The path toward lensing great films is even more varied than the platforms that distribute them. In the case of Netflix's Blonde, an artful balance between director Andrew Dominik and cinematographer Chayse Irvin, ASC, CSC, created an opportunity for viewers to rediscover the familiar story of Marilyn Monroe under a brand-new light. In developing a visual parlance to support the project's ambition to recontextualize Monroe's historic legacy, Irvin worked within a flow that some might consider more befitting of a jazz musician than a cinematographer.
Based on the fact-and-fiction-blending Joyce Carole Oates novel of the same name, Blonde stands out from other biopics as a particularly pliant playground for visual interpretation. The movie's kaleidoscopic nature masterfully skews the worlds between Marylin Monroe, the studio-system box-office juggernaut, and Norma Jeane, the betrayed little girl who never gives up on her father.
Working with Panavision Woodland Hills to secure a package that included a Panavised Sony Venice and PVintage optics, Irvin used a mix of aspect ratios, formats, color, and a host of optical aberrations to breathe a life into the film that echoes what Oates achieved in her book. Panavision recently reconnected with the cinematographer to explore his creative approach to Blonde and the journey that's brought him to this point in his career.
Panavision: Where did your affection for cinematography come from?
Chayse Irvin, ASC, CSC: My grandfather had aspirations of fulfilling his life through photography. However, the situation in America at the time limited his aspirations and he worked as a bus driver in Detroit. My father is a mathematician and was the top math student in Michigan. He lived in northern British Columbia after immigrating to Canada, where he led a very interesting life as the postmaster general in a small town amongst a rich Native American population. He had sled dogs and made pool tables for the local bar until he decided to study medicine at UBC. Now he's a retired high school teacher of 30 years who spends his days in the garden. My mother is a musician, a jazz vocalist specifically.
Sounds like you were led by legacy.
Irvin: I was gifted the opportunity to observe my mothers creative endeavors and her sincere obsession with continuously rehearsing songs in the music room. She was part of a community of jazz players she spent time with in the studio or doing a set while still finding time to be a painter as well. It means a lot to me to know that on both sides of my family I had very creative people, one photographic and one musical.
Which recalls the striking images you've created at that very intersection, with music videos you've shot for artist like Leon Bridges, FKA Twigs and Beyonc to name a few. How has music influenced your approach toward the craft of cinematography?
Irvin: Coming from a jazz musician, the discipline is a little bit skewed. Its an art form that uses intuition and spontaneity to articulate on artistic whim, which often comes from acting in the moment of inspiration. Most things are really difficult to do in that realm. It's done constantly in sports a player gets the ball and they react to other players spontaneously so they can essentially coerce elements of the game with their play. There's less thought involved because by the time you think about something, its already too late. It's about achieving a certain level of conditioning through practice so that when youre in the game, you perform how you want opposed to how you can. On a cinematographic level, those are the aspects that Ive really latched onto and that I'm hoping to harness even further as I grow.
What is that conditioning for a cinematographer? What keeps you in shape?
Irvin: I learned a lot from others. Not through necessarily observing them on set and working, but through binge-watching films. At some point in my early 20s, it was three movies a day, and I would write down the dynamic of emotions that I felt and save the clip of the film that I was feeling. Then I would read about the cinematographer or directors aesthetic view or approach, because they all basically have certain philosophies.
The ability for individuals like Henri Cartier-Bresson or Alex Webb, amongst other photographers, to use composition with geometric shapes, silhouettes, and positive and negative space while also doing whats called capturing at the decisive moment' is something I've always admired. They can sense something is about to happen, and they pull the trigger just as that moments coming to fruition. Its completely lacking any type of thought and always intuitive
It's different from traditional filmmaking because a lot of filmmaking is about preconception, like architecture you figure out a visual structure and you stick to it rigorously. On things I've been working on, I've taken that idea and I've flipped it, making it less rigor and almost more whimsical. When Im inspired, I need to act on it. Theres a meaning there, and I may not know what it is, but I can sense it. Maybe it will tell me later, but right now it's speaking to me, and that's something I try to stay in tune with.
How do you maintain that tune as you collaborate with different directors and departments?
Irvin: I was 12 or 13 when my parents converted to Taoism and I learned of the Eastern philosophy of Wu Wei. It essentially translates into inaction or non-action but in the sense of flow state. Ive worked with certain directors who have helped me harness a flow state, which to me is the apex of my creativity, a state where the cinematography in the film is almost shooting itself and I don't impose anything. Everything is going to get done as long as you absorb it and let it happen. It's the metaphor of a
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
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...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
David Dvir, 2D founder (left), Sundeep Reddy (center), and Jean-Marc Bouchut (right), both of Zeiss...
