The Cinematography Podcast

Scott "Smitty" Smith, the IMAX camera technician behind Oppenheimer, Sinners and The Odyssey, on large format film, servicing cameras and why film costs less than you'd think. This episode is packed with technical detail for anyone who wants to understand the mechanics of shooting IMAX, from servicing the cameras to what the premium ticket actually buys. Podcast highlights include: -How Smitty’s z...

Furious DP Doug Emmett breaks down how the production team aligned on tone, lighting a penthouse with floor-to-ceiling windows, and creating a red-lit party scene. Podcast highlights include: -How the Furious team rehearsed their look-book pitches over Zoom before presenting to the studio. Every pitch got shorter and sharper, and the department heads began production aligned on the tone of the sho...

Director Dave Boyle and DP Patrick Ouziel on making the ghost story Never After Dark in Japan: a 28-day shoot, a backlit zoetrope mirror, and in-camera magic. Podcast highlights: -How Boyle, fresh off the Netflix hit House of Ninjas, made the film in Japan. Cast and crew were locked in before the script was finished, a development cycle very different from what happens in Hollywood's. -What it's l...

Director Wesley Wang on building Wesley Wang Media, an indie studio incubator for online creators, launching a $100K open contest, and staying a filmmaker himself. Podcast highlights include: -How Wesley Wang Media flips the traditional development model. Rather than years of notes and pitch meetings behind closed doors, the company funds small, low-cost proofs of concept and lets online audiences...

Remembering cinematographer Rodney Charters, ASC, dp of 24, Sleepwalkers, and much more in this classic Cinepod conversation on craft, career, and lighting.

DP Brett Pawlak on grounding Spider-Man: Brand New Day in natural light, practical suit design, and 17 years collaborating with Destin Cretton. Podcast highlights include: -How Pawlak and Cretton’s input about the suit design kept Peter Parker feeling human. The mask allowed Tom Holland's jaw to move, and his real eyes were visible through the mesh so the audience never forgets there’s a human und...

Cinematographer John Matysiak on shooting Motor City's nearly dialogue-free story, real in-camera stunts, and building its 1970s Detroit look from film tests. Podcast highlights include: -Why Motor City tells its story with almost no dialogue, and how that shaped everything from frame rate to needle-drop music. The crew tested wildly different frame rates to find moments where the image alone coul...

DP Julia Swain on faking the Golden Gate Bridge, rigging a real tour bus, and bringing indie instincts to Netflix's Voicemails for Isabelle Podcast highlights include: -How Julia shot the film's pivotal Golden Gate Bridge overlook scenes without using a stage. The team scouted the real Marin Headlands, built a 3D map of the exact sightline, then recreated the spot in a Vancouver park at night, usi...

DP Michael Bauman, ASC on shooting Monster: The Ed Gein Story, building a visual language with period lenses, and lighting with just reflectors and flashlights. Podcast highlights include: -How Michael built a distinct visual language for each era with lensing shifting from period to period. Color and texture gave the digital image a weathered, film-period feel. -Lighting the Emmy-nominated Episod...

DOP Gustav Danielsson, FSF on shooting HBO's A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms with naturalistic firelight, practical battlefield fog, and in-camera POV shots Podcast highlights include: -How Gustav and director Owen Harris planned the show's night time, fire-light-driven look. -Beginning their shoot day at dusk to catch the natural blue hour light in the wide shots before moving into closer setups....

DP Matt Ball on shooting Tucci in Italy Season 2, the challenges of journeying to remote regions over tourist spots, and capturing emotional moments on camera. Podcast highlights include: -How the show featured lesser-traveled regions like Sardinia, Le Marche, and rural Abruzzo to capture authentic regional culture. -Running a lean, self-contained crew for shoots in remote and hard-to-reach locati...

DP Eben Bolter, ASC, BSC breaks down the watery, noir lighting, anamorphic lenses, and practical tricks behind Apple TV's Cape Fear. Podcast highlights include: -How Eben built Cape Fear's look around the theatrical expressionism of the 1991 Scorsese film. He used the same 2.35 aspect ratio as the Scorsese film, rather than a more conventional widescreen frame. -Working with the production design...

