As the storied fast-food chain's recent U.K. ad campaign makes clear, Fancy a McDonald's? is a question best asked and answered with a raise of the eyebrows and a dance out of the office. The campaign's #RaiseYourArches television spot was directed by Edgar Wright and features the skillful camerawork of cinematographer Jake Polonsky, BSC; the duos previous collaborations include the 2021 music documentary The Sparks Brothers. In this Q&A, Polonsky shares how Wright's affinity for anamorphic helped steer their decision to capture the spot with C Series optics supplied by Panavision London.
Panavision: How would you describe the look of this spot?
Jake Polonsky, BSC: The aim with the look was a kind of heightened reality, so I wanted some beautiful lenses, but without the feeling that we were in a movie.' The choreography was key, and once we had an idea from Jen White, our wonderful choreographer, of how the movement would work, then it was time to start to choreograph the camera. The camera is always moving, whether on a dolly, Steadicam, crane or drone we needed to be as kinetic as the office workers, if not more.
One of the things that I really like about Edgar's work is his sense of humor with camera movement. Not many people have a feeling for this, but over the years that I've worked with him, I've come to know Edgar has a very specific sense of where he wants the camera to be when. With this kind of project, it's also about how to get the humor out of what you show the audience in specific moments. Whip pans, snap zooms and so on all help to make the language of the camera more engaging by adding punctuation and emphasis to specific pieces of action and looks.
Were there any particular visual references you looked at for inspiration?
Polonsky: We didn't discuss a lot of references for this ad. I think we jointly had a clear sense of what we were aiming for, without needing to base it on someone else's work. But in terms of Edgar's previous films, it felt like this had the most in common with Baby Driver, in terms of how everything was being driven by the music track. From the very first agency script I read, the Yello song Oh Yeah' was an integral part of the film, and many parts of the action and camera were tied to specific moments in that song.
What brought you to Panavision for this project?
Polonsky: I know Edgar loves anamorphic lenses, and for me, the C Series still represents the gold standard of everything I look for in anamorphic glass a perfect level of softness and gorgeous flares, all in compact, reasonably light housings. You really can't go wrong with Cs in my opinion. Every time you put one on a finder or a camera, the world just looks more interesting.
The Cs softened off the edges of what could otherwise have been quite a sterile-looking location. We were filming in the old Diageo building in West London, which has a lot of straight lines and hard edges. Having a little curved funk' around the edges added some personality to the place.
How did this project compare to others in your career?
Polonsky: This was an opportunity to take a lot of my knowledge and experience and roll it into a short project with a very talented director. I've spent a lot of the last few years on longer TV shows, and it's nice to have the chance to be back in a world that I started out in commercials and music videos where it can be a bit more of a sprint' rather than a marathon.' On a shorter project, you can bring a lot of energy to every shoot day.
Another big difference was the process that Edgar has, which involves as much rehearsal as possible. We mapped out every part of the spot before the actual shoot days, with the real cast in place, which allowed an awful lot of troubleshooting and creativity to happen in advance.
What inspired you to become a cinematographer and what keeps you inspired today?
Polonsky: My dad sneaked me into the Renoir Cinema in London to see Peter Greenaway's Drowning by Numbers when I was a kid. For some reason it hit me like a thunderbolt. Michael Nyman's music, Sacha Vierny's photography, and Greenaway's unique approach to filmmaking. I'd never seen anything like it. My path was set.
As far as today, I believe inspiration can be anywhere in a random light reflection in your living room, a beautiful meal, a conversation with an old friend, or at an exhibition of photos you've never seen before. I think as long as you keep looking and experiencing, you can keep finding inspiration around you. Right now, I'm really enjoying Rick Rubin's book on creativity, The Creative Act. I'd love to film him at work.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
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...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
As the storied fast-food chain's recent U.K. ad campaign makes clear, Fancy a McDonald's? is a question best asked and answered with a raise of the eyebrows and a dance out of the office. The campaign's #RaiseYourArches television spot was directed by Edgar Wright and features the skillful camerawork of cinematographer Jake Polonsky, BSC; the duos previous collaborations include the 2021 music documentary The Sparks Brothers. In this Q&A, Polonsky shares how Wright's affinity for anamorphic helped steer their decision to capture the spot with C Series optics supplied by Panavision London.
