu has continued to shoot short films, music promos and commercials with directors Dominic Savage, Ed Morris, Bren Wyona and Clemente Lohr.
WORLDWIDE PRODUCTION AGENCY:
McDonagh’s next feature. Anthony Dod Mantle DFF BSC ASC is getting ready to shoot The Runner with Kevin MacDonald. Toby Elwes recently wrapped on Justin Chadwick’s latest film, Sierra Madre, starring Kiefer Sutherland. Arni Filippusson ÍKS recently wrapped on The Hermit Michael Filocamo has completed on The Witness, directed by Alex Winckler. Kit Fraser is prepping Better with Daniel Sharp. Billy Kendall has been shooting TVCs and music promos with directors Charlie Rees, Charlie Drinkwater, Charles Gall, Tracey Dee and Jordan Rossi. Eric Kress DFF is shooting on Silo S3 with Amber Templemore. Suzie Lavelle ISC BSC was in South Africa shooting a commercial via Traktor with Daniel and Szymon. John Mathieson BSC recently wrapped on Jurassic World: Rebirth with director Gareth Edwards. Aadel Nodeh Farahani shot on Call The Midwife S14 with director Lisa Clarke. Mark Patten BSC is shooting Guy Ritchie’s Young
PJ Dillon ISC ASC wrapped on S2 of Wednesday with director Tim Burton, and then returned to prep on HBO’s House Of The Dragon S3. Richard Donnelly ISC has joined House Of The Dragon S3, working alongside director Nina Lopez-Corrado. Baz Irvine ISC BSC collaborated with director Lawrence Gough on a block of The Donovans for Paramount+. Tony Slater Ling BSC is shooting C4’s The Undeclared War S2 with director Paul McGuigan. Vanessa Whyte BSC has graded her feature, The Nest, with director Paul Andrew Williams for Giant Productions and Meraki Films. Callan Green ACS NZCS is in Budapest on Ponies, the new series for Peacock, working alongside director-showrunner Susanna Fogel. Ed Moore BSC continues shooting on Apple TV+ series Hijack S2 with director Jim Field Smith. Anna Patarakina FSF is lighting the first series of Down Cemetery Road for 60Forty and Apple TV+, with director Samuel Donovan. Joel Devlin BSC has graded the BBC drama This City Is Ours with director Saul Dibb. Bryan Gavigan is lighting the new series The Lady with director Lee Haven Jones for Left Bank Pictures and ITV. Simon Archer BSC wrapped and then graded The Foryste Saga with director Annetta Laufer for Mammoth Screen/ITV. Ruairí O’Brien ISC BSC has done the DI on A24’s new feature Eternity with director David Freyne. Paul Morris is shooting the third season of BBC series Blue Lights with director Jack Casey. Carl Burke is lighting the feature Don’t Jump with director Simon Ross for Bad Batch Films. Nathalie Pitters shot on Hat Trick’s How To Get to
Images: (top) DP Franklin Dow on Gunpowder Seige with 1st AD Tim Wood; and DP Franklin Dow on Netflix’s Lost Childen with Santiago Gutierrez 2nd AC (l) and gaffer Juan Manuel gaffer (r); (clockwise middle left to right) Nicola Daley with the crew on The Handmaids Tale S6 in Toronto; DP Toby Elwes in Colombia on Justin Chadwick’s feature Sierra Madre; and Nick Dance BSC with camera operator Gareth Hughes ACO on Inventing The Ripper at Buftea Studios Bucharest.
WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE
Heaven From Belfast with director George Kane for Netflix, and then lit BBC pilot Stuffed with director Dave Lambert for Baby Cow. Pedro Cardillo ABC has started principal photography on Sky’s original thriller series Inheritance, for Snowed-In Productions and director Storm Saulter. After shooting Brian Cox’s directorial debut Glenrothan, Jaime Ackroyd is lighing Ray Panthaki’s feature Ernie with Archface Films. Scott Winig continues on The Witcher S5 for Netflix. Robert Binnall recently joined The Witcher to shoot block 2 alongside director Christopher Clark Cowan. Catherine Derry recently wrapped on Out Of The Dust with director Jim Loach for Netflix, while also shooting pick-ups on The Choice with director Amy Neil for Netflix. Narayan Van Maele wrapped on Blumhouse Productions’ horror feature Soulm8te with director Kate Dolan, and then started prep on the feature Three Quick Breaths with director Brendan Muldowney. Job Reineke lit the feature Hungry, a thriller with director James Nunn for Signature Entertainment. Adam Barnett graded the BBC series We Go Again with director Nathaniel Martello-White, and also shot the short Ultra-Pure with director Marcus Kartal. Amelia Hazlerigg joined Apple TV+’s series Neuromancer in Japan with director J.D. Dillard, operating for Benedict Spence. Sunshine Hsien Yu Niu lit the short Maya And Amira with director Jack Priestnall for Slick Films, and the short Frostlands with director Anastasia BruceJones for Winding Lane Pictures. Jake Gabbay was in Tenerife for Zalando with Pulse Films and director Aube Perrie Edward Gibbs shot with director Eva Schwank and Prose on Pixels for Galderma. Kanamé Onoyama shot in Mexico with Stink director Ernest Desimbulia for a Samsung campaign Pieter Snyman travelled to Manchester and Istanbul with Copa90 and director Thomas Pena for a collaborative campaign between Pepsi and Champions League, before lensing a TVC for My Protein with KC Locke and Swords & Eagles Beatriz Sastre shot a Neutrogena spot with Hogarth and director Abbie Stephens. Stefan Yap lensed a Coca Cola ad with Blink director Will Hooper, and then shot with Bangerz & Nash director Sam McElwee for Virgin Money. Simon Turnbull wrapped with Axe & Iron and director Zak Ravz for Arriva. Benjamin Todd shot with Academy Films’ director Joseph Khan for Jo Malone. Thomas Tyson-Hole lit a Gillette ad through Great Guns, and then worked with director Sam Taylor via Agile for Newcastle United FC. Katie Swain has graded Brighton Storeys with director John Jencks for Frank & Lively.
UNITED AGENTS:
Remi Adefarasin OBE BSC has wrapped on My Oxford Year with director Iain Morris for Netflix. Søren Bay DFF has graded the Outlander prequel Blood Of My Blood Adam Etherington BSC lit a feature with director Colin Teague. Philippe Kress DFF has wrapped on the shoot for Out Of The Dust, directed by Philippa Langdale for Netflix. John Lee BSC has graded Band Of Spies for Archery Pictures. Danny Cohen BSC has done the DI on Slow Horses S4. Damian Paul Daniel is lighting Backstroke for Anna Mackmin in the UK, and the documentary Home in Barbados. Matt Lewis has begun prep on Philip Barantini’s latest film for Netflix. Kieran McGuigan graded on Mark Gatiss’ BBC Christmas Ghost story Woman Of Stone. Laurie Rose BSC has finished on Talamasca. Bet Rourich AEC has wrapped on the Spanish feature Los Aitas. John Sorapure has concluded work on Project Hail Mary. Simon Tindall recently graded Sally Wainwright’s series Riot Women. Ollie Downey BSC shot a block of Silo S3 and has graded the feature The Fires, directed by Ugla Hauksdóttir. Sam Heasman recently shot a western horror short for Rob Savage. Álvaro Gutiérrez AEC is prepping Mckensie with New Pictures. David Rom lit the pilot for the series Close as well as working in
commercials. Laurens De Geyter SBC recently did the DI grade for the feature Foley Man Si Bell BSC lit block 2 and 5 of Paramount+ series The Donovans for director Anthony Byrne. Sam Chiplin is shooting block 2 of the Netflix miniseries East Of Eden for director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre. Charlotte Bruus Christensen ASC is lighting feature H Is For Hawk for director Philippa Lowthorpe. Bonnie Elliott ASC is prepping with director Christian Schwochow to shoot
block 2 with director Chanya Butto. Simon Chaudoir lit a Fuji spot in Lisbon with directors RBG6 and a Coke Zero job in Bangkok, with director Joseph Mann. Danny Cohen BSC recently lit Under The Tree, Ed Sheeran’s latest music video, directed by Richard Curtis. Sara Deane is shooting the feature Skinemax in Budapest for director Adam Sigal. Lasse Frank has wrapped on the feature The Travellers with Christoffer Boe in Denmark. Brendan Galvin has concluded
a 60Forty series for Apple TV+. James Friend ASC BSC is prepping to light J.J. Abram’s next feature. Ed Rutherford BSC is shooting block 2 of Under Salt Marsh with director Mary Nighy. Juan Sarmiento G is prepping to shoot director Simón Mesa Soto’s feature A Poet, and then will light director Kaouther Ben Hania’s feature You Shall Not Make An Image Anna Valdez Hanks BSC is lighting episode six of AMC Studios and Apple TV+ third series of Silo for director Alrick Riley. Ben Wheeler BSC is lighting for director Ben A. Williams on Criminal Record S2, for STV Productions and Apple TV+. Alex Barber recently shot a Volvo commercial in Serbia with director Us via Academy Films. Alfie Biddle has wrapped on Coldwater block 2 with Andrew Cummings in Glasgow. Philipp Blaubach BSC is shooting the feature Fackham Hall with director Jim O’Hanlon. Sam Care BSC is now a full member of the BSC, and recently lit Code Of Silence
on Mutiny for director Jean-Francois Richet. Julian Hohndorf shot a Danone spot for director Bruce St Clair through Prose On Pixels. Ali Little has been busy with commercials, and flimed a music video for Yannis And The Yaw with director Kit Monteith via UptheGame. Tim Maurice Jones BSC lit the feature Flavia De Luce with Bharat Nalluri in the UK. Alex Melman was in Barcelona with director Martin Jalfen for a Burger King spot through Roma. Sebastian Pfaffenbichler has been busy with commercials, recently shooting in London with Arts & Sciences for a Supacell job directed by Nat Prisco. Simon Richards shot a Tesco ad in Dublin with director Jonathan Gregson. Chris Sabogal is prepping for the TV series Mint with director Charlotte Reagan. Haris Zambarloukos BSC GSC is shooting Ladies First for director Thea Sharrock.
BERLIN ASSOCIATES:
Edward Ames is shooting the block 7 on Waterloo Road S15 for Wall to Wall/Warner Brothers TV/ BBC. Sarah Bartles Smith has been lighting on Mr Bigstuff S2, for Water & Power Productions/Sky with director Matt Lipsey. Nick Cox shot block eight on Waterloo Road S15. Mark Garrett recently completed shooting Art Detectives for Black Dog Television with director Declan O’Dwyer. Trevelyan Oliver is shooting Can You Keep A Secret? for Big Talk Productions. Tom Pridham recently wrapped shooting Jesus: Crown Of Thorns S2 and S4 3 for Nutopia. Pete Rowe is lensing of Mandy S4 for BBC Studios . Simon Rowling recently the shot short films Mr Vertigo, starring Jeremy Irvine, and White Belt, starring Andrew Koji, and is currently prepping an Untitled feature film. Chris Sowden covered second unit days on Out Of The Dust Alistair Upcraft will shoot an Untitled project for Big Talk Productions with director David Sant. Phil Wood is lighting After The Flood S2 for Quay Street Productions.
Images: Simon Rowling in the cap on Mr Vertigo; and Tom Pridham shooting Jesus Crown Of Thorns.
WHO, WHAT, WHEN & WHERE
SARA PUTT ASSOCIATES:
Aga Szeliga operated B-camera dailies with DP Greig Fraser ACS ASC on Project Hail Mary. Akhilesh Patel operated Steadicam on commercials and promos, working with Bold Studios and Heritage Music. Alastair Rae recently wrapped on Brian And Margaret for C4. Andrei Austin did Steadicam dailies on Man Like Mobeen with DP Ali Upcraft. Andrew Bainbridge has wrapped on The Assassin for Amazon, a six-part thriller set on-location in Greece. Ben Mankin shot on The Sandman S2, where he operated B-camera with DP William Baldy. Chris Maxwell operated Steadicam dailies on James McAvoy’s film California Schemin and Summerwater with DP Annika Summerson. Dan Evans did Steadicam dailies on The Running Man alongside DP Fabio Calascibetta. Danny Bishop is prepping on Rob Sorretti’s film Angels In The Asylum alongside DP James Friend BSC ASC. Ed Clark operated A-camera/ Steadicam on The Associate at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden. James Frater recently wrapped on the Netflix feature Frankenstein with DP Dan Laustsen DFF ASC. James Leigh shot on Mammoth Screen’s Toward Zero with DP Laura Bellingham. Julian Morson has been splitting his time between The Apex re-shoots in Abu Dabi, and operating dailies on an Alejandro G Iñárritu/Tom Cruise project. Tanya Marar operated dailies on The Department with DP Martin Ruhe ASC. Rick Woollard operated AR for McQueen, Steadicam for Not Just Any, Arts & Sciences and Somesuch. He also did some days as the Splinter Unit DP for the Netflix project The Choice. Tom Walden operated A-camera/Steadicam on Code Of Silence with DPs Oli Russell and Sam Care. Vince McGahon continues on season six of the Apple TV+ series Slow Horses. Will Lyte operated on The Associate at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden. Zoe Goodwin-Stuart operated A-camera on Doctor Who Spin off The War Between Land And Sea with DP Dale McCready. Giulio Biccari recently wrapped on Down Cemetery Road for 60Forty and Apple TV. Yinka Edward is in prep on a project called Diaspora Jan Jonaeus is lighting In Flight for Buccaneer and C4.
ECHO ARTISTS:
Stuart Bentley BSC shot pick-ups for Hamlet, directed by Aneil Karia. Nadim Carlsen DFF recently wrapped on The Death Of Bunny Munro, directed by Isabella Eklöf and the first look is out now. Carlos Catalan BSC became a BSC member, and has started prep on Lions, directed by Alexandra Brodski. Federico Cesca ASK ADF has been busy shooting The Gallerist directed by Cathy Yan, expected to wrap early 2025. Rachel Clark BSC is a member of the BSC too, and was nominated in the Cinematographers’ Debuts Competition at Camerimage 2024 for Edge Of Summer, directed by Lucy Cohen. Andrew Commis ACS has wrapped on Extra Geography and also lensed Inside which was released in Australia, a film directed by Charles Williams. Nick Cooke shot on Larkin block three and is prepping on Go Away directed by Tom George. David Gallego ADFC has completed his work on The Fall Of Sir Douglas Weatherford, directed by Sean Robert Dunn. Jo Jo Lam has wrapped on Tiger, a feature directed by Kerry Ann Enwright. The Man Who Definitely Didn’t Steal Hollywood, shot by Will Pugh, is now released and Lockerbie, directed by John Dower, earned a nomination at the Grierson Awards in the Best Documentary Series category. Lady, directed by Samual Abranahms has wrapped, with cinematography by Korsshan Schlauer Felix Wiedemann BSC has been busy lighting Babies, directed by Stefan Golaszewski, which will wrap in early 2025.
MCKINNEY MACARTNEY MANAGEMENT:
Stuart Biddlecombe BSC is shooting Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale S6 in Toronto. Ben Butler and Alessandra Scherillo have been shooting commercials. Sergio Delgado BSC recently wrapped Beth for C4. Gavin Finney BSC is lighting Good Omens S3 for Amazon Prime. Jean Philippe Gossart AFC is filming on Apple TV+’s Silo S3. Steve
Lawes is lensing NCIS Europe in Budapest. Sam McCurdy ASC BSC is filming the finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender S2 for Netflix. Andy McDonnell is shooting C5’s Murder Before Evensong Richard Mott has wrapped The Jury S2 for C4. Richard Stoddard recently finished working on BBC’s The Guest Robin Whenary recently wrapped on an episode of Call The Midwife S14 for BBC.
Images: (top down, l-r) Will Lyte on The Fixer; Chris Maxwell with camera and grip team on Buccaneers S2; Chris Maxwell B-cam/ Steadicam, with Luke Coulter A-cam and DP Mick Coulter BSC; two more of Chris Maxwell Chris Maxwell; and two of Jo Jo Lam.
FAVOURABLE FORECAST
Across the industry, everyone’s hard work last year, both in front of the camera and behind-the-scenes, has put the industry in a strong position for the year ahead. UK production excellence has shone through once more with made-in-the-UK films such as Wicked – which over the holidays brought box office magic to cinemas in the UK and globally –through to Paddington In Peru, and independent films such as Wicked Little Letters and Kneecap. Not to mention headline high-end TV shows such as Slow Horses, Baby Reindeer and Black Doves. Our final film and high-end television UK production spend statistics for 2024 come out shortly, but the nine-month marker registered an upturn at £4.7 billion.
Measures to support the industry made the headlines last year with two major Government interventions both coming into effect this year. The uplift in the rate of tax credit for VFX work in the UK came into effect on 1st January. The UK Screen Alliance which campaigned hard for the increase, coupled with an exemption from the 80% cap for VFX expenditure, estimates that our world-class VFX industry is set to attract an additional £175m a year of spend, creating 2,000 new jobs.
A major step forward was also landed for UK independent filmmaking, recognised across the industry as assailed by rising costs and reduced revenues, but which through the dint of its talent and creativity, continues to garner critical and awards acclaim at home and internationally.
Industry has welcomed the Enhanced Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (AVEC) for lower budget film, also referred to as the Independent Film Tax Credit (IFTC), for productions with a UK writer and/or director, or certified as a co-production. The IFTC (on core expenditure up to £15m and budgets under £23.5m) will be able to be claimed from 1st April 2025 for costs backdated to last April.
We all recognise that UK independent filmmaking holds inimitable cultural value that continues to resonate with audiences at home and abroad; who gets to make them is exciting and important for the sector creatively, as well as for audiences. Also, its role within the ecosystem in offering a space for creative risk-taking is vital.
Over the past two years we’ve been proud to support Charlotte Wells’s BAFTA-winning Aftersun, Molly Manning Walker’s Cannes Un Certain Regard winning How To Have Sex, Raine Allen Miller’s BAFTAnominated and BIFA-winning Rye Lane, and Luna Carmoon’s Venice-winning Hoard (shot by Nanu Segal BSC, one of a number of female cinematographers on
Everyone’s hard work has put the UK in a strong position for the year ahead
films we have supported), to name a few. Rich Peppiatt’s Kneecap has blazed a trail since its Sundance 2024 premiere through to the BIFAs, and is now lining-up on the Oscars shortlist alongside Sandhya Suri’s Cannesnominated Santosh
In supporting UK international collaboration, the UK Global Screen Fund (UKGSF), which the BFI manages on behalf of Government, has backed 51 international co-productions to date involving UK partnerships with 32 territories; every £1 of UKGSF funding generates £22 of net benefit.
Looking forward there is still work to be done, much of which is likely to be on the agenda for the renewed Culture, Media & Sport Committee. Here are some of the key areas that we are looking at.
Our sector offers high-skilled career opportunities, however, the current (largely freelance) workforce lacks diversity in key areas and faces a challenge around retention which is fundamental to growth and success. Whilst the BFI cannot solve this alone, we have launched a new £1.5m WorkWise For Screen pilot programme, which will support the sector to navigate changes to UK employment law, and act as
a free single point of access to resources and advice for employers and employees to adopt ‘good work’ principles and practices.
Innovation is vital to UK businesses and creatives looking to utilise and protect their intellectual property, and to also embrace new technologies. In addition to our Innovation Fund offering support to address key challenges facing the sector, we are keen to consider how the creative industries could be supported to better access R&D financing. We are also engaging with the work of the Intellectual Property Office on copyright and artificial intelligence; regulation and legislation that help to establish a universally implementable system, which supports right holders whilst making the most of the opportunities AI offers to the creative industries will be imperative.
The screen sectors can deliver growth, jobs and investment across the UK, from clusters of development and production activity, as well as through cinemas that drive high-street footfall and offer local communities access to one of our most popular forms of culture. We are keen to see areas empowered so they can coordinate support for their local sector, through spending, policymaking and partnership with UK-wide organisations, such as the BFI and ScreenSkills.
We face a number of challenges in developing audiences. Our research shows how important streaming platforms are as part of the audience offer, as well as investing in production. But it also shows that cinemas often act as vital cultural hubs for their local communities. However, amidst financial uncertainty resulting from rising costs and box office returns that remain below pre-pandemic levels, cinemas are increasingly reliant on established franchises.
Additionally, we are looking to how the sector can become more environmentally-sustainable, including by working with industry and government partners to develop decarbonisation and energy efficiency initiatives, such as the roll-out of sustainable grid connections for unit bases at highuse locations across the UK.
This is by no means an exhaustive agenda, just some our key areas of focus in doing all that we can by working with industry and partners UK-wide to ensure that we capitalise on the strengths of the sector across creativity, tech, craft and business development. Here’s to a good 2025.
Harriet Finney BFI Deputy CEO/Director Of Corporate & Industry Affairs www/bfi.org.uk
A FAIR SHOUT!
What a privilege it has been to be here at this extraordinary festival,” declared Cate Blanchett to the audience during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Camerimage Film Festival, where the double Oscar-winning actress was chair of the main competition jury.
Referring to the much-discussed topic of representation in the industry, particularly women behind-the-camera, her subsequent words were interrupted by frequent bursts of enthusiastic applause.
“There is a formidable network here. I’m challenging myself, and I challenge you all, to turn these conversations into action. Challenge the producers, the studio heads and the streaming executives, to take the same risks with women as they do with male cinematographers.”
Calls for increased representation and opportunities for women and under-recognised groups, have since reverberated around the world. We asked a number of filmmaking organisations and associations about what they are doing to help bring about change.
WOMEN IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
EnergaCamerimage’s historical exclusion of all but a few women is the reason that Women In Cinematography (WIC) – the collective of filmmakers across the globe –was formed in 2024. Everyone who has been connecting with WIC’s activities or supporting its petition (https://bit.ly/WICpetition) for EnergaCamerimage to make positive changes in the future, has done it because they care about the festival, and consider it their duty to help it stay relevant within the cinematographic community. Camerimage is a central event of the year for the global community and everyone recognises the huge work put into organising the event by its leaders and team.
The WIC collective now comprises people from dozens of collectives and associations around the world, with support from industry organisations, and over 4,000 signatures to its petition.
