Definition June/July 2026 - Web

In our latest issue, we sit down with one of the greatest cinematographers ever to do it: Sir Roger Deakins. Follow the link below to read his reflections on an incredible career, and all about his new memoir. We also catch up with the DOPs on Disclosure Day, Euphoria and The Pitt, welcome back our annual colour special and hear from Pixar DOP Matt Aspbury, plus lots more besides. Enjoy!

JUN/JUL 2026

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Janusz Kamiński on crafting the look of Steven Spielberg’s latest extraterrestrial epic interesting Safe isn’t

THE LEGENDARY ROGER DEAKINS REFLECTS ON A LIFE BEHIND THE LENS ALL GROWN UP INSIDE EUPHORIA’S VISUAL EVOLUTION WITH MARCELL RÉV PIXAR’S TOY BOX EXPLORING THE ART OF ANIMATION CINEMATOGRAPHY SCARE TACTICS HOW MASTERS OF HORROR BUILD SUSPENSE

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WELCOME

EDITORIAL Editor in chief Nicola Foley nicolafoley@bright.uk.com Senior staff writer Katie Kasperson Features writer Oliver Webb Chief sub editor Matthew Winney Junior sub editors Tabitha John & Kezia Kurtz Contributors Adrian Pennington & Phil Rhodes ADVERTISING Sales director Sam Scott-Smith samscott-smith@bright.uk.com 01223 499457 | +447875711967 Sales manager Emma Stevens emmastevens@bright.uk.com 01223 499462 | +447376665779 DESIGN Design director Andy Jennings Magazine design manager Lucy Woolcomb Junior designer and ad production Holly May

I t’s always exciting when Steven Spielberg dips his toe back into sci-fi, so we’re delighted to be bestowed with Disclosure Day this summer: a perfect extraterrestrial popcorn blockbuster to catch at the cinema when you need to cool off. His long-time cinematographer Janusz Kamiński talks through the creative and technical choices on the film, as well as his decades-spanning working relationship with Spielberg, on page 18. We also sit down with the legendary Roger Deakins – widely acknowledged as one of the greatest cinematographers of all time – who reflects on a remarkable career and discusses his recently released memoir on page 8. Other productions in the spotlight include Euphoria , in my opinion one of the most visually interesting shows of recent times, as its third and final series comes to a close. This time around, the characters are stepping out of school and into the real world – and the production did the same, shooting extensively on location for the first time. DOP Marcell Rév talks evolving the look, classic westerns, Hitchcock and how Kodak developed a bespoke film stock just for the season on page 24. I had the pleasure of chatting with Matt Aspbury, in-house cinematographer at Pixar, to learn about his role in making Toy Story 5 on page 14. Plus, we speak to writer-producer Eva Anderson and cinematographer Tari Segal, who reunite for comedy-drama Margo’s Got Money Troubles following their successful collaboration on Interior Chinatown . We also welcome back our annual Colour Special, beginning on page 29. This year’s edition explores whether films and TV shows are really becoming less colourful and expressive (as the internet likes to insist…), and the challenges of accurately colourising historic

PUBLISHING Managing director Andy Brogden

footage. There’s also a discussion on colour theory with Andrew Droz Palermo, ASC, a chat with Josh Bohoskey about crafting the nostalgic autumnal look of Rooster and loads more. Enjoy!

Bright Publishing LTD Bright House, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridgeshire, CB22 3HJ, UK prices, without tax, where available or converted using the exchange rate on the day the magazine went to press. Definition is published monthly by Bright Publishing Ltd, Bright House, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridge, CB22 3HJ. No part of this magazine can be used without prior written permission of Bright Publishing Ltd. Definition is a registered trademark of Bright Publishing Ltd. The advertisements published in Definition that have been written, designed or produced by employees of Bright Publishing Ltd remain the copyright of Bright Publishing Ltd and may not be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. Prices quoted in sterling, euros and US dollars are street

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CONTENTS

REGULARS 6/ BEHIND THE SHOT

We dive into The Pitt with DOP Johanna Coelho, who shares how her favourite scene came together 58/ ROUND TABLE Two experts from leading kit companies assess the state of the rental sector 68/ DYNAMIC DUOS This issue’s power pair is writer-producer Eva Anderson and DOP Tari Segal INTERVIEWS 8/ ROGER DEAKINS The great Roger Deakins reflects on an illustrious career behind the lens 14/ PIXAR Meet Matt Aspbury, the Pixar DOP who’s shaped the animated cinematography on films including Soul and Toy Story 5 TECHNIQUE 52/ DAY FOR NIGHT We delve into one of filmmaking’s most difficult tricks – shooting day for night – with insights from DOPs and colourists on how to get it right 64/ SCARE TACTICS Krzysztof Trojnar and Vince Knight share top techniques for building suspense PRODUCTIONS 24/ EUPHORIA The HBO drama is back and as visually arresting as ever. We explore its singular aesthetic with DOP Marcell Rév

G lauber Rocha’s Black God, White Devil is a milestone in Brazilian filmmaking that helped shape the country’s Cinema Novo movement. Heavily influenced by European cinema, Rocha incorporates tropes from the French New Wave and Soviet films, including jump cuts, handheld shots, close- ups and static frames. Blending folkloric and revolutionary themes with absurdism, the film is canonical not just in Brazil’s film history, but the world’s. If I can’t persuade you, perhaps Luis Buñuel can. He called it: “The most beautiful thing I have seen in a decade, filled with a savage poetry.” Oliver Webb, features writer, unearths a Brazilian classic DEFINITION RECOMMENDS: BLACK GOD, WHITE DEVIL

