Cinematographer Ari Wegner, ACS is no stranger to dramatic filming locations. For the 2013 feature Ruin, she worked in the Cambodian jungle; the remote landscapes of the 2018 drama Stray were captured in New Zealand; and the 2019 biopic True History of the Kelly Gang features several spectacular filming spots around the Australian countryside.
Her most recent project, director Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog, is no exception. Shot on what Wegner describes as New Zealand's devastatingly beautiful South Island, the feature is set on a cattle ranch in 1920s Montana. It tells the story of two brothers very much set in their ways; when one of them gets married and brings his new wife and son to live on the ranch, it upsets their dynamic and sets the stage for an emotion-filled Western drama.
Since receiving the Silver Lion for Best Director upon its premiere at the 2021 Venice International Film Festival, The Power of the Dog has garnered a bevy of accolades, including Oscar, BAFTA and ASC nominations for Wegner's cinematography. Wegner recently sat down with Panavision to discuss her approach to the feature, for which she sourced her camera and lens package including Panavision Ultra Panatar large-format anamorphic primes that she paired with Alexa LF and LF Mini cameras through Panavision's Auckland, New Zealand, office.
Panavision: How did you and Jane begin to define the look for the movie?
Ari Wegner, ACS: We worked together for about a year before we started shooting, so we had a lot of time to develop the look. That idea of having a long prep and not having to make rush decisions at any point along the way was exciting for both of us. During our prep, we went to a little house not far from where we were going to be shooting, and we spent about a month or a month and a half just shot-listing one-on-one. We'd discuss what we wanted to do visually with a scene, and then we'd each do a drawing and compare what we were thinking.
When we finally got on set, we were able to discover things knowing that we'd done our homework and had such a strong foundation. Jane's always ready to find something better. She's never going to settle, which is such an inspiration. She's always willing to ask, Even if that's what we planned, does it work? Is it good?' It was a real pleasure to work in that way.
How would you describe the look of the movie?
Wegner: I would say it's quite restrained, very deliberate. I don't know if you'd call it classical,' but there's a real respect for traditional filmmaking and crafted lighting. The word unadorned' kept coming up. If there was something we could get rid of, we would. If the shot would work without movement, then why move? If it would work with less light, why add more?
It was important to us that we avoid the camera becoming too emotionally manipulative. We didn't want the camera or the photography to convince the audience that a character is good or bad. As part of that, we always designed a frame knowing how long it might hold in the edit. We were hoping to make a film with as few cuts as possible, so some of those shots really last. If you're going to hold on a shot for a minute, it can be a very different shot than one that might only be 10 seconds.
Were there any visual references that inspired you during your prep?
Wegner: We looked at a lot of references over that year, and they were as much visual as they were about getting to know the world of 1920s Montana ranch life. We weren't terribly interested in watching other films I think we were hoping to make something quite singular. So we stuck to a lot of photography of the period, and painters like Andrew Wyeth or Lucian Freud for minimalism and a restrained color palette. We also discovered the photographer Evelyn Cameron, who was British but actually lived and worked on a Montana ranch around the time the film's set. It was amazing to see her outsider's eye looking at this world of ranch life.
What brought you to Panavision for this project?
Wegner: I've worked with Panavision quite a bit in the past, since film school. They're always my first point of call. I love that whatever city you're in, you can find support from Panavision. It gives you safety and strength to know you're never going to be left in the lurch. And glass is always a big factor. Choosing lenses is such a big part of the process, and it's really important to have options. Working with Panavision, there's the whole range from contemporary to vintage and technically correct to what I'd call funky.' We shot with Ultra Panatar 1.3x anamorphic, and obviously that's not something you're going to find anywhere else.
How did you decide to use the Ultra Panatars?
Wegner: We'd initially decided to shoot in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio, but when we started drawing, we found our drawings were going off the edges, and the film was telling us it wanted to be widescreen. At the same time, we both knew we weren't being drawn towards 2x anamorphic. It felt like too strong of a look for what we wanted. When I mentioned the 1.3x anamorphic to Jane, that was really exciting for us, because it was a bit of the best of both worlds, spherical and anamorphic. Plus, a vintage lens is always a lovely thing to have on a period movie.
Can you share more about the language of the camera in this movie? What would motivate you to keep the camera static or to add some movement?
Wegner: We wanted to be deliberate and have a good reason whenever we did want to move the camera. So it was most often about finding where the camera should be and then leaving it there for each shot. Then, when you do move the camera, it becomes very memorable.
There are times when the camera moves with a character, but it do
Europe Stories
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...
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
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
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
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
02/07/2026
Aims to simplify additive synthesis
Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...
02/07/2026
Products to remain fully active & supported
Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...
02/07/2026
What you missed!
Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...