WIC cares about the festival’s successful evolution and that it reflects the highest standards of the film industry, with open inclusion and diversity. WIC hopes initiatives will lay the groundwork for meaningful dialogue and lasting progress that will achieve the aims outlined in the petition to:
• Increase representation: ensure a fair gender balance in your invitations to panellists, jurors and featured filmmakers.
• Support traditionally overlooked talent: create programmes that promote and nurture mid-career cinematographers and film professionals from under-recognised groups, including women. For instance, opening up the TV competition to cinematographers of later episodes.
• Improve transparency & accountability:
publish annual reports on diversity within the festival’s participants and screened filmmakers to demonstrate a genuine commitment to parity, and inspire greater transparency and faith that the festival’s selection process is fair.
• Promote equal opportunities: implement policies that support inclusion and advancement across all aspects of the festival, on and off the screen.
ACS
The Women In Cinematography collective’s campaign for greater diversity and inclusion at the 2024 EnergaCamerimage Festival drew global attention. ACS members closely-followed WIC’s actions in highlighting the demand to showcase women’s cinematography and encouraging broader and gender equity.
New initiatives in Australia, such as the South Australian Film Corporation’s Diversity Attachment Scheme, are creating opportunities for aspiring cinematographers from under-represented groups. This programme pairs trainees from diverse backgrounds with industry professionals on major productions, giving access to highly-valuable mentorships. And, the Credit Maker programme, financed by Screen Australia, has now successfully completed four placements on long-form TV series. Two of those cinematographers have already been contracted to shoot their first TV series or movie, as a direct result of their Credit Maker placement.
In 2023, Screen Australia expanded its First Nations Screen Strategy to back projects led by Indigenous creators. Recent films like Sweet As (2022), directed by Nyul Nyul/Yawuru filmmaker Jub Clerc, and shot by DP Katie Milwright ACS, have achieved critical acclaim, bringing Indigenous stories to the forefront. The film’s success at international festivals, including winning the Crystal Bear at Berlinale, demonstrates the global appetite for authentic representation.
Short-forms, such as Dipped In Black (2023), co-directed by Yankunytjatjara artist Derik Lynch, and photographed by Andrew Gough, demonstrate the power of diverse voices in shaping compelling, authentic stories. It won multiple awards at the Berlin, Sydney and Melbourne Film Festivals amongst others.
Achieving diversity in cinematography requires constant and continuous action and work, from education and training to global recognition of diverse talent including at festivals such as EnergaCamerimage. With recent successes and initiatives, the Australian industry is, albeit gradually, moving toward a richer, more inclusive cinematic landscape.
Erika Addis ACS National President Australian Cinematographers Society
ASC
In 2016, the American Society Of Cinematographers – under the guidance of cochairs Cynthia Pusheck ASC and Johnny Simmons ASC, and named by Mandy Walker ACS ASC – proudly established the ASC Vision Committee. Its stated mission is: “To encourage and support the advancement of under-represented cinematographers, crew and other filmmakers, and to inspire us all to enact positive changes through hiring talent that reflects the world’s society at-large.”
The committee set forth a list of goals to foster diversity within the industry – especially amongst the cinematography community, including our beloved organisation – and to help build the filmmaking careers of individuals facing hurdles due to race, gender or sexual identity.
Key initiatives included:
• Supporting underrepresented camera people and DPs as they move up the ranks, or build their careers.
• Giving back and encouraging the next generation of filmmakers.
• Outreach within the membership, to connect with new, younger and non-LA based ASC members, so that they can become more active within the society.
• Supporting the pipeline into the film industry for under-represented people aspiring to join the industry, by helping groups that offer training for entry-level film work
Taking strides to achieve those goals, we’ve foundationally established scholarships for ASC Master Class students, as well as a hugely-successful ASC Mentorship programme, which is overseen by our actively-involved Mentorship Committee. We are excited that a great number of our former mentees and scholarship awardees have built successful careers. And we’re pleased to see significant growth in the number of diverse ASC members.
Additionally, the ASC Vision Committee has participated in countless events, including hosting networking events at the ASC Clubhouse, coordinating presentations at trade shows and film festivals, participating on panels and guest-teaching at filmschools.
Over the years, we’ve built a community-network of supportive vendors and organisations to advance our education and outreach efforts.
EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION•
Netflix, Panavision, Cinemoves, Women In Media, Kelsow Camera, Local 600 and Sony have been especially invaluable collaborators. Looking back on a decade of work, we take pride in the positive impact we’ve made on the filmmaking community and remain deeply committed to continuing our efforts.
Shelly Johnson ASC President American Society Of Cinematographers
AFC
In the French cinema industry, most department heads are white men, and this is even more
obvious in technical departments. The AFC has a group within our association that is working hard to change the lack of parity and diversity in admissions.
For the past three years, this group has been encouraging female cinematographers to apply for AFC membership. Currently there are 30 women out of 190 members (15%). We have no data on diversity in the wider industry, as making such statistics is forbidden in France.
We hope that diversity and inclusion policies in
The film industry’s inequality is just a tip of an inequality iceberg
filmschools will bear results so that the profession continues to evolve. And we hope that stories told by the films themselves will also encourage people from different backgrounds to pursue careers in the industry.
Last year we had the first edition of the AFC Awards, 15 men were nominated and only one woman. This was not so far-removed from the actual male/female ratio in our profession, but it did not change the way it was portrayed.
That’s why for its second edition, the AFC Awards decided to create a Mise En Lumière
Award (Spotlight) for female cinematographers. Its aim is to help overcome stereotypes, to highlight their work and to send a message to young women that this profession is as open to them, just as it is to their male counterparts.
After announcing the award, we contacted female cinematographers and asked them to submit the features, documentaries and series they had worked on. We sincerely hope that this award will act as a catalyst.
Across all categories, the proportion of women was higher than last year. There are five women and 13 men nominated. In particular, there were as many men as women in the first or second features for a cinematographer category.
The nominees in the Mise En Lumière category are the female-cinematographers who wished to participate, and who received the highest number of points in the first round of voting, all categories included.
For the second round of voting, this category will work like all the others, with one of the nominees winning the Mise En Lumière Award. There’s another special feature: this is a prize that can only be won once. And we hope that it won’t have to exist for too long.
Nathalie Durand AFC Vice President Association Of French Cinematographers
BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE
The British Film Institute (BFI) was established in 1933 to encourage the development of the arts of film, television and the moving image throughout the UK. Along with many initiatives, today it promotes BFI Diversity Standards, a flexible framework, developed to be used by organisations and individuals in the screen industries.
The core purpose of the Diversity Standards is to provide a framework whereby all individuals working on projects can bring about industry-wide change. We believe that if meaningfully-utilised, this can help address underrepresentation. The eligibility requirements of the BFI Diversity Standards provide a baseline, and from this the ambition should be to achieve higher levels of diversity and inclusion.
The Diversity Standards are a contractual requirement for all BFI funding and are also part of the eligibility criteria of the BIFAs and some BAFTA Film Awards, and by mandating these standards we hope for wider adoption for best practice.
There are five categories (A-E) in the Diversity Standards for film. Standard B addresses a project’s ‘Creative leadership and project team’. Productions trying to meet this standard, would need to recruit people to key creative roles, including the
cinematographer, from under-represented groups. Recruiting female cinematographers is a way of helping a production meet BFI Diversity Standards.
This is just an example of numerous ways – at various points of a film’s lifecycle – where the Diversity Standards are designed to make people consider how they can meaningfully address underrepresentation. This ranges from what’s on-screen, who is behind-the-camera and part of the film, as well as how the film is promoted.
We have several female cinematographers on titles currently shooting, but those films haven’t been announced as yet. But, some brilliant female DPs we›ve had on some of our recent titles include: Rachel Clark BSC on Edge Of Summer, written/directed by Lucy Cohen; Josée Deshaies on Harris Dickinson’s untitled directorial debut; Luciana Riso on Retreat, written/directed by Ted Evans; Tasha Back on Girl, written/directed by Adura Onashile, and also on In Camera, written/ directed by Naqqash Khalid; Nanu Segal BSC on Hoard, written/directed by Naqqash Khalid; and Molly Manning Walker on Scrapper, written and directed by Charlotte Regan.
Hoyes Director Of Inclusion
British Film Institute
Melanie
GREAT DEBATE•EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
IMAGO –D&I COMMITTEE
IMAGO’s D&I Committee has been working to change the industry since 2016 and our goal has always been to make ourselves redundant. The day we feel that D&I Committee is no longer needed, will be a day of celebration! But, until that day, there is still a lot to be done. In 2025, we find ourselves still waiting for real, meaningful change, without tokenism and under-recognition.
The Past: D&I Committee was proposed in 2016 by Nina Kellgren BSC and received full support from the IMAGO board and at IMAGO General Assembly later that year. Subsequently Nina and Elen Lotman ESC became the founders and co-chairs of the committee. The first task was to reach-out to Camerimage, as it was and still is the most central event in the cinematography world.
The festival welcomed our initiative, and together with Illuminatrix, we organised the first ever diversityfocused event and continued to hold these events for five years. Over the years we organised many
different events – tens of masterclasses, panel discussions and presentations dedicated to diversity in cinematography – diversity in all its forms, including gender, ethnicity, age and identity.
Over the years, we wrote numerous articles and opinion pieces to different media outlets. We represented IMAGO on diversity issues at many international events, including the ASC Summit, Cinegear, Manaki Brothers Film Festival, Camerimage Film Festival, BSC Expo, Paris Micro Salon, etc.. Inspired by these, many new female
I’m challenging myself, and I challenge you all, to turn conversations into action
cinematographers’ collectives were established globally and the stone we threw into the pond has been sending ripples in wider and wider circles ever since.
Nothing can be achieved alone, so we reached-out to friends everywhere. Our events have been kindly sponsored by ARRI, Vantage Hawk, Panavision, Panalux and many others, and we have partnered with numerous organisations including Illuminatrix, ASC Vision Committee, Digital Orchard Foundation and many more.
Our work has always stemmed from the idea that people behind-the-camera should represent the full spectrum of human society. We have learned
from our members that each country, and each culture, has its minorities, and that people from these groups always face invisible and visible barriers on their road towards telling their stories with a camera. Each of our member societies is unique, but the struggle is shared.
The present: Our current projects include IMAGO Camera’s ‘I Of The lens’ exhibition, showcased in Berlin during the Berlinale, in Munich during Euro Cine Expo and in Bitola during the Manaki Brothers Film Festival. With more than 40 unique breath-taking B&W portraits made by artist Susanna Kraus, curated by Vika Safrigina, this exhibition raised visibility of diverse cinematographers across our industry, presenting those who are always behindthe-camera and celebrating their work. The exhibition is supported by IMAGO, Sumolight, Leitz Cine and Tallinn University Baltic Film & Media School research fund.
Together with IMAGO’s Working Conditions Committee (WCC), we are in the middle of an historic survey on cinematographers’ working conditions that aims to give real and concrete numbers about the situation of cinematographers’ working-lives in Europe and globally, also including an overview of minority cinematographers’ livelihoods and well-being.
In addition to IMAGO, the survey has been kindly supported by many member societies, including AAC, IKS, BSC, ESC, FNF, the Norwegian Filmworkers Union, Tallinn University Baltic Film & Media School research fund and The Estonian Association Of Audiovisual Authors.
2025 is going to be very exciting year for us, as the Vienna-based FORBA research institute analyses the results of the survey and gives us the biggest global overview to-date, that will hopefully
have a big effect on understanding what needs to be done to improve things.
And of course, the highlight of 2024 for D&I Committee was that we were part of forming the super-collective Women In Cinematography, helping women cinematographers to reach an historic milestone by uniting global efforts to address systemic barriers.
The future: Our membership spans the globe, the pictures are varied and depend on the specific struggles each country is facing. But there isn’t any country where, when we have asked female
cinematographers, ‘How are you doing?’, that they have replied, ‘Oh, it’s perfect here. I feel that I am judged by merit only and the opportunities I get are equal to my male colleagues.’ There are places where things are hard and places where things are even harder.
Our Indian members at the ISC felt the need to have a platform showcasing work done by female cinematographers. To this end, Pooja Gupta IWCC ISC recently created the Flare Cinematography Film Festival (https://www.flarecff.com), to give female
EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION•
countries report that the issue of censorship is a huge obstacle to diversity and inclusion efforts. The fight must continue everywhere. The film industry’s inequality is just a tip of an inequality iceberg.
In order to change the world, information is the most powerful weapon. Professional magazines, like Cinematography World, could feature a regular space for international diversity and inclusion news, so that progress in some parts of the world could inspire and inform the rest.
Because the issue with diversity in cinematography is a systemic problem, the response needs to be systemic too. It means very many small changes at all levels of the industry. For younger generations, mentorship shadowing or credit-maker programmes can support entry into the industry. And the visibility of minority cinematographers can help all young people see themselves as cinematographers.
For more experienced professionals, the glass ceiling can start to crack if their work is promoted and more widely-seen by agents, producers, media and at festivals. For our most seasoned members, we have to tackle ageism – a persistent and underaddressed issue. Discrimination tends to have a compounding effect: in cinematography, if you are a woman, you have fewer opportunities to prove your merit. If you are from a minority ethnicity, these opportunities lessen even more. Add to it your sexuality, physical capacities, neurodiversity and also age, it can lead to a complete lack of possibilities to prove your merit. Yet, with all these characteristics being part of your identity, what you really are is unique, experienced, empathetic and resilient. Isn’t that something every cinematographer should strive to be anyway? Isn’t that someone who every director and producer should look for in order to create the most interesting or idiosyncratic images for their film?
cinematographers more exposure and visibility. All cinematography societies, sponsors, manufacturers and cinematographers should support the creation and development of grassroots events like this in their respective regions.
“If you can see it, you can be it” was the title of the very first Camerimage diversity day organised by IMAGO’s D&I Committee and Illuminatrix. It is still paramount that female cinematographers’ work and personalities are visible, in order to inspire others. For coming generations, visibility is not only important behind-the-camera but also in front of the classroom. Our members report that having a woman teaching cinematography has been a powerful factor in changing their own and also male students’ perceptions.
Equality in the film industry is tied tightly to the overall society. Our members from Turkey and other
It is important that we continue participation in panels, festivals and other events, talking about these issues and raising the voice on our simple yet profound goal: equal opportunities for everyone, until we wake up on that day of celebration when our committee should no longer exist.
IMAGO D&I members have already participated on the ICLS’s “Equity In The Industry” roundtable, and at the Paris MicroSalon. We will also be at the IMAGO General Assembly prior to ABC Week Brazil in May, Euro Cine Expo in Munich in June and Manaki Brothers in September, just to name some of the future events.
But the most concrete next steps, the ones outlined in Women In Cinematography’s call for action to Camerimage, are the first that should be taken. We hope results will be seen already in the programme of the next edition.
Bojana Andric SAS Interim chair, IMAGO D&I Committee
ICLS – INTERNATIONAL CINEMA LIGHTING SOCIETY
The ICLS’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility Committee is responsible for explaining, promoting, encouraging and cultivating a global film industry that is committed to foster a culture of equality, respect and openness. The committee strives to eliminate barriers, challenge biases and champion the representation of diverse voices within the lighting community. Through education, advocacy and collaboration, it aims to create an inclusive and accessible environment that empowers every member to contribute their unique perspectives to the world of cinema lighting.
Dessie Coale Co-Chair ICLS DEIA Committee
PRODUCTION GUILD OF GREAT BRITAIN
Our EDI committee is proud to build on the foundations laid down by the DIAG group, continuing its invaluable work in fostering impactful efforts to promote inclusion across our industry. Supporting our senior leadership teams, and also nurturing our junior members, with tools and strategies to improve inclusive industry hiring practices, is essential both now and for the future. We at the PGGB are committed to supporting this through our training and mentoring initiatives.
Improving diversity and inclusion in the film and TV workforce must underpin all that we do. The new EDI committee brings together respected voices from across the production landscape. I know they will help us move forward with initiatives that will break down barriers and create pathways for under-represented talent to improve the industry for current and future generations.
Valeria Bullo
Production Wellbeing & Inclusion
Consultant
Chair of PGGB
ED&I Committee
IT’S SHOW TIME!
The BSC Expo 2025, taking place at Battersea Evolution on 14th and 15th February, is just the ticket to join with friends and colleagues once more. Here are some of the highlights on the show floor...
APUTURE (209)
Step into the future of LED innovations with the latest lighting technology from Aputure. Their stand is the place to experience the new Storm 80c and 1000c, featuring the innovative BlairCG light engine. These two tuneable colour COB lights deliver industry-leading colour accuracy and an extended white light adjustment of 1,800K-20,000K CCT with 100% +/green control.
ARRI (323)
ARRI is showing its latest camera and lighting products. The newest member of ARRI’s lens family, the ARRI Ensō Primes, will be prominently on-display. These lightweight and versatile lenses deliver exceptional images in almost any condition.
The Alexa 35 Live – Multicam System has taken the world of live production by storm. Visitors
ARRI RENTAL (323)
This show marks the debut of ARRI’s new, compact and lightweight 65mm camera, the Alexa 265, presented by ARRI Rental. Arriving exactly ten years after the hugely-successful Alexa 65, the Alexa 265 already has leading cinematographers lining-up to work with it on major productions. Visit the stand for a hands-on look at
BLACKMAGIC
(352)
You can also expand your lighting horizon and by the possibilities of the Infinimat, the brighter and lighter inflatable lighting solution – which is full-colour, pixel-controllable, weather-proof and infinitely configurable with multiple sizes. Make your set-ups quicker and easier with this inflatable light that ensures colour precision and
can see how the system seamlessly integrates into existing live production environments and provides the full functionality of a system camera, whilst
enhanced light output, combined with fine-tuned dimming capabilities in rental-grade construction. www.aputure.com
retaining the flexibility of a dockable camera setup. Additionally, the system goes hand-in-hand with ARRI’s camera stabiliser systems.
Attendees can also experience ARRI’s latest lighting tools, such as the SkyPanel Pro and new L-Series Plus, whilst cutting-edge Claypaky equipment rounds out the luminary portfolio. An additional booth highlight will be a Virtual Production wall where you can discuss colour management and stage set-ups with specialists. www.arri.com
the camera, with its revised sensor, higher sensitivity and dynamic range, unique filter cartridge system and amazingly compact form factor.
Explore the Blackmagic Ursa Cine 12K LF and Pyxis 6K cameras alongside DaVinci Resolve 19. Designed for modern productions, these tools offer a streamlined set-to-post cloud-based workflow, empowering teams to collaborate more effectively.
The Ursa Cine 12K, built for high-end production, features a new large-format
CINELAB FILM & DIGITAL (34)
Cinelab Film & Digital is the only full-service film laboratory and digital dailies facility in the UK. It has the widest range of film and digital services in Europe and has helped play a huge part in the resurgence of shooting on film.
Join the team during the show to explore the company’s
CINEO LIGHTING (355)
Cineo Lighting is a pioneer in the LED lighting industry, offering best-in-class lighting technology to productions and broadcast studios across the globe. Attendees will
RGBW sensor with 16-stops of dynamic range, interchangeable lens mounts and professionalgrade Lemo and Fischer connections. It also includes 8TB of built-in storage and high-speed networking for offloading media.
The compact Pyxis 6K supports a full-frame 6K sensor, a built-in optical low-pass filter and dual Cfexpress card recorders. It is also
comprehensive range of services, including film
have the opportunity to be among the first to see Cineo’s latest innovation for the Reflex R10 LED lighting fixture – the Colour Tower!
In addition to this highly-
In addition, ARRI Rental will showcase its new Alexa 35 Monochrome camera, a native B&W version of the Alexa 35 with improved sensitivity and contrast – arguably the best image-quality ever seen in a Super 35 cinema camera. Alongside the cameras will be a curated selection from ARRI Rental’s extensive offering of exclusive large-format optics, including the Alfa Anamorphics, vintage-style DNA and Moviecam lens series, plus the quirky Heroes collection.
available in EF, PL or L-Mount lens options. Like the Ursa, it includes proxy recording, making it easy to review or share footage, enabling streamlined workflows on-set.
www.blackmagicdesign.com
processing, digital dailies, scanning, colour grading, restoration, DFD (Digital-Film-Digital) and more.
Cinelab offers cutting-edge solutions tailored to meet your film and digital workflow needs. Whether you’re a seasoned cinematographer or a budding new filmmaker, the team will be on-hand to provide expert advice and support, and offer bespoke solutions from production to screen for all projects, whether you’re shooting film, digital, or both.
www.cinelab.co.uk
anticipated addition for the R10, Cineo’s stand will incorporate the Quantum series of large and small soft lighting units – the Quantum II and Quantum Studio – and will provide hands-on experiences that attendees will surely enjoy. cineolighting.com
CINTEK (128)
Experience the vision and artistry of Caldwell Chameleon lenses, where the new UltraWide Anamorphic will be on-show. Caldwell was founded by renowned optical designer Brian Caldwell, who has dedicated himself to pushing the boundaries of lens innovation and performance. The Caldwell Chameleon Anamorphics are known for their classic look and subtle elegance, whilst elevating visuals with unique flares and subtle character. Designed for modern filmmaking, their reduced moiré ensures seamless integration into VP workflows.
CVP (M007)
CVP is back on the mezzanine level at the show, bringing a flavour of its worldleading support and advice. As Europe’s leading independent reseller, CVP supports the global filmmaking community with cutting-edge cinematography, video and photography equipment. Its comprehensive sales and support infrastructure offers creative consultations, financial advice, technical services and professional repairs
DOPCHOICE
Caldwell lenses have been used by DPs worldwide on productions such as The Mandalorian & Grogu (2026), Star Wars Ahsoka, The Umbrella Academy (S4), Renegade Nell, Silo and The Perfect Couple. Exciting new focal lengths are on the horizon. Whether you’re crafting epic adventures or intimate dramas, Caldwell Chameleons just might be the ones for you!
at manufacturer-accredited service centres, ensuring storytellers have the tools they need to succeed.
