Features

Multi-camera Television Cinematographers on the Magic of their Craft

Over the last year, the industry has seen a jump in multi-camera production with more than 15 pilots ordered in 2018. The format, which gained early popularity with shows such as I Love Lucy, has remained a constant on the TV landscape but has reemerged with a more cinematic style in recent years. Tasked with creating a richer look to appeal to today’s viewers, but still facing the traditional challenges of shooting multiple camera angles and in front of a live audience, today’s shooters are adept at using advancements in technology and technique to serve their vision.

In 1978 in Colorado, undercover police officer Ron Stallworth successfully infiltrated the resurgent Ku Klux Klan. Unbeknownst to the KKK and Grand Wizard David Duke, Stallworth was the only African-American cop on the Colorado Springs force. This true story was ideal material for director Spike Lee, who turned it into BlacKkKlansman, starring John David Washington, Adam Driver and Topher Grace.

In advertising, image is everything. In today’s competitive commercial production world, cinematographers are always looking for an edge. The buzzword is often “cinematic,” and with the extremely high quality of television content, a spot must measure up or be lost in the shuffle. Makers of television content – both narrative projects and commercials – are turning to vintage glass and widescreen aspect ratios to lend their images the epic sweep of classic films.

HBO’s Fahrenheit 451 is a modernization of the classic Ray Bradbury book about a dystopian future of thought control and book burning by the big brother Ministry that stars Michael B. Jordan as a firefighter, who is doing more burning than extinguishing but begins to question authority and eventually rebels. The HBO film also stars Michael Shannon and Sofia Boutella. The film makes its television debut on HBO on May 19.

The dapper, bookish Dr. Dylan Reinhart is a professor these days, but it's his former life as a CIA operative specializing in criminal behavior that interests the NYPD. Streetwise detective Lizzie Needham coaxes him out of retirement, hoping the professor's instincts will help her track a serial killer on the loose in New York. Alan Cumming and Bojana Novakovic star in the CBS mid-season series Instinct, which is based on the James Patterson bestseller formerly known as Murder Games.

Rachel Morrison, ASC earned an Oscar® nomination for her work on Mudbound, becoming the first female to be recognized in the category in the Academy’s 90-year history. The film, directed by Dee Rees, is set in rural Mississippi during World War II. It focuses on two families that are separated by society, yet united by their shared farmland.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which earned seven Oscar® nominations, reunites director Martin McDonagh and cinematographer Ben Davis, BSC. The two previously collaborated on Seven Psychopaths.

Cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen went all-in on the Oscar®-nominated Molly’s Game by devising two distinct looks for director Aaron Sorkin that were used for scenes in Los Angeles and scenes in New York. The indie feature was shot mostly on sets built at Pinewood Studios in Toronto.

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Features

Multi-camera Television Cinematographers on the Magic of their Craft

Chayse Irvin, CSC Fills his Arsenal with Panavision Tools for BlacKkKlansman

Cinematographers Bring Movielike Magic to Commercials

Panavision is Kramer Morgenthau’s Go-To Resource for HBO’s Fahrenheit 451

Joe Collins Gets a Feel for the Millennium DXL on Instinct

Independent Filmmakers Discuss How Panavision Supports their Creative Vision: Mudbound

Independent Filmmakers Discuss How Panavision Supports their Creative Vision: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Independent Filmmakers Discuss How Panavision Supports their Creative Vision: Molly's Game

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