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CONTENTS

18/ DISCLOSURE DAY Janusz Kamiński takes us BTS on this summer blockbuster-to-be, Steven Spielberg’s latest extraterrestrial thriller COLOUR SPECIAL 30/ THREADING THE NEEDLE Phil Rhodes explores old challenges and new solutions in the world of colour science 34/ DEEPER MEANING DOP Andrew Droz Palermo discusses how colour plays a crucial role in his filmmaking process 36/ ARE FILMS GETTING LESS COLOURFUL? Criticising the lacklustre palette of modern films seems to have become an internet hobby, but is there any truth to it? 40/ GRADING ROOSTER Colourist Josh Bohoskey shares how he created the autumnal look on Rooster 43/ CUT & COLOUR The Gelato VFX team reveal how they brought historically accurate colour to archival World War II footage 44/ THE BUTLER’S COLOUR WORLD The gaffer and DOP on this new period action movie discuss their choices 46/ TEST SPACE DOP Joshua Ighodaro gives his verdict on the EIZO ColorEdge CG3100X in our latest review INDUSTRY 72/ LIGHTS, CAMERA, REACTION Test screenings get scientific at a smart cinema in Bristol 76/ THE VIEW FROM… Our latest international industries spotlight sees us head to Brazil 82/ INDUSTRY BRIEFINGS Interesting acquisitions, plus news from Disney, Cooke and ARRI 86/ CINE GEAR AT 30 CEO and co-founder Juliane Grosso reflects on 30 years of the expo

86 © UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

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Johanna Coelho, AFC breaks down her favourite moment in Emmy-winning medical drama The Pitt

WORDS NICOLA FOLEY IMAGES HBO F ollowing the lives of healthcare workers at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, each series of The Pitt takes the audience through one 15-hour shift in real time. With a cast led by Noah Wyle (best known previously for his role in another acclaimed hospital drama, ER ) as Dr Michael ‘Robby’ Robinavitch, it’s been an Emmy standout from its first series. For cinematographer Johanna Coelho, AFC, one sequence in Season 2, episode 15 captures the show at its best. After saving a mother and baby during an emergency C-section, Robby is overcome with emotion. “This moment is told through a few intercut shots: some on Robby’s face and some over his shoulder to show what he sees – the baby being saved and Abbot watching

him,” says Coelho. “For me, it’s a perfect representation of the universe of The Pitt and the level of intensity and emotion they are going through. It also shows how much they care for their job and each other.” The scene unfolds from Robby’s perspective, so Coelho wanted to make sure his responses were centred. “The choice of shots here are the core of our visual language. To emphasise his emotions, we physically got closer to his face, forcing the audience to feel the intensity of his pain,” she shares. With lots of different elements to consider – a prosthetic belly, special effects to show the newborn breathing, blood and makeup – the big challenge was coordination. “Our storytelling is fast and precise, which forces the camera to

land somewhere at the right time and right place. We have to know the scene really well to be able to be invisible in our choreography, explains Coelho. “For example, when Robby sees the baby is breathing and starts having a moment, the OB-GYN enters and interrupts Robby, which forces him to move away from the table. This timing was hard to hit because of how precise and fast all of these moments are happening.” Once director John Wells had blocked the scene, Coelho worked closely with the AD team, makeup, prosthetics and VFX supervisors to get a handle on the sequence’s practical limitations. “It was important to know how many resets we could have with the belly prosthetic, as well as how we could capture the baby starting to breathe without seeing the

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BEHIND THE SHOT

special effects team in the wider shot,” she recalls. Then, the crew designed the camera moves around key emotional beats, before bringing in operators Erdem Ertal and Aymae Sulick to coordinate movement with the actors, props and background action. It was captured on two ARRI ALEXA Mini LF cameras with Angénieux lenses, with both operators shooting handheld around the operating table while a ZeeGee rig followed Robby through the room. Coelho describes the show as functioning like a live theatre, with the team aiming to shoot a scene from beginning to end without interruption. The set was built to work as a 360° lighting set-up, mostly coming from overhead and bouncing back from the hospital’s white wall. “Every time

we use additional lighting for their faces, they have to be moving lights: either a battery-operated DMG DASH light on a pole, or our custom onboard camera lights, bicolour and fully controllable,” she elaborates. Because of the stark white surrounds, the team wanted to introduce colour contrast to distinguish different areas on-set. “We have warm cans (3200K) around the main area, but for the trauma room I wanted a cooler feel,” she explains. “We decided to use cooler cans (5000K) than our camera white-balance (4000K) to give a more intense, serious feel. These rooms are equipped with real trauma boom lights used for surgery.” While being amazing for realism, these came with the added challenge of being ‘extremely bright with a strange

frequency’, which the team didn’t have much control over since they couldn’t actually be adjusted. “When shooting with them, we had to come up with a special look setting. To help the brightness, we raised the whole light level of our set one stop brighter, we put an ND 0.3 in our cameras to keep the same T-stop (T4 at 800 ISO) and adjusted the camera shutter. We call it The Trauma Look.” Looking back on this moment and the series in its entirety, Coelho’s proudest achievement is how it says so much with so few words: “It tells you a lot without too much dialogue. It really is about the intimacy of the camera with the amazing acting of Noah Wyle.” The Pitt is streaming now on HBO Max in the US and Now or Sky in the UK

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INTERVIEW DEAKINS

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DEAKINS INTERVIEW

Sir Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC reflects on his extraordinary 50-year career, from early documentaries to some of the most acclaimed films ever made “You can’t really put your finger on great cinematography. It creates a world you are suddenly immersed in and emotionally moved by”