(c/o LCA 133)
DoPchoice, known for its game-changing light-shaping gear, is introducing fresh innovations. New Spill Killers, in 6x6, 8x8 and 12x12 (and soon 20x20) sizes, slip around a butterfly frame to cover the gap between scrim, grid or flag and the frame, elegantly preventing light leaks.
Look upwards at the show for the latest addition to the AirGlow family – the AirGlow Float Round. It features a structure of inflatable adjustable rings,
FUJIFILM (121)
Fujifilm will show its latest, premium range of Fujinon lenses and the latest mirrorless digital cameras. For the first time you’ll be able to see the new GFX Eterna Filmmaking camera. Also on the stand will be the range of awardwinning Duvo lenses, paired with the Agito remote camera platform from Motion Impossible, enabling full remote cinematic masterpieces. Check-out the industry-leading GFX100 II
GODOX (M001)
with three hanging points. The Round is easily lofted into place, optimal for modifying hanging panel lights, with attachable black skirt and white diffusion cloth. Its circular frame can also be used as a lightweight large bounce by removing the skirt and affixing an inner circular white back.
Also on display will be the inflatable AirGlow Booklight, designed to make the most of popular panel lights in 1x1, 1x2 and 2x2 sizes, plus previews of other upcoming light solutions. www.dopchoice.com
which has 102 million pixels, and the latest fifth generation X Series cameras, namely the X-H2S with its open-gate 6.2K shooting capability and ultra-
At the Godox stand you’ll find the latest addition to its Knowled series: the full colour RGB Flexible LED Mat Series, a great choice for versatile lighting. Compared to the bi-version (F200/400/600Bi), the RGB model is lighter and more powerful at the same size, with various
control options and significant improvements in waterproofing. This series is available in five sizes, all equipped with built-in CRMX and full IP54 protection. All designed to meet the diverse needs of filmmakers, photographers and content creators www.godox.com
Along with all kit on display, watch out for Angénieux who will join CVP to showcase its celebrated and much-loved optical technology with the EZ range, Optimo Ultra, Optimo Ultra Compact and Optimo Prime series.
www.cvp.com
www.fujifilm.com
low rolling shutter, plus the 8K-capable X-H2. Both will be displayed with a mix of lenses including the Premista full frame zoom cine lenses to showcase how Fujifilm can offer a complete solution of camera and lens.
GREAT GEAR GUIDE•BSC
GREEN VOLTAGE (008 + Outside)
As the name aptly suggests, Green Voltage provides sustainable battery and hybrid power solutions, specially tailored for the film and TV industry. Its mission is to reduce carbon emissions whilst delivering silent, reliable power for productions of all sizes, from studios to remote locations. Its cutting-edge E-Gen Range includes: 2kWh Instagrids – compact, portable power for small setups; 5kWh VoltStacks – durable units, doubling as
UPS; 10kWh Wattmans – portable power for midscale productions; and 60kWh–150kWh RoadTowable Units – high-capacity systems with remote monitoring.
GRIP FACTORY MUNICH (GFM) (151)
GFM is excited to return to the expo and show its full range of high-end grip equipment. Known for precisionengineered camera dollies, cranes, sliders, and track systems, GFM continues to set standards with its in-house machining and commitment to quality.
This year, the company will present new products from its partnerships with Modulus
KODAK (205)
The team from Kodak Motion Picture Film and Kodak Film Lab London will be available to discuss all aspects of the film workflow from shooting, processing, transfer, printing and scanning to longterm archiving – promoting 8mm, 16mm, 35mm and 65mm production, post and preservation in the UK.
LCA – LIGHTS CAMERA ACTION (133)
As a leading supplier to the film, broadcast and video industries, LCA Lights Camera Action provides innovative tools and solutions to enhance your production workflow. Its extensive range includes high-performance LED lighting, grip equipment, power solutions, cables, textiles and consumables.
This year the company will showcase a variety of cutting-edge products, including some exclusive previews of brand-new solutions from LiteGear, DoPchoice and Nanlux. In addition, LCA will host an on-stand demonstration of Image-Based Lighting (IBL), showing how lighting can seamlessly integrate with virtual production workflows. See how
LEE FILTERS (127)
If you are looking to work with film on your next project, or are interested in learning more, from the budgeting, selection and purchasing of the film, to the processing,
X truss systems and KFX Technology motion control solutions. These collaborations expand GFM’s offering, providing even more cutting-edge tools for cinematographers, grips and camera operators.
The show remains
Larger units integrate seamlessly with generators to create hybrid systems, reducing emissions and fuel costs. A recent project saved £65,000 and cut emissions by 98 metric tons.
For over seven years now, the firm has delivered clean, silent and efficient power, trusted by the industry’s best, providing sustainable energy without compromise. www.greenvoltage.co.uk
a key event for GFM, offering the opportunity to connect directly with industry professionals and showcase the latest innovations. Visitors are invited to explore and experience first-hand how its products can enhance their productions. www.gripfactory.com
dynamic fixtures bring LED wall content to life, offering realistic reflections, precision control and immersive storytelling like never before.
Immerse yourself in the Lightbridge World, featuring their newest precision reflectors, designed to transform lighting for photography and stop-
LEE Filters, part of the Panavision group’s endto-end offerings for imagemakers, is a premier global manufacturer of professional lighting filtration. The company will be in a dedicated booth to showcase its renowned technical, diffusion and colour-effect filters for
LEITZ CINE (419)
Experience the creative differences between the Leitz Hugo and Elsie prime lenses. Find out why these lenses are among the most popular lenses of the past year and were chosen by a number of award-winning cinematographers for their look, character and feeling.
post-production and preservation of your movie, the Kodak team will be available to answer your queries.
www.kodak.com/go/motion
motion animation. Experience first-hand how these innovative tools deliver control and finesse in crafting natural, dynamic light.
Other highlights include: Creamsource Vortex series, featuring the Vortex8 Soft, Vortex4 Soft, and the powerful Vortex24, delivering unparalleled output and colour accuracy; Lightbridge CRLS Reflectors, revolutionising the art of soft and natural lighting with efficient, high-quality reflectors; and DoPchoice, with its reinvented booklight, the Airglow and its joint-venture with Lightbridge, the Snapbag Glide. Versatile, easyto-use diffusion systems designed for efficiency on-set. www.lcauk.com
motion-picture lighting. Attendees can speak with LEE Filters representatives to learn more about the company’s complete range of solutions that help cinematographers, gaffers and other image makers precisely realise their creative intent. www.leefilters.com
Leitz has created new options for telling your story that blend vintage and modern aesthetics in a unique way. Explore 65mm format cinematography with the Leitz Thalia
lenses. Are you interested in telling bigger stories? Then the Thalia lenses embody the portraiture and grandeur of medium format with the beauty and grace of Leitz glass to bring a colourful, character-rich image that can be larger than life. www.leitz-cine.com
LIGHTBRIDGE
(c/o LCA 133)
Lightbridge, a leader in reflective cine illumination, is introducing the new Lightlab to provide tools, inspiration and collaboration to people who are passionate about light, and is offering two new natural-lighting advances.
Touch Proof CRLS Reflectors have been developed in collaboration with Japanese gaffer Naoya Hatta. This evolution solves the challenges of permanent stains and oxidation, without compromising the precision performance Lightbridge gear is known for. Rigorously tested by lighting professionals worldwide in the toughest
NANLITE (109)
Nanlux will introduce its latest LED light fixture that offers unprecedented power – the Evoke 5000B. It boasts an ultra-high output of 5000W, an IP66-rated lamp head, a colour temperature range of 2700K to 6500K, and green/magenta adjustment of ±80. It also supports a wide range of control methods, including on-board, Nanlink app, remote controller, DMX/RDM, Art-Net/ sACN, LumenRadio CRMX and wired controller. To enhance usability, the Evoke 5000B is
NEXT GEN BPS (303)
The NXTGENbps Swift, launching at BSC Expo 2025, is a dependable, portable, versatile and flight-safe power solution, ideal for demanding shoots and remote locations. Delivering a constant 3.6kW with a 2.2kWh capacity, it keeps your equipment running reliably. For extended run-time, up to four units can be linked, providing 8.8kWh, whilst its 18kW peak power
ONE STOP/K5600 (252)
BSC EXPO 2025 SPECIAL PREVIEW•GREAT GEAR GUIDE
environments, Touch Proof Precision Reflectors are ready for any set.
The C-100 Grid System, made in collaboration with cinematographer Manuel Billeter ASC, is a scalable solution connecting C-100 Reflector frames into larger, adaptable surfaces, ready to meet the demands of big-scale productions. Also, Futureproof Support Membership is a free scheme, offering special pricing, priority service, expert support and live chat. www.thelightbridge.com
can handle energyintensive devices with ease.
Built with solid-state lithium batteries, the Swift offers over 8,000 charge cycles, far outlasting standard options.
compatible with accessories of the Evoke 2400B, another model in the same series. This series also includes the widely-known Evoke 900C RGBLAC full-colour spotlight, and the Evoke 1200/1200B daylight/bi-colour lights.
In addition to the Evoke series, Nanlux/Nanlite invites visitors to experience its other hot-selling products including the Forza, PavoSlim, PavoTube series and related accessories. www.nanlux.com / www.nanlite.com
Fully-weatherproof (IP67), it performs in tough conditions, and its solar compatibility ensures sustainable charging anywhere. At just 25kg the Swift is lightweight and fully-certified as flight-safe, allowing for seamless transport on international shoots, thereby giving users peaceof-mind wherever they travel. Offering two-way charging and remote monitoring via its Wi-Fi-enabled app, the Swift is a practical choice for modern power needs.
www.nxtgenbps.com
One Stop has come-up with three major innovations, which will be premiered at the show. The C-Box is a set of ten sophisticated, yet easy-touse apple boxes. It enables you to attached them together on any of the six sides of the cube. At any time or side, you can slide in accessory plates such as a spigot plate or camera plate to mount any systems, plus a surface flat plate, so you can put the material you want. Not only it will help the grip and lighting crews, any department on a film set could use it.
PANAVISION (222)
Panavision, the worldclass provider of end-to-end solutions that power the creative vision of filmmakers, will showcase the breadth of its proprietary optics inventory, which covers the gamut from sharp to soft and high-contrast to low-contrast, offering filmmakers the creative freedom to select lenses whose optical
PANALUX (222)
The
is a
characteristics match their vision.
Products on display from the company’s extensive rental inventory will include Ultra Panatar II 1.3x Anamorphic lenses, VA and Panaspeed spherical prime lenses, and selected Panavised camera systems. The products
mighty cable roller. No more back pains for the crew and rental company employees. From 125-Amp 45ft cables to a 16-Amp extensions, you can roll them up and clean them in the process.
The Alpha Beta is more than an LED Fresnel. This 30W fixture is the final legacy of K5600 Lighting in the world of LEDs. A real, clean-cut Fresnel unit is made of aluminium to last a lifetime, and is available as three-unit kit with DMX and CRMX. www.k5600.eu
will be featured in a hands-on demonstration area shared with Panavision’s lighting division, Panalux.
A lens-comparison system will offer further insights into the optical attributes that distinguish one Panavision lens series from another. Attendees will also be able to connect with representatives from the wider Panavision group.
www.panavision.com
Panalux, a leading rental provider of lighting and power solutions for the motion-picture industry, and part of Panavision’s end-to-end service offerings for imagemakers, will spotlight a
number of products from its comprehensive lighting rental inventory.
Panalux will also showcase a selection of popular third-party products alongside proprietary
lighting innovations in a demonstration area shared with Panavision’s camera and optics division. Attendees will also be able to connect with representatives from the wider Panavision group. www.panalux.biz
Force One is part of One Stop’s mission is to make every day easier during the shoot. It
GREAT GEAR GUIDE•BSC EXPO 2025 SPECIAL PREVIEW
RED (022)
Red will display its latest generation of cinema cameras, including the allnew V-Raptor [X], that sets new standards in performance for filmmakers seeking uncompromised quality, versatility and efficiency in any environment.
RONFORD BAKER (200)
The Atlas 7 Mini Fluid Head is a brand-new fluid head, utilising the company’s proven Atlas system. Incorporating a strong, rigid design, and with tool less operation, the head allows fast changing of configurations, platform and post rotation, plus adjustable rising platforms. Full 2 axes and 360-degree camera rotation can be set-up in minutes. All fluid units are capable of 360-degree rotation and have variations of fluid control, plus zero (fluid free) positions, at both ends of the scale.
SONY (247)
Sony will show its extensive and evergrowing range of filmmaking and distribution technologies. The latest updates to its Cinema Line range will be on-display, including the Burano camera, with a V2.0 firmware update expected to ship from May 2025.
The expo will also see the company’s first full virtual production ecosystem – showcasing the state-of-the-art Verona display, combined with Sony’s flagship Venice 2 camera and its Sensor Extension kit. The solution will incorporate Sony’s latest VP toolset, which improves the pre-production
SUNBELT
RENTALS (333 + Outside)
Sunbelt Rentals has brought together six well-known film and television companies: Movietech, PKE Lighting, Alpha Grip, Media Access Solutions, Acorn Film & Video and JLL Group. Together, these provide a comprehensive offering, not only in camera and lenses but also in lighting, grip and location equipment, along with broadcast
ZEISS (319)
The brand-new Zeiss Supreme Zoom Radiance lenses will make their big-stage debut at the show. Thanks to their beautiful, consistent and controlled flares, these new zooms are great on their own, but also make a great match for the Radiance Primes, and even vintage glass.
The CinCraft Scenario camera tracking system, now compatible with virtually any spherical cine lens – Zeiss or nonZeiss – will be on-display too, ready for
The Red Workflow is designed to optimise the post-production process, enhance productivity, and maximise creativity in content creation. Experience the power of the Red Control Pro app, offering advanced remote control over
The Environmentally-sealed products deliver smooth, positive braking, and feature illuminated spirit levels. Fit the Atlas Mini 7 head onto a 14” x 14” cheese plate and the head becomes a low rocker. Replace the panbar with a wheel, add counterbalance weights and you have 360-rollover mode.
As well as manual operation, the head has also been motorised. Features include independent pan and tilt axis control, speed, feathering and dampening adjustment. www.ronfordbaker.co.uk
process and total colour management, so visitors will be able to see the full extent of the creative potential unlocked.
Alongside the virtual production ecosystem, Sony will demo its range of cinematography workflow tools, such as Ci Media Cloud, RAW viewer and Catalyst Browse.
Visitors will experience Sony production technology to its fullest, with section of the booth dedicated to Sony’s BVM-HX3110 Master monitor, with its sharp details and rich colours, and peak luminance of 4000 cd/m². www.sonycine.com
and technical production solutions.
DSMC3, Komodo-X, and Komodo cameras. Explore the app’s features and learn how it can elevate your productions to new heights. www.red.com
The company provides customised rental packages with personalised service built on trust, enabling it to to mobilise a wide range of
equipment, and its inhouse teams will do whatever it takes to support your production, from prep through to wrap.
The company’s mantra is, “Think of us as the team behind the crew. Skilled technicians, in-house production experts, and best-in-class maintenance teams who will do whatever it takes.”
www.sunbeltrentals.co.uk/sectors/film-tv/
comprehensive demos. Naturally, the company will show the smallest optics of its family, the Nano Prime lenses. Make sure to talk to experts about everything Zeiss, cinematography and camera tracking.
www.zeiss.com/cine
DAVID KLEIN, ASC (THE MANDALORIAN)
“StarWarsdemandsanantiquelookbutdeservesthefidelityandqualityofmodernoptics. The Caldwell Chameleonsdeliveredperfectly.”
Elevate your visuals with Caldwell Chameleon, delivering a classic anamorphic look with subtle elegance. Their flares and image character, reminiscent of vintage lenses, maintain a restrained and controllable character, while their reduced moiré ensures seamless integration into virtual production.
Notable productions include: The Umbrella Academy (Season4),StarWars:TheMandalorian(Season 3),StarWars:Ahsoka,Silo,Mrs.Davis,TheGreat, Renegade Nell, The Pentaverate, Night Teeth, and The Perfect Couple Chameleons are currently in use on Star Wars: TheMandalorianandGrogu(2026)
For more comprehensive information contact us at
MONUMENTAL
By Ron Prince
Shot by British DP Lol Crawley BSC on Kodak 35mm film – chiefly in VistaVision for dramatic impact –director Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist is a major contender during the 2025 awards season, yet it was made for under $10million.
Escaping post-war Europe as a Holocaust survivor, the film follows László Tóth, a visionary, Hungarianborn Jewish architect, who arrives in America, aiming to rebuild his life, his career and restore his marriage. On his own in a strange new country, he settles in Pennsylvania, but struggles to achieve the American Dream, until a prominent industrialist recognises his talent with the challenge of a grand project – The Van Buren Institute, a large modernist monument and community centre that includes a library, theatre, gymnasium and, at the insistence of the local municipality, a Christian chapel.
Divided into three acts, The Brutalist runs for a mighty 216-minutes, with a 15-minute intermission, making it a four-hour experience for cinema-going audiences. It was directed and produced from a script that Corbet co-wrote with Mona Fastvold, and stars Adrien Brody as László Tóth, with Felicity Jones as László’s wife Erzsébet, and Guy Pearce as Harrison Lee Van Buren, László’s wealthy client.
The film had its world premiere in competition at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, where Corbet won the Silver Lion for direction, and the movie was hailed by critics as both an engrossing epic and critique of the US immigrant experience. The film received 2025 Golden Globe awards for Best Motion Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. It has also earned Crawley
BAFTA and BSC nominations for Best Cinematography, amongst many other nods across the main categories.
The Brutalist is Crawley’s third feature collaboration with Corbet, the pair having worked previously together on the historical drama Leader (2015), and the musical film both of which were also shot on KODAK 35mm film.
“Brady told me about wrapped on Vox Lux mall in Upstate New York,” Crawley reveals. “He gave me a book about brutalist architecture, and said ‘This will be the next one’.
“It wasn’t until a few months later that he sent me the script, and that’s when I realised it was going to be much more about the complexities of the immigrant experience – assimilation, antisemitism and xenophobia – with architecture providing suitable metaphors. Brady always raises interesting questions in his films, something to get your teeth into afterwards over a drink, and this was yet another of those.
“This story had a long
timeframe – spanning László’s life during the 1950s, ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s – and explores what Brady called ‘the presence of the past’. Visually, he wanted the photography to have an archival quality, the feel of times gone-by, and used words like ‘patchwork’
Crawley says that along with exploring Corbet’s brutalist architectural references, the stills work of American photographer Saul Leiter also proved an inspiration in helping him take the look of the film back in time. He also reports that this timetravelling was aided in no small measure by the efforts of production designer Judy Becker, set decorator Patricia Cuccia, and costume designer Kate Forbes. The DP says he also considered modernist painters, such as Andrew Wyeth and Edward Hopper.
It’s such a beautiful privilege to operate the camera
Filming on The Brutalist was originally set to start in 2020, but it was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and additional delays concerning cast and crew members. After a six-week prep period for Crawley, principal photography started for real in March 2023, at locations around Budapest, Hungary. The production then moved to Carrara, Italy, where locations included the Riacci grocery store in Corso Rosselli, and the Bettogli and Bombarda quarries. A small camera unit was later dispatched to New York to film riverside and Manhattan exteriors, plus The Statue Of Liberty reveal that forms the opening shot of the film. For Crawley, all of this this represented a quickfire 34 shooting days, before production wrapped in early May 2023.
As for opting to shoot in VistaVision, Crawley says, “Brady is an incredibly visual storyteller, who often has wildly ambitious ideas that become my both my responsibility and opportunity to expand-on as we continually exchange ideas.
“With VistaVision, the clue is in the name itself. We scouted the magnificent landscapes of the quarries in Italy, where huge blocks of marble have been gouged from the cliff faces and galleries have been carved into the mountains since Roman times, and that’s where the idea for VistaVision first surfaced.
“Although we initially conceived that we would use
the format purely for big vistas like the quarries and the dockyards, we ended-up shooting the vast majority of film on VistaVision – close-ups, interiors and exteriors –as the images were extraordinary. It also seemed to us that the best way to access the main period in our film was to shoot using a technology that was engineered in that same decade.”
In a VistaVision camera, the 35mm filmstock is pulled horizontally though the gate, rather than vertically, and the frame has an 8-perf width. 1954’s White Christmas was the first Paramount film to utilise the VistaVision method, with other examples including Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 film Vertigo
As finer-grained film stocks appeared on the market, VistaVision became obsolete. However, in recent times, along with The Brutalist, the revival of the format includes The Battle Of Baktan Cross, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, scheduled for release in the summer of 2025.
On The Brutalist, the 8-perf VistaVision rushes were scanned, with the intention of also making prints for 70mm film release, which has the same image height and is the most practical format to show the original size of the VistaVision frame when projecting film.
The choice of film as the capture medium was never in doubt, as Crawley explains.
“Brady is a director who loves film and wants to
celebrate film. Even before we first worked together, it’s been his stipulation to shoot his films on film, chiefly for the way it looks in telling the story. On this production he was well aware that the VistaVision format, 70mm prints, the running time, and the even the intermission, would provide a different cinema experience for people.”
With VistaVision… the clue is in the name
The VistaVision camera and accompanying Leica-S lenses were rented from Camera Revolution, and prepped for action by the engineering team at Movietech (now part of Sunbelt Rentals), in London. Working with Vision Team in Budapest (now Vantage Vision), Crawley also hired ARRICAM ST and LT 35mm cameras for the shoot, plus the small, lightweight ARRIFLEX 235 35mm film camera for some handheld scenes, all using Cooke S4 optics. An ARRIFLEX 416 16mm camera was used to film documentary-style footage, using Zeiss Superspeeds, with a Digital
Images: courtesy of A24.
Betacam to create TV footage.
For scenes in the jazz club and intimate moments between László and Erzsébet, Crawley also secured the services and expertise of Lester Dunton, of Dunton Cine in London, who brought a specially-modified ARRIFLEX 435 35mm camera to the set, featuring a mis-timed shutter that created light-streaking effects on the captured image.
“The team at Movietech were incredibly helpful, and did a fantastic job in bringing the VistaVision camera up to scratch – milling new pieces, updating the electronics, and making sure the lenses worked as we wanted. The camera behaved perfectly-well during the shoot, when we were supported by local technicians Bálint Seres and Attila Ágoston who really knew their way around the camera.”
