Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

A Look Beyond Horror

23/09/2022

When cinematographer Zach Kuperstein got the job to shoot writer-director Zach Cregger's horror feature Barbarian, one of the first things he did was reach out to Light Iron senior colorist Sam Daley. The two had previously worked together on a short and three independent features The Eyes of My Mother, The Vigil and Paper Spiders but their collaborations began during post, not during preproduction. For Barbarian, Kuperstein was able to shoot tests and then work with Daley from the start to create a shooting LUT that would match Cregger's vision for this mind-bending story of a girl (played by Georgina Campbell) who arrives at a house she's booked for the night only to discover a young man (Bill Skarsg rd) has also rented it.

To give Daley an idea of what he and Cregger wanted, Kuperstein assembled a short look book of photographic references that defined the movie's tone and mood. The book included stills from the features Prisoners, Gone Girl and Sicario for night interiors, It Comes at Night for flashlight scenes, and American Beauty and Pleasantville for a 1980s flashback sequence. Texturally we tried to keep it limited, the cinematographer explains. It wasn't too built-out or complicated. I find it best to keep the references really tight because otherwise it's hard to articulate exactly what it is about each image that is related to the color.

Barbarian is set in Detroit but was shot in Bulgaria, where infrastructure limitations made it difficult to reliably share footage from set with Daley in New York. So, Daley explains, Zach came up with a lo-fi way for us to exchange images and LUTs. He would shoot a test, and instead of sending me terabytes of files to look at, he would send me high-quality DPX still frames, which he could easily email or put up on WeTransfer or Dropbox.

Kuperstein was grateful for Daley's partnership throughout this testing phase. It was great to get Sam's eyes on the footage and his guidance on where we could or where we shouldn't push the camera, he says. We shot with the Sony Venice, which I hadn't used before, so I was like, Can I go to 5,000 ISO? Can I go to 10,000 ISO?' And Sam said, Don't go to 10,000 ISO, but go to 5,000 if you need it.' His guidance was super-helpful, and paired with the test footage, it made for a robust LUT that we could use to shoot everything.

The shooting LUT Daley provided was set for a color temperature of 4300 Kelvin, approximately halfway between tungsten and daylight, giving Kuperstein the ability to use the LUT in any type of lighting situation. It was just something to get in the ballpark while Zach was on location in Bulgaria and working really quickly, Daley says. When we circled back after the edit to do the final color, I came up with another series of looks, and it was ultimately Zach Cregger, the director, who decided which of the looks he preferred.

Kuperstein and Daley kept their lines of communication open throughout principal photography. I usually don't work with a DIT on set, or somebody live-grading, or somebody else judging exposure with me, the cinematographer says. Having Sam to bounce that off of throughout the production was really helpful. He helped me make sure the exposure was giving us a lot more depth in the shadows, which I'm glad we had.

Both on set and in the final grade, Kuperstein always strove to keep the lighting tethered to reality. My approach is very much about motivated lighting, he says. I try to find whatever sources are in the room or in the space that make sense for the scene. At times those could be sodium-vapor streetlights outside, tungsten or fluorescent lights inside, or a mix. From a lighting perspective, it's often about keeping something bright in the background so you can make the rest of the image dark you can get away with it being darker if there are highlights in the image. Then, in the grade, you're making sure you aren't losing those highlights and are bringing out that contrast wherever possible.

Similar to what Zach says about motivating light sources, that's what I always do, Daley says of his process. It's got to feel real so that somebody is going to watch and be engaged in the story. Then I flavor it with whatever's going on and create mood with contrast or a slight hue change to help tell the story through color and contrast choices.

For the color grade, Kuperstein and Daley worked together in person at Light Iron New York while Cregger split his time between Light Iron's New York and Los Angeles locations. Based on the locked picture in combination with Kuperstein and Cregger's notes, Daley began by offering a range of looks for the filmmakers' consideration. One option offered a grainy, bleach-bypass, cross-processed look; another was much more subdued and classical in style, with a Kodak film feel. The opportunity to see the opposing looks helped Kuperstein and Cregger make their choice. I'm glad we got to see the extreme look even if it wasn't the direction we went with, the cinematographer reflects. It was good to test the waters with that and see how Zach responded to it. He reminded us that we weren't trying to tip our hand too early and that we needed to play it more neutral. When we saw the Kodak look that Sam put on it, the colors just popped into life and the whole film felt fresh.

With the film look they landed on in the final grade, Daley adds, We did deviate a little bit from what we had in the testing. But it wasn't a very assertive film look. It was more subtle.

