Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Fred Murphy, ASC Finds the Right Color and Contrast for CBS' Evil

17/05/2022

The series Evil, from creators Robert and Michelle King, has already been picked up for a second season. The show stars Katja Herbers as Kristen Bouchard, a forensic psychologist who joins a priest-in-training (played by Mike Colter) as they investigate the Churchs backlog of unexplained mysteries. As the episodes unfold, the two must come to grips with a logical or supernatural explanation to the supposed miracles, demonic possessions, and hauntings that have been reported.

The Kings turned to cinematographer Fred Murphy, ASC who they collaborated with on The Good Wife, Braindead and The Good Fight, to help bring Evil to the screen. Murphy alternates shooting Evil episodes with Tim Guinness. The team chose Panavision to support the series from preproduction through post.

We chose to shoot with the DXL2 camera because it has a terrific range from light to dark, says Murphy, a five-time Emmy nominee. It seems to reach into the darkness, and it seems to have more color. The other cameras I tested were much more contrasty and required more light to produce the same image. With the DXL2, it's more like film you don't have to put lights everywhere, and everything seems to fall off slowly and gradually.

On the shoot, Murphy pairs the DXL2 at 5K resolution with T2 Leica Summicron lenses. The sensor size is Super 35, and the aspect ratio is 16:9. The camera's specs include 16-bit Light Iron color and one of the quietest signal-to-noise ratios in the market.

Murphy says that the primary visual inspiration is The Night of the Hunter, the 1955 classic directed by Charles Laughton and shot by Stanley Cortez, ASC in expressionistic and spare black and white.

There's a moment in The Night of the Hunter when Robert Mitchum is about to stab Shelley Winters, says Murphy. It's a strange kind of wide shot in which the lighting and the set design combine to give an abstract, church-like appearance. The roof comes to a point, and he has a streak of light playing on him. But all around them, there's darkness. In a way, our whole visual approach is rooted in that scene.

Of course, that film is black and white, but on Evil, we try to use extremely intense color on occasion, says Murphy. There's a great deal of contrast between warm and cold, and the camera's ability to see subtle color differences helps make that work.

A simple night exterior establishing shot of the main character's home shows the camera's range. The location is a modest brick duplex in Astoria. There's very little light there, Murphy explains. I'm shooting at a stop of 2, at 1600 ASA. I had one large blue-ish light illuminating pretty much everything, and some lights coming from underneath to brighten the adjacent trestle. There's a small light on the house, and eventually, some headlights from cars pulling in. You'd be shocked at how little light I'm using. But with the DXL2, you can read all the way, deep into the background, underneath the trestle, and into the trees, which are silhouetted against the night sky ambience. Normally, in a night scene like that, the sky would just go black. There'd be nothing there. I'm just amazed at what the camera can capture.

Murphy and Guinness work with colorist Steve Bodner at Light Iron's facility in New York.

Steve is very good he's on my wavelength, says Murphy, who previously worked with Bodner on The Good Fight. It's so much easier when you find someone who likes what you like and has the same desires about the way it looks. I had Steve design the LUT for Evil, which is a very helpful and important part of it. It's a slightly adapted (KODAK 35mm) 5218 simulation, but it's more than that. I only use one LUT, and I correct the lighting, the camera, or both to suit the shot.

From the first time I sat with Fred and Tim for testing The Good Fight to now working with them on Evil I just felt like we all were on the same page, says Bodner. They both are so talented, and they are also open to collaboration, which is exciting because they allow me to try different ideas. I'm really grateful that they allow me to add my own personal touches because it is what makes my job fun and rewarding. I think Evil has a unique look that really stands out from other network programs.

Murphy notes his relationship with Panavision goes back to the 1970s, when he was a young cameraman making no-budget movies. Today, Panavision still has his back. If I need anything, they get it, he espouses. They've made gizmos for me, like the giant iris I used on Murder in the First and a special lens for Mothman Prophecies where only the center was in focus. And Light Iron, since it's part of Panavision, really understands this camera. The dailies look great. The people at Panavision and Light Iron make a key contribution to the look of these shows.
LINK: https://www.panavision.com/highlights/highlights-detail/fred-murphy-as...
See more stories from panavision

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

16/06/2026

Thomson launches new learning App

Thomson's highly regarded expert-led online learning courses are now easier to access on the go via our new App. Available now on Google Play Store, the J...