For the production, Crawley went with KODAK VISION 3 250D 5207/7207 and KODAK VISION 3 500T 5219/7219 35mm and 16mm, which he describes as, “my go-to film stocks. If was had to suddenly shoot first thing tomorrow morning, they would be the ones I would choose, because they have grain, and I like to feeling of texture in the image. I knew that I could film all of my day/ night interior/exterior shots on The Brutalist with 250D and 500T.
“When you shoot digitally, there a good chance you will see too much detail, in things like the costume, set design and make-up. Even though the resolution of film is technically very high, there’s something beautiful about it in the way obfuscates the image. It gives more of an impression of a time than being just a literal representation.”
He does, however, strike a note of caution. “On this production, there was the danger that the filmed images would have looked too clean and pristine, because of the absolutely extraordinary resolution of the VistaVision format, and with that I ran the risk of taking the audience out the movie.
“So I felt I needed to slightly roughen-up the VistaVision footage a little, in order to retain that filmic quality. I also tend to work quite naturalistically in terms of lighting, and that invariably saw us ending-up in low-light situations. Dealing with that involved quite a bit of push-processing, by one or one-and-a-half stops at the lab, to distress the film a little bit. I pushed some of the day scenes as well. When I got the dailies back from the lab, I was kind of gobsmacked at just how extraordinarily striking the pictures were.”
Film-processing and 4K scanning were done at Magyar Filmlabor/Hungarian Filmlab in Budapest, with the dailies and final DI grade overseen by freelance colourist Máté Ternyik, working out of The Post Office in Budapest.
Crawley says he sees himself as a cinematographer who leans more towards framing and camera movement than lighting per se Consequently, he opted to operate the cameras on all of the handheld sequences – such as the long
opening scene in which László fights his way through the bowels of the ship, the drunken party scene with Attila László’s cousin and his wife Audrey, plus the moment Van Buren finds Laszlo shovelling coal.
“I’ve always been drawn to naturalism, and tend to light for the space, protecting what we like about it and what we respond to, rather than imposing a particular lighting style. That allowed me to move the camera in a way that really connects with the character. DPs such as Robbie Ryan BSC ISC do that to such wonderful effect and, as a cinematographer, it’s such a beautiful privilege to operate the camera in those moments with the actors and to respond to them.”
On more complicated scenes, such as the long ‘oner’ when Erzsébet accuses Van Buren of assault during a dinner party at his house, Crawley handed the reins to Hungarian Steadicam operator Attila Pfeffer.
Film gives more of an impression of a time, rather than being just a literal representation
“Brady is very pragmatic, and doesn’t shoot a lot of coverage, preferring to let the camera blocking tell the story in a scene, especially during our longer takes which were often pivotal moments in the narrative.
“The sequence in Van Buren’s house, which is in effect a 360-degree shot, starts-out calmly-enough, but ends in chaos as Erzsébet is violently ejected from the house. Brady wanted the scene to feel as if the camera moved between different modes during the take – from floating to handheld and back to floating. Attila operated the Steadicam for the whole take, but has way of operating as if was a handheld camera. It was very challenging for him to manhandle the camera, and also in terms of concealing the lighting, but we managed to hide things where we could, and it worked out really well.”
Crawley concludes, “Brady is a very kind person, who has become a dear friend. Being incredibly-assured as a director, he is everything you could hope for in a collaborator. Under that influence, we became – crew and cast – one big family, which may sound a little trite, but that makes a huge difference when you’re away from home. It all contributed to a concise way of shooting the film, and working that way it’s amazing what you can achieve on a modest budget.”
BURNING HEARTS
By Darek Kuźma
Up-and-coming DP
Rina Yang BSC took Academy Awardnominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison ASC’s impressive feature directorial debut The Fire Insid e to the next level
This film is a balancing act of spectacle and intimacy
On the one hand, The Fire Inside is a fiery tribute to ferocious American boxer Claressa ‘T-Rex’ Shields, charting her turbulent path from a tenacious underprivileged teenage fighter from Flint, Michigan to two-time Olympic gold medallist. On the other hand, it depicts the numerous obstacles she had to overcome outside of the boxing ring – family problems, breaking through the glass ceiling of the social and cultural perceptions of women boxers – to become a fulfilled woman and ultimately a role model.
Part uplifting sports biopic, part bittersweet drama about resilience and representation, the story – based on a script written by Barry Jenkins – benefitted from juxtaposing and interweaving the visual styles of Morrison and Yang.
“I can do gritty and grounded with my eyes closed. I’m always naturalistic in my work, and try to keep a foot on the ground,” says Morrison. “But when I was looking in 2022 for a collaborator, I asked myself, ‘Do I want a DP who shoots exactly like me? Or do I want someone who’s going to bring something different to the table?’. I’d always been a fan of Rina’s commercial work and she seemed like the perfect person to elevate this story visually without making it feel glossy or artificial.”
Yang adds, “I loved the T-Rex: Her Fight For Gold (2015) documentary on which the script was based, and I had known Rachel for some time through our shared experience as cinematographers in the ‘boys’ game. So when Rachel asked me to shoot this film, it was a no-brainer.”
Morrison originally began prepping The Fire Inside in 2019 with DP Katelin Arizmendi ASC, but after a few days of shooting in early 2020, production was halted due to the Covid pandemic. When it resumed in 2022, Arizmendi’s schedule prevented her from continuing, though some of her footage – most notably the opening drone shot of Claressa running through Flint – was included in the final cut.
“I wanted to make people walk a mile in her shoes, while also making her story cinematic,” Morrison recalls. “For instance, the real boxing gym where she trained was a cramped yellow-and-purple
basement room, which wouldn’t work. Instead, we chose a space surrounded by windows to convey the contrast between the life outside and the life within. We made several such decisions, including our five major boxing sequences. It was challenging to achieve within a 38-day shoot, but I’m proud of the result.”
The Fire Inside was shot between April and July 2022 at various locations in Toronto, with a small crew traveling to Flint, Michigan, at the end of principal photography to capture exteriors that couldn’t be replicated in Canada.
When Rachel asked me to shoot this film, it was a no-brainer
“From the logline, it might seem like a straightforward film, but we dealt with multiple time periods, portraying Claressa at ages 12 through to 17,” explains Yang. “Not only did we have to recreate Flint, but also Shanghai and the London Olympics. Prep involved a lot of problem-solving and logistical challenges. We also shot-listed the entire film, ensuring each scene was approached in the right way.”
“As we were shooting summer-for-winter, we relied heavily on bluescreens, especially during the gym sequences,” Yang continues. “Inside, the gym was lit with an array of sprayed-up Titan tubes mimicking overhead fluorescents, while outside we used a combination of lights and bluescreens to block the sun or push the cold light into the space – even as temperatures soared.”
Both Morrison and Yang were adamant to keep the energy live and prioritise the performances.
“I don’t really believe in storyboarding unless somebody is mandating it,” reports Morrison. “I find the process quite rigid – you lose that beautiful balance and spontaneity. A shot list allows for
intention without locking you into specific choices. We included a notes section in the shot list with guidance like ‘Minimize her short side’ or ‘Allow for playing with frames,’ but avoided dictating exact angles. This flexibility let us pivot if the sunlight created something unexpected, or if a wall colour wasn’t as anticipated.”
Yang adds, “We’d block and adjust on the day, working off the plans with a fluid approach that I personally love. We were mindful not to lean too far into being overly arty or gritty – it was a studio film, after all – but the interplay between our visual styles really informed our decisions.”
For every grounded, realistic scene steeped in the spirit of American indie filmmaking, The Fire Inside offers at least one other unforgettable stylised sequence. Whether it’s Shields punching the air at night with snow drifting around her, or the effervescent chaos of Claressa and her friends at prom, these moments vividly pull us into her psyche.
“The training scene was a nice breather, inspired by the T-Rex: Her Fight For Gold documentary. We elevated it with how we used sodium lighting –mostly Tungsten gels with maybe CTO and Straw filters – which was characteristic of Flint in the 2000s,” Yang offers.
“One of my favourite shots,” emphasises the DP, “is of Claressa sitting in her room, holding a gold medal and reflecting on why her success didn’t change her family’s circumstances. She’s illuminated by the orange sodium light streaming through the windows, which we bounced using tiny Source 4s to reflect-off the walls and the medal, creating a warm, contemplative glow on her face.”
To capture the visual essence of The Fire Inside, the team opted for a combination of the Sony Venice and Panavision Panaspeeds, provided by Panavision Toronto. This set-up allowed the film’s realistic scenes to remain neutral while giving the stylised shots room to shine.
“Initially, with Katelin, we chose the Alexa LF, but with Rina we switched to the Venice 2 body paired with the Venice 1 sensor, as we felt like there was enough of an advantage with the Rialto mode’s compact size in tight spaces,” Morrison explains.
Images: BTS photos by Sabrina Lantos.
“I also found that the 8K sensor was too crisp and wanted to put the 6K sensor into the smaller body.”
Morrison continues, “I chose Panaspeeds back in 2019, and we stuck with them this time, although Rina de-tuned them even further. We collaborated with Guy McVicker at Panavision, Although he’s not as well-known as Dan Sasaki, he has been in the game just as long. I’ve worked with him since my days as an AFI student and consider him my patron saint of glass.”
Yang adds, “I modified the lenses to better suit the Venice cameras, lowering the contrast even further and adding a bit of halation. I initially hoped to avoid using diffusion filters, so I went heavier on the halation, but once we started shooting, I felt it wasn’t quite enough and ended-up using filters occasionally.
“For lighting, we relied heavily on ARRI SkyPanels and LiteGear Lite Mats for ambience, including simulating sunlight and Tungsten light. I’m not a big fan of HMI on the face – it doesn’t look great on skin – so we mainly used it outside the windows to accent the background.
“In terms of lenses, we primarily worked with focal lengths around 27-29mm and 40-50mm. Since we stayed close to Claressa most of the time, we only used longer lenses during some of the boxing scenes. For the Olympics final, we added an 11:1 zoom on the crane so we could shoot from a greater distance.”
Even though the boxing matches are not the star of the show, they were crucial to the film’s visual impact.
“I watched all the great boxing films and let them wash over me, but didn’t want to replicate any specific style. In visual terms, I aimed to keep each match fresh to avoid fight fatigue,” Morrison recalls.
“There’s almost nothing more dynamic than hand-to-hand combat in a confined space, but we weren’t focused on Claressa’s opponents. Instead, we grounded the fights in her story arc, contrasting the gritty, analogue feel of Flint with the flashy, LED-heavy atmosphere of China, where she feels out of place during the Olympics Qualifier.”
Morrison adds, “We also got creative with
logistics. For the London Olympics sequences, we transformed a beautifully pre-rigged ice hockey rink into a stadium. With 175 extras on set, we used postproduction to multiply them into a crowd of 17,000.”
We were mindful not to lean too far into being overly arty or gritty
Yang explains more about the camerawork. “We considered using tools like a Phantom camera or a body rig to add a flashy, stylised touch, but ultimately decided to experience the fights through Claressa’s point-of-view rather than over-stylise the moment.
The film opens with a complex ‘oner’, then one fight is lit entirely with Tungstens. Another was shot using a crane. And one employs the GiGi rig – a hybrid of Steadicam and handheld – to add a subtle shake and more energy. The Shanghai fights, on the other hand, featured a lot of LEDs and had a distinctly different vibe.”
Yang notes that the Shanghai sequences, filmed in a nightclub in Toronto, were especially challenging. “There was a lot of back-and-forth between us and the venue as we tried to integrate our lighting setup. Most of the LEDs you see in those scenes belonged to the club, including a central circular rig that moved up and down, which added excellent production value. We had to carefully structure the LEDs, run flicker tests, and even rig lights from a balcony, but in the end, it all came together beautifully.”
For Morrison, the scariest moment came while shooting a complex one-take fight scene.
“We had planned an intricate crane movement
that would go over the crowd and through the ring, then our operator would grab the camera and move with the boxers. We had four hours to complete the scene. We did several takes, but something wasn’t quite right – it wasn’t seamless. It was the only time I felt a moment of panic because we didn’t have a back-up plan. It turned out the magnet was too strong, and after a small adjustment – literally with a piece of Scotch tape – it started working like magic.”
On the other hand, Morrison found herself grateful for the opportunity to operate the camera on some scenes.
“Giving-up operating was the hardest thing for me – it’s such an intuitive and integral part of what I do. Thankfully, Rina preferred to mix lighting live on her mini lighting desk during the take, which gave me the chance to operate during some emotionally-charged handheld scenes.”
Yang was grateful to have the opportunity to choose her colourist.
“I’ve been working with Joseph Bicknell long before he joined Company 3. We were grading music videos in his tiny studio in Clapham, so he was an obvious choice for this film,” she explains.
“We started with four LUTs, each with different contrast, but ultimately used just two. One became our hero LUT, as the Sony Venice system combined with the lenses tended to produce a slightly magenta hue, which we had to correct in the grade. The rest of the process involved fine-tuning and adding some grain. It was a great experience, as was the collaboration with Rachel on her project.”
Morrison concludes, “This film is a balancing act of spectacle and intimacy. I believe it has a unique personality because it blends small, dramatic moments with big, dynamic scenes. With Rina as my partner-in-crime, I got to stay grounded, but every once in a while, I was able to soar too.”
SPELLBOUND
By Ron Prince
Captured on KODAK 35mm colour negative film by cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, director Robert Eggers’ gothic horror, Nosferatu, is as much a feast for the eyes as it is a test of the nerves.
The film reimagines FW Murnau’s legendary, silent German Expressionist vampire film, Nosferatu: A Symphony Of Horror (1922, DPs Fritz Arno Wagner & Günther Krampf), itself an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s ground-breaking 1897 novel Dracula
Set in the 1830s, real-estate agent Thomas Hutter ventures to the remote mountain home of a prospective client, the mysterious Count Orlok, unaware of the horror that awaits him there – for the reclusive Count is a bloodthirsty vampire, muchfeared by the local villagers. Orlok traps Hutter inside his castle and begins a plague of terror over Hutter’s home town of Wisborg, where Hutter’s new bride, Ellen, becomes haunted by horrific visions and an increasing sense of dread, as she encounters evil forces far beyond anyone’s control.
Nosferatu features an ensemble cast including Bill Skarsgård as Count Orlok, Nicholas Hoult and Lily-Rose Depp as Thomas and Ellen Hutter, with Willem Dafoe playing Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz, an expert in the occult and mysticism. Ralph Ineson features as Dr. Wilhelm Sievers who tries to treat Ellen using conventional medicines.
The film received widespread acclaim for its faithfulness to the source material, as well as Eggers’ direction, the performances, score, production and costume design, plus Blaschke’s brooding cinematography, which variously switches between pale and pastel colours, shadowy firelight and eerily luminescent moonlight, with unsettling camerawork. As one critic declared,
I wanted a softer look without excessive texture – like a subtle painter’s sfumato
Blaschke’s cinematography is reason-enough to watch the film.
Nosferatu represents Blaschke’s fourth feature collaboration with Eggers, following their work together on the director’s movie debut, the mid17th-century, supernatural horror, The Witch (2015), shot digitally. This was followed by the B&W psychological horror The Lighthouse (2019), and the Viking vengeance film The Northman (2022), both of which were shot on KODAK film.
Blaschke was Oscar and BAFTA-nominated for his work on The Lighthouse, and won the prestigious ASC Spotlight award for that film. He has already won multiple awards for his work on Nosferatu, including the Outstanding Achievement In Cinematography from the National Board Of Review. Nosferatu is widely-tipped for further accolades during the 2025 awards season.
A cinematography graduate of The School of Visual Arts New York City, Blaschke first met Eggers in Manhattan, after receiving an email from the then would-be director regarding a short film entitled The Tell-Tale Heart (2008), based on a short story by American writer Edgar Allen Poe.
“After film school I shot a variety of student shorts on 16mm, then 35mm film,” Blaschke recalls. “I became confident in lighting and exposing for film, and as the projects got bigger, I was eventually doing things like shooting 35mm Anamorphic, lighting city blocks and process trailer work. It was a strange era of big-budget student films.
“I managed to build a reel and my local agent posted it online. Rob, who was working as a waiter at the time, sent me his script, and asked if I’d take a look. It was unlike anything I had ever read before, already dripping with dense detail – not just images, but sounds and smells too. We had a good long meeting and hit-it-off from the start.
“Originally, Rob was going to go with someone more experienced than me, but as they were not available, he had been advised to hire someone who was young and hungry, and that literally was me. I have a deceptively exotic name and I’m told that that was what led him to watch my reel among all those on the website. It worked out, and that was the start of what has proven to be a great relationship.”
Development on Nosferatu began in 2015, after the success of The Witch at the Sundance Film Festival with a best directing award, with Eggers revealing the vampiric tale to be his ultimate passion project.
“Although Rob’s early script went through a couple of iterations, it remained pretty similar to his original draft,” says Blashcke.
For forethought about the production, Blaschke
says he re-read Stoker’s Dracula, and also made a point of re-watching Murnau’s Nosferatu: A Symphony Of Horror. He also reveals that 19thcentury Romanticism played a part in his deliberations with Eggers about the looks of the film, and the critical decision as to whether to shoot it in B&W or colour.
“After filming The Lighthouse, Rob and I realised that we both simply loved shooting in B&W. But the Romantic Movement was quite embedded in Central European culture at-large when Nosferatu takes place. Rob is always interested in telling stories from the pointof-view of contemporary culture in his films, and that became the key to unlock what this movie should look like, which meant it was going to be in colour.”
JARIN BLASCHKE•NOSFERATU
Blaschke reveals that artworks from European painters, such as Wanderer Above The Sea Of Fog (1818) by Caspar David Friedrich featured in the look book. The DP also remarks that these kinds of artworks helped to inspire Nosferatu’s 1.66:1 aspect ratio.
“What was interesting to me is that those Friedrich landscapes are not wide. They’re either a bit boxy, or even vertical. We could have shot Nosferatu in 1.33:1, like Murnau’s film, but 1.66:1 just felt right, as it would accommodate a little bit of scope for our vistas, and support our ensemble, where we often wanted to have a several people in the same frame. But 1.66:1 is still boxy enough to feel timeless, and that’s how we arrived at the aspect ratio for the film.”
Principal photography on Nosferatu began in the Czech Republic in February 2023 and concluded some 65 shooting days later at the end of May. Filming took place at over 60 sets built at Barrandov Studios in Prague, along with physical locations which included the 14th-century Rožmitál Pod Castle in Rožmitál Pod Třemšínem, plus Pernštejn Castle and Prague’s Invalidovna complex, a Baroque building registered as a national landmark. Some additional exteriors were captured at Corvin Castle in Romania.
For the shoot, Blaschke went with ARRICAM ST cameras fitted with a set of vintage Baltar lenses, originally-designed in the 1930s. These were supplemented by an additional set of UltraHigh-Speed Panavision optics that could open-up to T0.9, specially-engineered to resemble the visual vocabulary of the Baltars by Dan Sasaki at Panavision in Woodland Hills, LA. The DP reports that 27mm, 35mm and 40mm were the only focal lengths used for the film.
“I originally fell in love with the Baltars during production on The Lighthouse. Although we shot that
film in B&W on KODAK DOUBLE-X 5222 35mm film, I remember the way they made the image glow, their softness, resistance to flaring and the cool pastel colours they delivered when I looked through the eyepiece,” says Blashcke. “The Baltars are singlecoated, whereas with lenses that have additional coatings, the image starts looking a little harder, a little crunchier. Here, I just wanted a softer look without excessive texture – like a subtle painter’s sfumato.
“Additionally, the Baltars let in a lot of blue light. This was helpful for our moonlit scenes, which were very dominantly exposed on the blue layer of the film. Dan engineered the Ultra-High-Speed lenses to bring them into the same visual realm as the Baltars, as I really wanted to shoot in real fire or candlelight, and knew we would need the fastest lenses possible for that, as well as the fastest filmstock.”
Blaschke went with KODAK VISION3 5219 500T colour negative for the entire shoot. Along with its speed for the movie’s dark/night scenes, shooting on one filmstock also provided a continuity of look and texture across the many varied day/night interior/ exteriors. Film processing was done at Filmové Laboratoře Zlín, in the Czech Republic, with 4K scans made at UPP in Prague.
“Right now, I like a dense negative to separate the shadows and guarantee a proper black,” says Blashcke. “To that end, I rated the 500T 5219 at 320ASA and also pushed every scene by half-a-stop. With a plus-1 push, the imagery looked a little too brittle for my liking, and I found it was defeating the smooth tonality we were going for.”
Discussing the topic of shooting on film versus digital, Blaschke remarks, “When I’m asked why we shoot on film, I immediately think, ‘Why not shoot on film?’. My own subjective response is that the colour, contrast and texture you get with analogue film is just more pictorial, easier on the eyes – it’s simply a pleasure to look at.
“And, from the point-of-view of the cinematographer and their crew, film forces a little bit more focus and craft on-set. I light using a light meter and knowing the difference between 3.5-stops versus 3-stops underexposed, because things like that really matter. And that definitely mattered when we were shooting moonlight interiors and exteriors, where it would have been death if we’d have veered-off by half-a-stop.”
Among the movie’s many night-time scenes, one of the best examples of what has sent critics into rhapsodies, comes when Hutter finds himself at a crossroads in a dense forest, as a driverless carriage approaches. Depicted in spooky, cyan-tinged monochrome using the 5219 500T, it’s the moment he leaves everyday life behind and journeys into the supernatural world of Count Orlok.
Having scouted half a dozen locations over several months to find the perfect location for the scene, Blaschke eventually discovered a forest crossroads that offered straight paths, access between the trees for overhead balloon lighting and the concealment of 120-foot lifts, plus enough distance for HMI backlight in both directions, so as to create the foreboding ambience of Hutter’s anticipation and dread.