WORDS OLIVER WEBB

F rom Skyfall to Fargo , Sicario to The Shawshank Redemption , The Big Lebowski to Sid and Nancy , chances are you’ve seen a film lensed by Roger Deakins. With a career spanning 50 years, Deakins boasts an extraordinary, genre-spanning body of work, collaborating with acclaimed directors including Martin Scorsese, Denis Villeneuve, Agnieszka Holland, Sam Mendes, Norman Jewison and the Coen brothers. He has been nominated for an incredible 16 Academy Awards for best cinematography, winning twice for Blade Runner 2049 and 1917 . Ever since his last nomination for Empire of Light in 2023, he has co-hosted the podcast Team Deakins with his wife

and long-term collaborator, James. And, in November 2025, he released Reflections: On Cinematography , which acts both as a memoir and a practical guide to the craft. TORQUAY BEGINNINGS Despite his now-evident eye for an iconic image, Deakins did not initially set out to pursue a career in filmmaking. “It just sort of evolved,” he begins. “I didn’t want a nine-to-five job and so I was just looking for something else really. I went to art college, which itself was an excuse not to get a job in Torquay! And then I found photography through Roger Mayne – the great street photographer.”

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INTERVIEW DEAKINS

Army in London, which he followed with a short fiction film and another short documentary, this time about the Tiverton stag hunt in Devon. By the time he finished film school, he had shot 15 films. From there, he worked on a number of documentaries before landing his first feature, Cruel Passion (1977). Deakins believes his documentary background helped shape his approach to filmmaking due to the way he saw and reacted to things. “I think you’re a product of everything you experience,” he explains. “I hadn’t experienced much of the world until I started working on documentaries. I travelled and met a lot of people in different cultures and that was really informative.” WAR IS PEACE One of the first films to put Deakins on the map was 1984 . Originally intending to capture the film in black & white, he wanted to craft a look that would convey the grimness of George Orwell’s dystopian Britain. The film demanded meticulous planning, and production opted for practical effects. Deakins admits the joys of working with in-camera effects have been lost now almost everything is done in visual effects. “I loved getting the chance to do everything in camera on that film,” he enthuses. “We even did glass shots, which probably nobody understands how to do any more.” Another film that relied heavily on in-camera effects was Barton Fink (1991), Deakins’ first of many collaborations with the Coen brothers. Recalling a shot of John Goodman stampeding down a hotel corridor as the building bursts into flames, he explains that, if it was made now, that sequence would be done with visual effects. “We constructed two corridors in a large warehouse in Long Beach,” he says. “Each corridor was rigged with gas pipes with little holes in the side, so you could run the fire all the way down the corridor. The effects guys could control how far down it went on different lines of pipe. Luckily, John Goodman looked like he wanted to be sweating anyway. He was covered in fire gel for protection, as were the rest of us. Bruce Hamme (our dolly grip who was pushing the little rig I was on) and I had asbestos suits on. It was

Growing up, he always loved going to the movies. There were five local cinemas, as well as a film club that showed a lot of European and foreign movies. There, the young Deakins encountered films such as Alain Resnais’ Last Year in Marienbad (1961). “I did not have a clue what it was about,” he laughs, “but I thought the way it was photographed was so interesting. I remember seeing Jean-Luc Godard’s Alphaville and Peter Watkins’ The War Game before the BBC banned it because of the profound reaction against it.”

In 1971, the National Film and Television School opened, and Deakins applied. He was denied admission due to his work not being ‘filmic’ enough – a term he admits he still doesn’t understand the true meaning of. He was finally admitted the following year, however. “I thought documentaries were something I could potentially get into,” he says. “At school, I started shooting films for other students as well as making my own. That led to me being a cinematographer.” His first project at film school was a short documentary about the Salvation

HOT PROPERTY Deakins shot The Shawshank Redemption (top) and The Big Lebowski (bottom)

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DEAKINS INTERVIEW

HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE From bowling alleys to battlefields, such as this one from Jarhead, Deakins’ films span genres and locations

all done in camera; there weren’t any visual effects on Barton Fink at all.” Working this way “means you have all of the elements around you, which makes it easier for the actors as well,” argues James. “I think you get more nuanced performances from them, which make for a better film.” Deakins points to Bob Rafelson’s Mountains of the Moon as an example. “We shot the scenes in the UK before the scenes in Africa,” he details. “Both main actors said they wished they had done the African segments first because it would have informed the aftermath of the expedition in the story. The experience of doing things on location on real sets makes a big difference.” A GEOGRAPHICAL ODDITY In 1992, the year following the release of Barton Fink , Deakins shot the western

thriller Thunderheart on location in South Dakota. It was on that production he first met script supervisor James Ellis, who would later become his wife. Since working on that film together, their collaboration has evolved. “It’s just continued to grow and grow,” says James. “People didn’t know how we worked together in the beginning. I was doing a lot in the background, but then my role became more complex as digital came up.” “James became part of the team,” adds Deakins. “First working with the labs and then with the DI process that came in with O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). After that, the whole way of making films became more complicated, ironically. You would think digital would simplify everything, but it hasn’t.” Deakins and the Coen brothers aimed to infuse O Brother, Where Art

Thou? with a sepia-toned look to evoke the Great Depression era in which it is set. After strenuous testing with various types of filtration in front of the lens, they chose to digitally colour grade the film in post- production. It marked the first time digital technology had been used to alter every frame of a feature film. As well as pioneering the DI process, Deakins is renowned for his motivated approach to lighting. His guiding principle is: keep it simple. “I don’t overcomplicate things,” he states. “It’s about what the story is, and each story might require something completely different. You must always react to the script and the circumstances, the discussions with the director and everybody around you. It is an instinctive reaction that ends up with the image.” Filming The Shawshank Redemption (1994) proved particularly challenging when it came to lighting. In Reflections: On Cinematography , Deakins observes that fellow cinematographers thought it involved little lighting and looked more like a documentary. This wasn’t the case. “Every interior had to be lit,” he reveals. “There was no natural light for most of the interiors because it was too dark. It takes a lot of effort just to make a film look simple sometimes.”