16/06/2026

Neumann MT 48 Receives Major Firmware 2.0 Update

Neumann.Berlin has released firmware version 2.0 for the MT 48 audio interface, adding plugin compatibility, expanded Dante networking options, broadcast encode...

16/06/2026

TVNewsCheck Opens Nominations for 2027 Women in Technology Awards

TVNewsCheck has announced that nominations are now open for its 2027 Women in Technology Awards, to be presented at NAB Show 2027 on Tuesday, April 6 in the Med...

16/06/2026

Clear-Com Introduces Avalon IP Intercom Platform

Clear-Com has announced Avalon, a 1RU IP intercom platform for broadcast, live events, and production environments. Designed for IP-only workflows, Avalon suppo...

16/06/2026

SNS EVO Enables Remote and Distributed Video Editing Workflows

SNS has published a guide to remote video editing workflows using its EVO shared storage platform and companion tools, covering use cases ranging from home edit...

16/06/2026

Richmond Flying Squirrels Deploy Grass Valley LDX 110 Cameras at CarMax Park

Grass Valley has announced that the Richmond Flying Squirrels, a Minor League Baseball affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, have deployed five Grass Valley LD...

16/06/2026

AIMS Launches Free Official IPMX Training Series Online

The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) has announced the launch of the Official IPMX Training Series, a free online program covering the design, configurati...

16/06/2026

Swerve Womens Sports Announces Distribution Deals with Fubo, Plex, Amazon Fire TV, and Anoki AI

Swerve TV has announced distribution agreements with Fubo, Plex, Amazon Fire TV,...

16/06/2026

ATP and TikTok Expand Global Content Partnership

ATP and TikTok have announced an expansion of their global content partnership, extending the ATP's TikTok hub powered by TikTok GamePlan to cover all nine ...

16/06/2026

FOX Sports Turns Los Angeles Pico Lot Into Its FIFA World Cup Production Nerve Center

Network's LA facility serves as the heart of a sprawling operation built to ...

16/06/2026

300+ Records a Day, 150 TB Daily, and a Relentless Content Avalanche: Inside FOX Sports' World Cup Media Engine

At Pico, the network's media-management team is supporting a flood of HBS fe...

16/06/2026

NHL Games Leaving CBC in Canada as Sublicense With Rogers Sportsnet Ends

The NHL will no longer air on CBC after the pulic broadcasters and national rights-holder Rogers Sportsnet were unable to come to agreement. After a successfu...

16/06/2026

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Virtual Eye's Ben Taylor on Making Live Sports More Valuable and Entertaining Through Data-Driven Graphics

As live sports broadcasters continue to seek new ways to make complex action mor...

16/06/2026

Thats BRISK, Baby! FOX Sports' Broadcast Remote IP Studio Kits Bring World Cup Fan Energy Back to Pico

Built with the 2026 FIFA World Cup in mind, these small but mighty IP-based tran...

16/06/2026

Rumble three-band soft synth by UVI

Boasts individual synths for each band UVI's latest synth takes an interesting approach to synthesis, offering a trio of synth engines that each operate...

16/06/2026

PSP Levelizer: auto level adjustment plug-in from PSPaudioware

New intelligent auto-fader plug-in unveiled PSPaudioware's latest release offers automatic level adjustment and provides more detailed control than many...

16/06/2026

The Crow Hill Company launch Crystal Pads

New performance-focused library announced Crystal Pads is the latest addition to The Crow Hill Company's ever-growing product range, and according to th...

16/06/2026

GForce launch official Prophet-5 soft synth

Developed in partnership with Sequential In recent years, GForce Software have branched into official emulations of classic hardware synths, delivering a ha...

16/06/2026

DT 30 IE: New in-ears from beyerdynamic

Designed specifically for live performance monitoring beyerdynamic's latest announcement sees the company introduce an affordable in-ear monitoring syst...

16/06/2026

Cherry Audio recreate the Ensoniq ESQ-1

Official emulation celebrates iconic synth's 40th anniversary Cherry Audio have just introduced Ensoniq ESQ-1, an official recreation of the 1986 polyph...

16/06/2026

Australians place growing trust in SBS News

Australians place growing trust in SBS News 16 June, 2026 Media releases SBS has been recognised as one of Australia's most trusted news providers, ran...

16/06/2026

Rohde & Schwarz achieves highest number of GCF validated 3GPP NR NTN test cases for RF, RRM and PCT domains

Rohde & Schwarz achieves highest number of GCF validated 3GPP NR NTN test cases ...