23/07/2026
Screen Australia announces new national documentary accelerator program 23 July 2026
Screen Australia has today announced the Above the Line Documentary Accel...
22/07/2026
Among other tweaks to coverage, the broadcaster added announce positions in the ...
22/07/2026
The Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) has reported a sharp acceleration in Australia's sportstech sector, with revenue growth rising from 10% in...
22/07/2026
From a retrofitted broadcast bus to packed Match Day Live! events, Bennett detai...
22/07/2026
TMRW Sports has named Brendan Donohue as President, Flag Football, where he will lead the company's professional flag football business in partnership with ...
22/07/2026
Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) designed and produced soundtracks for nine projection...
22/07/2026
Harmonic has announced a $25,000 donation to Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) fo...
22/07/2026
Telemundo has announced it has acquired from UC3 exclusive U.S. Spanish-language...
22/07/2026
The Rest Is Football, hosted by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards, ...
22/07/2026
Sports Studio has announced a partnership with TheSoul Group to distribute Free ...
22/07/2026
Daktronics has concluded its 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day hybrid event combining virtual sessions with hands-on host school visits across the countr...
22/07/2026
FOR-A America will exhibit at the MMCA Show in Pensacola, Florida (July 21-24), marking the company's first appearance at the house of worship AV event. FOR...
22/07/2026
The New York Yankees have selected Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) to connect Ya...
22/07/2026
Calrec will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.C47) with demonstrations of its IP-native audio ecosystem built around the Argo console range, and will announce two ne...
22/07/2026
Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Algam EKO as its distributor for SSL large format consoles in Italy, covering the Live, Broadcast, and Studio...
22/07/2026
FloSports has announced the launch of the FloSports Channel, a free ad-supported streaming channel premiering on Prime Video in the U.S. on July 21. The channel...
22/07/2026
Banana Ball TV (BTV), the broadcast operation of the Savannah Bananas, has insta...
22/07/2026
SiriusXM and Audacy have announced an agreement bringing 42 Audacy sports, news, and talk stations from 29 U.S. markets to SiriusXM. Twenty-three Audacy sports ...
22/07/2026
The collaboration produced more than 500 short-form videos across four cities th...
22/07/2026
At 2,600 sq. ft., the new home of digital content houses a main studio, podcast space, and an auxiliary control room
NFL franchises are accelerating their prod...
22/07/2026
Library now available in Engine Player
Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...
22/07/2026
All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled
Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...
22/07/2026
The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit
Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...
22/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Proven managed IP solution helps broadcasters confidently navigate the future of broadcast distribution
LTN announces it has completed successful satellite-to-...
22/07/2026
Today, Chaos announced V-Ray 7, update 4, eliminating the need for asset conversions and tool switching, which slow down media and entertainment pipelines. Arti...
22/07/2026
An AI playground for the Project Indigo camera app
Marc Levoy July 22, 2026
0 Comments
At left is the user interface of our Playground, running on an ...
22/07/2026
Custom Consoles announces the completion of a large technical furniture project for Radio T l vision Suisse (RTS) at the networks recently inaugurated productio...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Culver City, CA, July 21, 2026 3D streaming infrastructure provider Miris today announced glTF intake, including the binary .glb form, to its spatial streamin...
22/07/2026
Documentary Lo Invisible Captured with Blackmagic PYXIS 6K
Brie Clayton July 21, 2026
0 Comments
Camera's versatile design allowed filmmakers to c...
22/07/2026
AAF Bridge converts AAF and XML Timelines to Ableton Live - and back
Jerome Gardier July 21, 2026
0 Comments
A two-way converter for macOS and Windows...
22/07/2026
From Class to Concert: Explore a Student-Led Production of David Bowies Work Thr...
22/07/2026
NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang today visited the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, to commission an NVIDIA DGX GB300 system - bringing one...
22/07/2026
A poisoned spy, a secret war, and a small English city contaminated by a deadly chemical weapon. Available on Sky Documentaries from 4 AugustWednesday 22 July 2...
22/07/2026
Audio at Parity: Comscore Launches Transcript-Level Targeting and Measurement wi...
22/07/2026
Arvato Systems and Lobster Enter into a Partnership and Combine the Integration Platform and Managed Services
Flexible integration solutions for cloud, hybrid...
The path toward lensing great films is even more varied than the platforms that distribute them. In the case of Netflix's Blonde, an artful balance between director Andrew Dominik and cinematographer Chayse Irvin, ASC, CSC, created an opportunity for viewers to rediscover the familiar story of Marilyn Monroe under a brand-new light. In developing a visual parlance to support the project's ambition to recontextualize Monroe's historic legacy, Irvin worked within a flow that some might consider more befitting of a jazz musician than a cinematographer.
