Cinematographer Andrew Wehde discusses how his lens choice helped create the look and feel of award-winning comedy drama The Bear
By Jenny Priestley
Published: July 25, 2023 Updated: July 26, 2023
Cinematographer Andrew Wehde discusses how his lens choice helped create the look and feel of award-winning comedy drama The Bear
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
Award-winning comedy/drama series The Bear is back on Disney Plus in the UK and Europe, and FX in the United States, for its second season.
The show follows the staff of the fast-paced The Original Beef sandwich shop in Chicago, and stars Jeremy Allen White, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Ayo Edebiri.
Cinematographer Andrew Wehde helped create the look of the show using a camera and lens package from Panavision.
Wehde joined the project on episode two, picking up the fly-on-the-wall style that cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra established with the pilot.
Season one was shot in just 27 days two days faster than scheduled and Wehde says that was down to the production team designing the show's stage as effectively as possible.
We did an entire interactive lighting setup on the stage so that every single light in the restaurant - whether it was back of the kitchen, front of the kitchen, or the dining room - was a full RGB LED, controlled by our dimmer-board operator, he explains.
We never brought any lights onto the set, so we never had to wait for things, and there were no C-stands or movie lights in the way. It was all practical-based lighting. And outside of the stage, we had about 10 old-school 18K tungsten lights to give us the rich, warm light coming into the restaurant.
The team also built stage so that the dolly could be used without a track or dance floor, which meant it was already ready for whatever was being shot.
The pilot was shot on a regular Mini, while Wehde opted to use a Mini LF, which he says helped create more of a cinematic feel. I used a LUT based on the pilot, so the colour and contrast provided some connecting tissue, he adds. We introduced more movement starting in episode 2 - the camera never stopped moving, and we used the second camera in a way that kept that energy.
He chose to use Panavision's H series lenses, which Wehde says remind him of shooting on film. Things don't look optically too sharp, he adds. The skin looks dreamy and creamy, but the eyes have a pin sharpness, and you can see the eye light really well. I love how smooth the out-of-focus is; it falls away very softly, in a way that allows it to feel three-dimensional.
The B camera lived on an expanded Panavision 11:1 Primo zoom. It never came off that camera. There was this chaotic, amazing kind of cinematography that was happening on the B camera at the same time the A camera was shooting the scene. Chris Dame, the B-cam operator, was always able to find interesting shots that were great for transitions and cutaways, he continues. The kitchen was basically a big horseshoe with an island in the middle, so if we were working on one side, Chris would work on the other and shoot through everything. And because his lens was an 11:1, he was out of the A-camera shot at all times.
Wehde describes The Bear's shoot as having a specific rhythm, which he attributes to his choice of lenses. With Panavision glass, I'm free to choose and do whatever I want, because I know the look will hold. I do a lot of low-level lighting, which means that I need speed in that glass, and the H Series optically performs wide open just as well as it does a stop down. I'm constantly adjusting the iris through shots, always tweaking a stop up and a stop down, but I never see that iris change.
These lenses have become an integral part of my work, how I light and move the camera. There's a sense of trust I have in them, that I'm throwing everything and the kitchen sink at them and they're just holding up and working. And at the end of the day, I think they're happy to be doing it!
Published with thanks to Panavision. The full interview with Andrew Wehde is available here.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
IPC Expands Brazilian Presence with New Channel Partner CCATech
Industry veterans Carlos Abrah o and Bruno Lopes strengthen local support and expand IPCs prese...
20/08/2026
Zixi Enters Mauritius Market Through Strategic Deployment with MTC Jockey Club
Worlds Oldest Horse Racing Club in the Southern Hemisphere Selects Zixis Softwar...
20/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Scripps Research assistant professor Tiantian Liu has received a five-year NIAID DP2 award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Di...
20/08/2026
Audiences reveal appetite for multicultural Australia on-screen 20 August 2026
Dr Georgie McClean, Dr Rebecca Huntley (L-R)
By Dr Georgie McClean and Dr Rebec...
20/08/2026
How Mavis Studio Is Expanding Live Production Teaching at Sussex
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image displays a student about to mix be...
20/08/2026
Vertical Unscripted Series Legal Queens Captured with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Reality TV veteran Eric Gardner create...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
Cinematographer Andrew Wehde discusses how his lens choice helped create the look and feel of award-winning comedy drama The Bear