“When you examine how moonlight illuminates things, there is very little colour information,” Blaschke explains. “My aim was to try to recreate the same wavelengths that our eyes see under those low-light conditions when only the rod cells in our eyes are working. So, I used a filter to eliminate all the yellow and red light, along with most of the green. What was left was a pretty much a B&W image made out of only blue-cyan densities that were desaturated to near monochrome in the grade. I think the crossroads is my best night exterior so far.”
We were like a theatre troop, and the camaraderie made it an enjoyable experience
In addition to moonlight being a key source of light in Nosferatu, Blaschke also used real candle and firelight in combination with traditional lighting instruments for the movie’s other dramatic moments.
“For example, the first time we meet Orlok in the dark confines of his castle, I tried to light using just the light from the fire and candles to accentuate the creepiness of the moment,” he says. “Fill light was always used for the actor, but at something like 3.5 stops under for Thomas and 4 stops under for Orlok. The exception was when the firelight came in at a frontal angle – then I would build contrast and break it up with shadows. For firelight fill, I would typically bounce a small gelled Tungsten unit into some unbleached muslin, judging the colour temperature by eye as opposed to a colour meter.”
Along with its colour palettes, Nosferatu is also noteworthy for its camerawork. When it came to framing and moving the camera, Blaschke says, “Rob has a keen sense for classical framing using symmetrical compositions, and the camera was either controlled in linear moves or static.
“However, during our collaborations, the shots we create have gotten more complex, and some of our longer takes require a lot of work to decide the blocking and how the camera movements would hit storytelling beats.
“To convey Thomas’ delirium within Count Orlok’s castle, we mashed-up Orlok’s point-of-view with Thomas’ point-of-view and the camera almost telling him where to go. Thomas follows the camera rather than the other way around. The shots were classically composed, the camera almost always level. The angles are arguably ordinary, but the visual surprises lie in the ‘when’ and ‘how’ of the camera movement.
“At other times we might drift, raise or pan the camera before settling into a static shot, as if Orlok himself had possessive-control of our minds. Shooting this way, with characters appearing and disappearing from the frame when we least expect them to, or levitating above the unsuspecting world below, gave the photography a kind of ‘off’ feeling, as if there was something else controlling our gaze.”
Whilst Blascke likes to operate simple shots, on this production he delegated the responsibility to A-camera operator Jan Cabalka.
“Many of our shots were pretty complicated. So I preferred to watch what was happening on a monitor from the camera’s video tap, and to have a certain distance to watch the shots in the context of the movie. This meant I could make sure the camera movement, framing, pacing and timing brought the right tension, rather than having to think about the physical mechanics of operating the camera myself.”
One might imagine that shooting such an intense horror might have been the stuff of nightmares after wrapping each day, but looking back at his time spent on Nosferatu, Blaschke says that was far from the case.
“On this production the cast and crew were like a theatre troop, and the closeness and camaraderie made it an enjoyable experience,” he says. “I’ve worked with Rob for almost 20 years now, and he always tries to create an accurate and real idea of what it would have been like to have lived at a particular time, which oddly helps make original films.
“This is a story that people have seen many times, so this film is about the ‘how’ rather than the ‘what’. Hopefully the film delivers the magical effect of transporting you somewhere else. I hope people will enjoy the journey.”
CHILD OF MINE
By Natasha Block Hicks
Those who came-of-age in the 1990s – this writer being one – might have been the last generation who were truly ‘at a loose end’ in their teenage summer holidays, seeking out friends on-foot and getting up to the kind of screen-free mischief that seems wholesome in hindsight, when one considers how childhoods have changed in the digital age.
Set in 1991, Edge Of Summer (2024) – the debut narrative outing from BAFTA-nominated documentary director Lucy Cohen – introduces Flora Hylton as 12-year-old Evie, visiting Cornwall for what was mis-sold to her by her mother, Yvonne (Josie Walker), as a mum and daughter bonding holiday. Instructed to ‘run along’ after moving into their holiday digs, Evie befriends the unsettled Adam (Joel SeftonIongi), and soon their shared exploration of an abandoned tin mine triggers familial losses to emerge into the light.
“Lucy and I are close in age and had a similar nostalgia for those English childhood summers,” reflects Edge Of Summer’s DP Rachel Clark BSC, who became one of the British Society of Cinematographers’ newest members in December 2024.
“I loved Lucy’s script. It was beautiful and full of magic and metaphor, with folk tales of Cornwall woven throughout. We first met to talk about the project in a park just after lockdown, and we got on so well we walked and chatted for hours, even when it started raining.”
During pre-production, the pair sifted through photographs from the late eighties and early nineties, including Nick Waplington’s Living Room, a collection featuring everyday families in domestic spaces.
“Naturally most of our references from this time were shot on film,” remarks Clark, “and we used these photographs as a guide when building the look for the film in terms of colour, tone and texture.
“We wanted Edge Of Summer to have the feeling of a memory, as if Flora could be
It was a hard shoot… and there was a lot of heavy lifting
looking back later on this pivotal summer as an adult. However, we didn’t want it to feel like a period piece, so we took care not to go too far into nostalgia for the look of the film.”
Clark selected a Sony Venice from Panavision, with the option of a Rialto extension if space was tight, especially in the tin mines.
“I also wanted the Venice particularly because it’s amazing in low light, and we were going to be shooting a lot of scenes in the darkness of a real mine,” Clark remarks.
As those scenes would involve
the actors wearing head torches, Clark conducted extensive lens tests before settling on a set of Panavision Primos with Macro Primos for close-ups
“I wanted beautiful flares,” she relates, “but it was important that we could still see the children’s eyes which were directly underneath the headlamps. I fell in love with another set of lenses which unfortunately were out of our budget, however the Primos were by no means a second choice. They produce gorgeous skin tones and have that timeless feel we were searching for, and they did a great service to the beauty of the Cornish landscape.”
To portray the heat of summer, Clark used a light Tiffen Bronze Glimmerglass throughout. Flashback sequences were captured exclusively using a 50mm Panavision Auto-Panatar 2X Anamorphic lens, and further enhanced by exaggerating the colour temperature, stacking multiple diffusion filters in front of the lens and a smudge of Vaseline.
“I always try to do as much in-camera as I can,” Clark explains, “but I have an amazing relationship with colourist Jateen Patel at Harbor in London, and I knew I could rely on
him later for anything else the film required. This was Lucy’s first narrative project and Jateen took the time to understand exactly what she was searching for emotionally. The three of us collaborated really well together in the grade.”
Clark opted for a largely handheld style to give the two young leads – both debuting on the screen – as immersive an experience as possible.
“We wanted to keep the camera observational and give the kids as much freedom as possible,” Clark recounts. “But we didn’t want to use marks, or give too many specific instructions. So I needed to be free to move with the cast and react to them in the moment.”
Lighting was set-up to support this approach, using a modest package from Panalux that would mostly run-off local power or batteries, including a Lightbridge CLRS Kit, ARRI M40 and M18s, Creamsource Vortex, plus Source 4 and Astera fixtures. Typically, Clark would light through windows for interior scenes, keeping the floor uncluttered, utilising smaller sources and reflectors inside where possible.
“This gave us freedom to move and made the spaces as real as possible for the young cast,” she explains.
In prep, Cohen and Clark had explored how to portray the child’s imagination, the fear, joy and eventual loss of innocence onscreen, and how they might try and capture that shift in a child’s life when they become aware of the adult world. To this end, they’d examined The Spirit Of The Beehive (1973, dir. Víctor Erice, DP Luis Cuadrado), The Wonders (2014, dir. Alice Rohrwacher, DP Hélène Louvart AFC) and Petite Maman
Edge Of Summer Colour Process
“Rachel wanted the film to be almost like an old photograph or memory. There had to be wonder in it too, and also a sense of darkness when it was allowed in the characters’ journeys.
There was a wide gamut of options and ideas to explore from Lucy’s script, and the eventual edit, which was great for us. We used a base combination of my own custom look / LUT that I’ve developed over the years and an Ektachrome look from our amazing colour science team at Harbor. With grain and added softness to the overall image this simple combination enabled us to pivot cleanly from moments of summer, to darkness and then the heightened looks of memory.”
“We talked about how kids’ imaginations can be triggered by light, shadow and sound,” Clark elaborates, “and how far we could push these ideas to add texture and emotion to the film, whilst still keeping it honest.”
The mine scenes were predominately lit with head torches and zippo lighters, in keeping with the period.
“Having two ten-year-old children in control of the most important source of light down the mine was quite a daunting thought ahead of time!” Clark laughs. She and gaffer Bruno Martins spent extensive time in prep testing exposure levels on head lamps, torches, flames and lighters and enhancing their illumination with battery-powered LEDs such as Asteras.
“We built our own custom LED headlamps, with bi-colour and brightness control, and rigged them inside period miners’ headlamps,” she relates.
Although the mine itself appears as one location, it was actually created from three different locations stitched together. Exteriors were filmed at the Geevor Tin Mine near Pendeen, the Cornish village where Cohen was staying when she wrote her script. Interior sequences were a combination of tunnels at the private Rosevale Mine in Zennor and a repurposed cave set in a farm barn, which Clark doused in water and glycerin to match it to the perpetual dampness of the mine’s mineral-stained rock.
“It was a gift to be able to film at Rosevale,” relates Clark. “It’s so beautiful, the textures in the rock, the echoing sounds reverberating
We wanted this film to have the feeling of a memory
back to you. The whole experience was incredible, and full of local history.”
The filmmakers were first guided round by the volunteer enthusiasts who have been restoring the mine since it was rediscovered in the 1970s, though Cohen and Clark had numerous health and safety concerns to overcome before they were allowed to use it as a location.
“It was difficult to access, and
claustrophobic,” admits Clark, “but Lucy and I felt strongly we needed to shoot there and I’m glad we pushed for it because it is such a special place.”
One scene from the film that Clark found particularly affecting was where Adam learns something in a letter from his mum Debbie, played by Nichola Burley, about a memory, which replays in his mind.
“We decided we were going to give Joel this note for the first time on-camera,” explains Clark. “I didn’t know how he might react. Then he started crying, Nichola started crying
and I started crying, it was so emotional! Joel bought everything to that scene; we ended-up using the first take.”
By the time production wrapped, Clark says she was shattered.
“It was a hard shoot, and there was a lot of heavy lifting,” she reflects, speaking metaphorically as well as literally.
“But, driving home from Cornwall, I felt satisfied that I’d given everything I possibly could. We achieved a lot with limited resources, and I think the result speaks for itself. it’s a simple, honest film that I am very proud of.”
WHAT’S NEW PUSSCAT?
By Iain Blair
Since cinematographer James Laxton ASC and director Barry Jenkins met at college, the close friends have collaborated on such diverse films as their assured 2008 feature debut Medicine For Melancholy, which earned Laxton an Indie Spirit Award nomination, 2016’s Moonlight, which won three Oscars and an Oscar nomination for Laxton, 2018’s If Beale Street Could Talk, and the Emmynominated miniseries The Underground Railroad, which won Laxton the ASC award.
The latest project in their long and fruitful partnership is Mufasa: The Lion King, the photoreal animated origins-story follow-up to the 2019 Disney hit musical drama The Lion King (dir. Jon Favreau, DP Caleb Deschanel ASC), itself a photoreal animated remake of the traditionally animated 1994 film.
“So much has changed since that 2019 filming in terms of the technology you can use now,” Laxton explains. “There was no camera or lens or lighting as we know it on this production. It’s a completely animated film where we used virtual production and the latest tools such as Unreal Engine 4 to create the images. I don’t think UE4 was even a thing when Caleb Deschanel shot the previous one, and we were on a custom build of UE4 that integrated some features that are now in Unreal 5.
“That gave us more detailed decisions when shooting the film, including the quality of light, lens flare characteristics, and more subtle control of the colour palette, which then gave the final animation a clearer interpretation of what was in my mind for the look.
“And when a new idea came around, there were all these people that are incredible at creating the technology to help us do this, to establish a toolset that we might want to employ in a totally new way. That did happen during the shoot, so we would actually wait for them to invent a new way of doing something, and we had the luxury of pressing pause on the filming at times, and that’s largely why it took so long to actually shoot this.”
The ambitious project was based at a virtual
production facility in downtown Los Angeles.
“It was a sound stage that we converted into a virtual production set-up, and we had something like 60 cameras in the ceiling that were tracking all of our movements down below on the ground,” he explains.
“We started shooting in September 2021 and production wrap wasn’t until spring 2023, so it took quite a while. But we had some pauses for rewriting, and there were two months of downtime where we readjusted how we did our motion capture stuff. So, because all this tech is so new, we’re often creating it while we’re actually shooting it.”
The team started the process with storyboards and voice records which were then sent to the editorial team and turned into an animatic.
“That then got workshopped for pacing and so on, and then the animation team did am animation pass on the material coupled with what we called ‘Quad Cap,’ meaning the lions’ motion capture with performers on the motion capture stage,” the DP explains.
“And it’s roughly blocking out what the scene looks like, and we’re familiar with that, obviously, as a blocking rehearsal on a live action set. So, we applied that live action blocking to this environment via the ‘Quad Cap’ step in the process, and then that got refined a little bit by the animation team simultaneous to that journey.”
Laxton also worked with a lighting team and the production designer and his team to help create sets from scratch, “all virtual space creation and all lit in virtual lighting within Unreal Engine, which is the programme that runs this virtual production stuff,” he notes.
“It’s used often on volume work and things like that, but we used it create all our sets. And this is how our animation team worked within that programme as well, to use it along with Maya and other programmes, as a shooting programme. That’s how we filmed the whole production, and that filming process was only done after all those steps of the storyboards, voice recording, edit, and the animatic animation team coming in and doing a 3D animation pass with the blocking team. And then I would shoot after I’ve lit the scene in Unreal Engine as well.”
For the actual shoot, the DP and director were
basically alone on the motion capture stage, along with the VR technicians running the computer programmes.
“The motion capture cameras in the ceiling then track me as I’m now the camera on this stage, holding what is basically a director’s handheld monitor,” Laxton explains. “And on the grips of that are buttons that change lenses and boom up and boom down, and I can walk around this space. In my screen is the scene with the animals talking, and I can block it all out, walking around or running around these spaces, or whatever the scene might be, much like with a live action thing. I’m performing the shot we might be doing, but no one’s there. And those shots then become the shots in the movie.”
A big advantage of the virtual process is that minimal equipment is needed, and the DP’s own natural movement can easily be edited.
Every DP should, if they go through this journey, talk very specifically with the post production team
“For example, I might want to be doing a dolly in on Mufasa,” he notes “On a live action set we’d have a dolly or a crane, and all these people around. Here, it’s just me holding this monitor, but if I walk ten steps, those steps are full of bumps and jiggles. However, I can just ask the team to take that shot and make it a linear line that takes away all the inconsistencies of how I walked from A to B, and then that becomes a really smooth dolly shot. And that’s how we shot the movie.”
Laxton and Jenkins made a choice to model their virtual field-of-view and focal lengths off an ARRI Alexa 65 gate, “which I was very familiar with and which had worked well for us on a previous production,” he reports.
“And you can programme these as much as you like.
While it was a real learning curve, it was really about Barry and me not deviating too much from our creative style
Maybe you want to shoot Super 16 and then the field gate would then be adjusted accordingly, and then the focal lengths would then be matching those fields of view. So, all that math is done for you. These things are all programmable and very easy to change and adjust, so for any filmmaker used to shooting live action format, all those choices are still available to you.”
In terms of lens choice, Laxton describes that part as “more of a post-production process, which goes on even after we picture-lock certain scenes.”
He also advises that “every DP should, if they go through this journey, talk very specifically with the post production team about what characteristics they like on a certain lens they’re familiar with – such as how the sun might want to flare, and how it changes from the centre of the lens to the outer edge of the lens.
“Obviously, you need to discuss all that in a technical way, but it’s also important to discuss it like an artist might talk to an artist. Then you can go through maybe a few rounds of making any changes and that can be applied to the final version of these images. Then the team can carry-on those notes for you down the line for other shots, so you don’t have to do that for every single shot. So, you might be doing it
for a few shots in every scene and go on from there.”
Ask Laxton if his first-ever experience of lighting virtually was weird and he says, “Yes and no. You’re not there with HMIs and condors and tons of lighting gear, and there are some other big advantages. Before we started, I was asked by the VR team about the tools I usually use, and we talked about the sort of LED lighting that I use a lot these days, and what diffusion and bounce materials I might use.
‘We had tools in Unreal Engine that would do their best version of matching all those things, so I could ask lighting team for a 12x12 or 12x20 bounce just next to a particular character. And the amazing thing is, in this VR version of the world, you can put those things in there. You can have lights all across the scene, and then you just click a button and it’s all invisible. You can add lights and shoot anywhere you like. There’s no worry about a light I placed for some backlight now being in frame.
“You can even sort of off-set the sunlight,” he reports. “You could have the sun in frame, but don’t want it to flare. In that instance, I would duplicate a sun, and put it just above frame, and have that be where the light actually comes from. So, you can do all kinds of little cheating things like that, that you couldn’t do in live action.”
Laxton also stresses the ease of being able to make any lighting changes later in post. “Instead of realising in hindsight, ‘I should have asked for a 40x80 silk instead of a 12x12,’ you just click and drag that 12x12 and it’s now a 40x80. So, there’s lots of little things like that with virtual lighting that are really fast and adaptable, and I will certainly miss that when I go back to live action shooting.”
However, he admits that there are drawbacks. “A lot of the choices I was making when I was lighting scenes in Unreal are largely roughed-in creative choices. They still don’t have the nuance of pushing a light an inch-and-a-half to the right, so it wraps around a nose differently. Those kinds of choices are probably a little too subtle in terms of getting our creative ideas out onto the canvas when you’re lighting and filming the scene, because the assets you’re shooting on are not necessarily so refined. That level of specificity is largely put towards the back end of the production and into the post pipeline process. But all the lighting that I chose when I was filming the scenes is largely in the final version of each scene.”
Those finalised scenes were then sent out to MPC, the finishing team, “because at this point the animation was relatively crude, as the material we shoot on was not like the final image you see,” Laxton stresses.
“It’s a little bit blockier and cruder. That material is then animated, but in a live action fashion, with all the beautiful hair on the lions, and the textures on the rocks and foliage, and that’s what the audience sees. Then there’s a normal DI like we do on live action shoots, and then the movie is done.”
“It’s a whole new way of making images,” sums up Laxton, “but I think Disney brought us in because they wanted our vision for this material. So, while it was a real learning curve with regard to the new tech of it all, and this movie-making process is unlike anything I’ve ever done before, on a macro level it was really about Barry and me trying to keep doing what we’ve been doing for the last 20 years together, and not deviating too much from our creative voice and style.”
The whole process, apart from the final DI grade, is all prettymuch self-contained and therefore highlyefficient
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, available on BBC iPlayer and globally via Netflix, is the sixth comic caper in the much-loved Wallace & Gromit stop-motion, filmmaking franchise, which started with the short, A Grand Day Out (1989), and subsequently proliferated to include the Academy-Award-winning trio of The Wrong Trousers (1993), A Close Shave (1995) and the feature-length The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit (2005).
Directed by Merlin Crossingham and Nick Park, from a script by Park and Mark Burton, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl premiered on the BBC December 25th 2024 to an audience of 9.38 million viewers, before being released worldwide on Netflix on January 3rd 2025, with universal acclaim from critics.
The rip-roaring, 79-minute feature, produced by Aardman Animations in association with BBC, features the return of the villainous penguin, Feathers McGraw, from The Wrong Trousers, who takes revenge on the hapless duo by reprogramming Norbot, their ‘smart’ garden gnome, for nefarious deeds.
The film was shot by DP Dave Alex Riddett BSC who, before joining Aardman full-time, achieved notoriety for his talents in animation through The Bolex Brothers, an independent studio he founded in Bristol with Dave Borthwick, notably supplying his camera skills to Peter Gabriel’s renowned Sledgehammer (1986) music video, for which the Aardman team used a process called ‘pixelation’ to animate Gabriel himself.
Riddett subsequently worked on Park’s acclaimed Creature Comforts (1989) before joining the company full-time. He then acted as senior DP on the much-
acclaimed Chicken Run (2000) Aardman’s first feature. Along with The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave, The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit and Wallace & Gromit: A Matter Of Loaf And Death (2008), Riddett’s extensive cinematographic experience at Aardman also covers Shaun The Sheep Movie (2015) and Early Man (2018).
“I first learned about Vengeance Most Fowl around three years ago,” Riddett says. “After six months of planning and preparation, I then spent 15-months shooting it, which is pretty quick really for a stop-frame feature, as they typically take much longer than that.”
Riddett says that speed of shooting was very much down to the fact that, apart from the technicalities of the chase and action sequences, “the storyboarding was straightforward. Plus, the experience and enthusiasm of the crew to get it made were quite extraordinary.
“It was, in effect, a known quantity, by many people
DAVE ALEX RIDDETT BSC•
who were inspired to join Aardman as runners and camera assistants, who have since grown-up with the franchise, and who still have an intense love for it. In that we hit-thegroundrunning, and the animators
their shots first time around.”
The film was shot in Aardman’s studios, sited in large industrial
West Business Park, Bristol, UK, where all of the model characters and sets – including the Hellscape in Wallace’s basement, terraced streets and valley for the climactic train sequence – were built in on-site workshops.
“In the past a lot of the sets were built off-site, but now practically everything is here, including the VFX and editorial, so the whole process, apart from the final DI grade, is all pretty-much self-contained and therefore highly-efficient.”
Recalling his discussion with Park about the look for the film Riddett says, “We approach each story the way you would if it were a live-action movie in terms
of camera movement and lighting. But, Wallace and Gromit inhabit their own cartoon-like reality, where the models can become caricatures and there’s room for quite a bit of artistic license as the story unfolds.
“As with the other films in this franchise, Vengeance Most Fowl is an homage to cinema and TV shows that Nick and I watched growing-up in the ‘60s and ‘70’s, along with more modern classics. So there was a lot of
I was constantly busy, and there was never a dull moment
cross-fertilisation of ideas, and shifts in cinematic styles, based on things that we re-adapted for the storytelling in this film.
