Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Visualizing Two Perspectives

17/05/2022

Cinema, the most voyeuristic of mediums, is uniquely placed to convey both the act of surveillance and the psychology of the surveilled. In Seberg, director Benedict Andrews and cinematographer Rachel Morrison, ASC draw upon the great conspiracy thrillers of the 1970s for an unconventional biopic that examines the disturbing, real-life experience of actress and activist Jean Seberg.

This narrative begged to be shot on celluloid, Morrison explains. It is the story of a Hollywood starlet and the dark undercurrent of government, and the invasion of privacy. I think there are lots of parallels between what happened to Jean and what is happening now which made this film both exciting and relevant.

In the late 1960s, having made her name as the star of A Bout De Souffle, Seberg (played by Kristen Stewart) moved to Los Angeles and became involved with the Black Panther movement bringing her to the attention of the FBI. Andrews' film weaves together facts and historical incidents into a kind of speculative fiction that explores her subjective experience.

Andrews drew on references from stills by photographers including Stephen Shore, William Eggleston and George Rodriguez, as well as inspiration from the political thrillers of the era like The Parallax View and Klute.

Choosing 35mm inherently calls back to those films, Morrison says.

The film's relatively low budget worked in their favor. When every other film is digital and pushing resolution, the use of analogue stands out, the DP espouses. The feel of it binds you emotionally to the story, plus its appearance is inherently of a certain time period, so I felt it could be an asset especially when we don't have the budget to populate the picture with cars and others detail that might otherwise be used to sell the period.

Morrison chose the Panavision Millennium XL2, a decision reverse engineered from her first choice of C Series anamorphic lenses.

I fell in love with Panavision's C Series on Mudbound (for which Morrison was Oscar nominated). I love their organic nature, the quality of the fall off, the fact that no two lenses are the same, and that some of the focal lengths flare warm. I have tested every other anamorphic lens and can't find any I like as much, especially for a period film.

Part of the reason I love film in general and anamorphic in particular are the inherent imperfections, Morrison continues. Life is imperfect and unpredictable. So, the lenses came first, and since we were going to shoot a lot of this film handheld, the XL2 was the right choice because it is ergonomic and light.

For Seberg, Morrison explains she liked the erratic nature to the light as captured though the lens, especially the flaring on the corner of the lens which questions the sanity of her perspective.

She adds, The softness around the edges helps to focus the viewer's eye on the subject in moments when she senses she is being spied on. The fact that we were using older glass with tiny nicks on the back or front elements only added to the irregularities and the overall aesthetic.

With the C Series in high demand, she and first AC Simon England worked with Panavision to pull together a set of lenses, including some PVZ and SP Primes, which were customized under the supervision of Panavision's lens guru Dan Sasaki to match the C Series.

We are a C Series film, so the customization of glass was just to blend in, rather than look entirely different, Morrison notes. All the glass performed incredibly well.

Morrison also took a set of spherical lenses, mainly as a safety net for night sequences. For some sequences we were exposing 500 ASA or 320 ASA and lighting by streetlight. It's not the kind of movie that could afford to change out every single LED streetlight and replace with old cobra heads, so I switched to spherical at these points. I'd mixed both spherical and anamorphic on Mudbound and felt comfortable with combining formats seamlessly.

The main Los Angeles action, with production design by Jahmin Assa, is depicted as an idyll of sparkling light. Morrison's camera plays with the glass of Seberg's stylish Coldwater Canyon home, and the aquamarine water of its swimming pool.

The first half of the film is very aspirational, she says. It's the look of old Hollywood beautiful and magical. We leaned into saturated colors and sun-kissed highlights. It's vibrant and warm. As the narrative twists and Jean becomes trapped in her own reality, she starts to question the world around her and the colors start to drain away. We're not making a sharp transition to black and white; the tonal shift is made in subtle ways to more muted palettes. The light, which was once soft and aspirational, becomes harsh and mysterious.

Morrison's look design and lens choice also spoke to the contrast between subjective and objective reality and what it's like to experience the world versus observe someone else's experience.

I chose close and wide shots and opted for longer takes when we were in sync with Jean's perspective as opposed to longer lenses and more fragmented coverage when Jack [an FBI agent played by Jack O'Connell] is watching her. It helps blur the lines between reality and perception.

Both points-of-view can be seen on the screen in Seberg currently in theaters.Cinema, the most voyeuristic of mediums, is uniquely placed to convey both the act of surveillance and the psychology of the surveilled. In Seberg, director Benedict Andrews and cinematographer Rachel Morrison, ASC draw upon the great conspiracy thrillers of the 1970s for an unconventional biopic that examines the disturbing, real-life experience of actress and activist Jean Seberg.
LINK: https://www.panavision.com/highlights/highlights-detail/visualizing-tw...
See more stories from panavision

Most recent headlines

09/11/2025

Dalet Unveils Agentic AI Media Workflows at IBC2025

Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...

06/10/2025

France Tlvisions Wins Prestigious 2025 EBU Technology & Innovation Award in Groundbreaking Collaboration with Dalet

France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...

