The give-and-go between cinematographers Todd Banhazl and Mihai Malaimare Jr. on the HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty has been as impressive a display as Kareem and Magic running a pick and roll. Playing to the strengths of multiple formats, the two cinematographers helped transport viewers back in time to the genesis of the showtime Lakers of the 1980s. It took a concerted effort to craft the look of Winning Time, with the story on the screen matched by the tenacity and teamwork behind the camera.
The line between our footage and the archival footage is so blurry, it makes for an extremely period-accurate piece, says Malaimare. Describing his experience working with Banhazl, who served as the series' lead cinematographer, Malaimare continues, Todd created a visual bible based on the look of the pilot, and he and I had extensive meetings with writers Max Borenstein and Rodney Barnes to discuss each episode in detail. It was a very carefully planned visual style.
Banhazl shares, The idea behind the visual style of the show was to create a tapestry of American culture and pop culture in the 60s, 70s and 80s. The hope is that audiences will lose track of what we shot and what was actual archival footage. We wanted it to be grainy, greasy, shiny, vibrant, and have a handmade quality to the texture of the image and to the camerawork itself.
My main inspirations came from a mix of photographers, like Barron Claiborne, Bruce Davidson, William Eggleston, Alex Webb and Roy DeCarava, Banhazl continues. In movies, John Cassavetes, Spike Lee, Robert Altman and Wim Wenders were big for us.
Both cinematographers found inspiration in period photographic styles. I tend to use stills for references, Malaimare says, but I also got a lot of ideas from broadcast games of the era. Also, the opening of Any Given Sunday was a strong reference for capturing certain basketball games.
Banhazl adds, We also took cues from all the actual footage that exists of the Lakers in this time period, as well as the dominant advertising looks of the time to attempt to redefine images of the bought and sold American dream.
Embracing the early 1980s aesthetic, the cinematographers primarily shot on 35mm film and mixed in Super 16mm, Super 8mm, and even vintage video. We always knew the show wanted to be shot on film because it would be jumping between real archival footage from the period and our narrative footage, Banhazl explains. It felt like using the actual formats would be the most effective and most joyful way to play within those styles and aesthetics.
Asked about shooting the series on film, Malaimare offers, There is a certain approach that I love. You keep the camera rolling only when it's really necessary. There is a different level of respect that a film camera demands. The HD video tap of the [Panavision Millennium] XL2 cameras definitely made things easier.
Malaimare credits the decisions that Banhazl and director Adam McKay made with the pilot episode for setting the tone of the subsequent episodes. Adam and Todd established the look in the pilot, and it made total sense, Malaimare says. There were moments where it would've been easier for certain scenes to use a smaller digital camera, but I'm glad we resisted that temptation as much as possible.
Mihai is a brilliant artist and a dear friend, so collaboration was easy, expresses Banhazl. We spoke about the visual bible I had created after the pilot, and from there we started trading inspirations and visual references. Each episode demands its own visual flourishes as we jump through different moments in American cultural memory, and Mihai was the perfect collaborator who brought his own ideas and taste to the project while maintaining the overall rather nontraditional style.
Regarding the cinematographers' choice of optics, Malaimare notes, I'm such a Panavision guy. I love the variety of the lenses and the amazing support we get there. I'm usually attracted to old lenses, but we were doing so much to the film pushing one stop, adding even more grain and gate weave in post we realized the perfection and consistency of Primo lenses would help us. We did extensive camera tests, trying a variety of old and modern lenses, but we landed on Primo primes in the end.
We wanted the image to feel like our collective memory of all our favorite movies of the 70s and 80s mixed with a documentary edge, concludes Banhazl. I originally thought we were going to go with much older vintage glass, but by the time we had done everything photochemically and digitally to our film negative, the image was so degraded that the tried-and-true Primos ended up providing the perfect balance of clean, beautiful contrast mixed with the grainy, softer film look.
Images courtesy of the filmmakers and HBO.
Watch Todd Banhazl and Mihai Malaimare Jr. discuss their work on Winning Time here: In Conversation
Read our Season 2 coverage here: Winning Depth and Worthy Company
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
07/08/2025
July 8 2025, 22:30 (PDT) Tata Motors & Dolby Bring Dolby Atmos to Harrier.ev, R...
11/07/2025
PARK CITY, UTAH, July 11, 2025 - The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the 11 producers chosen for its annual Producers Labs, returning to Ucross Fou...
11/07/2025
If you've ever wondered what might be playing in Clark Kent's headphones...
11/07/2025
L3Harris Technologies President of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Jason Lambert and General Manager of L3Harris Waco facility Sean Ling held a ce...
11/07/2025
ARLINGTON, Va. WETA, the flagship public media station in the national capital area, has launched WETA+, a new streaming service tailored for the local Washingt...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission has emerged as one of the central players in the broadcast TV landscape in 2025, with its deregulatory policies sparking h...
11/07/2025
Calrec will introduce usability, customization and system enhancements across its entire range of Argo consoles during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Amsterda...
11/07/2025
LONDON Encompass Digital Media said it will support live and on-demand viewing of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup across multiple global regions for sports enterta...
11/07/2025
Two-thirds of broadcast engineers reaped the benefits of a pay raise within the last year....
