The Australian series Mystery Road: Origin adds to the popular mythology established in the franchise's preceding features and television seasons. The detective-driven drama follows Jay Swan (Mark Coles Smith), a newly minted police officer navigating his new position in the indigenous mining community where his estranged father resides. As series cinematographer Tyson Perkins explains, the subject matter offered a rich vein for visual storytelling. The look of Mystery Road: Origin certainly sits within the typical Western style, he notes. The color palette and camerawork resemble the West Australian landscape in which it was shot.
Specifically, the city of Kalgoorlie served as the show's fictional town of Jardine. Kalgoorlie is a mining town riddled with the scars of human industry, Perkins says. The visuals work to mirror this. Mystery Road: Origin is the prequel to a large body of work that includes two other shows and two films. [Origin series director] Dylan River and I looked to capture the tone that [Mystery Road and Goldstone director] Ivan Sen had captured in his original feature films. We loved how he used a single-camera approach and covered his scenes really sparsely. This style added to the ominous feeling that lingers around Jay wherever he goes.
Dylan and I are both big fans of Roger Deakins [ASC, BSC], Perkins adds. No Country for Old Men, Prisoners and Sicario were big inspirations a lot of the lighting and framing references that we drew upon in the show came from those films. We had a relatively long preproduction period, and given how tight television schedules are, our collective knowledge of the scripts and our desired approach proved to be invaluable. It meant we could keep focused on what was important to the story, even if we had to lose some shots from the list.
Perkins turned to Panavision Sydney to find the lens set that would match the Western style he was envisioning. We wanted a large-format lens set that would diffuse the harshness of the environment but at the same time would add to the hazy, hot feeling of the West Australian landscape, he explains. The H Series do that job perfectly and are a wonderful portrait set. They have a wonderful softness that's pleasing on skin and helped amplify the heat haze of the desert without feeling like they sacrifice resolution to do so. They also have this unique focus falloff that's hard to define but is something that I find tremendously pleasing.
For his camera, Perkins chose Panavision's Millennium DXL2. We wanted to harness the wide field of view that the DXL2 sensor provides, the cinematographer notes. This was not only to capture the wide vistas in the landscape we were shooting, but it was also chosen specifically for use in cars. Using a large-format camera for car interiors meant we could use our hero lens, the 50mm, for our car work and keep most of the actor in the frame. Lots of the show plays out in car interiors, so this was super-important for us.
We also shot a great number of scenes in the blue hour, and having the ability to push the camera to 2500 ISO was really handy in those moments where you're up against it in the very last moments of light, he says. We scheduled around having the ability to push the camera in that way, and it really had a material impact on what we were able to get.
I don't think you can beat the mix of equipment and support that Panavision offers, Perkins continues. This show was by far the biggest narrative project I had ever done, and my relationship to Panavision was so important to me.
Reflecting on what first brought him to Panavision, Perkins shares, Panavision has a storied history with many filmmakers around the world. However, in Australia, it was the companys support of the Aboriginal filmmakers that have come before that drew me to Panavision initially. My aunt Rachel Perkins is one of the pioneering Aboriginal directors in Australia. And in my early years, whilst I was working with slim to no budget, the support of Ann Lyons at Panavision Sydney was often the difference between me being able to have equipment for a job or not at all.
I've seen firsthand how the power of cinema can compel social change, so I always try to ensure that I contribute to that by foregrounding Aboriginal voices in my work, Perkins adds. Working with an Aboriginal director and lead actors on Mystery Road: Origin is a great example of that. It's something I'm extremely honored to have played a role in.
Images courtesy of Tyson Perkins.
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
29/10/2025
ESPN said it will produce animated telecasts for NFL, NHL, NBA and WNBA games across The Walt Disney Co. and ESPN platforms during the 2025-26 season under an a...
29/10/2025
WASHINGTON Despite the government shutdown, the Federal Communications Commission has passed, with some revisions, a previously announced Notice of Proposed Rul...
29/10/2025
29 10 2025 - Media release SBS, NITV and Screen Australia announce 2025 Digital Originals Shortlist
The 2025 Digital Originals shortlisted teams. Photo credit...
28/10/2025
ESPN Announces Monsters Funday Football', Its Latest Real-Time Animated Bro...
28/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Catherine Chalfant, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPNThe Ole Miss alum is an operational force behind ESPN's extensive college-football catalo...
28/10/2025
Elevating the experience: AI and data take Ryder Cup to the next level By Joe OHalloran
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 - 10:25
Print This Story
NBC produced th...
28/10/2025
Conquering the Air (waves): Taking a close up look at the IBC Accelerator Priva...
28/10/2025
World Series 2025: Spectrum SportsNet LA Brings Dodgers Fans Closer to the Actio...
28/10/2025
Dylan Southern and Benedict Cumberbatch at the premiere of The Thing with Feathers (photo by George Pimentel / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
28/10/2025
For three weeks in Lagos, Spotify's Greasy Tunes Caf pop-up brought the cit...
28/10/2025
Once a niche subculture, German rap has evolved into an influential cultural movement. Now, Spotify is giving the genre a new home with OFFCULT, a playlist dedi...
