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
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
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...
18/05/2026
Despite a bumpy start to the year, the provider of event-production support and ...
18/05/2026
Daktronics has partnered with the University of North Carolina to manufacture and install 11 LED displays totaling more than 10,000 square feet and more than 14...
18/05/2026
CBS LA has announced a multi-year partnership with the Los Angeles Rams, covering exclusive local broadcasts of Rams preseason games, weekly year-round programm...
18/05/2026
Skyline Communications has announced an integration between its DataMiner xOps p...
18/05/2026
eCLUTCH, the hybrid esports platform powered by iKOMG, has announced an expansion of its distribution across Europe, MENA, Africa, and Asia, along with new cont...
18/05/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/05/2026
With 22 games this season, the production team looks forward to tweaking and enhancing the coverage
After 8,660 days off the air, the WNBA returned to NBC yest...
18/05/2026
(L-R) Midori Francis and Natalie Erika James attend the Saccharine premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 22, 2026, in ...
18/05/2026
Last night, the Spotify Podcast Awards in Mexico returned to the country's capital. Now in its second year, the evening honors creators whose voices are hel...
18/05/2026
ZEN-Core synth goes mobile
Roland's powerful ZEN-Core software synthesizer has just been introduced to the iPad, offering a convenient entry point into ...
18/05/2026
Versatile new limiter plug-in announced
Based in Sheffield, UK, fedDSP offer a range of plug-ins that span the music production, live sound and high-end med...
18/05/2026
A new use for convolution?
Viiri Audio's debut plug-in aims to do something a little different with convolution processing, allowing users to adjust all...
18/05/2026
Delta Goodrem shines for SBS as more than 3.27 million Australians tune in for E...
18/05/2026
The Australian Defence Force uses L3Harris T4 and T7 robots for explosive ordnan...
18/05/2026
Continued investment across Europe and Germany is expanding local teams and improving access to stock, regional expertise, and specialist broadcast support.
CV...
18/05/2026
18 May 2026
Dubai and New York, May 18, 2026 - VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON), a glob...
18/05/2026
Monday 18 May 2026
Sky News offers ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes for just...
18/05/2026
Comscore March 2026 Consumer AI Chatbot Usage Rankings Show Claude Gaining Share OpenAI's ChatGPT maintains lead while Anthropic's Claude continues to c...
17/05/2026
Delta Goodrem's Eurovision Eclipse marks end of a stellar run
17 May, 2026
Media releases
Bulgaria wins Eurovision 2026
Relive every spellbinding mome...
17/05/2026
Back to All News
Oasis Premieres on Netflix June 19
Entertainment
17 May 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Summer, sunshine, the beach, parties. T...
16/05/2026
Helps to deliver a clean, balanced midrange
Developed alongside Newfangled Audio, the latest plug-in in Eventide's software collection has been designed...
16/05/2026
Brings onboard stem rendering to RANE System One
Engine DJ have just released Engine DJ 5.0, a free update for their Engine DJ OS embedded hardware and Engi...
16/05/2026
Boris FX Continuum Pairs AI Precision and Advanced Creative Controls
Jessie Electa Petrov May 16, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic de...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Seattle Sounders FC and Seattle Reign FC, in partnership with RAVE Foundation an...
15/05/2026
Dan Brumm has served as sound designer on Bluey, the Australian children's t...
15/05/2026
The Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA) and Shure Incorporated are accepting applications for the 6th annual Mark Brunner Professional Audio Schola...
15/05/2026
Netflix has announced an expanded NFL schedule for 2026 and beyond under a four-year partnership extension with the NFL through the 2029-30 season. Each season,...
15/05/2026
Ateme is supporting TVRI (Televisi Republik Indonesia) with a contribution and d...
15/05/2026
Concacaf has announced the launch of a new website and mobile app built on Deltatre's FORGE platform. Concacaf.com and the mobile app, available on iOS and ...
15/05/2026
Eutelsat has announced the launch of QBC Business Economic Channel by Qatar Media Corporation, broadcasting in 4K/UHD via Eutelsat's 7/8 West video neighbo...
15/05/2026
Major League Soccer has announced four original content series timed to the 2026...
15/05/2026
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) has announced it will exhibit and present at InfoComm 2026, taking place June 13-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Cente...
15/05/2026
InfoComm 2026 will take place June 13-19 (exhibits June 17-19) at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The show will include sessions and exhibits covering broadcas...
15/05/2026
Tracy McGrady's Ones Basketball League (OBL) and FuboTV Inc. have announced ...
15/05/2026
Disguise has partnered with Creative Technology (CT) to deliver visual playback ...
15/05/2026
Sony Electronics has announced two new products for professional imaging: the Alpha 7R VI full-frame mirrorless camera and the FE 100-400mm F4.5 GM OSS super-te...
15/05/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
15/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
15/05/2026
For sports organizations, the most valuable assets are often the most sensitive:...
15/05/2026
The NFL's broadcast partners released their 2026 regular season schedules ye...
15/05/2026
Besides drawing on experience with boxing, the production integrates specialty c...
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.
