Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Enter the Wu-Tang

16/03/2023

For three seasons, the Hulu original series Wu-Tang: An American Saga has chronicled the life and times of seminal '90s-era rap group the Wu-Tang Clan. Cinematographer Gavin Kelly has been with the series since the pilot episode and was behind the camera for the finale; along the way, he was joined by alternating cinematographers Niels Alpert for Season 1 and David Tuttman for Seasons 2 and 3. In this Q&A, Kelly reflects on his multitude of entry points for the project and the ways in which the look has evolved over the story's three seasons, all of which were supported through Panavision New York.

Panavision: How would you describe the look of the series?

Gavin Kelly: The look stems all the way back to the pilot, which introduced our heroes, pre Wu-Tang Clan, struggling to survive and thrive on the streets of Staten Island in New York during the crack epidemic of the 90s. The first season was very ambitious and layered part hero origin story, part crime saga, part family drama, part music biopic, following many characters and their intersecting stories.

The Wu-Tang Clan in the series are characters whose personalities, energies and visions are larger than life but still grounded in some stark realities. Their day-to-day world is complex, raw, dangerous, but also full of light and hope in family, friendship, brotherhood and music. So the look is one of extremes: rich, high contrast, and bold swings with lighting, color, lensing with characters navigating back and forth between the razor edges of bright highlights and deep shadows, through murky, bleeding color temperatures, into moments of overwhelming light and flare.

The goal was an elevated look for the show, emphasizing stature and respect for the complexity of our characters in the midst of their tough, often stark circumstances. This often meant an eye for creating portrait moments, strong graphic shots that implied the icons they would become while still in the midst of difficult environments. They have big dreams that will take them from deep shadows into the bright lights. This layered visual approach was what pilot director Chris Robinson and I talked about as conveying the beautiful struggle, inspired by the powerful memoir by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

How has the look evolved over the course of the show's three seasons?

Kelly: Each new season sees the characters stories evolve and their worlds expand, as does the shows visual language. Season 2 tracks the metamorphosis of the characters forming into the actual Wu-Tang Clan and their creative processes and growth in the making of their first iconic album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). When appropriate, we introduced more saturated colors into the lighting palette in this season and more stylized and subjective, playful camerawork when the story prompted. In the third and final season, the storylines intimately trace the challenges, tensions and triumphs of rising to the very top of hip-hop culture, and ultimately mainstream culture, as Wu-Tang Clans impact becomes Wu-Tang Forever.

Several of the most ambitious episodes in terms of story and execution come in Season 3, as we have several episodes that branch off from the main storylines into alternate or fantasy realities based on specific Wu-Tang members' personas, visions and solo albums. As the Wu-Tang universe expands, so do our visual approaches. We had the opportunity to push the look further in various directions on these episodes, including shooting anamorphic primarily with C Series lenses, supplemented by a few E Series as well as building episode-specific lighting approaches and color palettes in sync with production designer Nick Francone and the excellent art-department team. With RZA himself directing the last two episodes I shot, we wrapped up the series big and bold, always embracing the witty unpredictable in the process.

The Wu-Tang Clan themselves drew from a rich tapestry of cultural and artistic inspirations. Were there any specific references you and your collaborators looked to for inspiration in crafting the show's visual style?

Kelly: We similarly drew upon a wide variety visual references in developing the look. Everything from the work of iconic Black photographers like Gordon Parks, Roy DeCarava and Carrie Mae Weems, to period imagery and style from '90s hip hop and music culture from photographers like Chi Modu, Danny Hastings and Sue Kwon. Film influences included everything from Shaw Brothers films classic kung-fu films that are a big part of Wu-Tang Clan culture to American gangster and crime films like The Godfather, American Gangster and Mean Streets, to recent, intimate indie films like Moonlight, Pariah and Fruitvale Station. And one of my personal constant inspirations is the work of Wong Kar-wai, for his use of bold, dynamic color palettes, strong compositions and intimate camerawork. The series is a tapestry of the Clans lives and stories, so the look had room to be rich, complex and dynamic as we moved through the Wu-universe.

What brought you to Panavision for this series?

Kelly: Ive worked with Panavision for years, and theyve always been great and supportive. Theyre always a willing partner in indulging my desires for extensive camera and lens tests to find the right package for the look of a particular project. On Wu-Tang, I pushed to shoot large format so that the scope of our medium shots and close-ups could have a larger-than-life stature, when desired, to imply the hero within.

