Winning Depth
25/08/2023
As with the previous season, Season 2's cinematographers embraced a mix of formats anchored around 35mm film acquisition with Panaflex Millennium XL2 cameras and Primo optics supplied by Panavision Woodland Hills. In this exclusive Q&A, Banhazl discusses their approach to evolving the show's signature style, the keys to their seamless give-and-go from one episode to the next, and his experience taking over the director's chair for Episode 3, The Second Coming.
Panavision: How has the look that was established with Season 1 evolved for this new season? What was added to the gameplan to further immerse viewers in the world of the Showtime Lakers?
Todd Banhazl, ASC: The idea this year was to let the formats shift and grow into the mid-'80s. This meant leaving behind some of the more romantic '70s looks that we had come to love and embracing a more plastic' '80s style. As the characters leave behind those golden early years, so do we.
We also fell in love with 8mm and 16mm's ability to capture intimate performance in a lean documentary way last year, so this year we wanted to further maximize how we could get these smaller-format cameras more ingrained into the overall style of the show. And of course we wanted to challenge ourselves to push the basketball photography way further in Season 2.
With a full season under your belt, did the show itself become the main visual reference, or did you continue to find inspiration in period advertising and elsewhere? Were there any particularly influential references you and your collaborators shared?
Banhazl: A lot of our conversations surrounded the difference in how archival documentary footage looked in the '60s and '70s versus the mid-'80s. We also added new TV camera positions for the basketball games, modeled after TV broadcasts of the time angles that are pretty tame by today's standards but must have been really exciting for viewers at the time! For scenes in later episodes this season, we were referencing classic spaghetti westerns as well as John Ford westerns and the original Donner Superman. This is where the idea of shooting 16mm with Panavision anamorphic glass came from, so we could play with the epic myth of these characters' backstories but also keep it grounded in the gritty Winning Time documentary style.
The core camera package was once again Primo optics and Millennium XL cameras. What brought you back to that combination?
Banhazl: The backbone of the Winning Time visual style is always our 35mm reversal print look using the XL cameras and Primos. We pushed the format more this year in terms of how dynamically we moved the camera, especially in basketball. And I found myself really pushing the highlights this year, but it was important to maintain one classic foundational look for the show to allow the other mixed formats to shift and grow as freely as possible, without confusing the audience.
I also fell more in love with the wide end of the Primos for Season 2. The 10mm rectilinear and 14.5mm were particular favorites, along with an 8mm distortion lens.' They cut really nicely with the 16mm format on the long end of the zooms as well as the shaky handheld VHS footage. It was about striking a balance between epic and lo-fi.
What other acquisition formats were used throughout Season 2? Was anything new introduced this season?
Banhazl: We started to gently phase out 8mm film and phase in consumer VHS-C cameras to help feel the transition from the '60s and '70s into the '80s. We also further embraced shooting a modified version of 16mm that felt like a hybrid of 8mm and 16mm and allowed us to shoot full sound-sync takes more easily than 8mm. That format became the most exciting new tool for me. It was always there in the corner catching some hidden, beautiful performance beat from one of our brilliant actors.
For Season 2, you were joined by cinematographers John Matysiak, Ricardo Diaz and Darran Tiernan. How did the four of you collaborate to maintain the show's unique style across your individual episodes?
Banhazl: I'm so indebted to my three fellow cinematographers this season. The episodes look seamless. Mostly it came down to the fact that these guys are brilliant and generous and did fantastic work. The key for me is always total communication and sharing ideas across DPs and episodes. The visual continuity across such an experimental style is also a testament to our gifted camera operators, including Dominic Bartolone, Jess Lakoff Cannon and Justin Cameron.
You reteamed with director Salli Richardson-Whitfield, with whom you'd worked on the final two episodes of Season 1. How did that creative collaboration evolve over the course of these new episodes?
Banhazl: There is an alchemy between Salli and myself that I feel very grateful for. We bring the best out of each other, and have a similar drive to constantly push for something better. Something I love about Salli is that she'll see a camera tool, lens, format or technique, and she'll immediately lean into it. She'll get excited about it, and then instantly start designing new ideas around that technique. That's how we ended up using our Rollerblade 16mm camera during narrative scenes off the court.
How did the opportunity come about for you to direct Episode 3?
Banhazl: I've been with the show since the beginning, since the pilot
LINK: | https://www.panavision.com/highlights/highlights-detail/winning-depth... |
See more stories from panavision |
More from Panavision France
24/04/2024
Authentic Perspectives
The first feature film from writer-director Shaun Seneviratne, Ben and Suzanne: A Reunion in 4 Parts depicts the struggle between love and duty as Ben (Sathya S...
