The Cinematography Podcast

Slow Horses DP Eben Bolter on shooting season six using imperfect light, a location lit with green LED tape, choosing gray screen over green, and a dark, wet London look.

Podcast highlights include:

-How imperfection makes light feel real. Eben sets the scene and lets actors move through it freely, using hidden practicals and uplighting that’s sometimes unflattering, but gives the show a sense of reality.

-How the dramatic scene set in a London fast food restaurant was lit. What’s seen on screen is what they shot, with no VFX or grade enhancement.

-Using gray screen for compositing, rather than green or blue screen. We get into why.

-How Eben kept it gritty. By evoking the feel of bleach bypass and deeper contrast. Then punctuating the look through key scenes like a chase through a colorful bowling alley using 200-plus LED fixtures.

Find Eben Bolter: https://www.ebenbolter.com/

Instagram: @ebenbolter

Show Rundown:

02:25 Close Focus

13:52- 01:06:40 Interview with Eben Bolter

01:07:03 Short Ends

01:21:42 Credits

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com

YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast

Facebook: @cinepod

Instagram: @thecinepod

Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social

Cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh explains how natural light, practical sources and an invisible camera shaped Netflix’s East of Eden, shot in New Zealand with director Garth Davis.

This episode is a look at how restraint, natural light and trust in the writing shape a period drama where the photography never calls attention to itself.

Podcast highlights include:

-How naturalism won out over a "period look." Stuart let the production design, costumes and performances capture the time period, an approach he used in his work with Jane Campion on The Piano and Portrait of a Lady.

-How practical and natural light sources were key. Candles, oil lamps and firelight did the heavy lifting.

-How New Zealand became the Salinas Valley. As a native Kiwi, Stuart was extremely familiar with the locations. Some of the area’s historic houses were used in the film, while others were built on location and replicated as two-story stage sets.

-How a camera can observe rather than announce. Stuart favors moving and interlocking masters with close-ups rationed, even in the show's most harrowing scenes.

Find Stuart Dryburgh: https://www.stuartdryburgh.com/

Instagram: @stuartdryburgh

Show Rundown:

02:27 Close Focus

07:58-49:38 Interview with Stuart Dryburgh

50:02 Short Ends

56:31 Credits

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com

YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast

Facebook: @cinepod

Instagram: @thecinepod

Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social

Cinematographer Matheus Bastos on shooting Gazer and Anima on 16mm with little money, how handheld and zooms track character, and why focusing on the work beat chasing an agent.

This episode is a candid look at how limitations, story and trust shape a career, from a scrappy $80K film shoot to the call that changed everything.

Podcast highlights include:

-How Gazer's look was born from necessity. Shot on 16mm over two and a half years, the micro budget meant there were no dailies. The footage was sometimes processed months after shooting.

-How the 16mm feature Anima got its cleaner look. Director Brian Ivie wanted a clean negative, so Matheus never went beyond 200 speed film stock and overexposed everything.

-How handheld and zooms become character psychology. Matheus’s handheld technique follows the main character’s unraveling mind in Gazer, while in Anima, operating style shifts between the characters as their lives blur together.

-How focusing on his craft and professional relationships changed his career. Matheus stepped in for three days on the film Story Ave. and that job got agents calling.

Find Matheus Bastos: https://www.matheusbastos.com/

Instagram: matheusbastos_dp

Show Rundown:

02:29 Close Focus

10:22-53:53 Interview with Matheus Bastos

54:08 Short Ends

01:08:50 Credits

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 zigzag career built a one-of-a-kind specialist. From Learjet periscope systems and aerials to IMAX documentaries and features, Smitty developed IMAX camera technician into its own job. He services every camera that runs more than a mag or two a day, with partial teardowns at lunch and at night.

-How three-minute mags shape the rhythm of a set. Reloads happen in under two minutes, giving the director a beat with the actors while everyone stays on their A-game.

-How film and digital each has their place. Film rules the highlight roll-off, while digital rules the shadows and low light. Budget-wise, large format film costs less compared to digital than most filmmakers think.

-How not every IMAX theater is the same IMAX. A high-reflectance screen, twin 4K laser projectors, a 12-speaker array and a protected 1.9 aspect ratio are what the premium ticket buys. 15-perf film projection tops it all, at three times the resolution of 70mm.

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 show.

-How Emmett lit a 60th-floor penthouse of floor-to-ceiling windows that became a tricky house of mirrors once darkness fell. Taped-up light mats, low bounces and black rags kept the reflections out of frame, with no need to paint them out.

-How a large Queens restaurant became a claustrophobic party scene. Emmett flooded the space with red light from old bulbs, mixed in cyan, and kept the camera tight on Alice because there weren't enough extras to shoot wide.

