Tales From the Loop, a new eight-episode series now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, explores the goings-on in a small Ohio town situated atop a mysterious machine that has made the stuff of imagination into an everyday reality for the local residents. Based on the paintings of Swedish artist Simon St lenhag, the series was written by showrunner Nathaniel Halpern, and the pilot episode reteamed director Mark Romanek with longtime collaborator Jeff Cronenweth, ASC.
Mark's not one to be shy of using references that he's fond of, says Cronenweth, who was still working as a camera operator when he first partnered with the director in the mid-1990s. After stepping up to cinematographer, Cronenweth would continue to shoot music videos and commercials for Romanek, as well as the feature One Hour Photo. As they began to prep the pilot for Tales From the Loop, the cinematographer notes, Directors like Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky and Krzysztof Kieslowski were all inspirational to us. We reeducated ourselves in their films, their choices of light, and in particular their pacing and camera movement. Tales From the Loop very much has a kind of Scandinavian, methodical storytelling technique.
The production also reunited Cronenweth with Light Iron supervising colorist Ian Vertovec, with whom he had previously collaborated on a range of projects, including features such as The Social Network, Hitchcock and A Million Little Pieces. I spoke with Ian right when I got the gig, as soon as the choice was made to go with Light Iron, the cinematographer says. I started talking about our approach, how we were going to film, what I thought it would look like, and I gave him some of the same references that Mark and Nathaniel and I had looked at. We talked about the pace and tone and color.
We also talked a lot about skin tone, and time of day, and trying to get a sense of period, adds Vertovec, one of Light Iron's co-founders. We didn't want to hit you over the head with this old-fashioned look, but we really wanted to emphasize nostalgia and timelessness; we wanted the audience to be thinking about their childhood. We were trying to trigger on that emotion, a kind of melancholy nostalgia, and to find the colors that would support that.
One of the things I noticed in Simon's paintings was the natural color palette, Vertovec continues. It definitely was not a traditional science-fiction color palette; it was much more natural light, end of day, almost a perpetual magic hour. Nothing was too colorful, nothing was too poppy, nothing was too contrasty. It was all very beautiful, and it tied in with what Jeff and Mark were saying. They didn't really want a look' applied so much as they wanted the natural vibes to come through, the natural palette.
The filmmakers also decided early on that they would employ a large-format sensor for Tales From the Loop. We went with large-format with the idea of giving the show a scale and a scope that's larger than traditional approaches to television, and also for the lack of depth of field, Cronenweth explains. I'm adamant about depth-of-field being one of our storytelling tools, so the audience will be present where we want them to be. Also, there's a little girl in the show who's lost in this world, and a shallow depth of field was a great way of keeping her isolated and making the world more confusing and abstract.
Partnering with Panavision, Cronenweth chose to employ the Millennium DXL2 camera with large-format Panaspeed and Primo 70 primes. I had used the DXL2 on different jobs in the past, and I was a fan of it already it's my go-to camera when I want to utilize Panavision's world-renowned lens inventory, the cinematographer explains. Referencing the camera's 8K imager and native 1600 ISO, he adds, I liked the idea of the extra resolution and the speed, especially in the case of day exteriors turning into night and some of the sets we were working in. We shot 16:9, which was required by the studio, and for certain visual-effects shots we might have gone to 8K, but for all intents and purposes it was a 6K show.
When we went through our lens testing and discovered the Panaspeeds, their optical properties just fit our palette perfectly, he continues. They're very sophisticated pieces of glass, but they lend themselves to not being perfect.' They're more natural in a way because of their aberrations. It wasn't a complete set at the time, so we supplemented with the Primo 70s, which fit beautifully. They're a little cleaner than the Panaspeeds, so we used a little bit of diffusion when we needed it. I felt like if we could shoot our masters and two-shots with the Panaspeeds, it would be easier to match that to a close-up with the Primo 70s.
For his show LUT, Cronenweth opted to employ the DXL2's built-in Light Iron Color 2 Film look-up table. Vertovec had been instrumental in developing the DXL system's original Light Iron Color and subsequent Light Iron Color 2 LUTs. Jeff took a look at this [Light Iron Color 2 Film] LUT, Vertovec relates, and I think he didn't know that I had been building it off of a lot of the work that he and I had done.
Once Cronenweth learned of the LUT's inspiration, the cinematographer says, It made perfect sense why I would be attracted to it it's my own aesthetics wrapped up in a LUT. I like the way the colors roll off, the black levels, the shadow details I just love the color science in general. The way it interprets color is in line with everything I used to shoot on film.
Among the LUT's characteristics, Vertovec explains, it pulls blues toward more of a cyan, and it pulls greens a little toward yellow, which can make front-lit grass and trees feel more natural, a bit more like film, and not so el
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
06/04/2026
Michigan legends bring a new voice to the broadcast as TNT Sports and CBS Sports...
06/04/2026
From high school sports all the way up to the major leagues, building high-quali...
