“Cherry” DP Newton Thomas Sigel on the Russo Brothers First Post-Avengers Film

Joe and Anthony Russo’s latest project is a far cry from Avengers. The hopes and dreams of the titular hero of Cherry (premiering on Apple TV+ on March 12), played by Tom Holland, are earth-bound, centered around getting high, getting money, or getting clean. In the film’s first chapter (there are six in total, each introduced by a blood-red title page), Cherry is at his worst—strung out,

“Snowfall” DP Tommy Maddox-Upshaw on Transforming Memory Into Light & Optics

Season 4 of the FX drama Snowfall opens on antihero Franklin Saint (Damson Idris) imploring CIA agent Teddy (Carter Hudson) to help him keep local gang rivalries in check. Tensions are getting out of hand in mid-1980s Los Angeles, even if Franklin, erudite and unassuming, appears as on top of his own drug-related dealings as ever. Far and near, the show’s other characters are going through upheavals of their own. Teddy’s machinations in Mexico go off the rails in part due to trouble with an Israeli gangster,

How the DP & Production Designer Behind “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” Met the Moment

It’s not often there’s a Golden Globe nomination for an African American actress playing a famous blues or jazz singer. This year, there are two of them.

One is for Viola Davis, going chop-to-chop with the late, great Chadwick Boseman in the Netflix adaptation of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, playing the titular character. The other is for singer and actress Andra Day,

DP Marcell Rév on Going Black and White in “Malcolm & Marie”

From the moment Marie (Zendaya) strides into view, entering the borrowed Los Angeles digs she’s sharing with her director boyfriend Malcolm (John David Washington), you sense trouble. The couple’s home, where they will spend the rest of the night wide awake and arguing, is spacious and stunning, and Malcolm’s movie premiere earlier that evening was an unqualified success. Too bad the auteur forgot to thank Marie in his speech,

DP Sean Bobbitt on Framing a Historic Power Struggle in “Judas and the Black Messiah”

The late Fred Hampton, former chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers, was renowned for his skill as an orator and his work in his community, though the American government chose to mainly view the young activist as a threat. After convincing competing and even hostile groups as disparate as Chicago’s Young Lords and the rural Young Patriots to work together with the Panthers toward the common goal of a better quality of life for all,

Best of 2020: “Lovecraft Country” DP Michael Watson on Lensing HBO’s Multi-Genre Hit Series

We put together our annual “Best Of” list with an eye towards the conversations that weren’t just about our particular area of interest—how films and TV shows are made and the people who make them—but delved into broader discussions that were unavoidable in this historic, often heartbreaking year. These conversations include our chat with Laverne Cox about her role in Netflix’s Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen,  Lovecraft Country cinematographer Michael Watson on filming during a pandemic,

Best of 2020: DP Greig Fraser on Harnessing Cutting-Edge Tech in “The Mandalorian”

We put together our annual “Best Of” list with an eye towards the conversations that weren’t just about our particular area of interest—how films and TV shows are made and the people who make them—but delved into broader discussions that were unavoidable in this historic, often heartbreaking year. These conversations include our chat with Laverne Cox about her role in Netflix’s Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen,  Lovecraft Country cinematographer Michael Watson on filming during a pandemic,

Cinematographer Oliver Bokelberg on Transforming Vancouver Into Montana in “Big Sky”

This article contains light spoilers for previously aired episodes.

Big Sky, David E. Kelley’s new ratings hit for ABC, which was just picked up for another six episodes, juxtaposes Montana’s sweeping vistas with the bleak interior of a locked away trailer, where an unlikely criminal duo is holding three teenaged girls. Based on C.J. Box’s novel “The Highway,” the crime drama sets viewers up with stunning aerial shots of rural Montana before zooming in on run-down bars,

DP Bryce Fortner on Recreating the 1970s in the Propulsive Crime Drama “I’m Your Woman”

Director Julie Hart’s new thriller, I’m Your Woman, turns its attention to a figure usually overlooked in 1970s crime dramas: the housewife. Jean (Rachel Brosnahan) seems incapable and alone, dispassionately aware but otherwise innocent of her husband Eddie’s (Bill Heck) nebulous involvement in some kind of organized crime. When Eddie heads out for the night and doesn’t come back, leaving Jean with a mysterious baby boy she’s mutely accepted as their own,

Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle on Filming HBO’s “The Undoing” – Part II

As mentioned in Part I of our interview with cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, a good many of The Undoing’s settings were shot on location in Manhattan, while the main interiors were built at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens. Many of the locations were found in the Upper West Side, something that took some getting used to for Mantle.  “We were very true to the Upper West Side, which I actually found hard to embrace because it’s not a world I’m drawn to,” he says,

Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle on Filming HBO’s “The Undoing” – Part I

When Nicole Kidman first began reading scripts for HBO’s hugely popular limited series from David E. Kelley, The Undoing, among the first things she noticed was intense scenes in which her very interior character said little, and gives away even less. When she wondered aloud about how best to handle such performances for the camera, director Susanne Bier simply replied, “I’ve got ideas.”