I KEEP IT very simple WHEN IT COMES TO equipment ”

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INTERVIEW DEAKINS

YOU’D THINK DIGITAL would simplify everything, BUT IT HASN’T”

Something else Deakins keeps simple is his camera choice. He admits he just about always works with ARRI ARRIFLEX. “My lens choice has changed a bit as new lenses have come along and have become faster, cleaner and more lightweight,” he says. “I am very simple when it comes to equipment really and just get what I need. I like the cleanest When it comes to cinematography’s rules, Deakins argues that they need to be learnt – and then dismissed when necessary. “Rules are important, but they don’t define what you do.” The role of a cinematographer, he proposes, is to immerse the audience in the film. No single shot should stand out. “If it does, then you have failed in a way,” he says. “It is not just about pretty pictures. You can’t really put your finger on great cinematography; it just gets you and adds something to the story and the performances. It creates a world you are suddenly immersed in and emotionally moved by.” James takes a similar viewpoint, and image possible.” TEAM DEAKINS suggests it’s not just a film’s dialogue that works to tell a story, but also its visuals. “The actors may be doing whatever they are doing, but the framing is also telling you something on a very visceral level. To me, that is great cinematography.” According to Deakins, every film he has shot is of its time and, if he had the option to revisit any of them, he wouldn’t change anything. Despite this, he admits he’s often disappointed when he first rewatches something because it reminds him of the inevitable trade-offs made in production. “Everything you do is a

compromise,” he explains. “But then we watch it again a few years later and think it’s not so bad really.” Similarly, when I ask him to highlight a favourite shot from his career, he finds the question impossible to answer. “We have wonderful memories of different movies, but you can’t say one is better than the other because sometimes it’s about the people or place and different things you remember.” Since working on Empire of Light in 2022, Deakins has not been tempted by any scripts, although he admits he would consider a science-fiction film if the right one came along. For now, the plan is to continue the Team Deakins podcast. “James started it and does all the work on it and I just waffle on,” he laughs. “I had no idea what a podcast was when we first started it during the pandemic. It’s nice to hear people’s paths and how they got into the position they hold within film.” “We never know what is going to happen or what the other person is going

AHEAD OF THE CURVE Taking a break from making features like Skyfall (top), Deakins runs a podcast with his wife James (above)

to say,” James adds. “We do a lot of research beforehand and then most of the time during the podcast we are just chatting and going off what they are saying, so it is a conversation.” Both point to people’s shared interest in knowing how others got into the film business. They always pose this question to guests on the podcast. “It is really important you tell younger people there are multiple possible paths into the film industry,” Deakins concludes. “You have just got to have the passion and the patience.” Over five decades, Deakins’ approach has remained consistent. The tools might have changed, and the industry itself has been upended several times over, but his emphasis on clarity, collaboration and simplicity endures to this day.

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INTERVIEW PIXAR

WORDS NICOLA FOLEY IMAGES DISNEY/PIXAR W ay back in 1995, Pixar made history with Toy Story : the world’s first fully computer- generated animated feature film. It was made possible through RenderMan, the studio’s proprietary rendering software, which was capable of transforming digital models into detailed animated images, enabling huge leaps forward in colour, motion and lighting. Since then, Pixar has continued to lead the CGI animation revolution, introducing groundbreaking innovations with almost every new film it’s made. In 1998’s A Bug’s Life , it massively ramped up the rendering scale, developing software capable of generating huge crowds of independently moving ants while pioneering ‘subsurface scattering’ – a technique that simulates light passing through translucent surfaces. Pixar DOP Matt Aspbury discusses all things animation cinematography & Toy Story 5 Inside Pixar’s toy box In Monsters Inc , Pixar tackled Sulley’s fur with the help of Fizt, a system capable of animating millions of individual hairs. In Finding Nemo , it conquered underwater animation, recreating the behaviour of light, water and ocean environments with never- before-seen realism. The Incredibles broke new ground in the animation of human characters, clothing and hair, while Brave introduced a hair simulation system to bring Merida’s iconic mane of curls to life. More recently, Elemental tapped into volumetric effects and machine-learning-assisted tools to create convincing characters made from fire, water, air and earth. Pixar’s dedication to pushing the boundaries of animation is unparalleled – and that extends to using real-world cinematography principles to ensure the films feel as immersive as possible;

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PIXAR INTERVIEW

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INTERVIEW PIXAR

stuff in there, but it’s a rough preview of what it will be.” While animation, in theory, allows complete freedom, one of the secrets to Pixar’s success is how grounded its films are within familiar cinematic grammar, and how rigorously the filmmakers apply the rules of the physical world. This (alongside brilliant storytelling of course) helps audiences relate to and empathise with CG settings and characters. But to achieve it can take discipline and restraint, says Aspbury. “Because it looks so realistic, especially if you’re talking about Toy Story 4 and 5 , we have to try to adhere to real-world sensibilities. We are trying to be faithful and think: a camera wouldn’t do this. We’re trying to be physically based.” This even extends to building in certain imperfections to ensure that the end result feels genuinely photographic. “We can add in lens flares, bokeh and different type of artefacts – and some of that stuff is comped in later – but it’s all little layers. It’s never gratuitously done, and you might not even be overly conscious about it as the audience, but it’s absolutely in there.” In Toy Story 5 , where the central plot revolves around a tablet device usurping the once-beloved analogue toys, the film’s visual language was designed to reinforce Woody and co’s growing sense of anxiety and displacement. “The way I look at this movie is that it actually closely mirrors what happened in the first film, where Buzz was this threat to the old toys,” he explains. “Now, the

