One of the strengths of the acclaimed series The Chi, created by Lena Waithe, is its multifaceted take on the experiences of living in Chicago's South Side. It also does not shy away from the big issues that impact the city. Indeed, the nuanced complexity of its storylines have been likened to The Wire.
Showtime's eagerly anticipated second run is lensed by cinematographer Abraham Martinez, who moved into the role after serving as second unit DP on the show's first season.
Abe Martinez on The Chi.
For the second installment, Showtime requested delivery in 4K rather than HD. Martinez employed Panavision's Chicago location to assemble his camera package, with the Alexa Mini as the show's primary camera (with ARRI Amira for Steadicam).
One of the first things I did after we decided on the camera was talk with Katie Fellion (co-founder and head of business development and workflow strategy at Light Iron, Panavision's post production division), and we decided to up-rez the footage from its native sensor to 4K, says Martinez.
A big plus for me in terms of working with Light Iron on this show and also on other shows for which I've shot a mix of formats is the ability to color match the cameras seamlessly, Martinez notes.
Panavision Chicago outfitted each camera with its own set of Panavision Super Speeds (14-150mm) with PVintage as the go-to glass. These were complemented by an ARRI Ultra Prime 8R for time lapse and a Nikon Nikkor 600 telephoto to capture the hustle and danger of life on the street.
Abe Martinez on The Chi.
A notable change in style between seasons was the incorporation of more negative space in frame composition, but otherwise Martinez retained The Chi's signature handheld and alive camera movement.
The lighting choices marked a more definitive enhancement from season one, a topic the DP discussed with Light Iron Supervising Colorist Steven Bodner at length. The change spurred from new showrunner and executive producer Ayanna Floyd Davis.
Martinez explains, Ayanna mentioned that she wanted more of a differentiation between the two main dramatic focusses of The Chi which are the mob and the family. I felt that we needed to focus on making the interiors for the family feel warmer and more domestic. The creative intent was to put the audience inside people's homes in the south side.
This was set to contrast with the background violence that permeates The Chi as it depicts life on the street with gangs and guns. For the mob, we wanted to lean into this urban backdrop, make it a little more heightened, but still the touchstone is realism, Martinez relates. We embrace the sodium vapor feel of street lights and tone the color temp down.
Alex R. Hibbert as Kevin, Michael Epps as Jake, and Shamon Brown as Papa in The Chi (Season 2, Episode 01, Eruptions).
At the same time the thread running throughout this series is one of fatherhood boys growing into men. We have a great range of skin tones and I really wanted to bring those out and create a real intimacy and reality to our story, he continues. These were the emotional points I talked over with Steve throughout production. We worked together to ensure there was a consistency of look for each of these two worlds, the domestic and the street. For example, in one scene we see a mom at her front door with a feel of domestic warmth and she's talking to a kid on the street, and when we cut to that character, we feel the cooler blue exterior of that world.
Martinez adds, Lighting the space and atmosphere was equally as important to lighting actors, having the freedom for authentic character movement was essential. The show has so much movement and energy to it that I wanted to liberate our camera operators to go into tight places and follow the actors. In turn, that meant working with Steve to draw out the darker skin tones that might otherwise get lost in the shadows. This wasn't a cut and paste job. I felt that at each step I was able to control and fine-tune the process working with dailies and into color grading.
Rolando Boyce as Darnell in The Chi (Season 2, Episode 1, Eruptions).
Shot on location in Chicago, the ease with which Martinez was able to talk over the fine points of photography or grade with Light Iron in Chicago, New York or Los Angeles was something he greatly appreciates. While Martinez was in Panavision's New Orleans' office, a conform would be sent to Light Iron in LA who in turn would send a conformed ProRes file to Bodner in New York City.
I'd do a first pass on the full episode, usually taking two days, and then we'd arrange a remote DI session, which I would run in New York with Abe in New Orleans and his post team at the Los Angeles office, Bodner says. These three-way color sessions are becoming more and more common now that we have a far reach with our technology.
No matter the time zone I am in, Light Iron is always open, notes Martinez. I can always reach out to someone in their offices with any issue. It's so important to me to always have this line of communication. From the moment I develop a camera package with Panavision to the moment I start conversations with Light Iron, I am extremely confident I am being taken care of and that's a weight off my back.
Martinez graded 27 episodes with Light Iron last year, including all ten episodes of The Chi with Bodner, 13 episodes for Queen of the South (season 3), and the four-part documentary Alternative Living.
I was in Light Iron New Orleans when I was working on the doc series and on the same day able to remote grade an episode of The Chi while reviewing test shots of grain for Queen sent from New York City. That, I felt, was a game changer in the sense that the job really can be done remotely and flexibly thanks to Light Iron and Panavisi
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
19/11/2025
Sphere Sound Kicks Up Its Heels at Radio City Music HallUltra-immersive system from the singular Las Vegas venue is also ready for sportsBy Dan Daley, Audio Edi...
19/11/2025
The Future of Stadium and Arena Video Control Rooms: Tech Leaders Talk 4K, IP, a...
19/11/2025
One Year at Intuit Dome: Walking Through the Stunning Arena's Advanced Video...
19/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: IMG's Francois Westcombe Goes Inside IMG's Annual Digital ...
19/11/2025
Inside Brighton & Hove Albion's fan-first media machine By George Bevir
Tuesday, November 18, 2025 - 10:10
Print This Story
Brighton & Hove Albion'...
19/11/2025
Rock Chalk Rebuild, Part 1: Kansas Athletics Brings New Production Power to Rebu...
19/11/2025
Rock Chalk Rebuild, Part 2: A Pro's Guide to Kansas Athletics' New Video...