For Season 1, we shot on DXL2 with Panavision Primos along with sets of Primo Artiste and H Series lenses when we wanted to push the look even further with expressive flares and textures. In Seasons 2 and 3, as the look slightly evolved, we shifted to the Sony Venice and Zeiss Supreme Primes along with the Artistes. On two episodes in Season 3, to push the look fu
LINK: https://www.panavision.com/highlights/highlights-detail/enter-the-wu-t...
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 ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 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...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

22/01/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Chuck Luarasi, Curry College

SVG Students To Watch: Chuck Luarasi, Curry CollegeThe Massachusetts native is cutting his teeth with Harvard Athletics, Cape Cod Baseball LeagueBy Brandon Cost...

22/01/2026

Follow the Money, Episode 4: Talking Tech, Sports, and Private Capital With Sam McCleery and Alysse Soll

Follow the Money, Episode 4: Talking Tech, Sports, and Private Capital With Sam ...

22/01/2026

Fever Pitch: WRC is Back for the Start of the 2026 Season With Rallye Monte-Carlo in 1080p For the First Time

Fever pitch: WRC is back for the start of the 2026 season with Rallye Monte-Carl...

22/01/2026

FloSports Prepares To Broadcast Outdoor Hockey Game Amidst Brutally Cold Temperatures in Southern Minnesota

FloSports Prepares To Broadcast Outdoor Hockey Game Amidst Brutally Cold Tempera...

22/01/2026

As Paramount+ Enters the Octagon, UFC's Craig Borsari Previews Production Plans, Teases Innovations

As Paramount Enters the Octagon, UFC's Craig Borsari Previews Production Pl...

22/01/2026

A Recluse Goes on a Quest To Save His Dog and Fight a Demon in OBEX

By Jordan Crucchiola It's a desire you hear so often among those in filmmaking circles. I just want to make cool stuff with my friends. With the NEXT selec...

22/01/2026

Lyrical Seeds Is a Stunning Portrait of Black Generational Farmers

Brittany Shyne attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Seeds at The Ray Theatre on January 25, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by Robin Marshall/Sh...

22/01/2026

Sundance Institute-Supported Train Dreams, If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, and More Land Oscar Nominations

Joel Edgerton and Felicity Jones appear in Train Dreams by Clint Bentley, an off...

22/01/2026

Watch Ed Sheeran's Dublin Concert in a New Billions Club Live Film on Spotify

Last November, Ed Sheeran returned to his musical roots for an intimate, one-nig...

22/01/2026

L3Harris to Provide Advanced Technology for Korean Geostationary Weather Satellite

MELBOURNE, Fla., Jan 22, 2026 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) has received a...

22/01/2026

Should we automate or augment AI?

Every delay costs. When a subtitle fails QC, even the smallest issue can mean missed deadlines, extra vendor costs, or frustrated teams. The new Accurate.Video ...

22/01/2026

Gracenote Appoints AdTech Veteran Bill Condon First Head of Advertising Sales

Strategic hire marks latest milestone in Gracenote's continued expansion into CTV advertising & monetization New York - January 21, 2026 - Nielsen's Gr...

22/01/2026

IBC Issues Call for Technical Papers for IBC2026 Conference

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

22/01/2026

Spectrum to Award $1 Million in 2026 Digital Education Grants

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

22/01/2026

StreamGuys Bolsters Its Audio Advertising Ranks

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

22/01/2026

NAB, Broadcasters Press FCC to End Ownership Caps

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

22/01/2026

Maxon Hires Steve Forde as Chief Product Officer

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

22/01/2026

Details Emerge About Adobe Film & TV Fund Commitment

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

22/01/2026

A Four-Time Emmy Award Winner on Defining His Sound

A Four-Time Emmy Award Winner on Defining His SoundCharles David Denler is a Composer and Pianist for film, television, and the Concert Stage. He is a 4 Time E...

22/01/2026

Rohde & Schwarz, Qualcomm, and Motorola demonstrate successful 5G Broadcast compatibility in Brazil

Rohde & Schwarz, Qualcomm, and Motorola demonstrate successful 5G Broadcast comp...

22/01/2026

Dalet Appoints Gwen Braygreen as Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer

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

22/01/2026

Flight Controls Are Cleared for Takeoff on GeForce NOW

The wait is over, pilots. Flight control support - one of the most community-requested features for GeForce NOW - is live starting today, following its announce...