16/09/2025

ENCO Introduces Raptor Cloud-Based Captioning For Live Streaming Video

NOVI, Mich. ENCO has unveiled Raptor, a cloud-based live streaming captioning encoder that injects the speed, power and reliability of real-time AI capabilities...

16/09/2025

Comcast NBCU and NBCU Local Award $2.5 Million to Nonprofits

NEW YORK Comcast NBCUniversal and NBCUniversal Local have announced that a total of $2.5 million has been awarded in 2025 to 69 nonprofit organizations servicin...

16/09/2025

Martin Euredjian Joins Atomos

AMSTERDAM Martin Euredjian has joined Atomos as director of advanced imaging and will lead innovation for advanced display technology....

16/09/2025

Calrec Unveils 48-Fader Argo M

AMSTERDAM Calrec introduced a 48-faced Argo M and showcased its largest Argo software updates at the recently concluded IBC2025....

16/09/2025

Lawo Unveils HOME Audio Shuffler App

AMSTERDAM Lawo introduced its HOME Audio Shuffler app, a replacement for a traditional baseband audio matrix within an IP-based Dynamic Media Facility, during t...

16/09/2025

77th Emmy Awards on CBS Deliver Largest Audience Since 2021

CBS is reporting that the 77TH Emmy Awards hosted by Nate Bargatze on Sunday Sept. 14 was seen by more than 7.42 million viewers on the CBS Television Network a...

15/09/2025

Get to Know This Fall's Filmmakers Through These 27 Sundance Institute-Supported Titles

Steve Zahn, Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, and Janeane Garofalo star in Ben Stiller&...

15/09/2025

aespa and Spotify Invite Fans to Unlock Their Inner Rich Man' With an Immersive MY VAULT Experience

Global K-Pop sensation aespa is redefining what it means to be rich with the r...

15/09/2025

Spotify's Free Experience Is Even Better-Here's How to Make the Most of It

Every day, millions of people around the world turn to Spotify to enjoy the audi...

15/09/2025

Brembo SGL Carbon Ceramic Brakes (BSCCB) successfully expands production capacity by 50% in Germany and Italy to meet rising demand

After months of intensive planning and implementation, Brembo SGL Carbon Ceramic...

15/09/2025

L3Harris Receives Multi-Year Javelin Solid Rocket Motor Contract

A U.S. Marine launches a Javelin shoulder-fired anti-tank missile during a training exercise. (Photo credit: U.S. Marine Corps)...

15/09/2025

TV Tech Unveils Best of Show Winners at IBC 2025

AMSTERDAM TV Tech has named its Best of Show Awards winners for IBC2025, which wraps up today. Entrants were judged by a panel of industry experts on the criter...

15/09/2025

SES SCORE Surpasses 600,000 of Transmission Hours, Delivering 900 Hours of Major Sports Content Daily

Unique sports content orchestration platform builds momentum among SES's cus...

15/09/2025

The Great Flood' Teaser Trailer Previews A Gripping Struggle for Survival

Back to All News The Great Flood' Teaser Trailer Previews A Gripping Struggle for Survival Entertainment 15 September 2025 GlobalSouth Korea Link copi...

15/09/2025

From Hardship to Hope: Typhoon Family' Presents a Tale of Youth, Crisis, and Resilience on October 11

Back to All News From Hardship to Hope: Typhoon Family' Presents a Tale of...

15/09/2025

Gloom Goes Global as Wednesday's' The Doom Tour Hits Five Continents for Season 2

Back to All News Gloom Goes Global as Wednesday's' The Doom Tour Hit...

15/09/2025

New study reveals overwhelming support for a more sustainable future

-- Opens door to growth in renewable energy New Delhi, India - 15th September -- Global business and industry leaders from around the world are joining technol...

14/09/2025

AMWA and EBU Form JT-DMF Joint Task Force on Dynamic Medi...

Partnership to address business and technical challenges of DMF adoption he Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU...

14/09/2025

Mantis' Trailer Previews High-Stakes Rivalries to Be No. 1 Contract Killer - Premieres September 26

Back to All News Mantis' Trailer Previews High-Stakes Rivalries to Be No. ...

13/09/2025

Cox Media Group's Misti Turnbull Inducted into the NATAS Silver Circle

ATLANTA Cox Media Group has announced that the company's vice president of news, Misty Turnbull has been inducted into the National Academy of Television Ar...

13/09/2025

Shotoku Debuts Swoop Cranes for Studio Robotics at IBC2025

AMSTERDAM Shotoku Broadcast Systems, a major developer of robotic systems, has announced plans to take studio robotics to the next level at IBC2025 by debuting ...

13/09/2025

Riedel Unveils Ultra-Light Bolero Mini Wireless Intercom...

At IBC2025 in Amsterdam, Riedel Communications unveiled Bolero Mini, the company's lightest and flattest wireless intercom beltpack to date. Designed to del...

13/09/2025

Shotoku Takes Studio Robotics to New Heights with IBC Deb...

Shotoku Broadcast Systems, the international developer of dependable, userfriendly robotic systems, is taking studio robotics to the next level at IBC 2025 with...

