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

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 ap

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

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 do

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

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 lightin