The overall palette for the interior of the house tended toward the warmer range of the spectrum. I like to look at the color palette of the production design and see what I can lean into, shares Daley, who graded the project wi
LINK: https://www.panavision.com/highlights/highlights-detail/a-look-beyond-...
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...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

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

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...

06/03/2026

TNT Sports Acquires Exclusive U.S. English Language Broadcast Rights to FIBA Men's and Women's Tournaments

TNT Sports and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) have reached a mul...

06/03/2026

OffBall to Partner with TOGETHXR Across Commercial Strategy and Operations

OffBall and TOGETHXR, two influential young media companies in sports, announce a strategic and operational partnership in a shared push to scale and create inn...

06/03/2026

InfoComm 2026 Names Shure as Exclusive Headline Partner, Showcasing Audio and Innovation Across Key Activations and Stages

InfoComm 2026, a destination for AV, IT, broadcast, and AI-driven systems, annou...

06/03/2026

LTN, MediaKind Partner to Deliver Integrated Reliable IP Transport and Edge Processing

LTN and MediaKind announce a strategic partnership to integrate MediaKind's ...

06/03/2026

X Games Brings First-Ever Summer Championship Event to New Orleans in July

X Games and the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation (GNOSF) announce that New Orleans, Louisiana, will host the first-ever X Games Championship event - the fi...

06/03/2026

Chyron Releases New Edition of AXIS Maps

As part of a busy start of the year at Chyron, the AXIS team developed a set of improvements for AXIS Maps. The features released empower users with more flexib...

06/03/2026

BeckTV Launches BeckFlow at 2026 NAB Show While Highlighting its Latest Design and Integration Projects

At the 2026 NAB Show, BeckTV, a premier systems integrator for the broadcast ind...

06/03/2026

Net Insight Sets New Standard for Live Media Operations with Nimbra Live Intelligence

At NAB Show 2026, Net Insight introduces Nimbra Live Intelligence, which definin...

06/03/2026

SES Adds New MEO Capacity as Latest O3b mPOWER Satellites Enter Commercial Service

SES announces that it has added new Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite capacity ...

06/03/2026

LucidLink Launches Connect to Extend Instant Access to Data Stores

LucidLink, the cloud-native file streaming platform for instant, secure access to large files, announce LucidLink Connect, a new solution that enables real-time...

06/03/2026

Case Study: Panasonic Projection Brings Paddington to Life in London's West End

Panasonic helped bring the world of Paddington: The Musical to life through imme...

06/03/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 6: Cincinnati Bengals' Alex Schweppe - Welcome to the Jungle

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

06/03/2026

Ratings Roundup: Post Olympics High, NHL on ESPN Viewership Spikes Over 50%

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press releases and reports around the industry. In this week's edition, NASCAR Cup Se...

06/03/2026

Riedel Communications Demos Product Innovations at 2026 NAB Show

At the 2026 NAB Show, Riedel Communications opens with a clear message to the North American market: production technology does not have to be complex. This ye...

06/03/2026

SVG Sit-Down: Midco Sports' Andy Price and Craig DeWit on How the Dakotas-Based RSN Is Redefining Regional Sports Media

Midco Sports isn't your typical regional sports network. Backed by nearly a ...

06/03/2026

Inside the Paralympics with OBS Producer Josephine Xiaofan

The stories around the Paralympics are really touching and the athletes, the atmosphere it is all amazing and we want to use new technologies to help us tell th...

06/03/2026

Apple TV Kicks Off F1 Era in U.S. With Driver Tracker, On-Board Cameras, Multiview, Sky Sports Feed

Apple TV subscribers will have access to as many as 30 additional live feeds acr...

06/03/2026

Ten Years On, South African Hip-Hop Artist Kwesta Reflects on DaKAR II'

Ten years after its release, South African hip-hop artist Kwesta's DaKAR II is still making waves. With 51.8 million streams on Spotify, the album continues...

06/03/2026

Statement on the appointment of Dr Nicholas Pappas AM as SBS Chair

Statement on the appointment of Dr Nicholas Pappas AM as SBS Chair Media releases The SBS Board and Executive have welcomed the appointment of Dr Nicholas P...

06/03/2026

Nielsen: 46 Billion Minutes of Women's Sports were Consumed in 2025*

Nielsen Highlights Women's Sports Viewership Milestones Ahead of International Women's Day on March 8 New York March 5, 2026 According to Nielsen&#...

