
The new feature Haunted Mansion delivers spooky fun inspired by the famed Disney theme park attraction. Telling the story of single-mom Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) and the eclectic group she gathers in an attempt to rid her new home of its hauntings, the movie reteamed director Justin Simien and cinematographer Jeffrey Waldron, who had previously collaborated on the first season of Simien's Netflix series Dear White People.
After the thrills of Haunted Mansion, Waldron rode straight into writer-director Nicole Holofcener's dramatic comedy You Hurt My Feelings, about married couple Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Don (Tobias Menzies) and the strains on their relationship after Beth overhears her husband's candid comments. The gear-shift from one project to the next offered a creative rush for Waldron, who recounts the journey's twists and turns in this Q&A.
Panavision: How did you become involved in each project?
Jeffrey Waldron: Justin Simien and I clicked on the first season of Dear White People, sharing a love of film history and a lot of visual instincts. When he reached out about Haunted Mansion, I was so excited, not only by the idea of getting to shoot with Justin again but because I love the visual world of the source material, the original Disneyland ride. Actually landing the opportunity was an uphill battle like Justin, I was coming from independent film and television, so I worked hard to prove my potential and communicate a big vision for the film.
During the final stretch of shooting Haunted Mansion, I got a message from Nicole Holofcener we had shot together on HBO's Mrs. Fletcher and had stayed in touch and she asked if I might be available for a movie in New York City. I was heartbroken that I wasn't able to do it. When we wrapped Haunted Mansion, I checked back in to see how it went, and she told me it had been pushed. Suddenly our dates matched up, and we did You Hurt My Feelings together.
How would you describe the look that you and the director sought to create for each film?
Waldron: Well, these are very different looks!
For Haunted Mansion, we wanted to create a rich world built upon the visuals of the ride. To me, that meant a lot of color contrast between warms and cools, a lot of practical lamp sources, candles, firelight, shafts of moonlight, and a soft, dusty, painterly feel. There are a number of other looks in the film, from a flashback told through a crystal ball to the Ghost Realm' an astral plane painted in stark colors inspired by everything from a film negative to Hitchcock's Vertigo.
The script for You Hurt My Feelings managed to balance a very natural flow with a bit of a heightened, satirical edge. I took my approach from there: a softened realism lit from real-world sources but heightened to emphasize drama or lightness in parallel with the characters. We shot a lot of exteriors in New York in the spring, which fell into this soft, pastel approach well. I like to think of the result as natural and realistic but filtered through Nicole's nuanced writing and directing voice for the film.
For both projects, were there any particular visual references you looked at for inspiration?
Waldron: For Haunted Mansion, Justin and I brought in a lot of references: Hitchcock, The Twilight Zone, The Cincinnati Kid, street photography of New Orleans. I looked at lighting references from Crimson Peak and Tim Burton films like Beetlejuice and Alice in Wonderland. I'd say the biggest visual reference for all departments was consistently the ride itself. How did it strike this balance of scary and funny, and how do we bring that into a timeless-feeling but visually modern film?
For You Hurt My Feelings, I put together about a page of images I'd pulled from New York City photographers and some smaller personal films that leaned pastel and soft but felt real. Nicole looked at them only long enough to feel we were headed in a unified direction and then just started putting together the movie.
Rather than trying to emulate the entire look, there's often one small thing I like in each reference. I might use the picture to communicate a kind of green or cyan I love, or a specific kind of framing, or how they're using a super-wide lens or whatever it is. For me, rather than looking at a few whole images, it's about putting together a lot of them that each have one or two things I'm inspired by to add to the soup.
What brought you to Panavision for each of these projects?
Waldron: In early testing for Haunted Mansion, while they were building the sets, I took a camera around with a handful of lenses. When we put these images on the projector for Justin to see, it felt like a no-brainer that we wanted to shoot anamorphic the way they bend and fall off and everything, it just felt very haunted? Right off the bat, I had a lot of ambition for the film lens-wise. I knew Panavision had a long history of anamorphic optics to pull from as well as the ability to match them or modify them, plus the Herculean organizational ability to put all of this together in time.
For You Hurt My Feelings, it was a Tier 1 film with not a lot of money for a camera, and I appealed to Sal [Giarratano] at Panavision New York for help!
You used a mix of optics for Haunted Mansion. How did you determine which series to use for any given scene?
Waldron: I wanted to differentiate our waking world, which we shot with T Series; Madame Leota's crystal-ball story, shot with a special portrait' anamorphic lens set; and the Ghost Realm, which was shot with modified G Series. Each of these felt perfect for their role in the storytelling. The Ts felt more classical and buttoned-up; paired with a subtle bit of filtration, they looked great for the bulk of our scenes. The portrait lenses had heavy, glassy smears all around the
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
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...