Cinematographer Lyle Vincent on shooting the Netflix series The Beast in Me with Panavision lenses and hard lighting that allow deep shadows to fall into black. Vincent's work is a continuation of his collaboration with director Antonio Campos after the HBO Max drama, The Staircase. The eight-episode limited series, shot entirely by Vincent, was approached less like television and more like one ve...

Christian Sprenger, ASC on balancing horror and comedy in Widow's Bay with lighting, practical effects, and years of trust built with producer Hiro Murai. Podcast highlights include: -How Christian's 11-year creative partnership with executive producer and director Hiro Murai has built a shared shorthand, allowing him to pitch unconventional ideas with total trust. -Why the team resisted moody, sh...

Peter Konczal, ASC on Black Rabbit's deliberately low-tech-analog toolkit, customized blue bounce light, and the gradual unraveling of its visual style episode by episode. Podcast highlights include: -The deliberately low-tech-analog toolkit Pete assembled with co-cinematographer Igor Martinović became the show's defining look. It included one of a kind soot filters and scratched-up glass rulers w...

DP James Whitaker, ASC breaks down the look of HBO's DTF St. Louis: street photographs, a brutalist style police station, and inobtrusively lighting intimacy. Podcast highlights include: -How street photography, not cinema, was the right reference point for shooting ordinary suburbs. -What led to the unusual set design and lighting of one of the key locations, featuring a brutalist interior that f...

The Audacity DP Richard Rutkowski, ASC made Vancouver look like Palo Alto, used lens filters instead of special effects to create wildfires, and dramatized the themes of the show with spotlights and framing. Podcast highlights include: -How Richard and his crew made Vancouver look convincingly like Silicon Valley and why establishing a sense of place was a creative priority from day one. -Why glas...

Peter Deming, ASC on shooting Evil Dead 2 with director Sam Raimi and working with director David Lynch on Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, and Twin Peaks. Find Peter Deming: Instagram @peter_deming Spider Noir is now streaming on MGM Plus and Amazon Prime. The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast Facebook: @cinepod Instagram: @thecinepod Blue Sky: @the...

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

James Laxton, ASC is the Academy Award nominated cinematographer of Moonlight. His latest project is Season 2 of Beef, the acclaimed Netflix series created by Lee Sung Jin. This season explores themes of love, class, and generational cycles. Key Podcast Highlights: -How James and Lee built a color palette of spring, summer, autumn, and winter that stays continuous through lighting, costume, and pr...

Krzysztof Trojnar is the cinematographer of the Netflix series, Something Very Bad is Going to Happen. It’s a genuinely unsettling horror show about a woman whose anxiety about an upcoming family wedding spirals into something far darker, with Krzysztof's camera work enhancing the feeling of dread. Key Podcast Highlights: -How the visual language of the show deliberately evolves across episodes, m...

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

Margo's Got Money Troubles DP Tari Segal, ASC approached the show with spontaneity, intimacy, and a creative way to bring static backdrops to life. Margo's Got Money Troubles follows a young woman navigating an unexpected pregnancy, a complicated family, and some very creative ways to pay the bills. It’s one of the most visually inventive comedies currently streaming. Tari shot four of the show's...

DP Greta Zozula remakes the world of Gilead in The Testaments, a sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. She chose a very specific color palette and brighter look to show the optimism for the young women at the school for future wives. Flashbacks to the world of Toronto are sharper, grittier and more realistic. Key Podcast Highlights: -How Greta kept the same camera and lenses consistent from The Handmaid’...

Hunting Matthew Nichols is an indie horror film that’s shot as a mockumentary/found-footage movie about a documentary filmmaker investigating her brother's disappearance 20 years earlier on Vancouver Island. Writer/producer Sean Harris Oliver and DP Justin Sebastian shot the horror film in 12 days, then independently released it into theaters. Key Podcast Highlights: -How cinematographer Justin Se...