Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Cinematographer Don Burgess, ASC on The Witches

30/08/2024

Based on the book by Roald Dahl and now streaming on HBO Max, The Witches tells the story of a young boy (Jahzir Bruno) who goes to live with his grandmother (Octavia Spencer) in 1968 Alabama after having lost both of his parents in a car accident. Just as Grandma seems to be succeeding in bringing the Boy out of his shell, his world is rocked again by the revelation that a real-life witch is in town and poses a grave threat. Hoping to let the danger pass, Grandma and the Boy sneak away to a ritzy hotel, but as fate would have it, an entire coven of witches, led by the Grand High Witch (Anne Hathaway), has gathered at the same setting, where they hatch a plot to turn all the children of the world into mice.

The Witches marks the eighth feature collaboration between director Robert Zemeckis and cinematographer Don Burgess, ASC, following such titles as Forrest Gump, Cast Away, Flight and Allied and their partnership can be traced back even further, through Death Becomes Her and Back to the Future Part II and Part III, on which Burgess served as 2nd-unit director of photography. It's nice when you work with a director like Zemeckis and there's organized intent to what the scene is about and how it needs to be photographed to support the narrative, Burgess shares. That's why I've enjoyed working with him so much. There's a lot of thought that goes into where the camera's placed and why. It keeps the audience connected to the character and makes them feel like they're in the middle of the story. That's a great part of cinema.

Zemeckis and Burgess began discussing The Witches in December 2018. We generally talk in grand concepts of what the movie's about, the cinematographer notes. He said to me, Parts of this movie can be really beautiful and nice, but other parts need to feel like a horror film.' Ultimately, this is a movie made for kids that adults will also like, especially with the great cast that Bob put together.

By March 2019, Burgess was set up in England in advance of principal photography, which was completed in a brisk 42 days. Bob's an efficient filmmaker, Burgess says. He doesn't shoot a lot of what ifs.' He just shoots what he sees is in the movie, which is great for everyone. He's really A-camera driven, but he wanted to use more angles than he generally would, with a little more opportunity to control pace in the editing room. So in those situations where a B camera could work, we would use one, especially with the kids. We only had them for so long, so we wanted to get as much as we could.

Production primarily took place at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden. All the interiors were on stage, Burgess says, as was the exterior balcony of the hotel suite where Grandma and the Boy take up residence and which, it turns out, is directly above the Grand High Witch's own suite. Bob likes control, and the only way to really have that is to shoot in a studio, the cinematographer offers. Unless it's supposed to be an overcast day, though, it's tough to do daytime exteriors onstage the balcony was about as big a shot as you can do. So I'll usually push to do daytime exteriors outside, even if they're just on a partial set with a lot of bluescreen. Lighting-wise, I think that looks the most realistic.

Such was the approach taken for exteriors around Grandma's hometown of Demopolis, Ala. Production designer Gary Freeman and his crew built a backlot town, Burgess explains. The buildings were all just facades for camera angles it looks great in the movie. It was fun to create a period Alabama town on a backlot in London.

The town exterior provided the setting for a flashback that reveals Grandma's childhood encounter with the Grand High Witch, a sequence that found Burgess employing an Antique Suede filter in front of the lens. Elsewhere through the movie, the cinematographer says, I used Hollywood Black Magic for diffusion to soften the edges for a fairytale feel. When we had a big close-up of a witch, I would take the Hollywood Black Magic off the camera and make the scene a little harsher.

The movie starts off very cold and harsh with the car accident, and then it warms up and becomes more friendly when we get to Grandma's house in Demopolis, Burgess explains. When we get to the hotel, everything's supposed to be great, and it's warm and wonderful but then the witches come, and the color gets a little harsher, and there's less filtration. It keeps going down that path, but then it comes out the other side at the end, where it's warm and wonderful again.

Following a brief prelude with a narrated slideshow that establishes that witches are both real and hiding in plain sight, the story gets underway with the immediate aftermath of the car accident. The Boy is seen in profile, buckled into the backseat of his family's car, and in the background, outside the window, snowflakes appear to be rising up into the sky until the image begins to rotate, revealing that the car is upside down. For that particular shot we used the Oculus head because we needed it to go a full 180 degrees, Burgess reveals. It was tricky because there was only about a half an inch of clearance to rotate the head inside the car, and it actually pulls out of the car as it's rotating. And as the camera rotates 180 degrees, the pan and the tilt start going in different directions, which is always difficult for an operator. But it worked well. It makes the audience go, Wait a minute, what's really going on here?'