11/07/2025
CARY, N.C. SmallHD has launched the Quantum 27, a new 26.5-inch Quantum-Dot OLED monitor designed to deliver postproduction image quality in a compact, set-frie...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau and Tegna have entered into a consent decree that will settle an investigation into the accidenta...
11/07/2025
WASHINGTON Following news in early July that Paramount had settled President Donald Trump's lawsuit, Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Ben Ray Luj n (D-N...
11/07/2025
Model/Actriz Performs Lead Single Cinderella on The Late Show with Stephen Colbe...
11/07/2025
Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks ...
11/07/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Client...
11/07/2025
2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transit...
11/07/2025
A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP Leaders from the HuskerVision and Lawo share their IP learnings By SVG Staff
Friday, July 1...
11/07/2025
CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimble...
11/07/2025
Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-...
11/07/2025
Back to All News
Too Hot to Handle: Italy Is Coming on July 18 Only on Netflix
Entertainment
11 July 2025
GlobalItaly
Link copied to clipboard
July 11, 20...
11/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Will Release Death Inc. Seasons 1, 2 and 3
Entertainment
11 July 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Season 1
Season 2
Se...
11/07/2025
AI and Multimedia Authenticity Standards Collaboration launches two papers to guide the future of AI integration, today at the AI for Good Global Summit
The...
11/07/2025
Ceramics - the humble mix of earth, fire and artistry - have been part of a global conversation for millennia.
From Tang Dynasty trade routes to Renaissance pa...
10/07/2025
The current holder of the prestigious Thomson Foundation Young Journalist of the Year Award has been forced to stop reporting over fears for her safety in Afgha...
10/07/2025
Spotify is turning up the volume on Australian music with a multipronged initiative designed to highlight the dominance of Australian artists on the global stag...
10/07/2025
This is not a drill: Oasis is back on the road-marking its first live performanc...
10/07/2025
The music industry depends on fresh ideas, bold voices, and emerging talent. Yet across the U.K., too many young musicians lack the space to develop their craft...
10/07/2025
NEW YORK - July 10, 2025 - Nielsen, the global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, today announced that it appointed Richard Pacheco as head of ...
10/07/2025
Local newscasts don't exist in a vacuum. News directors and station management constantly evaluate what's working, what isn't and perhaps most impor...
10/07/2025
Lawo has announced that Stuttgart Media University (Hochschule der Medien, HdM) has comprehensively modernized its central recording studio after selecting an I...
10/07/2025
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has opened early-bird registration for the Media Technology Summit, which will take place in a ne...
10/07/2025
NASHVILLE, Tenn. TNDV Television has launched Aspiration 35, a new version of its 40-foot Aspiration truck reimagined for cinematic multicamera productions....
10/07/2025
BURBANK, Calif. Key Code Education, a provider of instructor-led postproduction training, is growing its curriculum with new programs for beginner and intermedi...
10/07/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. Actus Digital will demonstrate how broadcasters can transform compliance monitoring from a necessary expense into a strategic revenue driver at...
10/07/2025
The Federal Register has published a summary of the Federal Communications Commission's Public Notice seeking comments on its ownership rules that lists a d...
10/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Presents the Official Trailer for SuperestarPlay Video
Play Video
Entertainment
10 July 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard...
10/07/2025
In the race to understand our planet's changing climate, speed and accuracy are everything. But today's most widely used climate simulators often strugg...
10/07/2025
As one of the world's largest emerging markets, Indonesia is making strides toward its Golden 2045 Vision - an initiative tapping digital technologies and...
10/07/2025
10 Jul 2025
VEON and Cohen Circle Secure Investor Commitments for Kyivstar Listing Kyiv, New York, Dubai, and Philadelphia - July 10, 2025 - VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq:...
10/07/2025
5G for all? What the DFL's use of Easy5G and RefCam could mean for events in...
10/07/2025
Save the Date: PGA TOUR Studios Welcomes SVG Remote Production Summit on Oct 14-...
10/07/2025
Cloud on the Road: How Remote-Production-Service Providers Are Adapting to a New...
10/07/2025
Seattle Kraken's Ryan Schaber on the NHL Team Taking Live Game Productions I...
10/07/2025
FOX Sports Reboots Small Control Room in Los Angeles as Hub for Vertical-First P...
10/07/2025
SVG Sit-Down: MSE's Zach Leonsis, ViewLift's Rick Allen Go Deep on Joint...
10/07/2025
Thursday 10 July 2025
The Very Small Creatures
Jaime's Treetop Tales
Emerald
BooSnoo! Christmas Mashup
Pip & Posy's Spooktacular Party
The Very Sm...
10/07/2025
Thursday 10 July 2025
Brand new rewards are coming to Sky customers, with free ...
The give-and-go between cinematographers Todd Banhazl and Mihai Malaimare Jr. on the HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty has been as impressive a display as Kareem and Magic running a pick and roll. Playing to the strengths of multiple formats, the two cinematographers helped transport viewers back in time to the genesis of the showtime Lakers of the 1980s. It took a concerted effort to craft the look of Winning Time, with the story on the screen matched by the tenacity and teamwork behind the camera.