Consequently, Vengeance Most Fowl purposely includes allusions to movies such as 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954, dir. Richard Fleischer, DP Franz Planer ASC), to Alfred Hitchcock thrillers and an infamous 007 James Bond villain with his cat. The super-imposition of green computer code across Norbot’s body was inspired by The Matrix (1999, dir. The Wachowskis, DP Bill Pope ASC), and the noir-style lighting used on Feathers McGraw is drawn directly from the psychological horror Cape Fear (1991, dir. Martin Scorsese, DP Freddie Francis BSC).
“I’m a bit of a diehard, and always like to start with the basics – with the simplicity of building sets and putting characters in front of the camera,” says Riddett, regarding his approach to shooting. “Wallace And Gromit films have their own kind of realism, and I was very keen that we should sustain and continue that same quality from our previous productions.
“However, things like fog, fire and water are not always the animator’s friends in terms of getting them to look contextually right, and Nick was very keen to expand on what modern technology we could use for that in this production. It always worries me when you want to introduce something that has not been treated to be in stylistic-keeping with the rest of the film, but I’m open to where we can use technology to help. I have to say that our VFX team understood my purist thinking in retaining that Wallace And Gromit look, and the solutions they came-up with, using CG and particle generation, were absolutely brilliant.”
Riddett framed Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl in 2:1 aspect ratio, chiefly using Canon EOS-1D X Mark III DSLR cameras, fitted with vintage Nikon Nikkor lenses.
“We went 2:1 as we wanted to open things up, so that Wallace and Gromit’s world felt less constrained, as compared to the 16:9 aspect ratio of the earlier films,” Riddett explains.
“We switched from analogue film to digital for Wallace & Gromit: A Matter Of Loaf And Death. Back then, I tested various DSLR cameras, and felt that the colour response in Canon cameras – then the Canon EOS 1D Mark IIs – suited the colour palette best, and
we have stayed with Canon ever since, upgrading every now and then to the latest models.”
Riddett says that even though DSLRs are small, compared to 35mm film cameras, they could at times still prove to be sizeable beasts on some sets, such as the staircase scenes in Wallace and Gromit’s house. In those instances, he went with Canon EOS R5 hybrid mirrorless cameras, which have the same sensor but a more compact form-factor.
“As for lenses, we have amassed a considerable inventory of Nikon lenses, literally hundreds, that we have used on pretty much every film since A Matter Of Loaf And Death, but always making sure that any new additions to the range are remounted and rebuilt for consistency by a specialist in Japan.
“The Nikons provide full-frame coverage on the Canon 1D X and R5 sensors, as well as manual control over both the aperture and focus. However, the scale we were working at meant we sometimes needed more extreme close-ups on a face or an ultra-tight shot of a hand, that even the Nikons would not allow. In which case we brought in a Laowa 24mm f/14 2X Probe lens, and that worked really well with the full-frame cameras.”
The DP says that during peak production over 40 sets would be shooting simultaneously, each with their own character animators, overseen by a 20-strong camera/lighting team.
“With such an enormous number of sets I am reliant on my lighting camera team, including senior lighting people such as Charles Copping and Laura Howie to accomplish everything.
“We always said that we’d stop at around 25 sets, but never did. Things just multiplied, and we were forever searching-out more spaces to shoot additional set-ups, including under the stairs, and that’s one of the other reasons we were able to shoot this film so quickly.”
Typically, Riddett would help to pre-light each set-up, but then let the animation teams get on with the task of shooting under their own auspices, albeit frequently checking-in to see that things were progressing as planned.
Every set had Eizo monitors for the animators to reference, all uniformly calibrated for visual consistency. At the end of every working day Riddett reviewed the dailies with the lighting and camera crew, normally using a large LG CX OLED flatpanel screen, certified by Netflix and also calibrated accordingly. More critical visual scrutiny was undertaken on a large projection screen in Aardman’s in-house theatre.
“I was constantly busy, and there was never a dull moment because so much was happening in the studio every day. The legwork involved, going from one unit to another, was quite something,” he says.
“Depending on the scene, the animator would block and shoot with limited mouth shapes and animation, allowing the directors to make their comments,
before capturing for real. At other times, we’d have to consider how other elements, such as lighting passes or effects, were progressing. Sometimes, however, they would just go for it.
“By constantly reviewing work-in-progress on every shot, or part of a shot, we always had a good idea about how the different scenes were coming along, and whether any rectifying or remedial action was needed.”
Al of this may sound like a whirlwind, but stop-frame production is actually very slow, and the DP says each animator delivered between two and four seconds of useable footage per week.
Over the years, Aardman has developed and devised many ways in which to move the camera to support visual storytelling – via sliders, trackers and lifts – and whilst those were still used to a certain degree, Riddett explains other, more sophisticated, means lay at his disposal.
“We really want people to feel they are inside Wallace and Gromit’s world, and camera movement is
an important part of that immersion. So along with our traditional tools, we also relied heavily on Mark Roberts Milo and Animoko motion control rigs.
“As the action in the films has become ever more sophisticated, the models are increasingly rigged with supports. The pinpoint accuracy on repeat moves from the moco rigs allowed for scenes to be filmed twice, once with the character and rigging, and then a separate pass of the scene without the character, enabling swift rig removal later in post-production.
“The Milo rigs are large and unwieldy-looking beasts, as they were originally designed for 35mm film cameras, and they look a little incongruous when they have a DSLR on them. They also need a lot of careful operation, but Linda Hamblyn, our motion control operator loves them and proved adept in creating some quite lovely moves for this film.”
Although Riddett confesses to having been dubious about to the quality of LED lighting, he admits “the technology has moved on in leaps-and-bounds over
the last few years, and it’s now a godsend for the type of model work we are doing.”
The most-favoured LED lighting instruments include Source Four Mini luminaires, together with Altman Micro Ellipse (now discontinued, but refitted and upcycled to work as LEDs by Aardman), both being diminutive and lightweight fixtures used in museums, restaurants and retail outlets where the requirement is for adjustable beam angles and spreads of light. To illuminate some of the film’s larger sets, the lighting team also employed 650W, 1K and 5KW fixtures from ARRI’s range.
“The beauty of the way that equipment is now connected is that the Dragonframe software we use to shoot the film can control not just the cameras but the lighting too – everything can be done from one computer.
“Creating the atmosphere of the Hellscape scene for example, involved quite extensive lighting with a big red backlight and lots of smaller light sources
DAVE ALEX RIDDETT BSC•WALLACE
giving a flickering effect. Myself and my invaluable gaffer, Sally Wattieux, worked out a lighting pattern, and coordinated that with a repeatable moco move. The whole thing was programmed into the computer and could be repeated over and over again, so the animators could be just left to it.”
& GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL
The final grade on Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl was conducted at Picture Shop in London by freelance colourist Max Horton.
The DP, who celebrated his 70 th birthday as the film began its cast and crew screenings, recalls, “It was a very intense and challenging shoot, but enjoyable
nevertheless. I especially enjoyed the shifts in cinematic style we created – from the homely setting to horror – that people have found so entertaining. I’ve never really stopped working since joining Aardman, but I’m still standing and am ready to go again.”
INTO MY ARMS
By Darek Kuźma
Cinematographer Edu Grau AEC ASC used his distinctive skillset to help The Room Next Door, director Pedro Almodóvar’s first foray into English-language filmmaking, shine a particular light.
We meet New York-based author Ingrid (Julianne Moore) as she is celebrating the success of her latest book. Self-fulfilled and self-sufficient, she is in a good place in life.
Sadly, the same cannot be said about Martha (Tilda Swinton), former New York Times war correspondent, who is fighting an uphill battle with stage-three cancer and longing for real human connection.
Ingrid and Martha were once best friends, the kind who would literally do anything for one another. But then life got in the way and they had to content themselves with cherishing rapidly-fading memories of each other. They rekindle their relationship in Martha’s private hospital room and, after spending some time reminiscing about the bittersweet old days, Ingrid agrees to accompany her friend to a house that Martha has rented in upstate New York so as to confront her mortality on her own terms.
Although the basic premise of The Room Next Door is quite simple – two women reconnecting in the face of the inevitable – the film provides an ocean of meditations on beauty, fragility and the evanescence of life. For Almodóvar, who penned the script based on Sigrid Nunez’s novel What Are You Going Through (2020), the challenge was to make an American film with a Spanish soul, thus he needed all the help he could get.
“Pedro and I were going to do a film together a few years ago, but it didn’t work out due to scheduling conflicts,” recalls Grau, the Spanish DP who currently lives in Los Angeles and shoots primarily American projects.
“When producer Esther García reached out to me and explained they were looking for a slightly more American look and someone who knew American culture a bit more, I agreed to shoot the film without even
reading the script. It was an honour.”
As Grau was a fan of Almodóvar’s work, he wanted to fit the mould of the director’s oeuvre yet at the same time infuse the film with something of his own.
“For the first time in my life the main reference for the movie was the director’s previous movies. I studied Pedro’s filmography to understand all the key points that make his films special and instantly recognisable,” Grau says.
“Each project has its own personality that you need to discover. You plant the seeds and watch how it grows and flourishes, but there’s a pattern in the middle of Pedro’s career of shooting Anamorphic in 2.35:1. Incredible movies like All About My Mother (1999, DP Affonso Beato), Talk To Her (2002, DP Javier Aguirresarobe) and Volver (2006, DP José Luis Alcaine) – some made almost ten years apart – were all designed this way. So, I thought, ‘What if we come back to that look and make it the root, or the spirit, of the film and use that to create a new, contemporary way of seeing Pedro?’”
Still, whilst collaborating with such an idiosyncratic artist as Almodóvar, Grau had to conform to some of the ways the revered director was used to working.
“He was always open to changes and kept asking me to surprise him, but he also knew exactly what he wanted. To the extent that we rarely did master shots. There were days he’d require a wide shot with Julianne and Tilda only saying the first two lines of the dialogue, and then went straight into close-ups beginning from the third line. And we shot most of the film on single camera set-ups. I’ve never seen anything like that,” Grau marvels. “It’s the reason why we finished shooting in May 2024 and could have a premiere in Venice in September the same year. I needed time to get used to it, but it was an amazing process. We learned to
understand one another while shooting, and each subsequent week was better.”
One of the reasons Grau decided to shoot on ARRI Alexa 35 with Panavision C-series lenses was Almodóvar’s passion for feminine beauty as conveyed through faces.
“Pedro is obsessed with his actresses and wants them to look incredible in every single frame. He likes tight close-ups of faces and is meticulous in how he wants the surrounding colours to tell the story,” Grau notes.
“We realised Alexa 35’s sensor, depth-of-field and colour rendition would give us exactly what we needed. It also handles highlights superbly, and even though it’s one of Pedro’s darker films, you still need highlights to create contrast.
“The C-series Anamorphics, especially 75mm and 100mm that we used because of the close-up nature of the film, added to that. Their softness enhanced the actresses, making them appealing while maintaining sharpness.” The camera gear was provided by EPC (Equipos Profesionales Cinematográficos) in Spain.
One important thing to understand is that although The Room Next Door revolves around Ingrid and Martha candidly discussing their lives – the troubles they endured, the mistakes they made, the regrets that haunt them – the film is not a realistic drama.
“Pedro is captivated by the human heart but is not attracted to the mundane reality. He wants to bring his stories beyond the natural and the realistic. It’s a different approach to filmmaking, and I have to say, it’s very refreshing,” Grau asserts.
“In prep, when we laid down the ground rules for our visual language, he told me he wanted the cinematography to be like the sweater in Volver
Pedro wants the actresses to look incredible in every single frame
Remember the film? The sweater looks natural, like it belongs to the character, but it’s still Jean-Paul Gaultier. It was Pedro’s way of saying he wanted the movie to feel natural and organic but at the same time be elevated.”
This enhanced realism is evident in the way Grau has framed both women during their hospital talks, throughout their joyously melancholic stay in the countryside, and even more so via flashbacks portraying some of the memories they share.
“There’s a few flashbacks in the film – one in Iraq, another with a burning house – that are striking due to a handheld camera, something Pedro had not used much before. The scenes are simple, nothing spectacular about them, but because of the change from dollies and Steadicam that we used primarily, over to handheld, they are more visceral and modify the rhythm of the movie.”
Though the film is set in the US, most of it was shot between March and May 2024 in and around Madrid, including in the nearby Platós Tres Cantos studio. Then, after eight weeks of studio and location work, they went to New York for eight days to shoot the required coverage.
Possibly the best example of Almodóvar’s elevated realism is when Ingrid and Martha stand by a big window and marvel at a sudden downfall of pink snowflakes that transform the landscape into a surreal diorama.
“Pedro loves to work on a stage to control every single detail, that’s why he’s been using greenscreen in his recent films. Here, we decided it was time for him to come back to physical things and we had this gorgeous New York backdrop built in a studio,” Grau explains.
“This is a very important moment in the movie as you don’t know if it’s real or if it’s happening in their heads. It’s
one of those magical afternoons that happen every few months when the dusk turns pink and orange, and then it starts to snow. It’s poetic, it’s real and it isn’t real. We did a number of takes to find the right combination of colours and added VFX in post to make it memorable.”
Grau is a firm believer in rediscovering the film he shoots during post production. “For me, the beauty of the DI is that I have completely new circumstances to evaluate my work. The set is thrilling and you work under pressure, whereas in the DI you can connect the film to how the people are going to see it. You have time to understand it better,” he reveals.
“This is especially true in the way that Pedro likes colours to be precisely as he imagined them during the shoot. On-set, we had a LUT made by colourist
Chema Alba, but it was really close to the way we see colours. Because Pedro is so specific with the way he sees the world, no one dares to play around with Almodóvar’s reds, blues and yellows. Then, later in the DI we would tweak the contrast, the saturation and the brightness a bit to make the actresses look as glorious as we could.”
Grau sums up that his first collaboration with Almodóvar was a gratifying experience he would love to repeat.
“Shooting in English was a new territory for Pedro and he relied on combining a few of his longtime collaborators – including camera operator Joaquín Manchado and colourist Chema Alba – with me and the professionals I brought in, focus puller Marc Piera, gaffer José Luis Rodríguez and others. We created a great crew that was able to overcome all the challenges and we became a group of friends making a film. It was definitely an experience I’ll never forget.”
Judging from the reviews and the accolades from the past months – The Room Next Door was awarded with Venice Film Festival’s coveted Golden Lion and received four nominations to European Film Awards – the film will soon enough be considered another Almodóvar classic.
Images: Photos El Deseo & Iglesias Más.
When editorial and fine-art documentary photographer Alys Tomlinson, and documentary filmmaker Cécile Embleton, first spotted the Eastern Orthodox nun who would become the subject of their stunning, mainly B&W, feature-length documentary Mother Vera (2024), the only part of her that was visible was her face. But that was enough.
“Her effect was immediate,” recalls Tomlinson. “She was dressed head-to-toe in black, yet she had this strong, charismatic presence. Both Cécile and I were drawn to her.”
The pair, who originally met on a train on their way to an open day at the UK’s National Film & Television School (NFTS), were in Grabarka, a pilgrimage site in Poland, capturing large format monochrome stills for Tomlinson’s book Ex-Voto (2019) – literally meaning ‘from a vow’ – a photographic study of the relationship between faith, person and the landscape. Mother Vera’s portrait – square to the camera, solemn and inscrutable –became one of the poster images for the collection.
“A fellow documentary filmmaker once told me that, when you find your protagonist, you instinctively feel like something will be seen,” explains Embleton. “That’s what it felt like with Vera.”
“We knew we wanted to find out more about her,” adds Tomlinson.
Tomlinson won a clutch of accolades for ExVoto, including Photographer Of The Year at the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards. This made her eligible to apply for a grant to create new work using Sony equipment. So, Tomlinson approached Embleton with the proposal of visiting Mother Vera at her monastery in Belarus to make a film.
The resulting ten-minute short, shot in 4:3 monochrome to complement the Ex-Voto series,
BEYOND THE VEIL
By Natasha Block Hicks
By Natasha Block Hicks
As humans, we are hardwired to be fascinated by the faces of our own kind. This compulsion is what gives portraiture such enduring appeal.
was screened at Sony the following year. However, Embleton felt that their story with Vera was by no means concluded.
“I was really keen to make a feature,” Embleton divulges. “The connection felt very significant; Vera wanted to communicate something.”
It was a careful decision on Tomlinson’s part; after the success of Ex-Voto, her photography career was blossoming. But a year after she and Embleton had first visited Vera, the pair returned to Belarus as co-directors for their first feature-length collaboration.
Monochrome removes distractions and emphasises the extremities
“The Ex-Voto photography established a certain visual language, and the shots in the monastery have that same disciplined aesthetic,” explains Tomlinson of the decision to utilise B&W in both films.
“Monochrome removes distractions and emphasises the extremities: not just the light and the shadows, but also the emotional extremities of redemption and guilt, loneliness and longing.”
“I was new to using B&W for moving images,” reveals Embleton, “however, any concerns I had
were quickly gone; it really enhanced the essence of the story. The contrast between the internal spaces that are warm and full of candles, against the expansive, cold, white landscape of Belarus, highlighted the fragility and resilience of the people in this community, and Vera’s search for spiritual transcendence and transformation.”
Mother Vera’s austere monochrome aesthetic has prompted comparison among reviewers with the works of Béla Tarr and Andrei Tarkovsky. Both codirectors highlight that, whilst a mental bank of these auteurs is inevitable, “there are many other things that inform the image.”
Embleton’s production notebooks explore ideas around purgatory, heaven and hell, as well as referencing medieval art, Dante’s Divine Comedy (1321) and mystics like St. Hildegard.
“And a lot of my inspiration comes from photography,” points out Tomlinson, “such as Larry Towell, who did a beautiful monochrome series about the Mennonite community.”
“References are useful,” continues Embleton, “but ultimately, the most important thing when shooting is to engage instinctively with your subject and find the language that’s emerging.”
Some scenes from their short film, such as a sequence where Vera displays her almost preternatural bond with horses, by lying down with a colt in a wooded clearing, were adjusted to 16:9 and incorporated into the feature. Sony showed their support for the feature production with the loan of an A7S II, upgraded to an A7S III in later trips.
“It was great because the A7S III works well in low light, which was essential for all the liturgies by candlelight,” Embleton remarks.
“The cameras are also physically small and
discreet,” adds Tomlinson, “which helped in the quieter moments.
CÉCILE EMBLETON & ALYS TOMLINSON•MOTHER VERA
The connection felt very significant; Vera wanted to communicate something
Most of the film was shot with a Sony Zeiss Planar FE 50mm, with Embleton operating and Tomlinson recording sound. Where necessary, such as the meeting between the monastery’s patriarch and the institutionalized ex-convicts who find refuge and work there, an unmanned camera mounted with a Zeiss 35mm filmed the master-wide, whilst Embleton captured close-ups on a second camera carrying a Metabones-adapted Canon EF 70-300mm.
In their final trip to Belarus, the presence of a sound recordist freed Tomlinson to operate the second camera, which she did with a Sony 85mm prime, or, for an intimate scene with Vera and her family round a campfire, a Canon 135mm.
The co-directors took no additional lighting with them, preferring to adapt to the existing available light.
“Very occasionally we made adjustments,” relates Embleton. “For instance, the scene in the cell, where you can see a cityscape with smoking chimneys through the window, where we tweaked the light to bring up the exposure of the wall. But aside from that, we went with existing light, daylight and candlelight, etc..”
The scenes capturing monastic ritual, in their ambience, reflect the action itself: quiet and contemplative, with the camera tripod-mounted and discreetly observing. To follow Vera in her interactions with the men and animals however, Embleton utilised handheld camerawork.
“We needed that mixture,” she explains, “to show the diverse sides of Vera and be close to her in movement, in contrast to the still, contemplative moments. The beauty of handheld is that you can be instinctive and reactive, but in minus 20°C, you’re
not as fluid as you are at room temperature!”
Sparingly, the pair mounted the camera on a DJI Ronin S gimbal, such as the opening sequence following Vera’s sweeping robe through monastery passageways, or the Tolstoyesque tracking shot of the nun riding her white horse through the even whiter snow, which necessitated Embleton having to hang from the door of a moving van, Tomlinson’s arms anchoring her at the waist.
However, in the film’s final chapter, where colour is unveiled for the first time, there is a significant shift towards the Ronin, coupled with the Sony 85mm.
“It was a deliberate choice to have a different approach,” explains Embleton. “Keeping-up with the tight frame of the 85mm was hard work, but our idea was to be close to Vera and yet have a separation from her and the environment she is navigating. The colour felt powerful and visceral, showing the chaos and complexity of nature, and her surrender to it.”
Preceding their final five-week trip for the shoot, Mother Vera was awarded a Documentary Fund Grant from the Sundance Institute, which allowed Embleton and Tomlinson to bring the aforementioned sound designer and recordist, Leonardo Cauteruccio, to Belarus, and mix the sound thereafter with his team in Bueno Aires.
“We were so lucky to have Leo; the barbeque scene would have been impossible without him recording the dialogue,” relates Embleton.
“He created an entire library of sounds for us: the men eating, the liturgies. We borrowed a robe so he could record the sound of the cloth. He’s an artist.”
Post-production was already underway with the “amazing and thoroughly recommended” independent colourist Roman Kedochim, and editor Romain Beck. Then, in 2023, Mother Vera secured the
First Look ‘Work-In-Progress’ Award at the Locarno Film Festival, which gave them £50k in-kind with Creativity Media for the final touches, VFX and titles.
“It’s so exciting to collaborate with craftspeople who bring their skill and experience to a project,” comments Embleton.
The feeling the filmmakers had, that something would be revealed by Mother Vera, proved to be well-founded, although due to the language barrier, Tomlinson and Embleton often didn’t know exactly what was being unveiled before them in the moment.
“Then shooting becomes even more instinctual,” explains Embleton. “You’re focusing on gestures, body language and observing carefully. It was always nice to get the translation.”
Unbeknownst to Tomlinson and Embleton, Vera’s journey of transformation had already started when she first met them in Grabarka, though she had still some years of restlessness and rumination ahead before she would find a resolution. That these moments happened during production was both shock and catharsis for the filmmakers.
“There had always been a feeling that something needed to break-out,” remembers Embleton. “For a documentary filmmaker, it’s a beautiful thing when someone shows their vulnerability and allows you to see what’s going on inside.”