The cinematographer elected to work with Panavision's Millennium DXL2 as his primary camera, having previously put it through its paces on director Sheldon Schwartz's short The Tattooed Heart. That was my test ground for the camera, Burges
LINK: https://www.panavision.com/highlights/highlights-detail/a-mouse-s-tale...
See more stories from panavision

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 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...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

13/03/2026

SVG Sit-Down: Net Insight's Andreas Eriksson on Scalable, Predictable Live-Media Infrastructure

Recently named CEO Andreas Eriksson has taken the helm at Net Insight at a pivot...

13/03/2026

Scripps Sports To Broadcast First PWHL Game on National TV in U.S.

Scripps Sports and Ally Financial are partnering with the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) to broadcast its first game on national linear televisio...

13/03/2026

Disney+ Follows in ESPN's Footsteps With Launch of Verts Vertical Video Feed on Mobile

Disney+ has launched Verts, a vertical video feed on its U.S. mobile app, markin...

13/03/2026

LTN and Appear Announce Integrated Solution for Live Event Video Transport and Distribution

LTN, a managed IP video transport company, and Appear, a live production technol...

13/03/2026

PFL Signs Betting Data and Streaming Agreement With Sportradar

The Professional Fighters League (PFL) has announced an agreement with Sportradar for global betting data and streaming rights. Under the deal, Sportradar becom...

13/03/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 7: Milwaukee Brewers' Jami Patton - Game Pres with the Brew Crew

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

13/03/2026

Peacock To Add Vertical Video Option for Live NBA Games

The streamer will be the first entertainment platform to offer AI-enabled vertical video for live games, starting with the NBA...

13/03/2026

Ease Live Deploys Interactive Overlay Platform on Red Bull TV for Premier Padel

Ease Live, an Evertz company specializing in interactive graphical overlays, has deployed its platform on Red Bull TV for Premier Padel coverage. The deployment...

13/03/2026

ESPN's Andy Jacobson on Pushing the Envelope to Debut MNF Playbook'

Monday Night Football, ESPN's premiere NFL property, has continued to be improved and upgraded from a production perspective. Alternative broadcasts are aug...

13/03/2026

NAB 2026: Net Insight Introduces Nimbra 520 Media Processing Node

At NAB Show 2026, Net Insight (booth W1653) is introducing the Nimbra 520, a high-density media processing node for live contribution and distribution across ma...

13/03/2026

NAB 2026: Harmonic Takes Wraps Off Spectrum X Plus Media Server

Harmonic (booth W2831) has announced Spectrum X Plus, the newest generation of its Spectrum X media server, offering double the channel density of previous gene...

13/03/2026

Riedel Communications Appoints Jan Schaffner as VP of Managed Technology Americas

Riedel Communications has announced the expansion of its Managed Technology Divi...

13/03/2026

NAB 2026: Telestream Launches UP, a Cloud-Native Ingest and Monitoring Solution

Telestream (booth W1503) has announced the expansion of Telestream Cloud Services with the introduction of UP, a cloud-native solution for ingest, orchestration...

13/03/2026

It's Showtime! Production Pros Bring Awards Shows, Festivals, and Other Events to Life

From awards ceremonies and sports honors shows to festivals and fan conventions,...

13/03/2026

Overtime Partners with Metro by T-Mobile for OTE and Overtime Select Basketball Leagues

Overtime has announced a partnership with Metro by T-Mobile, naming Metro the Of...

13/03/2026

NAB 2026: Calrec to Showcase IP Ecosystem and Plethora of New Products

At NAB 2026, Calrec (booth C6907) will IP Ecosystem powered by True Control 2.0, integrating the company's IP-native Argo consoles - including the U.S. debu...

13/03/2026

Ratings Roundup: FOX Smashes WBC Records, ESPN Nets Best College Hoops Audience in 10+ Years

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news derived from press releases ...

13/03/2026

A New Era of Personalization: Shape Your Taste Profile on Spotify

Spotify has always been built around your taste. More than 80% of listeners say personalization is what they love most about us. Now we're taking that even ...

13/03/2026

Spotify Debuts Legends Club for Popular German-Language Podcasts With Kaulitz Hills'

The new Spotify Legends Club has opened its doors. Its members: select German-sp...

13/03/2026

Klevgrand release OneShot2

Pushing drum sampler technology into new territories The latest version of Klevgrand's software drum sampler has just arrived, boasting a newly designe...

13/03/2026

IK Multimedia update ARC On-Ear

Expanded headphone support & engine improvements IK Multimedia's recently introduced ARC On-Ear system brings the power of their monitoring-correction s...

13/03/2026

UVI introduce Mosaiq 26

Extra sound collections, more presets & new Keys category UVI's rhythm and pattern instrument has just received a major update that introduces four new ...