no matter how fantastical the animated world it’s creating. To do that, it needs a cinematographer, which is where Matt Aspbury comes in. He’s worked at Pixar as an in-house DOP on some of the studio’s best-loved films including Cars, Wall-E, Ratatouille and the third and fifth Toy Story films. But how exactly does cinematography work in the context of animation; where there are no physical cameras, lenses or lights? “We have a virtual camera model which behaves basically like a live action one: we can lay down a dolly track, play with lenses and depth-of-field, make it look handheld,” begins Aspbury. “What we can do is almost unlimited, but it’s essentially a virtual representation of what you’d do in live action. “To take Toy Story as an example; we have Bonnie – she’s been in the last two movies, so we’ve carried her house over from those previous films – that’s essentially our set,” he continues. “We have all the characters in there, rigged in such a way that we can pose and animate them. My department is responsible for doing all the rough initial blockings, so that we can get an idea of how to stage things with the camera.” In some ways, the process sounds very similar to traditional filmmaking (albeit inside a fully digital environment), with the DOP figuring out blocking and timing, composition and the lens look. But a key difference in the workflow is that the traditional role of cinematographer is split into two: layout DOP (Aspbury’s side) and lighting DOP, which comes later. “Since animation is such a time- consuming, expensive art form to

produce, we do the reverse of what they do in live action: we basically edit our movies up front,” comments Aspbury. “For years they’re writing and storyboarding the film, and then once it comes into our court, we start working with the characters and environments and essentially shooting it, working closely with the editorial department and directors for months. We’re getting the blueprint of the film down before it goes through the expensive part of animation, lighting and everything else.” That separation may sound surprising to any DOPs out there, when you think about how fundamental lighting is to the craft of cinematography, but Aspbury says lighting still informs the process from the very beginning, even if the final version comes much later in production. “We do have it in our work,” he elaborates. “We have a preview of it, and the truth is, they’re doing colour keys and lighting studies while we’re working, so we always know if it’s going to be a nighttime scene or if it’s going to be staged in some very bright daylight. So we definitely have that

THE REAL DEAL Imperfections were added to the image for Toy Story 5, creating greater depth and authenticity

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PIXAR INTERVIEW

shoe’s on the other foot. There’s this device which everybody can relate to, but now all the characters are analogue and out of date.” “We had more handheld,” he adds. “There’s a scene where Jesse’s confronting this new device, essentially, and we just tried to have it feeling more unlocked, like she’s off her footing.” He also deliberately framed the toys to emphasise how small and vulnerable they are within the human world around them. “We’re always trying to ensure that we’re shooting them as toys versus little people,” he says. “That means getting them more toward the lower part of the frame and having more headroom above them; things that show you they’re dwarfed by the environment they’re in.” The Toy Story franchise completely changed the animation game – and its impact is not lost on Aspbury, who still remembers watching the first film 30 years ago, just as he was starting out in his career. “It got so much buzz for being the first CG animated movie, but once everybody sat down in the theatre, they kind of forgot about that and just enjoyed the story. If it hadn’t had the phenomenal story and characters, it would have just been a blip on the radar; but it had so many things going for it at the same time. It felt so fresh,” he recalls. Since then, CG animation has evolved beyond recognition – so much so that, Aspbury jokes, while the storytelling is timeless, some of Pixar’s early films are ‘hard to go back and watch’ purely from a technical standpoint.

“The evolution of CG animation has gone through the roof; especially with things like occlusion, contact shadows and depth-of-field – so many things have tipped it towards a more photorealistic world,” he marvels. Despite the advances, though, Toy Story 5 still had its share of challenges, mostly because of the sheer scale of what they were trying to do. Some sequences feature upwards of 100 characters on screen at one time. “This is by far the most characters we’ve ever had in a Toy Story movie,” shares Aspbury. “Honestly, it’s the most I’ve ever dealt with in any film and I’ve been doing this 30 years.” This brought about both technical and logistical conundrums. “We had to figure out how to frame them, especially with wide shots, as you don’t want them too small in the frame. On my end, just being able to load all those characters was such a nightmare. We had to do all these optimisations in order to make it physically possible because, ultimately, you never want the technology or the technical hiccups short-changing or compromising your creative side,” he explains. Still, solving those problems is part of what continues to keep him excited about the job. “If we were about to jump into Toy Story 6 right now, we’d know exactly how to crack it because we’ve solved all these things,” he laughs. “But if they make another one, it’ll probably be years away and everything will have changed again.”

KNOW THE ROPES Matt Aspbury (above) has three decades of experience in the industry

Of course, one of the biggest recent accelerations has been driven by the rise of AI tools across the entertainment industry – something that the animation sector in particular is deeply divided on. Aspbury’s fairly sanguine about it though: “There have been innovations the whole time we’ve all been working in this field,” he says. “This one definitely feels bigger though. But at the same time, all of us keep coming back to the fact that it’s still all about the story.” Right now, he’s getting excited by what’s becoming possible in the world of virtual cinematography. “We now have a capture volume which we can use to scout things, and it feels much more like you’re on a physical set,” he shares. “We basically have an iPad that’s a camera and you’re able to move around, which is much more intuitive. With the virtual set-up on a screen, you’re able to miniaturise that camera down, so it’s almost like a toy holding it. All those little things help us get answers quicker, and it feels like we’re all discovering it at the same time. “In the early days, we were so encumbered by the tech side of it,” he reflects. “Now that part has shrunk, and it means the creative side is the dominant piece of the conversation.” With three decades under his belt, Aspbury has no intention of resting on his laurels, and he loves having to problem-solve on each project. “No matter how many movies you’ve done, each film has its own unique challenges, and I feel like it’s a good sign if I’m a little fearful,” he concludes. “That’s exciting.”