“It’s quite easy to think you wouldn’t have any common ground with an Orthodox nun from Belarus,” considers Tomlinson, “but there are many ways of connecting with people; it doesn’t have to be through faith or spirituality. People are more than they appear, and often there’s much more that binds us together than sets us apart.”
RUN & GUN
By Ron Prince
The first season of SAS Rogue Heroes (2022) – created by screenwriter/ producer Steven Knight, directed by Tom Shankland, and shot by DP Stephan Pehrsson – depicting the origins of the British Army Special Air Service (SAS) during the Western Desert Campaign of WWII, proved a five-star runaway success.
The series made its premiere on BBC One on 30th October 2022 in the UK, with the first episode being watched 5,526,000 times on BBC iPlayer alone, making it the fifth most viewed individual programme on the platform that year.
So when the show was renewed for a second season, focussing this time on SAS operations in the European theatre of war, with Stephen Woolfenden at helm of the six-part series, its new cinematographer, DP Stijn Van Der Veken SBC ASC, had to rise to the challenge.
“I was thrilled when Stephen asked me shoot SAS Rogue Heroes S2 with him,” says Van Der Veken, who had previously been Woolfenden’s cinematographic collaborator on several episodes of Amazon Prime’s Outlander (2018-2020) and Disney+’s Willow (2022).
“Early-on, there were some talks of the show being split between two directors and maybe two DPs, but the producers liked Stephen so much that they asked him to direct them all, and consequently has asked me to shoot them all with him. We were happy with that outcome, because we know each other well and had the opportunity to put our shape and stamp on the full series.”
Whereas production on the first season had largely taken place in Morocco, filming for the second series occurred at locations in Croatia, Italy, England and Scotland over a six-month period between May and September 2023. Studio-based work included the exterior tank at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden (WBSL) where the night-time, waterborne scenes of the SAS vessels approaching the coast of Sicily were shot. Two separate disused quarries in Hertfordshire were used to capture the ascent of the cliff and firefight on top of the
According to Van Der Veken, production for the sixepisode second series consisted of 81 shoot days – just over 13 days per episode – with around 370 scenes, and the best part of 2,000 slates in total, across two filming units.
“Obviously, everyone would prefer more time, but I knew the mandated schedule in advance, and that we
We didn’t want the camera to be a character in the visual storytelling
would have to be quick between set-ups,” he remarks. “We wanted to keep a certain continuity with the first series, in terms of the overall look-and-feel, so we shot
in the same widescreen 2.39:1 format, but I knew this series would have a lot more night work with firelight and explosions.
“So rather than stay with the original combination of Sony Venice with Kowa Anamorphics, plus K35s for the VFX work, I went with the ARRI Alexa 35 and Hawk Class X lenses as my Anamorphics, with Leitz Hugo primes as my sphericals for some of the heavy VFX sequences and drone shots.”
Expanding on his technical choices, the DP says, “The Alexa 35 was new at the time, and whilst I appreciate the Sony Venice, the Alexa 35 has more latitude in the highlights and improved colour science. That means you can shoot at night wide-open and still keep orange flames and explosions looking good in your exposure.
“The Hawk Class X Anamorphics have a fall-off and bending at the edges that is kinder on faces. As they are a modern design, they have good close-focus and contrast, and are more consistent throughout the different focal lengths from wide to long.”
The camera was provided by KLT Rental in Munich, with lenses supplied by Vantage Film’s Weiden branch for the Croatian and Italian legs of production. Movietech (now Sunbelt Rentals) provided the camera and lens package when the production switched to the UK.
Prior to production, Van Der Veken says he watched the first season of the show multiple times, and even had a call from Pehrsson wishing him good luck. He also
Capo Murro Di Porco.
I developed just one LUT for the show using the new colour science in the Alexa 35
filmed time-consuming car and stunt work that wasn’t immediately related to the main cast.
a little extra bite, such as the close-up in episode four, set in a dark underground cell where the character is suffering from PTSD.
studied historical references about the SAS, including a large B&W library of archive materials, assembled by production designer Paul Cripps, which he admits, “gave me a great idea as to the levels ‘rock and roll’ those guys got up to.”
Shotdeck also proved a further resource for ideas about contrast, colour and silhouettes to support storytelling beats.
Whilst Van Der Veken prefers to use his own LUTs, the brand new, wider-gamut, LogC4 colour-space of the Alev4 sensor in the Alexa 35 meant having to rebuild from scratch, which he did with Ross Baker, head of colour grading at Molinare in London, who also completed the final DI on the series.
“In the end I developed just one LUT for the show using the new colour science in the Alexa 35, which has smooth roll-off on the shoulder and toe of he curve, and is not too contrasty,” he explains.
“During production I did some on-set colour tweaks with my DIT, using LiveGrade, and between him and my dailies colourist Mark Glenister back in London, I had the re-timed rushes back on a calibrated iPad Pro a few hours later. Being able to review the footage so speedily was very helpful in keeping-up with the required pace of the schedule, and certainly later-on when we did the final DI.”
SAS Rogue Heroes S2 involved three cameras throughout, two on main unit and one with the second unit, helmed separately by director Adrian McDowall and Rob McGregor working as the DP, who typically
“The second unit generally shot on their own, but when we had supercomplicated days with a lot of action, they joined us on-set. Stephen likes a lot of coverage, which I think really pays-off in the final show, and shooting with two and sometimes three cameras helped us make the daily page-count.”
With so much action to complete, Van Der Veken eschewed the temptation to operate himself and designated the task to Christopher Reynolds, Bob Shimpsey, Leandro Silva and Paddy Blake which them variously operating handheld and with Steadicams, sometimes supplemented by Rob McGregor when necessary. Chris Rusby was the key grip, with Filip Beatovic the gaffer on the European leg of the production, and John Clarke when production moved to the UK.
“I always think the choices you make in terms of framing and moving the camera should be driven by what you have relay to the audience,” Van Der Veken says. “We didn’t want the camera to be a character in the visual storytelling. So we used handheld, Steadicam and Technocranes in an appropriately classical style.”
Van Der Veken says the same philosophy governed his approach to the lighting. “Generally, it was about making each setting believable to the audience. On the day-exteriors, we tried to schedule things to optimise the natural sunlight. However, because of the good weather when we shot, it was not possible to do every take in the perfect direction. So sometimes that meant having to control the light with 20x20 butterflies, and bounce a little fill light back on to the actors.
“A lot of the night scenes were lit using real flames from candles and fires, rather than LED flicker systems, which I would soften with diffusion frames if I felt the look was too erratic or contrasty.”
There were some scenes, however, that needed
“We lit that scene in order, with a match first, then a cigarette and then a candle,” The DP relates. “The way the light changed between those sources and shaped on his face was fantastic, and the Alexa 35 camera handled that really well at higher ISOs.”
Van Der Veken relished the challenge of shooting big action sequences, especially the waterborne landing and ensuing battle in the first episode. The approach scenes were shot against bluescreen in the tank at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, after which the coastal backgrounds were added and extended in post-production, under the supervision of VFX supervisor Dave Sewell.
The beach landing and subsequent fight scenes were then shot in two different quarries at separate dates over the course of twelve nights.
“Both of the locations, the cliff face and the cliff tops, were big sets, where the camera had to be able to move in 360-degrees. We brought-in two huge mobile cranes that had 70-metre main booms, and fitted them with two banks of tommy bars – big frames with long LED battens in parallel with gaps in-between, that work like softboxes.
“I was a bit skeptical of the tommy bars at first, but when we suspended them above the set, the effect was good. Depending on the direction of the shots we were doing, I was able to quickly manoeuvre the cranes, change the height of the booms, the angles of the lights and the lighting intensity as required. I had never worked like that before, and was pleasantly surprised by how efficient it was and the final results.”
Van Der Veken concludes, “I love working with Stephen Woolfenden, because he’s well-prepared and greedy, in a good way for a good outcome. This project was hard work and we were all completely exhausted at the end of it all. But a couple of weeks after you have unwound, you start romanticising about the great experience you had. I’m not alone in that, because I received many calls from my crew, asking, ‘If you go again, can we be with we be part of it too?’.”
Images: courtesy of BBC and Banijay Rights/Robert Viglasky
SOUTHERN POWERHOUSE
By Ron Prince
It’s Thursday, 12th December, 2024, and we’re on the way for an exclusive look around Sunbelt Rentals’ brand-new, 180,000sq/ft, flagship, film and TV facility in Wembley, North London, as part of its official industry-launch today, where 800 guests are expected later-on.
The new site, known as Victory Park, looms into view as you step up-and-over the arched railway bridge from the nearby North Wembley Underground station. And, the first impression is… ‘Goodness, it’s enormous!’
For here the company has delivered on its promise to bring-together all of its film and TV business units – camera, lenses, grip, lighting, technical production and powered access, alongside a wider offering of power, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) and training – all under one gargantuan roof, on a lot that covers some eight acres in total.
And not just that, to enhance its offering of technical expertise, the company recently acquired the JLL Group comprising JL Lighting, JL Live and Digiset, specialists in technical broadcast and production solutions. This strategic move will allow Sunbelt Rentals to provide an even wider range of equipment and services.
Sunbelt Rentals first entered the UK film and TV industry in 2022, after acquiring five of the UKs best-known and most-respected names in media production – PKE Lighting, Movietech, Alpha Grip, Media Access Solutions and Acorn Film & Video –to become one of the largest specialist suppliers of professional end-to-end solutions for content creators – from prep through to wrap.
We are committed to innovating change that will steer us towards a brighter, greener future
From its bases in Manchester, Cardiff, Belfast and now London, recent productions supported include: Mission:Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One & Part Two (Paramount), The Diplomat (Netflix), Mr Bates And The Post Office (ITV), Bridgerton (Netflix) and Good Omens (Amazon Prime), to name just a few.
The self-contained site has a large, gated and securely-fenced, yard area of around 85,000sq/ ft – where all manner of trucks, telehandlers, cherrypickers, scissor-lifts, buggies and almighty industrial cranes are on-display. The eaves outside of the building itself are 12m in height and provide access to a dozen dock-level and two ground-level loading doors for incoming and outgoing deliveries. There
are also 80 car parking spaces in this area.
The inside of the edifice is colossal, the size of several football pitches. Conversion of the building to make it fit for Sunbelt Rentals’ purposes began in January 2024, with things such as power and the addition of a sizeable mezzanine.
Now, for those who recall Movietech’s former Pinewood home along Goldfinger Avenue, Sunbelt Rentals’ new camera and lens department will come as a quite surprise. Yes, it’s replete with all of the amazing inventory of digital/film cameras you’d expect, plus all manner of branded modern, vintage and speciality optics Movietech became famous for, plus dollies and jibs.
But, the enlarged scale of this split-level facility is quite jaw-dropping compared to what went before. On the ground floor, there are multiple large rooms and lanes for lens testing, and plus a sizeable workshop for the manufacture of specialist bits needed by camera crews, and more than enough shelving for those lenses.
Additionally, there are new facilities up on the mezzanine level. For instance, there’s a camera test studio, designed with careful insight and input from DP James Friend BSC ASC, that offers DPs and their camera crews the chance to shoot interiors in realworld scenarios, with furniture, plus fabrics, finishes and textures, which can be easily reconfigured and aligned as necessary. The place has gantry and floor-lighting, plus practicals, to create day/night scenes. There’s even a small window behind which sits an LED wall for those who have Virtual Production on their agendas.
Next door to this is a brand-new grading/ screening theatre with a 5m screen and seating for 15, that offers 4K/8K projection and Da Vinci Resolve grading, plus Apple Pro XDR displays (or Grade 1
The idea is that… camera crews will have all the kit and the confidence they need to shoot the job they are expecting
monitors by special arrangement), enabling DPs to scrutinise the test materials they have shot.
My guide is technical manager Andy Mossman, well-known amongst the cinematographic community, who says, “The idea with our new set-up is that, by the time people have completed their evaluations with us, DPs and their camera crews will have all of the kit and the confidence they need to shoot the job they are expecting, and will have eliminated most, if not all, of the surprises they might encounter when they shoot for real.”
Back on the main floor, the UK’s first Scorpio 78’ telescopic crane makes an impressive sight, as do countless rows of tall industrial-strength shelving stretching-out into the far distance. These, no doubt, will burgeon with bountiful supplies of LED and traditional lighting fixtures, and the paraphernalia that comes with them, in the not too-distant future. Gaffers are going to find this a paradise.
Sunbelt Rentals cares about the world we live in, and takes this responsibility seriously. On this tour, special pride-of-place has been given-over to the company’s green and more environmentally-sustainable filmmaking gear, in the form of the latest low-carbon emitting technologies – such as Stage V generators and battery storage units. Available from dozens of depots around the country, Sunbelt Rentals operates the largest fleet of ultra-low emission or fully-electric plant and power equipment. Leading TV shows to have utilised these include Silent Witness S28 (BBC).
“There’s a strategic action plan that runs across our organisation called Our Planet, with a commitment to driving-down emissions at its core,” says Mike Pollard, managing director of film & TV at Sunbelt Rentals.
“We care passionately about sustainability and safeguarding the environment, and are introducing cleaner, greener solutions to reduce harmful emissions such as our electric, hybrid and Euro-6 compliant fleet vehicles. All our plant equipment and generators are compatible with fossil-free HVO fuel.”
The topic of hydrogen as a sustainable fuel solution has been around for a long time, as it is widely-considered the most viable replacement for fossil fuels. This is a subject that CEO Phil Parker is extremely enthusiastic about.
As he explains, “At Sunbelt Rentals we are proud to already be making a difference in helping customers to decarbonise their productions. But we still have a lot to learn about how hydrogen can become a commercially-viable solution that is safe-and-easy to use at-scale. To meet the UK Government’s 2050 net zero targets, it’s crucial that we take steps to move away from fossil fuels at speed.”
Parker says Sunbelt Rentals’ journey into hydrogen began several years ago, and though that work it established the H2 Learning & Development Group, which brings together customers from multiple sectors, industry pioneers and manufacturers to share knowledge, discuss challenges and uncover hydrogen-based solutions. This has led to live UK based trials with hydrogen fuel cell generators developed by the company.
“We understand we’re on a journey of discovery,” Parker adds, “and are committed to innovating change that will help steer us all towards a brighter, greener future.” Productions with their sustainability goals, and emissions-conscious producers, are going to find Sunbelt Rentals an interesting partner.
Neat gadget-of-the-day has to go to the AR app, presented by Jaz Dhillon, which enables you to previsualise on your smart-phone or laptop, how the support vehicles and filmmaking kit are going to impact a particular location or studio site – very helpful for planning, as well as health and safety on-set.
Four hours have gone by, and the place is now thronging with invitees, similary drinking-in this impressive new facility. All-in-all, if this new southern powerhouse in the Sunbelt Rentals empire is anything to go by, it has pretty-much everything you’ll need… in one takeaway!
HOW DOES IT FEEL?
By Darek Kuźma
AComplete Unknown , the seventh feature collaboration between DP Phedon Papamichael ASC GSC and director James Mangold, saw the cinematographer venture into 1960’s New York to interpret young Bob Dylan’s electric rise to stardom.
There are several narrative and documentary depictions of life and times of the legendary Bob Dylan, covering how and why he became one of the defining artists of the 20 th century. Yet most of them gloss-over his young adult years as an aspiring musician struggling to find his voice in the tumultuous New York of the early ‘60s. A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet, focusses solely on this part of Dylan’s life, detailing his path from an eager folk singer playing to small crowds, to the folkrock trailblazer setting the stage for electrically-amplified music.
Papamichael says he loved the challenge of depicting Dylan’s youth. “I was born in 1962 and his songs meant a lot to me. Interpreting his early years was scary at times, but because Jim Mangold and I are like brothers, and share the same approach to filmmaking, it was also an exciting adventure.”
The DP also remarks that the film has been one of the most inspiring experiences of his recent career.
“I believe performing before a live audience is the purest expression of one’s artistry. It’s your body, your emotions, your interaction with people. When we’re capturing that as filmmakers, we are experiencing the same thing.
“The way I work with Jim is that the coverage is always on-stage in close proximity to the actors. We want people to feel like they’re connected to the characters,” he notes.
“Timothée’s dedication was incredible. He performed in Dylan’s voice and was consumed with the smallest alterations. I’ve done over 50 feature films and thought I had gotten to a point when the material was running thin. It was hard to get up every morning at five and drive to the set. But on this production I was excited each day and even watched dailies after coming back home, which is something I typically never do.”
Papamichael and Mangold already had the much-revered Johnny Cash music biopic Walk The Line (2005) under their belts, but approached A Complete Unknown with fresh eyes, trying to find a visual language that would aptly underscore Dylan’s story.
“We wanted to capture what made Bob Dylan
tick, how the conflicts with his girlfriends and the folk movement made him do the things he became famous for. I wouldn’t say we’ve made a strong point with our colour palette, but just by the nature of the story – a naïve kid arrives in New York in winter of 1960, plays in small clubs with one dim spotlight on him, and ends-up as a RayBanwearing superstar performing at Carnegie Hall and the Newport Folk Festival – it becomes a bit more aggressive. The saturation, the contrast, the energy of the shots and the pacing of the story all reflect the changes in his character and persona.”
That is precisely why shooting Dylan’s increasingly spirited live performances proved a pleasure for Papamichael.
“As with Walk The Line, it was again about giving the audience a taste of something that happened decades ago, but which can still be
I was able to work really fast with minimal lighting, which was advantageous for the actors as well
exciting and relevant. My A-camera/Steadicam operator P. Scott Sakamoto shot music films like A Star Is Born (2018, dir. Bradley Cooper, DP Matthew Libatique ASC) and Maestro (2023, dir. Bradley Cooper, DP Matthew Libatique ASC) and understood the process of finding and capturing these little moments evolving on-stage that define live performances. We didn’t have thousands of extras, but the feedback of those who listened to Timothée as Dylan was genuine, immediate and raw.”
Papamichael affirms the film was crafted in a way to resonate. “The audience has to be engaged in the character, the camera has to work in harmony with the performance and the emotions of the moment. There’s nothing worse than a viewer conscious of filmmakers manipulating them.”
The film’s singular yet unobtrusive look was vital to its identity. “There’s great B&W documentation of the era, yet it was out of the question to shoot B&W. But when I was looking at
1950’s and 1960’s colour photographs of Saul Leiter, Ernst Haas, and others I noticed that the quality of saturation and contrast looked a lot like Kodachrome,” he reminisces.
“When I started tests, I contacted several LA colourists, and gave them period references such as The Conversation (1974, dir. Francis Ford Coppola, DP Bill Butler ASC), The French Connection (1971, dir. William Friedkin, DP Owen Roizman ASC) and Klute (1971, dir. Alan J Pakula, DP Gordon Willis ASC), and asked them to propose a look for A Complete Unknown.
“I ended-up with David Cole at FotoKem as he offered a way of getting past emulating film using LiveGrain, with a more organic process. We shot A Complete Unknown digitally and did our DI colour-corrections, but then we filmed-out to Kodak 5203 Negative stock and scanned back. This is called ShiftAI (analogue intermediate). It’s what David did on The Batman (2022, dir. Matt Reeves) with Greig Fraser ACS ASC, and it looks fantastic. I’m extremely pleased with the final result of achieving a film look.”
For all that, Papamichael did not want to be held hostage by what people consider the era should look like.
“It wasn’t about hyperrealism or naturalism, but rather maintaining a logical realism to what and how I was shooting. It was about embracing mixed light sources and not correcting things, Robby Müller-style,” he recalls. “We have an idealised image of New York of the past, but the truth is, it was dirty, stark, chaotic and not that green. There were no trees in the West Village until 1980s. Mostly garbage, fire escapes, brick buildings. Now it’s gentrified and nowhere near what it has been. Which is why we shot in and around New Jersey, mostly in Paterson, just like Joker (2019, dir. Todd Phillips, DP Lawrence Sher ASC) as it closely resembles New York’s past. We built Bob’s apartment, Newport’s Viking Hotel and the Chelsea Hotel’s interiors at a large warehouse, but 80% was shot on location.”
Although the project’s 2023 prep period was hindered by issues with Covid, plus the SAGAFTRA and WGA strikes, principal photography went uninterrupted between March and June 2024 over 62 shooting days.
“We actively sought to begin before the trees started to bloom so as to capture some of nature’s muted colour palette. Then we shot in Paterson and controlled two blocks in Hoboken and dressed it up to duplicate the 1960s West Village with its clubs and street hustle.
Interpreting Dylan’s early years was scary… but it was also an exciting adventure
modern traffic, adding New York skylines, multiplying our 70-80 extras into a concert crowd of thousands, but because I always have an onset LUT that is representative of what the final look is going to be, doing the post with David was fluent. The final DI was basically 12 days filled with those kind of adjustments.”
Knowing the feel he wanted to create for his 2.39:1 framing, Papamichael decided to shoot the film on Sony Cinealta Venice 2 cameras with custom-built Anamorphic Panavision glass.
“The journey started with Ford v Ferrari (2019) when Dan Sasaki expanded the C-series for us. I continued using the lenses on The Trial Of The Chicago 7 (2020, dir. Aaron Sorkin) and Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny (2023).
But, this time I said, ‘For a Dylan movie I want more character, specular flares, more edge falloff or bending.’
“Dan decided to build us a hybrid with B & C-series front elements and T-series rear elements, a kind of Frankenstein glass that enabled us to play with the foreground and moving actors around while retaining close focus and the characteristic glare of the warmer flaring lenses.”
He asserts that 90% of the film was shot on 35mm, 40mm, and 50mm, with the 40mm being his hero lens. Yet another advantage of putting such singular lenses on the Sony Venice 2 became visible during the nighttime exteriors.
“I shot tests rating at 3200ASA, 6400ASA
and 12800ASA, and there was no problematic noise, really. I didn’t want New York streets to look ‘Hollywood lit.’ By having background lights and textures that were not completely blurred, by being able to set the stop to T8 or T11 on night/exterior shots, rating the Venice 2 at 12800 ASA and shooting wide Anamorphic, felt like the mood of the period films I watched as a kid,” he claims.