The limited series follows Grace (Kidman) and Jonathan Fraser (Grant),

“Run” Cinematographer Hillary Spera on Creating Hulu’s Breathless Thriller

Co-writer and director Aneesh Chaganty’s Run moves like a thoroughbred thriller thanks to all its constituent parts working in perfect unison. The stellar cast, led by Sarah Paulson and newcomer Kiera Allen, Chagnaty’s lean script, co-written with Sev Ohanian, and Chagnaty and his crew’s exacting execution. The film is centered on the too-close-for-comfort relationship between a mother in daughter—Diane (Paulson) is a zealously devoted guardian of her daughter Chloe (Allen), who is paralyzed from the waist down and also deals with a variety of other ailments,

Cinematographer Andy Rydzewski on Lighting the Horrors of Middle School in “Pen15”

We’ve hit the apex of spooky season, so let’s talk about one of the creepiest shows on television: Pen15. Yep, co-creators Maya Erskine’s and Anna Konkle’s adult foray back to seventh grade, rife with slut-shaming, passive aggression, and surprise three-way phone calls. Now in the first half of its second season (the next seven episodes will likely air on Hulu in the spring), the women are once again ensconced among their young peers,

“One Night In Miami” DP Tami Reiker on Regina King’s Stunning Directorial Debut

Tami Reiker has had a very busy year. She was the cinematographer on Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s The Old Guard, one of the most-viewed movies ever on Netflix, and just finished work on One Night in Miami, Regina King’s feature debut as a director. The fact-based story is about the night four friends, Malcolm X, Jim Brown, Cassius Clay, and Sam Cooke spent together on February 25th,

DP Phedon Papamichael on Designing for Dialogue in Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7”

Aaron Sorkin is well-known for his densely-packed dialogue, and The Trial of the Chicago 7, his retelling of the 1969 trial that saw counter-culture luminaries like Abbie Hoffman and Bobby Seale tried for conspiracy and inciting a riot, the writer-director is true to form. The film, which debuts on Netflix on October 16th, swerves between the trial and the defendants’ memories, to revisit what each of the seven accused was doing the day the police went after previously peaceful protestors outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

DP James Kniest on Netflix’s New Horror Series “The Haunting of Bly Manor”

The question central to Henry James’ horror novella “The Turn of the Screw” is whether a nanny who tries and fails to protect her young charges from ghosts ever really saw the ghosts, or if she’s gone mad and is thereby herself at fault for the two children’s’ demise. In Mike Flanagan’s loose adaptation of this and other horror works by James, the creator zooms out, asking instead whether all the occupants of Bly Manor might be losing it.

“Lovecraft Country” DP Michael Watson on Lensing HBO’s Multi-Genre Hit Series

If you’ve been watching Lovecraft Country on HBO, you’ve seen one of the most sublimely ambitious series on TV this year. Stripping the legendary horror writer H.P. Lovecraft for parts (the man was a seething racist and anti-Semite), creator Misha Green’s 9-episode series is equal parts horror, drama, sci-fi, and social commentary. Lovecraft Country is the show 2020 needed but probably didn’t deserve.

Cinematographer Michael Watson lensed four of Lovecraft‘s episodes,

Emmy-Nominated DP Benedict Spence on Shooting “The End of the F***ing World”

Netflix’s The End of the F***ing World is based on Charles Forsman’s graphic novel, is a beguilingly beautiful, darkly comedic series. Adapated by Charlie Covell, the story follows two teen outsiders with different ideas about their relationship. James (Alex Lawther) believes he’s a psychopath, and while he agrees to go on a road trip with Alyssa (Jessica Barden) to find her father, his real plan is to find the perfect time to kill her.

Emmy-Nominated DP Greig Fraser on Harnessing Cutting-Edge Tech in “The Mandalorian”

The Emmys have spoken: The ballots are in, and among the most-nominated shows was Disney’s first live action Star Wars series, The Mandalorian.

One big reason for that was cinematographer Greig Fraser, a previous Oscar nominee for his work on Lion, and now sharing an Emmy nom with Barry “Baz” Idoine on the Disney+ series, in particular its gunslinging penultimate episode,

Cinematographer Jay Keitel on Shooting the Deliciously Creepy “She Dies Tomorrow”

Director Amy Seimetz’s new feature, She Dies Tomorrow, opens on a tight close-up of a teary blue eye ringed with streaked mascara. When we next see Amy (Kate Lyn Sheil), the film’s patient zero, she’s dazedly moving through her sunny new Los Angeles home. The house is modest and half unpacked, but hip light fixtures and the beginnings of some artsy wallpaper hint at what once had been a more normal life.