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PRODUCTION DISCLOSURE DAY

Janusz Kamiński reveals how practical effects, grounded lighting and realism helped shape Steven Spielberg’s latest extraterrestrial thriller, Disclosure Day want to push boundaries” “Safe isn’t interesting. You always

WORDS OLIVER WEBB IMAGES UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND AMBLIN ENTERTAINMENT

I f you found out we weren’t alone – if someone showed you and proved it to you – would it frighten you?” That question is the premise of Disclosure Day , Steven Spielberg’s return to the big screen. The film was lensed by his long-term collaborator Janusz Kamiński. Kamiński has shot every Spielberg film since Schindler’s List (1993), which won him an Academy Award for best cinematography. What makes Disclosure Day unique is that it is their first creative collaboration to unfold in the present day, after having previously worked together on historical pieces, including Saving Private Ryan , Lincoln and Bridge of Spies , and futuristic stories such as Minority Report , AI Artificial Intelligence and Ready Player One .

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DISCLOSURE DAY PRODUCTION

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PRODUCTION DISCLOSURE DAY

AMERICAN PARALLAX “ Disclosure Day is inspired by existing material. The US government has recently released files which suggest that there is knowledge within both the administration and the scientific community that these phenomena do occur,” begins Kamiński. For him, the challenge was how to make a film that isn’t science fiction, but hyperreal. “It’s suspenseful, dramatic and more rooted in religious polemics. How do I make it entertaining without it feeling flaccid, like so many modern films that tackle contemporary issues?” When it comes to the look of a film, Kamiński usually doesn’t have specific conversations with Spielberg about his visual interpretation. Instead, the aesthetic is driven by the script and the action. “We didn’t discuss any visuals, simply because they were written into the set and the script,” he says. The film opens with an almost film- noir aesthetic, which Kamiński admits is

of Spies . One of the main sets featured a semi-government organisation that monitors all of the information and events to do with UFOs. “It was a huge set that had massive walls of monitors,” says Kamiński. “It feels very contemporary, and has a bit of a modernistic shape. That already controls the visuals to an extent. Our other sets included existing homes and roads as well as a TV studio. Since the film is rooted in recognisable environments, the challenge was to capture the scale and beauty of those spaces but without overcomplicating the visuals.” Kamiński explains that the lighting is often incorporated into the set design, which is the usual method on a Spielberg movie. He points to The Terminal as an example. “We built the set just outside Palmdale in this massive Boeing facility hangar. Everything worked within that; the staircases, vending machines etc; and the light was incorporated into the

to purposefully misdirect viewers. For the opening sequences, he pays homage to classic seventies noirs, such as The Parallax View , All the President’s Men and The Panic in Needle Park . “Both Steven and I love American movies from the seventies, not only for their visual language but also their storytelling,” he explains. Kamiński points to the work of cinematographer Owen Roizman, ASC as an influence, mentioning The French Connection , Three Days of the Condor and his other work with Sydney Pollack. However, he “did not want to emulate those images,” he says. “The aesthetics

are very different to mine.” DESIGNING DISCLOSURE

Disclosure Day consists of a number of sets, designed and constructed by production designer Adam Stockhausen, who has collaborated with Spielberg and Kamiński on numerous films since Bridge

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set. We had to light it to the extent that it of course looks functional and realistic, so we can control the lights within the set to create drama, comedy or whatever.” That method is key to how Kamiński approaches Spielberg productions, and Disclosure Day was no different. “The production designers have a strong early influence on what the movie looks like,” says Kamiński. “They’re the first individuals who look at the locations and present the original sketches and designs to Steven. I come in a bit later and manipulate the existing choices to facilitate the story. I then play around with different lighting styles and with the colour, so that’s my contribution, as well as looking at how the characters interact with each other within the light.” CLOSE ENCOUNTERS The main lighting challenge for Kamiński, however, was in the film’s large-scale action scenes, which included a car chase and a train sequence where the characters experience life-threatening situations. “The train is travelling in one direction while the cars are approaching from the other. I used the light available on location. Then, when we went into the stunt sequences, we needed to recreate that same light.” Kamiński wanted to take a more contemporary lighting approach for the project. “The lighting was not classical, there’s no three-point lighting or anything like that. It is a much stronger soft light with a little bit of punch. I like the sense of light and how the characters are illuminated by light rather than moving through dim, underexposed, bleak environments. Steven and I have a certain look and that look gets altered from story to story, but essentially there are motifs in our language we repeat because we are drawn to them.”