24/04/2024
Melanie Georgieva Joins Panalux as Long Form Sales Director
LONDON, England (24 April 2024) Panalux, a leading rental provider of lighting and power solutions for the motion-picture industry and part of Panavision'...
22/04/2024
Adapting to Landscapes With LEE Filters
In this video, LEE Filters ambassador Jordan Banks ventures into Snowdonia National Park in Wales. Faced with less-than-ideal weather conditions, he adapts his ...
16/04/2024
A Spirit Between Worlds
Directed by H l na Klotz, La V nus dargent (aka Spirit of Ecstasy) presents the tale of Jeanne Francoeur (played by Claire Pommet), a young woman striving to es...
13/04/2024
Lighting a Horror Scene With LEE Filters
In this video, gaffer Elena Armellini takes viewers behind the scenes as she lights a horror scene. She and her crew black-out the locations windows to give the...
09/04/2024
For the Family
Co-written and directed by Thomas Cailley, The Animal Kingdom (Le r gne animal) follows a father and son's adventure to find their family's matriarch af...
08/04/2024
How to Light a Horror Scene using LEE Filters with Elena Armellini
In this video, Elena Armellini shows us how she uses LEE Filters to create the perfect lighting for a horror scene....
06/04/2024
Lighting a Night-Interior Bar Scene With LEE Filters
In this educational video from LEE Filters, cinematographer Simon Rowling welcomes viewers on set and discusses his creative and technical approach to lighting ...
29/03/2024
Women Making History, Part 5
In the final installment of Panavision's Women Making History interview series, Panavision President and CEO Kim Snyder focuses the conversation on the part...
26/03/2024
A Collaboration With Panavision: Pedro Luque, SCU
Cinematographer Pedro Luque, SCU's credits include the features Body Cam, Antebellum and director J.A. Bayona's Best International Feature Oscar-nominat...
21/03/2024
Women Making History, Part 4
In Part 4 of Panavision's Women Making History interview series, the conversation turns toward career highlights. Prompted by Panavision President and CEO K...
18/03/2024
Vintage Allure
Released this past January, the music video for Ariana Grande's yes, and? brings a modern approach to vintage allure. The video was directed by Christian ...
14/03/2024
Women Making History, Part 3
The Women Making History interview series continues, with Panavision President and CEO Kim Snyder steering the conversation toward mentorship. Here, the partici...
13/03/2024
The Making of Ferrari
I like to work with directors that have a real distinct sense for what they want out of their film, says Erik Messerschmidt, ASC. This was certainly the case w...
08/03/2024
Women Making History, Part 2
In this installment of Panavision's Women Making History interview series, the conversation turns to key advice that has helped guide the participants as th...
01/03/2024
Women Making History, Part 1
The month of March marks Women's History Month and, on the 8th, International Women's Day. These are important opportunities to focus on stories from wo...
27/02/2024
LEE Filters expands LEE Direct e-commerce platform to Canada
TORONTO (February 27, 2024) LEE Filters, a leading manufacturer of high-quality lighting gels and photographic filters and a member of the Panavision family o...
27/02/2024
The Making of The New Boy
ACS member Warwick Thornton wrote, directed and photographed the feature The New Boy, about a 9-year-old Aboriginal Australian orphan who arrives at a remote mo...
26/02/2024
Light Iron Colors Penelope in the Cloud
MovieLabs, the technology joint venture of the major Hollywood motion picture studios, recently announced that Light Iron is among the latest group of 10 partic...
25/02/2024
Look, Flow & Legacy
Directed and co-written by Nicholaus Goossen, Drugstore June follows the vigilante detective-work of a self-obsessed social-media influencer, the eponymous June...
22/02/2024
The Panavision Group at BSC Expo 2024
BSC Expo 2024 recently wrapped in London, and Panavision, Panalux and LEE Filters were all on hand to showcase products from across their range of innovative so...
21/02/2024
Vital History
With its fourth season, the National Geographic series Genius presents a dual portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, inspirational leaders who paved ...
14/02/2024
The Making of Saltburn
I always want the film to tell me what it needs, says cinematographer Linus Sandgren, FSF, ASC. In the case of writer-director Emerald Fennell's feature Sa...
13/02/2024
Worthy Company
Cinematographer Ricardo Diaz joined the HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty for Season 2's third episode, The Second Coming. Depicting...
08/02/2024
The Making of Killers of the Flower Moon and Barbie
2023 saw the release of two features photographed by Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC: Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig, and Killers of the Flower Moon, which reteamed ...
31/01/2024
Panalux welcomes Sandro Leone as Long Form Sales Director
LONDON, England (31 January, 2024) Panalux, a leading rental provider of lighting and power solutions for the motion-picture industry and part of Panavision...