27/05/2026
Telestream has announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Benjamin Desbois as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Desbois, currently Teles...
27/05/2026
ESPN garnered 10 awards; NBC's Sunday Night Football received the Outstandin...
27/05/2026
Matrox Video is celebrating its 50th anniversary, marking five decades of operations from its headquarters in Montreal, Canada. Founded in 1976, the company has...
27/05/2026
Major League Baseball has announced a series of initiatives tied to America's Semiquincentennial, including a national marketing campaign, Fourth of July br...
27/05/2026
Advanced Systems Group (ASG) has announced that Brian Gross has joined the company as an Account Manager on its Audio team, based in the Burbank office. He will...
27/05/2026
Nielsen has released new research on soccer fandom ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2...
27/05/2026
ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) has unveiled a new partnership with TikTok to bring broad...
27/05/2026
FIFA's Oscar Sanchez gives a deeper look to how this tournament will be cove...
27/05/2026
The soon-to-be senior from Charlottesville is building her skills in replay, TD, and even creative content for HokieVision and its ACC Network productions
In t...
27/05/2026
FOX Sports' Mike Davies breaks down the vision for this summer's showcas...
27/05/2026
HBS's Paul King, FIFA's Oscar Sanchez preview how the masses at home wil...
27/05/2026
FOX's MLB coverage dominated the night at the 47th Annual Sports Emmy Awards...
27/05/2026
One of the most memorable Postseasons in baseball history would have had no memo...
27/05/2026
NBC's Sunday Night Football is among the most decorated and most watched programs in the history of television. It added to its jam-packed trophy case on Tu...
27/05/2026
The 2026 Sports Emmys marked a watershed moment for Prime Video Sports. After bu...
27/05/2026
With the Opening Match just over two weeks away, the entire sports-production-te...
27/05/2026
Spotify already brings together listeners' favorite music, podcasts, and audiobooks in one place. Now, we're trialing a new format that expands the cont...
27/05/2026
The best podcast moments deserve more than just a mental note. That's why today, we're making those moments easier to save and share with clips.
Whethe...
27/05/2026
On Purpose is one of the most popular podcasts in the world, known for conversat...
27/05/2026
On May 8, 1,500 of Olivia Rodrigo's top fans gathered in Barcelona's Tea...
27/05/2026
Hybrid design combines large-diaphragm capsule & ribbon
JZ Microphones have teamed up with Grammy-winning producer and engineer Marc Urselli to develop a ne...
27/05/2026
Three new plug-ins inspired by classic tape effects
AIR Music Tech's latest release delivers a set of plug-ins that aim to capture the character, moveme...
27/05/2026
Piano played on the edge of silence
The Crow Hill Company's Vaults collection offers a continual rotation of instruments that are given away for free fo...
27/05/2026
Recreates Moog's iconic Memorymoog polysynth
Arturia's vast software instrument range offers a combination of new and old, with innovative modern so...
27/05/2026
Offers loudness levelling for speech and dialogue
Accentize have built up a solid reputation with their audio-restoration tools, and their latest plug-in is...
27/05/2026
10,000 units strong - The Rohde & Schwarz R&S M3SR Radio 4400 Rohde & Schwarz celebrates a major manufacturing milestone, producing its 10,000th R&S M3SR Radi...
27/05/2026
The XL Converge 300P radio system emerges with a groundbreaking feature set enhancing the mission-critical communications of public safety, federal and critica...
27/05/2026
Pairing Two47 MCX software with existing LTE networks means tailored system upgrades that can save time, money and lives....
27/05/2026
PAC-3 MSE offers improved range, speed, and maneuverability, making it an effect...
27/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/05/2026
Star Trek VFX: Recreating John Knoll's Iconic Warp Stars without a Slitscan ...
27/05/2026
Adventure World Uses Blackmagic Replay for Marine Live
Brie Clayton May 27, 2026
0 Comments
Large screen displays and slow motion replays dynamically ...
27/05/2026
Berklee Alumna and Assistant Professor Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Origi...
27/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
27/05/2026
Co-founder Dan Castles to transition to Executive Chair; internal promotion reinforces continuity and long-term growth
Telestream, a global leader in media wor...
27/05/2026
Big Blue Marble today announced that its Nakolos platform is the first end-to-end 5G Broadcast solution worldwide to implement the complete feature set introduc...
27/05/2026
Lightware recently hosted the Girls' Day event in April at its headquarters in Budapest, welcoming students for an interactive introduction to engineering a...
27/05/2026
27 May 2026
VEON's Kyivstar and Uklon Launch Ukraine's First Live Testi...
27/05/2026
May 27th, 2026 May 27, 2026
Press Materials Available Here
TRIBECA X Announc...
26/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...