06/03/2026

MXL Moves Into Stable Production Release

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/03/2026

LTN, MediaKind Partner on Industry Transition From C-Band to IP

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/03/2026

Roku Unveils 'Roklue' Interactive Content Discovery Feature

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/03/2026

FCC Releases Tentative Agenda for March Open Meeting

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/03/2026

ESPN to Air Animated Version of Capitals vs. Rangers NHL Game

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/03/2026

Tedial to Highlight AI-Fueled Media Lifecycle at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/03/2026

esRadio Advances with DHD RX2 Audio Production Consoles

Spanish FM and online broadcaster esRadio has selected DHD RX2 audio production consoles for use at its studio headquarters in Madrid. Part of the Libertad Digi...

06/03/2026

LucidLink launches Connect to extend instant access to da...

LucidLink, the cloud-native file streaming platform for instant, secure access to large files, today announced LucidLink Connect, a new solution that enables re...

06/03/2026

BeckTV Launches BeckFlow at 2026 NAB Show While Highlight...

At the 2026 NAB Show, BeckTV, a premier systems integrator for the broadcast industry, is launching BeckFlow, the first web-based schematic documentation platfo...

06/03/2026

Net Insight sets a New Standard for Live Media Operations...

At NAB Show 2026, Net Insight introduces Nimbra Live Intelligence defining a new category and setting a new standard for live operations: the Open Media Platfor...

06/03/2026

Interra Systems Focuses on StreamingFirst QC Monitoring a...

At the 2026 NAB Show, Interra Systems will showcase its latest advancements in automated QC, real-time monitoring, and captioning reinforcing its position as ...

06/03/2026

Riedel Communications at 2026 NAB Show

At the 2026 NAB Show, Riedel Communications opens with a clear message to the North American market: production technology does not have to be complex. This yea...

06/03/2026

LTN and MediaKind partner to deliver integrated reliable...

New partnership combines on-prem video processing with reliable IP transport to support the transition from C-Band satellite to IP distribution LTN and MediaKi...

06/03/2026

VEON and JazzWorld Advance Pakistan's Digital Financial Future with Acquisition of TPL Insurance

06 Mar 2026 VEON and JazzWorld Advance Pakistan's Digital Financial Future ...

06/03/2026

Teaser revealed for Saturday Night Live UK

Friday 6 March 2026 Teaser revealed for Saturday Night Live UKTurn on cookies to view this content. Go to Privacy options and select Accept All'. Privacy...

06/03/2026

Announcing 'Barbara - Becoming Shirin David'

Back to All News Announcing Barbara - Becoming Shirin David Entertainment 06 March 2026 GlobalGermany Link copied to clipboard Available exclusively on N...

06/03/2026

F1: Bringing real Formula 1 sound to cinema

Discover how the F1 sound team turned a real Grand Prix into a cinematic experience. Director Joseph Kosinski and his team worked directly with the Formula On...

06/03/2026

Arvato Systems Joins Initiative D21 e. V.

Arvato Systems Joins Initiative D21 e. V. Shaping digital transformation together Collaboration in Germanys largest network for the digital society Membersh...

06/03/2026

ABC clients recognised in latest TAG certification release, reinforcing industry trust in digital advertising

The Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) is a global initiative dedicated to c...

06/03/2026

Death of John McHugh

We are deeply saddened to hear the very sad news of the death of our friend and colleague, John McHugh. John was an exceptionally talented creative leader who s...

06/03/2026

A Nation Holds Its Breath Again

First exclusive look at RT 's promo as Ireland prepare to take on Czechia Every Moment, Every Generation https://youtu.be/2ijo96EadLU 36 years after Geor...

06/03/2026

March 05, 2026

A new clue to how the body detects physical force Scripps Research scientists offer new insight into how the body detects light touch and how disruptions in tha...

05/03/2026

SVG GFX Forum Draws 250+ Industry Pros To Talk Creative Philosphy, AR/XR, Future of Live Sports Graphics

More than 250 sports-graphics professionals packed into The Cutting Room in New ...

05/03/2026

Cosm Atlanta Set to Open at Centennial Yards on June 10

Cosm announces that it will open its third immersive entertainment venue at downtown Atlanta's Centennial Yards on June 10, 2026. Its first public event wil...

05/03/2026

The CW Network to Broadcast Six Banana Ball Games During 2026 Season

Following last year's broadcast television debut, The CW Network is growing its partnership with the Savannah Bananas, announcing that it will be the exclus...