02/07/2026
Thursday 2 July 2026
Tea with Judi Dench returns to Sky Arts with legendary guest, Sir Ian McKellen
Sky today confirms Tea with Judi Dench will return this su...
01/07/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
01/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
01/07/2026
Exclusive run of limited-edition modelling pedals
Sweetwater and Andertons M...
01/07/2026
LEXINGTON, Kentucky - July 2026 -Tyler Childers' seventh and latest studio record, Snipe Hunter, is an adventurously sprawling collection of tunes that span...
01/07/2026
** MEDIA ALERT **
BLEACH Comes to Life in Los Angeles with First-of-Its-Kind...
01/07/2026
UKTV has today announced the appointment of Matt Berry to the newly created role of General Manager - Marketing, effective 1 July.
Matt will take on this senio...
01/07/2026
Sky Zero Footprint Fund-backed TV campaign featuring Deborah Meaden challenges consumers to rethink everyday bathroom wasteWednesday 1 July 2026
Fussy asks Bri...
01/07/2026
Constituency-level analysis reveals where girls miss out most on sport - and where targeted action could unlock more than £640 million in economic and health be...
01/07/2026
Wuppertal July 1, 2026
Riedel and SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration With SimplyLive IntegrationRiedel Communications today announced an expanded collaboration wit...
01/07/2026
Apple today introduced power-packed updates to Apple Creator Studio, a groundbre...
01/07/2026
Nectar360, the Retail Media, Loyalty and Insights business of the Sainsburys Gro...
01/07/2026
9.2 million streams on RT Player between 11 and 28 June
Reach of 2.9 million viewers during Group stages of FIFA World Cup on RT 2
23 million video views acr...
30/06/2026
Could your journalism reach an international stage?
Entries are now open for the Thomson Foundation's Young Journalist Award 2026, one of the most prestigi...
30/06/2026
Brings together saturation & lo-fi effects
Following on from the release of their Voxcraft vocal-processing plug-in, UJAM have announced the launch of Retro...
30/06/2026
New IR reverb engine, Juno-inspired chorus & more
The latest version of Rapid Flow's hardware-emulation synth plug-in expands on its predecessor with a ...
30/06/2026
Excels at heavy-handed VCA compression
For their latest release, Shy Audio have recreated the crunchy' sound of a rackmount compressor that found its w...
30/06/2026
Component scarcity drives cost increases
Shortly after Apple's CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that cost increases would soon be inevitable , the company hav...
30/06/2026
Hitachi and Bank Pekao S.A. have completed the installation of the first Hitachi...
30/06/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
29/06/2026
Four-layer instrument aimed at dark electronic music
Excite Audio's latest software instrument has been designed with dark drum and bass, atmospheric te...
29/06/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
29/06/2026
Details environmental policies & results
The Focusrite Group have just announced that following a long audit process, they have published their 2026 sustain...
29/06/2026
Arvato Systems Achieves AWS Cloud Operations Competency
The team behind the AWS Cloud Operations Competency (from left to right: Philipp Hellmich, Johanna Bod...
29/06/2026
RT today announced that Ger Gilroy will join the RT Podcasts team to present a daily sports podcast. Launching later this year, the new show will set the spor...
29/06/2026
RT Commercial announced OUTsurance as sponsor of the Oliver Callan show on RT Radio 1 from Wednesday 1 July.
Oliver Callan doubles the fun, delivering two ...
28/06/2026
Half-size model joins Console 1 line-up
Shortly after the release of their new Flow Studio controller, Softube have announced the launch of another new surf...
28/06/2026
New EXO Series DSP control software announced
EVE Audio's EXO Series monitor range has just gained a new software element that provides remote access to...
27/06/2026
Brings together saturation & lo-fi effects
Following on from the release of their Voxcraft vocal-processing plug-in, UJAM have announced the launch of Retro...
26/06/2026
Virtual session musician plug-in gains new percussion options
Celemony's latest update for their virtual session musician platform complements the exist...
26/06/2026
Half-size model joins Console 1 line-up
Shortly after the release of their new Flow Studio controller, Softube have announced the launch of another new surf...
26/06/2026
ELT Group and Rohde & Schwarz sign a cooperation agreement to explore commercial...
26/06/2026
Flicker Productions to produce five-part docu-reality series following women who have fallen for men in prison and have become TikTok sensations, with brands an...
26/06/2026
Catch up on the latest developments across Baselight and Daylight v7, Nara and F...
Cinematographer Ari Wegner, ACS is no stranger to dramatic filming locations. For the 2013 feature Ruin, she worked in the Cambodian jungle; the remote landscapes of the 2018 drama Stray were captured in New Zealand; and the 2019 biopic True History of the Kelly Gang features several spectacular filming spots around the Australian countryside.