29/01/2024
Family of Fighters
Written and directed by Sean Durkin, the feature film The Iron Claw shines a light on the tragedies and triumphs of the Von Erichs, a real-life family of profes...
23/01/2024
Panalux announces new London headquarters
LONDON, England (23rd January, 2024) Panalux, a leading rental provider of lighting and power solutions for the motion-picture industry and part of Panavision...
12/01/2024
The Making of The Crown
Over six seasons, the Netflix series The Crown has enthralled viewers with its simultaneously intimate and epic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and the royal fam...
09/01/2024
Celebrating the Creative Spirit
Since its opening in 1973, the Sydney Opera House has become a globally recognized symbol of Australia and the creative spirit. In honor of the renowned institu...
16/12/2023
Texture of Emotion
Based on Priscilla Presley's 1985 memoir Elvis and Me, the feature Priscilla reunited writer-director Sofia Coppola with cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd, ...
05/12/2023
The Making of The Florida Project
Director Sean Baker's 2017 feature The Florida Project examines the world just outside the gates of the most magical place on Earth from the perspective o...
28/11/2023
Perfect Pairs
Based on the true story of two best friends, Jane (Yara Shahidi) and Corinne (Odessa A'zion), Sitting in Bars With Cake depicts a harrowing journey of matur...
16/11/2023
Seeing in the Dark
Set in 1950s France, The Deep Dark (Gueules noires) follows a group of coal miners who are commissioned to escort a professor through dangerous depths to retrie...
11/11/2023
Wistful Thinking
Writer-director Le Chau was born in Vietnam, moved to the United States when she was 22, and graduated from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television in 2...
08/11/2023
A Collaboration With Panavision: Autumn Durald Arkapaw, ASC
Like the spoken word, visual language is a gift passed down from previous generations and capable of robust growth through shared use and collaboration. For cin...
08/11/2023
Unmistakable Charm
The story of a shy photographer who breaks out of his shell after attending a succession of drag shows, Three Nights a Week offers an honest look behind the vei...
31/10/2023
A Collaboration with Panavision: Alexis Zab, ASC, AMC
An expert in the exacting craft of commercial cinematography, Alexis Zab , ASC, AMC is equally adept at lending visuals of distinct humanity to long-form projec...
16/10/2023
Sam Daley Nominated for HPA Award
The Hollywood Professional Association has announced the nominations for the 2023 HPA Awards, which will be presented on November 9. Light Iron senior colorist ...
13/10/2023
To Be Believed
Director Charl ne Favier's feature La fille quon appelle focuses on Laura Le Corre (Alba Ga a Bellugi), a young woman placed in a vulnerable position after ...
06/10/2023
In Focus: Panavision Manufacturing
This video takes viewers inside the manufacturing department at Panavision's headquarters in Woodland Hills, California. Follow along from blueprint to CNC ...
06/10/2023
A Collaboration With Panavision: John Seale, AM, ACS, ASC
Before going on to serve as cinematographer on such varied and beloved features as Witness, Rain Man, Dead Poet's Society, The English Patient, The Perfect ...
29/09/2023
Launchpad Season 2 Takes Flight
Now streaming on Disney+, Launchpad Season 2 comprises six original live-action short films from underrepresented filmmakers whose unique voices bring new persp...
20/09/2023
A Collaboration With Panavision: David Procter, BSC
It's one of the most powerful mediums of art, I believe, that we have, David Procter, BSC says of motion pictures. Having gotten his start in documentaries...
19/09/2023
LEE Filters launches LEE100 Deluxe Kit+
ANDOVER, England (19th September, 2023) LEE Filters, a leading manufacturer of high-quality lighting gels and photographic filters and a member of the Panavis...
11/09/2023
Tall Tale
Boots Riley writer, director and acclaimed vocalist of the hip-hop group The Coup is the definition of a colorful and exacting thinker. Some five years afte...
05/09/2023
Creative Exercise
Created by Annie Weisman, the 1980s-set Apple TV+ series Physical focuses on Sheila Rubin (Rose Byrne) as she navigates a path toward self-discovery after unloc...
02/09/2023
A Collaboration With Panavision: Ben Davis, BSC
My first day on set, I thought, This is what I want to do,' reflects Ben Davis, BSC, whose credits range from dramas like Three Billboards Outside Ebbing,...
28/08/2023
Kim Snyder Receives HPA Alchemist Honor
The Hollywood Professional Association recently announced the latest recipients of its League Honors. This year's honorees include Panavision President and ...
25/08/2023
Winning Depth
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty is back for its second season on HBO, pushing deeper into the 1980s as it continues to recount the on- and off-cour...