Based on the true story of two best friends, Jane (Yara Shahidi) and Corinne (Odessa A'zion), Sitting in Bars With Cake depicts a harrowing journey of maturity as Jane's weekly resolution to bake a new cake to bring into a different bar takes on deeper meaning after Corinne receives a life-threatening cancer diagnosis. Director Trish Sie and cinematographer Matthew Clark, ASC balanced the story's comedy and drama across a nuanced visual arc they defined in prep, shaped on set while shooting with Panavision VA primes, and polished in post in collaboration with Light Iron supervising colorist Corinne Bogdanowicz. Here, Clark and Bogdanowicz each reflect on the project, which is now streaming on Prime Video.
Panavision: How would you describe the movie?
Matthew Clark, ASC: Sitting in Bars With Cake is a funny drama. It starts off being a comedy, but then it gets really serious pretty quick. When we make that turn, I really wanted this portrait of these two women to have this different look. The idea was to show their relationship and how it changes over time. Once Yaras character becomes more emboldened, shes able to take care of her friend, and thats part of what allows her to become her own person. Its a really good story about the relationship between these two people.
This is the third movie Ive done with the director, Trish Sie. The first two were really sort of straight-up comedies, and this one had more meat to it. We looked at a lot of photographs. Philip-Lorca diCorcia was one of our references; a lot of his work is staged, but it's very practical lighting-wise. William Eggleston was another photographer we looked at, for his thoughtful naturalism and a lot of wide-angle inspiration, which also took me to a movie called St. Vincent. That movie has a lot of graphic elements that are super-simple but tell the story very well and allow Bill Murray to be Bill Murray. Manuel lvarez Bravo is another photographer we looked at for his ability tell a story with one frame.
We had so many different bars, and when I worked with Dave Elwell, my gaffer, we tried really hard not to have the same color in every bar. For this bar well do a lavender and yellow. For that bar well go with a blue-green kind of palette. This ones supernatural but not too over the top, just a lot of harsh light in the backgrounds. It was fun to play around with that.
Corinne, how did Matt and Trish describe the desired look for the project?
Corinne Bogdanowicz: They wanted this movie to feel grounded and not too poppy and happy. We used a lot of coolness in the shadow areas to create beautiful images that played with light and dark. The movie has a lot of colorful locations in bars, contrasted with less colorful locations like hospitals that we let play more natural and cooler.
Clark: Trish and I wanted to make sure that we didnt go back into Trish's commercial look but walked the line of it. There were times we could have been a little more dramatic or a little more comedic in the shooting of it, but we got it to a nice place. My favorite quote is what Conrad Hall, ASC said: You cant have sugar in every shot.' I believe that tremendously.
What led to the decision to shoot with VA primes?
Clark: Dan [Sasaki, Panavision's senior vice president of optical engineering and lens strategy] suggested the VAs because I wanted a large format for the job. With the VAs, there are so many different things you can do to make them less pristine. Dan was able to really work with the lenses to give me the tone I wanted. Its so great to be able to work with someone who has the ability to see the finer points and make them happen physically in a lens. You dont get that anywhere else.
One of the things Trish and I wanted to do was to go for a very naturalistic look, something that allowed the characters to breathe and find the spaces. Thats one of the reasons I wanted those lenses, because I felt like they provided a natural proscenium for them to play in, with aberrations on the edges. It provided them a place to move and still have some quality that wasn't just a wide shot.
What brought you to Light Iron for this project?
Clark: Ive worked with Corinne a lot. Shes my go-to person. Its always nice to have someone that you've developed a second language with. I usually develop a visual book that I'll send her, and we talk about the style the blue tones, the warm tones, the colors, and how we want to relate that to the texture and the contrast. We talk a lot beforehand, which allows us the time to switch things up and riff on whatevers happening. Working with her and Light Iron allows me to be more creative on set because you can just go with the flow and know that someones got your back.
How has your collaboration evolved over the projects you've done together?
Clark: At first, Corinne was trying to feel out my style, while I try not to have a style. I'm looking to find a true fit for the story that's my style. I look to be versatile. And she can do comedy, she can do drama, she can do grit, she can do all these things, which is a testament to her abilities.
What were the main areas of focus during the grade?
Bogdanowicz: We added grain for filmic texture and kept the palette a bit muted. We kept the skin tones natural so the audience can really connect with the characters.
Clark: One of the things that Corinne and I worked very hard on was to keep the visual arc going and allow it to be a little gritty in the beginning and a little more naturalistic into the end, where youre not brought down by the look of it. Part of that was having grain, having blue in the shadow detail, having little desaturated looks every once in a while, not so much over-the-top comedy things going on. It was just a matter of rounding off the edges.
Bogdanowicz: We did the HDR grade as the pr
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...
Based on the true story of two best friends, Jane (Yara Shahidi) and Corinne (Odessa A'zion), Sitting in Bars With Cake depicts a harrowing journey of maturity as Jane's weekly resolution to bake a new cake to bring into a different bar takes on deeper meaning after Corinne receives a life-threatening cancer diagnosis. Director Trish Sie and cinematographer Matthew Clark, ASC balanced the story's comedy and drama across a nuanced visual arc they defined in prep, shaped on set while shooting with Panavision VA primes, and polished in post in collaboration with Light Iron supervising colorist Corinne Bogdanowicz. Here, Clark and Bogdanowicz each reflect on the project, which is now streaming on Prime Video.