13/09/2025

The Bitmovin Video Developer Report 2025-26 Reveals Cost...

Bitmovin, a leading provider of video streaming solutions, today released the 9th annual Video Developer Report 2025/26, offering an in-depth look at the evolvi...

13/09/2025

Bitmovin and StreamShark Partner to Deliver High Quality...

Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced a strategic partnership with StreamShark, the trusted video platform for enterprise...

13/09/2025

Ikegami Announces VFE-P711AD 7-inch OLED Multiformat On-C...

Ikegami has chosen IBC 2025 in Amsterdam as the launch venue for a major addition to its range of viewfinders. The new VFE-P711AD is a 7-inch high resolution OL...

13/09/2025

KitBash3D and Greyscalegorilla Announce Merger

Founder-led Merger to Fast Track R&D, Asset Library Upgrades, Tools and More; No Disruption to Pricing or Support for Users Today, KitBash3D, a pioneer in 3D a...

13/09/2025

Mavis Puts Itself at the Heart of Mobile Production

With NDI certification, Atomos integration, Grass Valley collaboration, and a new Monitor app, at this year's IBC, Mavis is showcasing a series of powerful...

13/09/2025

Creamsource Expands Vortex Family with Vortex24 Soft

Creamsource, maker of artisan LED lighting for film and television, has unveiled the Vortex24 Soft (V24S), a 1950W native soft light and the largest soft source...

13/09/2025

DAZN streams 2025 FIFA Club World Cup to billions of fans...

When international sports streaming service DAZN secured the global rights to the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup football tournament, it set out to deliver an unmatch...

13/09/2025

Riedel Communications Acquires hi human interface

Riedel Communications today announced the acquisition of hi human interface from Broadcast Solutions, bringing a powerful, vendor-agnostic control system to it...

13/09/2025

RTW chooses Calrec as technology partner for its AI ready...

Building on its long-term relationship with audio metering specialist RTW, Calrec has integrated the company's brand new TMxCore metering platform across it...

13/09/2025

Calrec unveils 48 fader Argo M at IBC2025 and demonstrate...

Calrec is expanding its family of future-ready self-contained Argo M control surfaces at IBC2025, with the addition of a brand new powerful 48-fader console. Co...

13/09/2025

Reaching Across the Isles: UK-LLM Brings AI to UK Languages With NVIDIA Nemotron

Celtic languages - including Cornish, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh - are the U.K.'s oldest living languages. To empower their speakers, the UK-LLM sover...

13/09/2025

SKY Perfect Modernizes Playout-to-Delivery with Harmonic

Harmonic's Software-Based XOS Advanced Media Processor Provides Unparalleled Efficiency and Unlocks New Business Models SAN JOSE, Calif. - Sept. 13, 2025 -...

13/09/2025

September 11, 2025

Researchers find brain region that fuels compulsive drinking Study by Scripps Research scientists shows how the brain learns to seek alcohol for relief, not jus...

12/09/2025

College Football Kickoff 2025: Fox Sports Ups Look as Canon, Sony Power Shallow Focus Coverage

College Football Kickoff 2025: Fox Sports Ups Look as Canon, Sony Power Shallow ...

12/09/2025

ABC/ESPN Excited For WNBA Postseason Coverage In Revamped Format

ABC/ESPN Excited For WNBA Postseason Coverage In Revamped FormatThe Finals moves to a best-of-seven series in 2025By Mark J Burns, SVG Contributor Friday, Sep...

12/09/2025

Rabbit Trap Pulsates With Folklore Dread

(L-R) Jade Croot, Rosy McEwen, and Bryn Chainey attend the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Rabbit Trap at Eccles Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park ...

12/09/2025

Spotify's The Drop Weekly' Brings You the Week in New Releases, Straight From Our Editors

For fans, we know how important it is to stay plugged into music culture and dis...

12/09/2025

Agama and Consult Red announce RDK Accelerator integration

Link ping, Sweden and Shipley, United Kingdom, September 12, 2025 - Agama, the expert in video observability and analytics for service quality and customer expe...

12/09/2025

IBC2025 Opens for Business

IBC2025 began on Sept. 12, with exhibits and conferences running through Sept. 15 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Center. Explore the full TV Tech coverage of t...

12/09/2025

The Best Fictional Bands (and the Artists Who Make Them Great)

The Best Fictional Bands (and the Artists Who Make Them Great) With Spinal Tap II: The End Continues hitting theaters and songs from KPop Demon Hunters ruling...

12/09/2025

Tom Baldassare Joins Advanced Systems Group

Industry veteran Tom Baldassare has joined Advanced Systems Group, LLC (ASG), a technology and services provider for media creatives and content owners, as a Se...

12/09/2025

Maxon Unveils a Brand New Look for its Growing Family of...

Maxon, maker of powerful, approachable software solutions for creators working in 2D and 3D design, motion graphics, visual effects, and more, today announced a...

12/09/2025

PlayBox Neo US Partners with AI-Media to Deliver Scalable...

PlayBox Neo, a leading provider of media playout solutions, has partnered with AI-Media, pioneering developers of AI-powered captioning technology, to integrate...