19/11/2025
MLB Media Rights Shakeup: NBC Inks Three-Year Deal for Sunday Night Baseball, Pe...
19/11/2025
Rohan Parashuram Kanawade attends the premiere of Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival at Egyptian Theatre on January 26, 2025, in Pa...
19/11/2025
Awards season is heating up, and the International Documentary Association just ...
19/11/2025
Aerojet Rocketdyne President Ken Bedingfield and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders were joined by state and local officials to celebrate the groundbreaking o...
19/11/2025
L3Harris and PentenAmio formalise their teaming agreement at MilCIS 2025, streng...
19/11/2025
Calrec gives Phoenix Broadcast Solutions its full support in strategic multi-year enterprise partnership New Singapore OB company invests in Calrec technology f...
19/11/2025
October brings a larger audience in front of TV screens. The cooler autumn weather and the continuation of new programming schedules brought increases in both t...
19/11/2025
IRVING, Texas Nexstar Media Group and Tegna filed applications on Nov. 18 with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seeking its consent to transfer broad...
19/11/2025
Vitec has acquired Datapath, a developer of real-time video processing for large-scale video walls, AVoIP content distribution and KVM control in mission-critic...
19/11/2025
NEVADA CITY, Calif. Telestream has introduced ARGUS Version 2.3, which introduces Live Look, a feature that lets operators inspect live and on-demand streams vi...
19/11/2025
STAMFORD, Conn. and NEW YORK Charter Communications, Inc. has announced a major deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that establishes AWS as one of Charters stra...
19/11/2025
TOKYO Atomos has announced a major firmware update that brings integrated camera control to the Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX its new CFexpress-based monitor-recor...
19/11/2025
Berklee's Signature Series Reimagines the Musical and Visual Artistry of Col...
19/11/2025
PlayBox Neo departed the NAB Show New York 2025 on a high note. The company's all-new PlayBox Neo Suite made a splash on the show floor, drawing strong inte...
19/11/2025
AAVBR (American Audio Visual Baton Rouge), a leading full-service event production company serving Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region, has enhanced its product...
19/11/2025
In its mission to deliver live event services combining advanced engineering with a creative approach to captivating live sports and entertainment experiences, ...
19/11/2025
NEW YORK Short-form vertical video has exploded across platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, but a new survey commissioned by Media.net, a provider of c...
19/11/2025
NEW YORK YES Network, the regional sports network home of the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets, and CAMB.AI have struck a partnership they said will leverage ...
19/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has issued detailed guidance on filings that were disrupted by the government shutdown. While many of those fil...
19/11/2025
NEW YORK The popularity of NFL games is largely responsible for continued seasonal momentum in TV viewership into October (measured Sept. 29-Oct. 26), according...
19/11/2025
DirecTV has announced that its MyFree DirecTV streaming service has added seven new channels. Those include four sports services, NBA FAST, Red Bull TV, DAZN Ri...
19/11/2025
SURREY, U.K. Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) has launched Flair Bridge, a compact device that transforms how operators control the company's motion-contr...
19/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission, which is continuing to rapidly ramp up its operations after the end of the federal government shutdown, has se...
19/11/2025
IRVING, Texas Nexstar Media Group and Tegna filed applications on Nov. 18 with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seeking its consent to transfer broad...
19/11/2025
Martin Freeman, Jessie Buckley, Wu-Tang Clan's Raekwon, Eddie the Eagle and ...
19/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz collaborates with Broadcom to enable testing and validation of n...
19/11/2025
Back to All News
Innato, starring Imanol Arias and Elena Anaya, arrives on Netf...
19/11/2025
Back to All News
Guillermo del Toro Sits Down With Troll 2 Director Roar Uthaug...
19/11/2025
Some projects feel monumental from the moment the first phone call comes in. When BCE, the host broadcaster appointed to coordinate the national coverage, asked...
19/11/2025
November 19 2025, 08:00 (PST) BAY AREA HOST COMMITTEE AND DOLBY PARTNER TO DELIVER IMMERSIVE FAN EXPERIENCES
During the Week of Football's Biggest Game...
19/11/2025
Michael D. Higgins: Ireland's Ninth President features RT Archives footage and interviews across seven decades
Watch Wednesday 19 November at 9:35pm on RT...
19/11/2025
Scripps Research scientists receive $1.1 million to advance AI modeling for HIV vaccine development New AI system helps scientists rapidly pinpoint the most pro...
18/11/2025
Independent media across Central America are operating under intensifying financial pressure, yet there is a clear appetite for models that can sustain both ind...
18/11/2025
NBA Debuts New Comms Infrastructure and Systems for RefereesTwo-phase rollout is intended to improve game flow, enhance officiating accuracyBy Dan Daley, Audio ...
18/11/2025
Platinum White Paper: How Aggreko Delivers Certainty For Broadcasters On The Wor...
18/11/2025
Kiswe Extends DTC Products With Kiswe Core Cloud-Based Tool for Distributing Con...
18/11/2025
Spanish Basketball Federation partners with ScorePlay to power digital transform...
18/11/2025
HBS selects BBright encoders and decoders to connect ST 2110 live production wor...
18/11/2025
Ashes to Ashes: Inside TNT Sports' hybrid and maverick' production plan...
18/11/2025
SVG All-Stars: Mimi Fotopoulos, Director, Talent and Production Operations, Tenn...
18/11/2025
SVG LIVE! Conference Explores the Tech Side of Sports and Entertainment ConvergenceLive sports and music productions increasingly share gear and infrastructureB...
One of the strengths of the acclaimed series The Chi, created by Lena Waithe, is its multifaceted take on the experiences of living in Chicago's South Side. It also does not shy away from the big issues that impact the city. Indeed, the nuanced complexity of its storylines have been likened to The Wire.