22/01/2026

From Pilot to Profit: Survey Reveals the Financial Services Industry Is Doubling Down on AI Investment and Open Source

AI has taken center stage in financial services, automating the research and exe...

22/01/2026

How to Get Started With Visual Generative AI on NVIDIA RTX PCs

AI-powered content generation is now embedded in everyday tools like Adobe and Canva, with a slew of agencies and studios incorporating the technology into thei...

21/01/2026

Australia's Greatest Conman? premieres 24 February on SBS and SBS On Demand

Australia's Greatest Conman? premieres 24 February on SBS and SBS On Demand Media releases The $900 million dollar mystery that fooled our nation Austra...

21/01/2026

SBS ignites Lunar New Year with bold storytelling for The Year of the Fire Horse

SBS ignites Lunar New Year with bold storytelling for The Year of the Fire Horse 21 January, 2026 Media releases SBS is charging into Lunar New Year 2026 w...

21/01/2026

Nielsen's All Screens Video Landscape Report Reveals Shift in Polish Media Rankings and Deeper Audience Engagement

The Living Room Remains Central: Nielsen Highlights Growing TV Screen Dominance ...

21/01/2026

NAB Urges Swift Action by FCC on NextGen TV Transition

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

21/01/2026

SmallHD Releases Major PageOS Software Update

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

21/01/2026

WBGU-TV in Ohio to Drop PBS Affiliation

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

21/01/2026

Telestream DIVA Now Certified with Quantum ActiveScale an...

Telestream , the industry's leading provider of content lifecycle management and media workflow orchestration, and Quantum Corporation (NASDAQ: QMCO) today ...

21/01/2026

Lightware introduces new Matrix Management Unit for their...

Lightware s TPN ecosystem brings a new level of predictability and structure to 10G AV-over-IP deployments, offering professional AV integrators a deterministic...

21/01/2026

Wisycom Introduces New Wideband Antenna Matrix MATF for C...

Wisycom, a global leader in advanced wireless RF solutions, launches its new wideband antenna matrix, MATF, which supports RF and fiber for demanding multi-zone...

21/01/2026

Grass Valley Showcases Scalable Future-Ready Live Product...

Grass Valley will demonstrate how it is powering scalable, future-ready live production at FOMEX 2026, taking place February 2 4 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Exhibi...

21/01/2026

OKAST Implements BCNEXXT Vipe to Accelerate Monetization...

BCNEXXT, the developers of the advanced playout platform Vipe, today announced that OKAST, the monetization-first OTT platform provider, is using BCNEXXT's ...

21/01/2026

Magewell Introduces New IP to HDMI Decoder at ISE 2026 an...

Revamped design enables advanced capabilities, leading with powerful IP to HDMI conversion Magewell, developer of innovative, high-performance video I/O and I...

21/01/2026

Kiloview Expands Its AV-over-IP Ecosystem with AVX24-4 Me...

Jan 20th 2026, Changsha Kiloview today announced the launch of two major additions to its AV-over-IP ecosystem: the AVX24-4 Media HUB and KiloLink Station, ma...

21/01/2026

Bitfocus delivers high availability high security and hig...

Latest version of enterprise-class Buttons brings simple, coherent control to more than 700 professional devices and applications Bitfocus, the specialist in ...

21/01/2026

Clear-Com Announces Kari Eythorsson as New Regional Sale...

Clear-Com is pleased to announce the appointment of Kari Eythorsson as the new Regional Sales Manager (RSM) for Southeast Asia & Australia, based in Singapore,...

21/01/2026

Netflix Amends Warner Bros Discovery Bid to Offer All Cash

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

21/01/2026

Advanced Systems Group Inks Exclusive Partnership With Nu-Studio

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

21/01/2026

SWIT Ships New Powercell Camera Battery Series

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

21/01/2026

Netflix Q4 Earnings Exceed Expectations as Subs Top 325 Million

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Pinterest Bluesky Email...

21/01/2026

Netflix Presents Our Italian 2026 Slate: The Year of the Stars

Back to All News Netflix Presents Our Italian 2026 Slate: The Year of the Stars (Photo credit: Virginia Bettoja / Netflix) Entertainment 21 January 2026 Gl...

21/01/2026

Largest Infrastructure Buildout In Human History': Jensen Huang on AI's Five-Layer Cake' at Davos

From skilled trades to startups, AI's rapid expansion is the beginning of th...