28/10/2025
Shane Delia's Malta serves up the Mediterranean this summer
28 October, 2025
Media releases
Feast on 9,000 years of culinary history Mondays from 24 No...
28/10/2025
SBS's global sporting festival continues with the FIVB Beach Volleyball Worl...
28/10/2025
Bilbao, October 28, 2025 - AgileTV, a leading technology solutions company for t...
28/10/2025
Disney, NBCUniversal, FOX, Paramount Each Achieve Double-Digit Monthly Growth
...
28/10/2025
CINCINNATI The E.W. Scripps Company has announced an agreement to sell WRTV, its local ABC-affiliated station in Indianapolis, to Circle City Broadcasting for $...
28/10/2025
Berklee College of Music and Berklee Valencia Named to Billboards 2025 Top Music...
28/10/2025
NEW YORK As AI usage continues to spike, a new study from IAB delves into an important aspect of how AI is transforming the advertising business with new data s...
28/10/2025
Charlie Jablonski, a broadcast tech pioneer who helped shape the modern era of Olympics television coverage, died Oct. 25 at his home in Lake George N.Y., the N...
28/10/2025
VIENNA, Austria Bitmovin has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insights into video playback. The so...
28/10/2025
LOS ANGELES LucidLink, the file streaming platform, has announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities at Adobe Max....
28/10/2025
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced that it has joined the Ama...
28/10/2025
Lightware, an industry leader in connectivity and signal management solutions, has announced a major update to its Taurus
platform, which now delivers flawless...
28/10/2025
Following a successful mid-September International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam, Hiltron Communications will promote its full range of satellite communi...
28/10/2025
Open Broadcast Systems has chosen MC&S (Media Consulting & Services) as a reseller to help strengthen its presence in France.
With over twenty years of experi...
28/10/2025
Bitmovin, leading provider of video streaming solutions, has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insi...
28/10/2025
Ease Live, the leader in interactive TV technology, today announced the successful launch of interactive graphical overlays for UEFA Champions League matches fo...
28/10/2025
LucidLink, the file streaming platform, today at Adobe MAX announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities, streamlining collaboration and hel...
28/10/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has promoted Nick Hasenecz to general manager of WNDU, its NBC affiliate in the South Bend-Elkhart, Ind., market....
28/10/2025
Applications Open for Berklee Fenway Neighborhood Improvement Grant Boston nonprofits can apply by December 12 for funding to support community projects that ...
28/10/2025
Governments everywhere are racing to harness the power of AI - but legacy infras...
28/10/2025
AI is moving from the digital world into the physical one. Across factory floors...
28/10/2025
NVIDIA is delivering the telecom industry a major boost in open-source software for building AI-native 5G and 6G networks.
NVIDIA Aerial software will soon be ...
28/10/2025
The race to bottle a star now runs on AI.
NVIDIA, General Atomics and a team of international partners have built a high-fidelity, AI-enabled digital twin for ...
28/10/2025
Along the Pacific Ocean in Monterey, California, the Naval Postgraduate School (...
28/10/2025
To democratize access to AI technology nationwide, AI education and deployment c...
28/10/2025
Leading technology companies in aerospace and automotive are accelerating their ...
28/10/2025
28 Oct 2025
VEON's JazzCash Wins Silver Award for Innovation in Lending at ...
28/10/2025
Guests include Wayne Rooney, Maya Jama, Dame Laura Kenny, Chloe Kelly, Chris McC...
28/10/2025
The two-hour special, recorded live from the iconic Dolby Theatre in LA, will ai...
28/10/2025
Eutelsat upgrades teleports with Rohde & Schwarz satellite uplink amplifiers High efficiency and resilient Ku-band amplifiers for excellent RF performance
...
28/10/2025
These appointments come at a pivotal time for ABC, as the organisation continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of a digital-first media ecosystem. The ne...
28/10/2025
Scripps Research awarded $4 million to advance platform for neurodevelopmental disorders The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) grant support...
27/10/2025
You can touch this: Haptics becoming central to the virtual live experience By Adrian Pennington
Friday, October 24, 2025 - 09:12
Print This Story
The vid...
27/10/2025
A tale of two trailers: France's Stop & Go doubles up with its new hybrid tr...
27/10/2025
Pro Padel League Stages City's Cup Finals Inside NYC's Hammerstein Ballr...
27/10/2025
World Series 2025: Sportsnet Delivers Made-in-Canada' Moment for a Nation U...
27/10/2025
ESPN Extends Partnership With Sony's Beyond Sports To Expand Animated Altern...
The Australian series Mystery Road: Origin adds to the popular mythology established in the franchise's preceding features and television seasons. The detective-driven drama follows Jay Swan (Mark Coles Smith), a newly minted police officer navigating his new position in the indigenous mining community where his estranged father resides. As series cinematographer Tyson Perkins explains, the subject matter offered a rich vein for visual storytelling. The look of Mystery Road: Origin certainly sits within the typical Western style, he notes. The color palette and camerawork resemble the West Australian landscape in which it was shot. 
