Autumn Durald Arkapaw had a good feeling about her first meeting with director Ry Russo-Young. The topic was the prospective feature film The Sun is Also a Star, and Russo-Young had specified Panavision anamorphic in her lookbook.
I'm a big fan of Panavision and the anamorphic format, says Durald Arkapaw, who was interviewing as a potential director of photography on the film at the time. What attracted me to the project, first off, was that it's a love story set in Manhattan. Woody Allen's Manhattan is one of my favorite films, and Gordon Willis' work is what drew me to cinematography. Ry and I definitely hit it off, and we couldn't see The Sun is Also a Star shot any other way.
Director Ry Russo-Young and DP Autumn Durald Arkapaw on the set of The Sun is Also a Star.
Durald Arkapaw graduated from AFI's cinematography program a decade ago, and The Sun is Also a Star is the third feature she has hitting screens in 2019, with Untogether and Teen Spirit released in February and April, respectively. All three films were shot with Panavision C Series anamorphic glass.
The Sun is Also a Star is a Warner Bros. film based on a successful young adult novel in which a physics student (Yara Shahidi) falls in love with a charming college-bound student (Charles Melton) despite her family's imminent deportation. Once Durald Arkapaw officially signed on to the project, she researched the history of the squeeze format, including the industry-changing Hypergonar lens invention by French astronomer Jacques Chr tien that sparked the origination of the CinemaScope process.
I'm kind of a nerd when it comes to that stuff, she says. I wanted to get my story in place for why it meant so much to us. With any job, what's important is having the cinematography work with the story so you feel something. You don't want to feel like you're watching a film.
The C Series lenses are very textured and vintage, and that's another layer that renders a more filmic image for me, she adds. I come from a film background, and I always like to beat up my digital a bit. Ry and I had seen YA films that looked very sharp and were a little too precious. The stories are good, but they didn't feel real to us. Most of our references were shot on film and naturally lit. We wanted our environments to feel like organic spaces where the actors could live and grow.
Durald Arkapaw and Russo-Young were also in tune when it came to framing and camera movement. Ry is very precise in execution, explains Durald Arkapaw. I gravitate towards a moodier, underexposed image, and often accentuate the flares. The C Series lenses are flarey and dreamy when shot wide open. I embraced that rather than trying to hide it. Given the title and the story, you always want to feel the sun around and what better way than to have the lenses flaring in interesting ways! I know them so well. I even have my assistant write down the serial numbers, and I ask for particular lenses. You know the sweet spot and you work with that. They have beautiful attributes, and you get these happy accidents.
One lens in particular, a 55 mm macro, comes in handy for beauty portrait shots. It's really creamy when it's wide open, and it looks great for complexions, Durald Arkapaw notes. When it's too sharp, you see skin irregularities and it's not as filmic. You end up doing a lot of post work to compensate. I prefer shooting wide open with this lens, because it already gets you to a good spot and there's beautiful light fall-off.
Durald Arkapaw operates the camera herself whenever possible. Being close to the actors, seeing it through my eyes and emotionally connecting, I get all of that when operating. If it doesn't feel real through the lens while I'm operating, I immediately offer something else up to the director that feels more inspiring.
Director Max Minghella's Teen Spirit, Durald Arkapaw's previous assignment, was also done with Panavision. Elle Fanning plays a shy teenager with dreams of pop stardom. This time, the C Series lenses came with the help of Panavision London.
I love working in London, and I often work with the Panavision London team on commercials, says Durald Arkapaw. But this was my first feature in the UK. I really wanted to shoot C Series for that film, and the teams from Panavision London, with the help of Rik DeLisle at Panavision Los Angeles, were really amazing in helping make it happen. I mostly shoot with Panavision glass, so they've been key collaborators throughout my career. The texture and flaring came in handy for rendering that story. I'm very proud of the film, and it just wouldn't be as successful without those lenses.
The Sun is Also a Star is currently in theaters. Durald Arkapaw's next film is Mainstream, a feature film directed by Gia Coppola currently filming in Los Angeles, starring Andrew Garfield and Maya Hawke, and once again supported by Panavision.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
06/07/2026
Long-developed relationships and informal access, three production models, and c...
06/07/2026
The deal follows Lumine's recent acquisition of Synamedia's video-networ...
06/07/2026
This former SportsCenter producer is shaping local-team studio coverage to surro...
06/07/2026
IMS Productions and FOX Sports deployed more than 100 cameras, 32 onboard feeds,...
06/07/2026
Lumine Group Inc. has announced the completion of its acquisition of the Video Network Business from Synamedia. The business will operate as a standalone compan...
06/07/2026
NASCAR has announced a content and commercial partnership with Motorsport Network, a motorsports and automotive media platform, to distribute NASCAR original co...
06/07/2026
Versant Media Group has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Full Swing, a sports technology company, from Bruin Capital and a group of minority investor...
06/07/2026
DAZN has announced global broadcast rights to 3ICE, a professional hockey format featuring three skaters and a goalkeeper per side, with no power plays or offsi...
06/07/2026
Bundle gains 100 new synths & more
Synth Anthology 5 the largest and most feature-packed edition of UVI's hardware synth emulation bundle, bringing toge...
06/07/2026
Available now via free firmware update
MOTU have just announced that three of their popular audio interfaces now boast official Milan Certification. The 16A...
06/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz completes Hunter Preliminary Design Review for the Integrated Co...
06/07/2026
The R&S IMAGER from Rohde & Schwarz uses millimeter wave imaging to inspect the ...
06/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
06/07/2026
Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice Pre...
06/07/2026
Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development
Brie Clayton July 6, 2026
0 Comments
The strategic new appointment supports...
06/07/2026
Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve
Michael Cioni July 6, 2026
0 Comments
This is a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to setup your...
06/07/2026
Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro
Colin Smith July 6, 2026
0 Comments
Here I showcase the innovative automatic caption translation f...
06/07/2026
Flavor's First Ever Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Execu...
06/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might think...
06/07/2026
Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with ...
06/07/2026
Techtel debuts insyght: making ST 2110 media discovery easy
intellisphereinsyght2026
6 July Written By Suzanne Costello
Sydney, Australia - 06 July 2026 T...
06/07/2026
Monday 6 July 2026
Sky agrees to acquire ITV Media & Entertainment, creating a ...
06/07/2026
Fresh from his World Cup heroics with Cabo Verde, Roberto Pico' Lopes will join the RT panel for Argentina v Egypt tomorrow and for the England v Norway q...
06/07/2026
Nations have long invested in domestic infrastructure to advance their economies, protect and use their data, and take advantage of technology opportunities in ...
06/07/2026
Every year, the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) reveals where thousands of AI researchers have decided to put their work.
This year's ...
06/07/2026
A death can be unsuspicious, but it has to be explained
What happened to Ke...
05/07/2026
We've gone to another level of integrating the graphics into the set architecture' - Zac Fields, SVP, Graphic Technology and Integration, FOX Sports...
05/07/2026
Browser-based and desktop apps available
Digital Sunset Studios have been busy working on an interesting project: a free software tool that provides compute...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
Autumn Durald Arkapaw had a good feeling about her first meeting with director Ry Russo-Young. The topic was the prospective feature film The Sun is Also a Star, and Russo-Young had specified Panavision anamorphic in her lookbook.