-How he shot the show's two protagonists, Alice and Catherine. Emmett held a consistent focal length, kept close-ups in the 60 to 100mm range, and never went longer, so the audience stays inside the characters' space.

See Furious streaming on Hulu.

Find Doug Emmett: https://www.dougemmett.com/

Show rundown:

02:17 Close Focus

09:22-59:09 Interview with Doug Emmett

58:50 Short Ends

01:08:45 Credits

The Cinematography Podcast

website: www.camnoir.com

YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast

Facebook: @cinepod

Instagram: @thecinepod

Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social

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 like to shoot in a language you don't speak. Ouziel worked through a translator and alongside lighting director Hidenori Nagata, whose traditional fixtures and custom mirrors changed how he thinks about light.

-How they built the spinning, ghost summoning zoetrope mirror and captured its reflections in camera. With careful tests and planning, Ouziel filmed all the mirror shots exclusively with in-camera effects.

Never After Dark opens September 25 in New York and Los Angeles and expands nationwide October 9.

Find Never After Dark in theaters: https://www.magpictures.com/neverafterdark/

Find Dave Boyle: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2279419/

Instagram: @thedaveboyle

Find Patrick Ouziel: https://www.patrickouziel.com/

Instagram: @patrickouziel

Hear our previous interview with Dave Boyle on House of Ninjas: https://www.camnoir.com/ep254/

Show Rundown:

02:16 Close Focus

13:03-01:01:42 Interview with Dave Boyle and Patrick Ouziel

01:02:14 Short Ends

01:08:49 Credits

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com

YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast

Facebook: @cinepod

Instagram: @thecinepod

Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social

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 decide what gets scaled toward streaming or theatrical.

-The $100,000 open filmmaker contest the company just launched. No agent, lawyer, or prior credits required — just a 60-second pitch video, with finalists flown out for a filmed "camp" challenge to help pick the winner.

-What it's like negotiating the split between building a company and staying a filmmaker himself. Wang talks candidly about the pull toward becoming an "executive producer" full-time, and his plan to keep writing and directing on the side.

-Where Wang draws the line on AI. He explains why Wesley Wang Media isn't funding AI-made or AI-assisted projects right now, and compares the pull of human-made films to why nobody roots for a computer chess player over a grandmaster.

If you're a creator, brand, investor or anyone with a great idea, Wesley Wang Media would like to hear from you! Email: [email protected]

Apply for the $100,000 filmmaker contest: https://wesleywangmedia.com/apply

Find Wesley Wang: https://wesleywangmedia.com/

Instagram: @wesleywanggg

@wesleywangmedia

Show Rundown:

02:13 Close Focus

09:13- 52:47 Wesley Wang Interview

53:11 Short Ends

59:52 Credits

The Cinematography Podcast

website: www.camnoir.com

YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast

Facebook: @cinepod

Instagram: @thecinepod

Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social

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 under the mask.

-Pawlak's approach to lighting a tentpole movie. Using as much natural light as possible.

-Solving the Jean Grey telekinesis sequence with a simple method. Capturing a choreographed "wave" through the cast with both whip pans and lock-offs.

-How fundamentals of story and composition don't change when scaling up from TV’s Wonder Man to a Spider-Man tentpole.

Find Brett Pawlak: https://www.brettpawlak.com/

Instagram: @brettsbo

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is still playing in theaters and conquering the box office.

SHOW RUNDOWN:

01:50 Close Focus

13:07-01:14:46 Brett Pawlak Interview

01:15:25 Short Ends

01:26:10 Credits

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com

YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast

Facebook: @cinepod

Instagram: @thecinepod

Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social

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 could carry the emotion of a scene.

-The commitment to shooting practical over digital, including a real car fight and a one-day elevator brawl. The team built real stunts on real streets, saving resources for the effects work that truly needed it.

-How the team engineered Motor City's period 1970s Detroit look. Side-by-side film tests on 35mm and Alexa helped the team reverse-engineer a great film look for digital.

-Pulling off an ambitious 44-location shoot in just 27 days. Heavy pre-production and storyboarding gave the crew the flexibility to improvise and pivot when locations and permits fell through at the last minute.

Find John Matysiak: https://www.johnmatysiak.com/

Instagram: @john_matysiak

Motor City is still in select theaters and available on pay per view.

Hear our past interview with John Matysiak and Potsy Ponciroli on their film, Old Henry: https://www.camnoir.com/ep143/

SHOW RUNDOWN:

02:09 Close Focus

12:46-01:01:45 John Matysiak Interview

01:02:26 Short Ends

01:11:33 Credits

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com

YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast

Facebook: @cinepod

Instagram: @thecinepod

Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social