06/04/2026
Quickplay, an AI company for the media and entertainment industry, has been accepted into the Advanced tier of the TwelveLabs Ecosystem Partner Program. Quickpl...
06/04/2026
Grass Valley has announced the Future Playmakers Program, a global initiative to...
06/04/2026
El l der de operaciones impulsa la producci n en estudio mientras encuentra insp...
06/04/2026
The ops leader helps lead the charge in studio for the Spanish-language broadcas...
06/04/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
06/04/2026
The National Hockey League (NHL), in partnership with Verizon and the New Jersey Devils, today announced the opening of the NHL Innovation Lab powered by Verizo...
06/04/2026
Rock League, a new professional curling league, has announced that ESPN+ will stream its inaugural 2026 season for fans in the United States. The first Rock Lea...
06/04/2026
Advanced Systems Group has announced the appointment of Andrea (Andy) Cummis as Vice President of Systems Design and Engineering. In this role, she will lead de...
06/04/2026
Backed by Bolt Ventures, the venture brings Bryson DeChambeau, Grant Horvat, and...
06/04/2026
With this environment we can start that collaboration even earlier because we ca...
06/04/2026
Like the immortal lives of vampires, some stories never really end. That's t...
06/04/2026
As podcasting continues to evolve, growth increasingly means building beyond aud...
06/04/2026
Multiband dynamics plug-in enhanced
California-based developer FSK Audio have released a significant update for their innovative multiband dynamics processo...
06/04/2026
Share official & user-created full-rig presets
IK Multimedia's latest TONEX update makes it possible for users of the popular amp and effects modelling ...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Dalet Showcases Dalia Agentic AI and End-to-End Media Workflows at NAB Show 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Dalet, a leading technology and...
06/04/2026
OpenDrives Shows Off Sports Expertise in Sports Business Hub located in NAB Show...
06/04/2026
Proton to Demonstrate 3D Application at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Yet further creative potential unleashed through innovation in ...
06/04/2026
Autoscript Highlights Voice-Driven Prompting and PTZ Solutions at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Experience Autoscript Voice, PTZ prom...
06/04/2026
Mediaproxy Highlights Significant Enhancements to its LogServer suite at NAB Sho...
06/04/2026
Wayne, N.J., April 6th, 2026 Phantom High-Speed announces the release of PCC 4...
06/04/2026
April 6th, 2026
TRIBECA STUDIOS AND LILLY ANNOUNCE WINNERS OF INAUGURAL VITAL...
06/04/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Expands Kids Entertainment Lineup With Playground App ...
05/04/2026
Tackles all reported bugs!
SoundBridge have just announced the launch of a new update that introduces a couple of minor changes to their remote collaboratio...
04/04/2026
The University of Arizona's Men's Basketball team has only loss twice th...
04/04/2026
1080p HDR arrives, a new generation of storytelling tools takes center stage, an...
04/04/2026
Michigan legends bring a new voice to the broadcast as TNT Sports and CBS Sports...
04/04/2026
Faster, cleaner and more intuitive than ever
The control software for Flock Audio's digitally controlled patchbay systems has just been treated to an up...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/04/2026
DHD Introduces AI-Based Audio Noise Reduction to XD3 IP Core
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
The accompanying image shows the rear panel of the ...
04/04/2026
Macnica Redefines ST 2110 Flexibility with Two Speeds on One Card
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
New for NAB Show 2026, MEP100 SmartNIC now sup...
04/04/2026
Unified Media Workflows for Story-Centric Production
Brie Clayton April 3, 2026
0 Comments
Framelight X unifies field capture, editing and publishing ...
03/04/2026
Michigan's Fab Five will reunite for an alternate presentation of the Mich...
03/04/2026
Avid will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (April 18-22, Booth N2226, Las Vegas Convention Center), demonstrating its Content Core platform and new AI-driven workflow c...
03/04/2026
Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) has announced the appointment of Nick Barthee as Chief Operating Officer.
The announcement follows MRMC's transition fro...
03/04/2026
Interra Systems has announced that Elite Media Technologies has selected its BATON file-based QC solution for media workflows. Elite Media Technologies speciali...
03/04/2026
Ateme has announced that Moldtelecom has deployed Ateme technologies across its streaming workflow, covering encoding, delivery, operations, and analytics.
Mol...
03/04/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate Framelight X, its content management platform, at NAB Show 2026. The platform connects capture, ingest, editing, and publishing in...
03/04/2026
Encompass Digital Media and Techex have announced a cloud-native Master Control ...
Tales From the Loop, a new eight-episode series now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, explores the goings-on in a small Ohio town situated atop a mysterious machine that has made the stuff of imagination into an everyday reality for the local residents. Based on the paintings of Swedish artist Simon St lenhag, the series was written by showrunner Nathaniel Halpern, and the pilot episode reteamed director Mark Romanek with longtime collaborator Jeff Cronenweth, ASC.