“I was able to work really fast with minimal lighting which was advantageous for the actors as well. I’d have two electricians walk along the streets with the actors, holding a Rosco brick light, and just bring-up some minimal eye-light and control the levels with my small portable 12-channel wireless DMX-iT dimmer
board. Jim and I really embraced the freedom of working at those high ASA speeds.” The Camera and lens package was provided by Panavision.
“With gaffer John Alcantara ICLS we would walk around the set checking Kelvin levels of the Creamsource Vortexes, LRX’s and ARRI SkyPanels. During filming of the takes I was live-mixing colours, changing keys, turning sources on or off. It’s a great process of discovering the shot while you’re making it. With current lighting technology, it’s much easier to manoeuvre fast and be
creative. Yes, sometimes we needed more firepower but Jim Mangold knew that I could go to a higher ASA and not overproduce the lighting set-ups.”
The same minimalist approach applied to their daytime work.
“I didn’t want to use big lifts or to push the big sources through windows. Along with key grip Brendan Lowry and my gaffer John, we preferred to block the sun and use negative fill as working with the Venice 2 is more about taking the light away than adding it. To take the right amount away we used 4x4 floppies, 12x12 blacks or overheads to box actors in and shape our set.”
He was also reluctant to use LED on day interiors and had a trusted Tungsten package at hand.
“For the faces, I prefer bouncing ParCans or Babies. I have an issue with how LED lights and colours look on skin tones. I think lighting with small, oldfashioned Tungsten sources with a lot of passive bounce and negative fill was the right way to present young Bob Dylan becoming the Bob Dylan we know.”
DYNAMIC DUO
DP and camera/Steadicam operator
Roberto De Angelis AIC is revered for his fabulous work on Baby Driver (2017) and Michael Mann’s Ferrari (2023). DP Shane Hurlbut ASC likewise for cinematography credits including Terminator Salvation (2009) and the up-coming Way Of The Warrior Kid (2025).
The pair joined forces, ways of working and aesthetics as co-DPs on the Netflix murder-mystery mini-series, The Perfect Couple, directed by Susanne Bier, described by critics as ludicrously good fun and gorgeous to behold.
How did this collaboration between you come about?
Hurlbut: This project was one of the most amazing creative experiences I’ve had in my career so far. As camera operator and DP respectively, Roberto and I bring different styles that merge together beautifully, and that reflects in everything that we’ve done together in our previous collaborations, including Into the Blue (2005), The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005) and We Are Marshall (2006).
In all we have collaborated on seven features and many commercials, sharing a similar aesthetic for camera movement and lighting. He’s a top-notch Steadicam operator, and I came from the lighting side, working my way up from key grip to gaffer and then DP. This project was unique because of the many challenges. Roberto suggested a co-DP partnership, which allowed us to leverage our individual strengths –his expertise in camera operation and blocking, and my experience in lighting and grip – and still stay on budget.
We functioned as a cohesive unit, making joint decisions on production design and visual style, whilst also trusting each other’s judgment when working independently, always ensuring a unified visual aesthetic. This synergy, combined with our ability to
anticipate and adapt to the director’s fluid style, resulted in a highly-productive and creative workflow.
Whilst Roberto operated the camera, I managed the exposures and iris pulls from the monitor, ensuring a seamless blend of lighting and camera movement. This co-DP ‘superpower’ allowed us to work quickly and efficiently, maintaining a consistent flow and the ability to capture those magical moments that arise from spontaneous decisions.
Susanne Bier has quite a fluid style as a director, how did you work with her?
Hurlbut: Susanne’s style is characterised by improvisation and in-the-moment adjustments, and that demanded adaptability and quick-thinking from us. Roberto’s prior experience with her on Bird Box (2018) provided valuable insight into her methods.
Our pre-rigging team, led by gaffer Frans Weterrings III ICLS, and key grip Matt Mania, played a crucial role in ensuring we were always prepared for changes. This approach fostered a dynamic on-set environment, where we could react quickly to the actors and capture a raw honesty in their performances. Keeping things fluid and having the ability to move quickly, we shot it like a feature film, even though this was a TV show.
The Perfect Couple has quite a distinctive look and atmosphere. Could you talk a little about the visual language you developed?
Hurlbut: We shot 2.40:1 in Anamorphic, as this was not a 16:9 show by any means. We aimed for a classic Hollywood aesthetic reminiscent of films like Strangers On A Train and Wuthering Heights, but with a contemporary colour twist. Susanne envisioned a moody and atmospheric look, which we achieved through careful use of lighting and shadow. Low angles, reflections and macro lenses were employed to create
a sense of voyeurism and scrutiny, reflecting the film’s themes of observation and hidden truths. We wanted the audience to feel like the characters were constantly being watched and examined, like rats in a maze.
De Angelis: I collaborated closely with Susanne and the actors on blocking the scenes, ensuring every movement felt natural and purposeful. From the monitor, I oversaw the process, focussing on achieving a seamless integration of lighting and camera movement to enhance the visual storytelling.
We aimed for a classic Hollywood aesthetic
When I first read the script, I realised that not many people are familiar with the island of Nantucket. I thought the best way to introduce the audience to its unique character was through aerial cinematography. However, I wanted to approach it in a less conventional way, capturing the essence of the island and building the atmosphere where the story unfolds.
To achieve this, Susanne and I travelled 15-minutes by helicopter from Nantucket to shoot a wide establishing shot. We spent four hours filming to capture the perfect aerial footage. Additionally, we dedicated several days to drone work, which allowed us to explore and highlight the island’s character from various perspectives. The aerial cinematography played a crucial role in setting the tone of the film, providing the audience with an immediate sense of the island’s mood and its connection to the story.
The lighting and camerawork support the slow-reveal of the characters. Tell us a little more about how you achieved this?
Hurlbut: The visual language of the film is characterised by a contrast between the bright, sun-drenched exteriors and moodier, more intimate interiors. This contrast is exemplified by the stark, fluorescent-lit interrogation room, which serves as a visual anchor and a symbol of harsh reality.
We utilised a variety of techniques, including digital diffusion, to create a luminous quality for the actors’ skins in the natural light-filled rooms. In contrast, the interrogation room scenes employed a single overhead fluorescent light and a stainless-steel table to create a cold, clinical feel. We also used Astera Titan tubes to control the intensity and colour of the light, and added kickers for close-ups to shape the light more precisely.
How did you select cameras and lenses for The Perfect Couple?
Hurlbut: Roberto was already testing cameras with his team led by 1st AC EJ Misisco, like ARRIs, the Red Raptor and the Sony Venice 2 at Keslow Camera. They had a set of Caldwell Chameleons, which Roberto absolutely loved, and I fell in love with them, too. It was clear to see that the flaring and the 40 lines of resolution that they might garner were going to be beautiful on skin tones, which wouldn’t require much filtration, and the way they handled colour was beautiful, too.
When we looked at the cameras, we found the Sony Venice 2 to be incredible and elegant. It didn’t make warms too warm. It didn’t see colds too cold. The Red kind-of energised colour, whereas the Sony Venice 2 really saw it like our eyes saw it. The sensor delivered nice transitions from the highlights to the mids, and from the mids to the shadows.
This story was about a family with old wealth and a beautiful mansion out on the cape, and we wanted to bring elegance to that. The Caldwell Chameleons, mixed with the Sony Venice 2, proved the perfect visual recipe.
Roberto did lots of testing. He took the camera out onto the beach and on the water to see how the lenses reacted to the sheen, how they flared, if they were able to hold contrast. This really started to resonate with Susanne and the producers. Everyone loved the look.
Having a little stronger LUT gave us the flexibility to open-up the shadows if Susanne wanted to see deeper into them, or hold that highlight detail. It was a beautiful way to bring together this particular look. Roberto just kept on saying, ‘It’s the summer, Shane. We’ve got to have an energy that just feels sun-drenched’.
De Angelis: I was striving for a classic Hollywood aesthetic look for the series. I tested numerous lenses and cameras before landing on this combination of the Caldwell Chameleons matched with the Sony Venice 2. The Chameleon lenses stood-out with their cinematic quality, gentle rendering of skin tones, and a timeless character that reminded me of older lenses. Their smooth fall-off was absolutely perfect for achieving the look for this show.
Hurlbut: The combination of the Sony Venice 2 and Caldwell Chameleon lenses, plus digital diffusion created a luminous quality for the actors’ skin, particularly noticeable in scenes with Nicole Kidman. In the interrogation room, the harsh fluorescent light and the reflective stainless-steel table emphasized the characters’ vulnerability and tension. Macro lenses, specifically the Cooke 90mm macro, were used to capture subtle facial expressions, drawing the audience into the characters’ inner worlds. This created a sense of intimacy and allowed for detailed observation of their emotions.
Caldwell Chameleon lenes, mixed with the Sony Venice 2, proved the perfect visual recipe
How did you select focal lengths and apertures?
We generally favoured wider apertures, around T2.8 to T4 for day scenes and slightly narrower apertures, T4.5 for night scenes to maintain focus and depth-of-field. The focal length choices varied, depending on the scene and the desired effect.
Wide lenses captured the sweeping landscapes and grand interiors, while macro lenses provided intimate close-ups, revealing the characters’ emotions and vulnerabilities. For night exteriors, we had to overcome the challenge of limited lighting positions due to environmental restrictions. We used a combination of fly swatters, Cineo R15s, and a large 167’ Magni rig with Creamsource Vortex 8s to create the desired moonlight effect.
What were some of the key challenges you faced?
De Angelis: Shooting on-location brought challenges such as limited access for lighting, environmental restrictions and maintaining consistent light throughout the day. Our grip and electric teams overcame these with creative pre-rigging solutions, using tools like Magnilifts and Menace Arms to achieve the desired effects.
Unforeseen circumstances forced us to relocate some scenes to London. We meticulously recreated the Nantucket mansion on a soundstage, matching location lighting with 18K ARRI Max, MBSE Vulcan PAR 18s and brush silk diffusers. We recreated the sky ambience using a large array of ARRI SkyPanels, and magic cloth. This attention to detail ensured a remarkably seamless continuity between location and soundstage footage.
Final thoughts?
Hurlbut: The use of classic Hollywood techniques, coupled with modern technology and innovative solutions, allowed us to tell a captivating story with a unique visual language.
De Angelis & Hurlbut: We give a special thank you to all the people involved in this project with us, especially: 1st AC EJ Misisco, US gaffer Frans Weterrings III ICLS, UK gaffer David Smith, US key grip Matt Mania, UK key grip Jack Hopkins and DIT Matt Love.
GAFFERS CAFÉ•FRANCESCO ZACCARIA
SHINING A LIGHT ON...
FRANCESCO ZACCARIA
Age//
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Training// Early career//
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67
By David Wood
Naples, Italy. Moved to London, England, when I was three!
All schooling in London, including technical college & apprenticeship
Trained as a qualified Approved Electrician in 1979
Early ‘80s music shows, major concerts later, then feature films when I became too old for stadiums
Rome, Italy
Not many other than armchair sports fan, music and films
Selected Filmography:
(as gaffer unless otherwise stated)
Ripley (2024)
The Equalizer 3 (2023) (chief lighting technician)
Originally, I imagined I might be a lighting designer and started-off as an electrician on concerts and music shows in Italy. Later, I decided I was too old for the music business, which involved a lot of getting into vans and moving from city-to-city.
It was then that I met an Italian gaffer Fernando Massaccesi in Italy, who had worked on Barbarella (1968, dir. Roger Vadim, DP Claude Renoir AFC). I worked with him on Daylight and Cliffhanger and started learning about Italian cinema. He let me work on these films and I went on from there. Two other early mentors were the famous US gaffers Jim Plannette and Ian Kincaid. I learnt a lot from all of them!
First big break:
My first big film was Cliffhanger, starring Sylvester Stallone, shot by DP Alex Thomson BSC, where I worked with Fernando Massaccesi in Italy.
Why did the world of film lighting appeal?
I always wanted to be the ‘best boy’ or ‘gaffer’ when I saw film credits rolling. I just loved the names!
Learning the trade:
My training was very much on-the-job, which is the only way to learn as far as I am concerned. In Italy it is not the same as in the UK. Here you start as the local gaffer and, if you’re any good, you end-up gaffing your own movies.
Who are the main DPs you have worked with?
Over the years I have had the pleasure to have worked with Robert Elswit ASC, Oliver Wood ASC, Robert Richardson ASC, Matthew Libatique ASC, John Mathieson ASC, César Charlone ASC, Dan Laustsen DFF ASC, Martin Ruhe ASC, Vittorio Storaro AIC ASC, Lajos Koltai HSC ASC, Jonathan Freeman ASC and PJ Dillon ISC ASC… amongst many others.
John Mathieson is one person I really like to work with, because he’s one of my favourite people. But whoever it is, collaboration is the key word for me. I’m trying to find out what each DP is looking for, and it works differently depending on the individual.
Vittorio Storaro, for example, gives you a whole book of information to look at, which is great because then you know where you are going and what you are aiming for. The best thing for me with Vittorio is when he comes over and says ‘That’s great!’. Providing what’s wanted is my goal as a gaffer and when you get feedback like that it makes me proud of my whole crew.
Shooting at Italian locations:
The difference between shooting in Italy, rather
than the UK or USA, is that issues such as whether or not you’ll be able to shoot in a particular place at a particular time is more grey than black-and-white.
One of my latest projects was the Netflix TV miniseries Ripley, which was very long, and was shot over the course of a year all over Italy. One location we were shooting in was an apartment, where we needed cherry-pickers outside to light the interior externally through windows. But we were told it couldn’t be done as the road outside the apartment needed to be kept open. Until, that was, the day before the shoot, when we were told it could be done!
My training was verymuch on-the-job!
It shows that working here you need to be flexible – you have to be ready to achieve similar results in a different way, just in case things don’t work out. It boils down to the fact that gaffers in Italy tend to rush around a bit more and always need a plan-B to fall back on.
New technology:
I rely on companies like Panalight, in Rome, to keep me up-to date with all the new lighting equipment available from all over the world. I have a very special relationship with Carlo and Renato there, having worked with them for over 35 years, and they are always available when I need them.
One big, constant change we have all seen is the evolution of film lighting, driven by technology. When I started, we were using Brute Tungsten arc lights. Now
Collaboration is the key word for me
we have gone right through to LEDs. First off, LEDs were regarded with suspicion but now they are prettywell accepted for lots of different lighting jobs.
But there are always occasions where only an 18K HMI or big Tungsten lamp will do. For instance, when we were shooting Ripley there was one scene on Rome’s Appian Way, which was a big exterior extending 500 metres. With big distances like that you need big lights. If you want to see something as far away as that, there’s not much else that can do the job.
On another film with Vittorio, we did a scene in a mountain gorge, where we needed 600kW of 16 lights in total to illuminate a sequence in the film. The golden rule with big exteriors is, if you want to see it, you have to light it.
Lighting crew:
FRANCESCO ZACCARIA•GAFFERS
I have had the same crew of best boy and riggers for the last 20 years more-or-less. They include Massimiliano Sticchi (best boy for 20 years), Marco Sticchi (rigging gaffer for 20 years), Diego De Musso (lighting control op for five years), and Dario Monti (previously lighting control op, now rigging lighting control op, for 20 years). The rest of my floor crew have been doing their jobs for similar amounts of time, and they are all valuable assets.
Rise of the desk operator:
I have had a desk op for years and have recently had to upgrade because desk ops are no longer desk ops but are on set with iPads. Their impact is that it makes film lighting much simpler, for the crew, gaffer and the DP.
Biggest challenge:
There are plenty to choose from! Some locations themselves are challenging to light, some because of the amount of time you have, but that’s all part of the job. Shooting the museum scene in John Wick Chapter 2 I remember was quite a challenge because it was at night, the time frame was very restricted, and we couldn’t use big lights. I had to use LED strips and Astera tubes for the first time.
Most proud of...:
Wick Chapters 2 & 3, the Rome TV series, Ripley, Ben-Hur, Ocean’s Twelve, Malena, Syriana, The Vatican, The Equalizer 3 and Eat Pray Love They are all productions where I think we did a really good job, working together. I love the looks we obtained and loved working with the different DPs.
Most trusted kit
This is very difficult as things keep changing. Most of my own kit is outdated, because now everything is LED. But, the lights I like and use most at the moment are the De Sisti LED Fresnels and The Muses Of Light LEDs they developed with Vittorio Storaro.
Advice for anybody wanting to get into film lighting?
My only advice is… try to be part of a production, see if you like the work, the hours, the life. If you get hooked, you will carry on, I’m sure.
How do you relax?
I’m pretty boring nowadays – I go for meals, see friends and stay at home.
Little known fact:
I’m known amongst colleagues as Zac, which was my nickname from school. The other kids had problems pronouncing my real name!
I’m most proud of my work on films like John
Images: Francesco variously pictured on-set with DPs John Mathieson BSC, Dan Laustsen DFF ASC and Vittorio Storaro AIC ASC
SHOOTING
We entered the crucible of cinematography for the 21st time. We saw some great films including Conclave , The Devil’s Bath , Vermiglio , The Fire Inside and Mother Vera . We met-up with old friends, made a whole lot of new ones too… and generally had a ball at the 2024 edition of the veritable festival. Thank you to everyone, especially the organisers, for making it such a memorable trip.
2024 WINNERS
MAIN COMPETITION
Golden Frog: Michał Dymek
PSC for The Girl With The Needle, dir. Magnus Von Horn
Silver Frog: Lol Crawley BSC for The Brutalist, dir. Brady Corbet
Bronze Frog: Paul Guilhaume AFC for Emilia Pérez, dir. Jacques Audiard
FIPRESCI AWARD
The Devil’s Bath, DP Martin Gschlacht AAC, dirs. Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala
AUDIENCE AWARD
Tatami, DP Todd Martin, dirs. Zar Amir Ebrahimi & Guy Nattiv
POLISH FILMS COMPETITION
Scarborn, DP Piotr Sobociński JR, dir. Paweł Maślona
FILM & ART SCHOOL ETUDES COMPETITION
Golden Tadpole: DP Tin Brendel from Łódź Film School for Orchid, dir. Tin Brendel
At breakfast… (l-r) Ron Prince, Cinematography World’s editor-in-chief, with DP Anthony Dod Mantle DFF BSC ASC and main jury chair Cate Blanchett
Panalight Italy (l-r) technical director Francesco Scopelliti, lighting & grip sales manager (Milan) Stefano Laveneziana, and purchasing equipment/services
Silver Tadpole: DP Daniel Le Hai from Krzystof Kieslowski Film School for I Am Not Here, dir. Daniel Le Hai
Bronze Tadpole: DP Lisa Jilg from Filmakademie BadenWittenberg for Titans, dir. Jannik Weiße
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES
Golden Frog: Mistress Dispeller, DP & dir. Elizabeth Lo DOCUMENTARY SHORTS
Golden Frog: Shotplayer, DP J. Daniel Zúñiga, dir. Sam Shainberg
CINEMATOGRAPHERS’ DEBUTS
Golden Frog: Tatami, DP Todd Martin, dirs. Zar Amir Ebrahimi & Guy Nattiv
MUSIC VIDEOS
Grand Prix: Taylor Swift’s Fortnight (feat. Post Malone), DP Rodrigo Prieto AMC ASC, dir. Taylor Swift
TV SERIES – BEST EPISODE
Golden Frog: Ripley: A Hard Man To Find, DP Robert Elswit ASC, dir. Steven Zaillian
DIRECTORS’ DEBUTS
Golden Frog: Santosh, dir. Sandhya Sur
Morrison
Nico Aguilar AMC… Rodrigo’s man on Pedro Páramo
Photos and words by Ron Prince.
Torun getting ready for Christmas
DP Ashley Barron ACS swaps hats with Ron Prince, Cinematography World’s editor-in-chief
DPs Rodrigo Prieto AMC ASC and Anthony Dod Mantle DFF BSC ASC at the Jordanki
Rachel
ASC at the festival
Robert & Robert… with their favourite cinematography magazine. Read it too… or else!
DP Rachel Clark BSC and her husband Fred
DP
Italian DP Valentina Caniglia CCS with Salvatore Totino ASC
Beware of strong/sudden gusts!
Nanlux/ Nanlite team… Xuting Zhu, DP Rodney Charters ASC, Mark Bender and Andy Lin
Michael Koerner of Koerner Camera in Portland, with focus puller/camera operator Tamia Diaz
D&I discussion… (l-r) producer Anna Higgs, costume designer Sandy Powell, Vermiglio director Maura Delpero and main jury chair Cate Blanchett, with DPs Rodrigo Prieto AMC ASC, Mandy Walker ACS ASC and Chris Ross BSC
Julie Taylor-Butt,senior managerKodak’s marketing & film sales, EAMERof
student
Ed Lachman ASC, the 2024 Camerimage
DP Martin Gslacht AAC on-stage before the screening of The Devil’s Bath
Master of dark and light… DP Jarin Blashcke
DP Jamie Ramsay SASC and Vika Safrigina
cinematography
at ESCAC Barcelona
Filmmaker and Zeiss Hélèneconsultant de Roux
Martyna Czerw, a festival office support worker, and her artwork
Ho… ho… ho…!
Camera operator extraordinaire… Agnieszka ‘Aga’ Szeliga ACO
Filmmakers Alys Tomlinson and Céclie Embleton – the visual Mother Vera
(l-r) gaffer Robert Oberč ICLS and Vicci Clayton of Creamsource/LCA, publisher Alan Lowne, and Jenny Clark of Sunbelt Rentals
Leitz Cine’s marketing manager Laura Kaufmann
Say no more!
Camera operator Agnieszka Koko Kokowska with director Mara Tamkovich
AI Seminar – (l-r) VFX supremo Rob Legato, AI content-creator
Ellenor Argyropoulous, lawyer Angela Dunning, DPs Catherine Goldschmidt BSC and Salvatore Totino AIC ASC, and moderator Michael Goi ASC ISC
Previous panels and workshops presented by James Friend, ASC BSC, Dion Beebe ACS ASC, Fabian Wagner ASC BSC, Roberto Schaefer ASC AIC, Bojana Andric SAS, Claire Pijman NSC, to name a few at this must-attend event