16/06/2026

Hitachi and PESA Announce Strategic Partnership to Drive Growth in Poland's Rail Market

Bydgoszcz to Become a Local Centre of Excellence for Advanced Rail Technologies....

16/06/2026

Chyron Unveils Chyron Weather 2.4

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/06/2026

Historic Zhuque-3 Reusable Rocket Test Mission Captured with URSA Cine Immersive

Historic Zhuque-3 Reusable Rocket Test Mission Captured with URSA Cine Immersive Brie Clayton June 16, 2026 0 Comments Apple Immersive Video puts view...

16/06/2026

SMPTE Plans ST 2110 Education Summer Programs

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/06/2026

Rise Awards Returns for 2026 to Celebrate Excellence in B...

Rise WIB, the award-winning advocacy group championing gender diversity and career progression across the broadcast and media technology industry, today announc...

16/06/2026

Limecraft Expands its Media Production Platform with Team...

Limecraft today announced the availability of Limecraft 2026.4, the fourth of eight planned platform releases this year. The update introduces Team-Based Access...

16/06/2026

Perry Sook: Big Tech Poses 'Very Urgent Threat to Broadcast Stations

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/06/2026

FIFA World Cup Delivers Record Ratings on Fox

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

16/06/2026

AIMS Launches the Official IPMX Training Series Online

Free Program Supports IPMX Education from Foundational Concepts Through System and Network Design The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) today announced t...

16/06/2026

Share your views on Screen Australia and the future of the industry

Share your views on Screen Australia and the future of the industry 15 June 2026 Your feedback matters. Following the instrumental insights provided in 2025,...

16/06/2026

Techtel Supports T-Motion RCCP-2A Controller Upgrade for Major Australian Broadcaster

Techtel Supports T-Motion RCCP-2A Controller Upgrade for Major Australian Broadc...

16/06/2026

Record audiences tune in for opening weekend of ICC Womens T20 World Cup 2026 on Sky Sports

Tuesday 16 June 2026 Record audiences tune in for opening weekend of ICC Women&...

16/06/2026

Fastest, Largest, Strongest: NVIDIA Blackwell Sweeps MLPerf Training 6.0

Every breakthrough AI model starts the same way: with a training run. The infrastructure running those training jobs shapes everything: how fast teams can itera...

15/06/2026

University of South Carolina's Valerie Gerfin on Gamecock Productions' Growth, Upgrades at Williams-Brice Stadium

One of the more exciting internal video production divisions within a college at...

15/06/2026

Fox Corp. To Acquire Roku, Pairs Live Sports Powerhouse With Major CTV Platform

The deal valued at $22 Billion is expected to close in the first half of 2027...

15/06/2026

Golf Channel Mobile to Live Stream 2026 Arnold Palmer Cup Beginning July 13th

Golf Channel and the Arnold Palmer Cup have announced a partnership to livestream the 2026 Arnold Palmer Cup on Golf Channel Mobile and GolfChannel.com. The tou...

15/06/2026

TikTok and Panini Launch Digital Collectible Card Experience for FIFA World Cup 2026

TikTok and Panini have announced a partnership to bring a digital collectible ca...

15/06/2026

Cosm and Monster Energy Launch First Full-Dome Immersive Advertisement in Shared Reality Venues

Cosm and Monster Energy have announced the debut of the first full-dome immersiv...

15/06/2026

Fox Nation and Real American Freestyle Sign International Media Rights Deal

Real American Freestyle (RAF) and Fox Nation have announced an exclusive streaming agreement for three RAF international events, beginning with RAF Georgia on J...

15/06/2026

FanConnect and Extreme Networks Announce IPTV Integration for Large Venue Deployments

FanConnect has announced a partnership with Extreme Networks integrating FanConn...

15/06/2026

2026 Sundance Institute Ignite x Adobe Fellows Named

Ten Emerging Filmmakers Ages 18 to 25 Will Start Fellowship Year at Ignite Lab from June 14-19 LOS ANGELES, CA, June 15, 2026 - The nonprofit Sundance Institut...

15/06/2026

Rumble from UVI

Innovative three-band soft synth introduced UVI's latest synth takes an interesting approach to synthesis, offering a trio of synth engines that each op...

15/06/2026

Oram Awards 2026: Open call announcement

Applications now open for 2026 The Oram Awards have returned for 2026 to celebrate the unusual, unique and unfiltered creative worlds of women and gender-di...