13/03/2026

Missionized Business Jets: Fielded and Flying

Over a year ago, L3Harris delivered the first missionized Bombardier Global 6500 aircraft for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. Two ATHENA-R platforms now average 400+...

13/03/2026

GFiber and Stonepeak's Astound Broadband to Merge

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/03/2026

Harmonic Redefines the Economics of Video Playout with Ne...

Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced Spectrum X Plus, the newest generation of its Spectrum X media server, offering double the channel density of previous ...

13/03/2026

Historic Ewing Covenant Church Revitalizes Worship Experi...

When Ewing Covenant Church made the decision to return to its original, historic building, affectionately called 1867 Sanctuary for weekly worship, the congre...

13/03/2026

Marshall Electronics Launches CV574 WP its First 4K All I...

Marshall Electronics introduces its first all-IP 4K POV camera, the CV574-WP, at NAB 2026 (Booth C8339). The CV574-WP supports NDI |HX, providing ultra-efficien...

13/03/2026

Net Insight launches Nimbra 520 - Predictable Live Media...

At NAB Show 2026, Net Insight introduces Nimbra 520, a high-density media processing node designed to simplify live contribution and distribution across both ma...

13/03/2026

Abandon Editorial Signs With Michal Dimitri for West Coast Representation

Abandon Editorial Signs With Micha l Dimitri for West Coast Representation Brie Clayton March 12, 2026 0 Comments Abandon Editorial is excited to part...

13/03/2026

Documentary The Bulldogs Shot and Edited with Blackmagic Design

Documentary The Bulldogs Shot and Edited with Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton March 12, 2026 0 Comments Editorial tools helped shape film in real time,...

13/03/2026

AE Captions as Fast as CapCut - No Plugins

AE Captions as Fast as CapCut - No Plugins Graham Quince March 12, 2026 0 Comments Stop wasting hours clicking through nested compositions and manuall...

13/03/2026

New Music USA and Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice Announce 2026 Next Jazz Legacy Cohort

New Music USA and Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice Announce 2026 Nex...

13/03/2026

Sky Adds Blood on Snow to Original Film Slate in Acquisition Headlined by Benedict Cumberbatch and Aaron TaylorJohnson

Friday 13 March 2026 Sky Adds Blood on Snow to Original Film Slate in Acquisiti...

13/03/2026

RT announces Rick O'Shea as new presenter on RT Radio 1's Arena

RT has announced today that Rick O'Shea is the new presenter of Arena RT Radio 1's flagship weeknight arts and culture programme. Rick has been pres...

13/03/2026

Lights! Camera! Action! The 98th Oscars set to air live as RT backs the Irish nominees

Lights! Camera! Action! The 98th Oscars set to air live as RT backs the Irish n...

12/03/2026

Milano Cortina 2026: Yospace helps ad-funded rights-holders claim advertising gold

Staines-upon-Thames, UK, 11th March, 2026 - Yospace, the trusted leader in Dyna...

12/03/2026

Utah Scientific Expands Technology Partner Program With Integrations From Audinate, Bitfocus, and Skaarhoj

Utah Scientific Expands Technology Partner Program With Integrations From Audina...

12/03/2026

Techex Hires Matt McKee as Senior Director, Sales, Americas

Techex, a global expert in live video solutions over IP and cloud, announces the appointment of Matt McKee as Senior Director, Sales, Americas, further strength...

12/03/2026

KOKUSAI DENKI Electric America Welcomes Mondae Hott as Regional Sales Manager, Northeast

KOKUSAI DENKI Electric America has appointed Mondae Hott as Regional Sales Manag...

12/03/2026

Interra Systems Focuses on Streaming-First QC, Monitoring, and Responsible AI Workflows at 2026 NAB Show

At the 2026 NAB Show, Interra Systems will showcase its latest advancements in a...

12/03/2026

15th National Games of China Features Expansive Unified Broadcast Network

The 15th National Games of China concluded after a two-week celebration of athletic excellence and regional collaboration. Held from Nov. 9-21 across Guangdong,...

12/03/2026

SVG in Indy: Butler University Students Get Live-Sports Experience via On-Campus Studio, Production Truck

Live-production academic program Butler Sports Live produced a total of 40 fall-...

12/03/2026

Lawo Delivers Fully IPBased Video Infrastructure for University of Nebraska's HuskerVision

The University of Nebraska's HuskerVision has completed the second phase of ...

12/03/2026

University of Illinois Upgrades Game-Day Production with New Hybrid IP Control Room

Grass Valley and integration partner Tab M Solutions have completed Phase 1 of a...

12/03/2026

CBS Sports Turns to University of Cincinnati's Control Room and Staff for Two Big 12 Men's Basketball Broadcasts

The broadcaster expands its campus-production model as the university handles tw...