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
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
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.