IF IT AIN’T BROKE Kamiński describes how a collaborative community has formed on Spielberg’s sets over the years, with crew spanning Lincoln, ET and Disclosure Day

Despite its grounded aesthetic, Disclosure Day retains the visual gloss associated with Spielberg’s films. “We weren’t trying to reinvent ourselves after working together for the last 35 years. We have worked together long enough that there is an established visual language between us, though I still adapt my style for every film.” Although he naturally has visual panache, Spielberg was focused on performances here. “We also had very little CGI when it came to the action sequences,” explains Kamiński. “In fact, it is mostly practical effects with some removal of wires and increasing the speed of the train, but those guys are actually clinging onto the train. It’s not moving at great speed. For the car chases, we are smashing through structures and windows get blown, cars get flipped.” Maintaining authenticity was also important when depicting the film’s extraterrestrial phenomena. One crucial concern for Kamiński was depicting those phenomena in a way that felt convincing while maintaining the film’s realism. “Of course, we have been prevented from knowing the reality. As we have seen in recent news, those realities are now being slowly revealed. For the film, we are creating these big events where ships interact with present-day life.” To film those sequences, Kamiński wanted to produce a sense of light travelling from a far distance and shadows moving across the ground as if the ships are either descending or ascending. Practically achieving those effects required a combination of drone lighting and digital augmentation. “We utilised drones with mounted lights to create the necessary lighting effects, whether it be flaring the lens or moving the shadows across,” says Kamiński. “Flying Monster’s drone work was spectacular, and we could move around easily and follow the cars. Then Mark Butler, our visual effects supervisor, would create the rest in post with CGI.”

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HAPPY ACCIDENTS Kamiński captured the film with

That consistency in visual language is rooted in the decades-long rapport between Spielberg and Kamiński. He explains how there has always been a strong sense of trust, and Spielberg’s sets are always a comfortable working environment. “There’s also that sense of familiarity, not just with Steven, but with the producers, production designers, editors – everyone. You know you are in good hands and so you’re willing to push it to another level without fearing that you might fail.” Sometimes those so-called failures can even result in unforeseen successes. Kamiński describes achieving interesting shots throughout his career as a result of making mistakes. One famous example is in AI Artificial Intelligence , when the main character played by Haley Joel Osment is first introduced. “There’s a beautiful image of Haley coming out of the elevator and the shot is out of focus,” describes Kamiński. “That was completely by mistake. I was playing with the focus and had zoomed in, and it ultimately made the final cut because Steven really liked it.” Kamiński notes that, when you don’t have that level of trust or understanding with the director, the film’s world can end up becoming too safe. “Safe isn’t interesting, and you always want to push boundaries. My relationship with Steven

gives me that chance to fail and allows us to take risks.” This professional relationship and method proved effective once again on Disclosure Day . A similar happy accident occurred during filming one of the house scenes that star actors Josh O’Connor and Eve Hewson. “All of a sudden, the light came between the actors,” says Kamiński. “The colour of the light was slightly cold and reserved, and perhaps a little too shadowy, but we embraced it. It looks dramatic and great.” Kamiński is happy with the final result of the film, and admits it has moments he thinks are visually beautiful, although not in a conventional way. For Kamiński, those unplanned moments often produce the most emotionally resonant imagery. “There’s a Danish painter called Vilhelm Hammershøi,” he says. “His work is reserved and his use of light is very colourless but a little theatrical. His paintings by windows are often soft and slightly surreal, but very emotional – and our shot had elements of that. It wasn’t planned at all – Hammershøi wasn’t an intentional reference. Throughout his work, he paints lots of figures standing in open rooms with doorways and windows, and the colour palettes are desaturated and quite stark. A couple of scenes in Disclosure Day have similarly beautiful, stark imagery.”

Panavision’s Panaflex Millennium XL2, accompanied with Panavision C and T Series lenses. “The majority of the film was shot on 35mm negative,” he says. “For the TV studio scenes, I used a Sony VENICE 2 Extension System (aka RIALTO Mini) because it would have been too laborious to shoot those with 35mm. It also has to do with the film’s sensitivity and the brightness of the screens in the studio. You can dial into 1600 and 3200 ASA and those screens on-set will give you enough illumination that you don’t have to supplement much with other lights. I love film. There’s definitely a difference, but it just wasn’t practical to use the film emulsion in those scenes.” Additionally, Kamiński did not want to use lenses that would produce too much distortion, and so he tried to stay clear of flares. “There is still the odd flare though,” he adds, “but these are very restrained compared to what I have produced in the past.” West Side Story , for example, features an entire sequence consisting of flares. “I usually have two sets of lenses: the clean anamorphics for normal, realistic and non-invasive photography, and then another set for work that requires more of an effect. It’s a rather conventional approach in terms of lenses.”

REEL DEAL Kamiński and Spielberg filmed the majority of Disclosure Day on 35mm film, using Panavision’s Panaflex Millennium XL2

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PRODUCTION EUPHORIA

Centred around a group of now twentysomethings, Euphoria has never played by the rules. We catch up with DOP Marcell Rév, HCA, ASC who expanded this season’s aesthetic to match its widened scope REALITY BITES

WORDS KATIE KASPERSON IMAGES HBO

W hen Euphoria premiered in 2019, it did so loudly. Filled with sex, drugs and social media – as well as some outrageous outfits that definitely wouldn’t have flown in my high school – Sam Levinson’s contemporary coming-of-age drama simultaneously represented teenage reality while taking it to an extreme. The show became known for its moody, experimental, life-is-but- a-dream aesthetic, and Marcell Rév, HCA, ASC was the man responsible. Now in its third season, Euphoria ’s characters have graduated to the real world. The scope is wider, no longer confined to a single school in a single town. Rév made sure the visuals evolved alongside the story.

STARTING OVER “Every time we start a new season, we are basically starting from scratch,” Rév begins. “That is a bit of a rule with Sam; we always say we don’t want to repeat ourselves. Also, narratively speaking, he came up with something completely new for this season, and we had to match that with how it looked.” Season 3 follows Euphoria ’s ensemble – Rue, Jules, Maddy, Lexi, Cassie and Nate – navigating early adulthood in the Los Angeles metro area. Set five years after Season 2, Rue is now a drug mule turned mole; Jules is a sugar baby; Maddy is a talent agent; Lexi is a production assistant and Cassie is an influencer married to Nate, who has taken over his father’s construction

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company. This season, Levinson wanted a more ‘objective look’ at the characters and American society as a whole, says Rév. “Our conversations were mostly technical, and we tried to choose our tools accordingly.” While the first two seasons had POV shots galore and were mainly told from Rue’s perspective (as the series’ narrator), Season 3 goes wider. There is a larger focus on the landscape, from the sandy south-west to the California coast. “We watched a lot of westerns from the fifties: mostly John Ford, Howard Hughes, classic westerns but also classic Hollywood,” Rév describes. “I’m referencing Hitchcock when he started making colour films like Vertigo and North by Northwest . They have an artifice but in a glamorous, EUPHORIA IS DIFFERENT FROM most of what is on television ”

Hollywood way. It was a glorious time in cinema with beautiful, striking colours.” In keeping with that theme, Rév worked with Kodak to create a bespoke film stock that would accentuate colours and skin tones, particularly during day scenes. “The key difference, technically, was that this season was written mostly for the daytime, which is the opposite to before. It was a nighttime show,” he says. “With night, you have many tools to make the mood of an image. You have a blank canvas, and you can put light wherever you want. With day, it’s different. You do the reverse.” Around three years prior to production, Rév contacted Vanessa Bendetti, head of Kodak’s motion picture arm. After testing available film stocks, something was still missing – so they created VERITA 200D, “a more vivid, flavourful stock,” says Rév. “It’s daylight-balanced and has a little more colour separation. It has nice details and skin tones as well as beautiful, creamy highlights. That gave us the baseline for how this season would look.” GIRLS ON FILM The biggest departure from previous seasons for Rév was not just the new stock. It was the decision to use a new format altogether. They shot on five- perforation 65mm film, which offers a ’significantly bigger negative and bigger resolution’, and adjusted Euphoria ’s

aspect ratio to 1:2.2. He filmed daytime interiors and exteriors with the 65mm VERITA stock on an ARRIFLEX 765; for night scenes, he used Kodak’s 35mm VISION3 500T stock with an ARRICAM LT camera. “We had a set of lenses made for us, specially by ARRI, for this shoot,” Rév adds, which he paired with the 765. The prototype glass offered sharpness and contrast, making the sunlight harsh at times, particularly when the plot called for it. He swapped between Panavision’s

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advanced colour science, landing on the ARRI SkyPanels and Orbiters. Rév and his gaffer, Danny Durr, designed their own contraption called the ‘cooler light’ – a metal casket made of 20 150W Edison tungsten bulbs. “We used it a lot in the strip club, the Silver Slipper,” which is where Rue works as a floor manager. “That was a personal favourite of mine.” DONE DIFFERENTLY Euphoria has never been an action show. There is plenty of violence, sure, as well as the occasional police chase, but it is the drama and character development that prevail. This season, though, opens with Rue attempting to cross the US-Mexico border by driving her car up a makeshift ramp and over a metal fence. “That sequence was technically challenging,” admits Rév. “It’s a big stunt. You have to work 15ft in the air. We were shooting over multiple days, and working in the desert is not the easiest thing. It is sort of an action sequence, so you try to make it as engaging as possible. We built two border walls – one a little lower, one its original height,” he continues. “We had two units filming at the same time. It was a big operation.” Historically, Rév and his fellow Euphoria cinematographers (there have been five) filmed the show primarily on set builds and sound stages. This season, however, they broke that mould, shooting roughly 45% on location, Rév estimates. The team constructed the Silver Slipper and Jules’ apartment, and scouted Alamo’s house (where Rue’s employer lives), recreating some of it on a stage. “My favourite was

definitely the strip club,” Rév reveals. “I liked the embedded lighting and the way we designed our set-up around it. There were so many angles you could find in that space – just looking through windows and door frames.” Jules’ apartment, meanwhile, was “basically a big glass aquarium and we photographed the view,” Rév recalls, which the team then printed and placed beyond the windows. “Making that look real – and creating different moods – was not an easy one to pull off.” Yet, unlike many other productions today, Euphoria isn’t trying to recreate reality, visually or otherwise. It is highly stylised: characters speak directly to the camera; it’s regularly intercut with dream sequences, flashbacks and fantasies. For audiences craving an escape, that is a major part of the show’s appeal. “It is intentionally different from most of what is on television. That was always our goal,” Rév shares. It has been said that Sam Levinson approaches each season of Euphoria as if it may be the last, but it’s rumoured this one will officially bring the story to a close. Four years flew by between the release of Seasons 2 and 3, and while that time wasn’t altogether pleasant (besides the LA fires and Hollywood strikes, several cast and crew members sadly passed away), it did allow Rév to explore a fuller range of creative possibilities. By the end of the break, he was hungry to get back on-set – and fans are equally eager to see their favourite characters on-screen once more. Euphoria is available to watch on HBO Max in the US and Now or Sky in the UK

WATT’S UP Euphoria’s new season has a record number of scenes set during the daytime, a bright turn from its original dark and moody atmosphere

E and C Series anamorphics, a Macro Anamorphic Panatar and a Primo Anamorphic Zoom on the ARRICAM LT. As for lighting, Rév prefers tungsten and HMIs over LEDs. “Since we were shooting on large format film and I wanted to have saturated, rich colours, it was important to get the full spectrum of light,” he explains. He opted for Mole- Richardson Molebeams, since ’they have both tungsten and HMI versions’. When he did use LEDs, he prioritised ones with

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