The recent features and bear a number of similarities. Chief among them: Both were shot by cinematographer Hillary Spera. Each story also exists in the realm of horror-thrillers, and each involves a mother-daughter relationship that turns out to be something other than what's originally believed. In both cases, I would say it's a very strong bond between the mother and daughter, Spera notes. In both movies, they really love each other and are working to define their relationship.
Directed by Aneesh Chaganty, Run focuses on Chloe (Kiera Allen), a bright, tenacious teenager, on the cusp of going to college, who for as long as she can remember has suffered from a number of serious ailments and has been paralyzed from the waist down. As she eagerly awaits a response to her college application, Chloe becomes increasingly convinced that her doting single mother, Diane (Sarah Paulson), is harboring a dark and terrible secret.
The Craft: Legacy, meanwhile, follows the spirit of Andrew Fleming's 1996 feature The Craft, presenting a new generation of four young women bonding with one another as they develop their magical abilities. Written and directed by Zoe Lister-Jones, Legacy begins with Lily (Cailee Spaeny) and her mother, Helen (Michelle Monaghan), moving in with the latter's boyfriend, Adam (David Duchovny), and his three sons. After befriending Lourdes (Zoey Luna), Frankie (Gideon Adlon) and Tabby (Lovie Simone) at her new school, Lily awakens to her powers and potential.
Of the two features, Run was shot first, during the fall of 2018 in Winnipeg, and The Craft: Legacy was shot the following year, in fall 2019, primarily in Toronto. For both projects, Spera turned to her longtime partners at Panavision. They're always my go-to, she says. I love that relationship of working with Panavision. One of the most important things for me is their support. It's always a yes'; they're always gung-ho to help find solutions, and they're always there to have my back. And their network is so vast. The fact that I could call [marketing executive] Rik DeLisle at Panavision Hollywood and he connected me with [rentals and services manager] Jerry Papernick at Panavision Toronto is really fantastic. It makes things so much easier and more streamlined as I work in so many different locations.
Hillary Spera and director Aneesh Chaganty.
Spera collaborated with Papernick for both Run and The Craft: Legacy. And then, she adds, when we moved to L.A. at the end of Craft, Jerry and Rik shared information and worked together. I'm so grateful to both of them. They truly moved mountains for us to make it work.
Spera's path toward cinematography began with an interest in still photography, which she decided to pursue in college. There, her focus began to shift from stills to motion pictures. I started shooting everything I could, she reflects. I moved to New York the minute I graduated, and I took every opportunity that came my way. I made a rule for myself that I was never going to say no.' I learned by being on set, making a lot of mistakes, and following a deep passion for visual storytelling.
In the years since, she's built a r sum that includes such feature credits as Black Rock, Submission, Dude, Alex Strangelove and Duck Butter, the latter of which partnered her for the first time with producer Natalie Qasabian. When Qasabian began working on Run, she reached out to Spera and introduced her to Chaganty, who had written the script with writer-producer Sev Ohanian. Spera recalls that when she met with Chaganty, We hit it off right off the bat. We had a lot of shared references and were thinking about the movie in a similar way. He really impressed me with his preparedness and the way he was conceiving the movie, but also his openness to collaborate. Sev and Aneesh wrote the script with a lot of room to build visually, so I was excited about the potential of where it could go from a visual standpoint.
During preproduction, Qasabian, Chaganty and Spera formed a tight-knit group that came to their creative decisions together. Everything was up for discussion, the cinematographer recalls. For example, I pitched the idea of shooting anamorphic, and we collectively discussed why I thought it would work. It was a fun exercise to make sure the group all believed in the decisions we were making. I think the film is stronger because of that trust and support.
Regarding the choice of anamorphic, she explains, The rooms in the house had frames within themselves that I thought anamorphic could complement, adding a more textured, almost 3D quality to some of the images. It was a good challenge, because we shot in such small spaces. I'm grateful to 1st AC Doug Lavender for being up for the challenge, even though we lived on diopters, often close to wide open. He mounted a retractable pointer onto the matte box for some of our macro close-ups where there was such a shallow depth of field, and he would use that to show Kiera how far she could lean in, so she would have a physical reference of what she could and couldn't do. I thought that was brilliant.
After testing a number of options, Spera opted for Panavision's E Series anamorphic lenses, which she supplemented with a few wider-angle T Series focal lengths, including 35mm, to preserve the architectural lines inside the house. I fell in love with the E Series right away because they're older and have a beautiful vintage-glass quality, she explains. Aneesh and I talked about making the film feel a little timeless and not necessarily modern and sharp, and the Es have a softer quality that really helped to elevate the images and complement our style.
Spera and Chaganty storyboarded the entire movie during preproduction, and the cinematographer notes that the final shots matc
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...
18/05/2026
Despite a bumpy start to the year, the provider of event-production support and ...
18/05/2026
Daktronics has partnered with the University of North Carolina to manufacture and install 11 LED displays totaling more than 10,000 square feet and more than 14...
18/05/2026
CBS LA has announced a multi-year partnership with the Los Angeles Rams, covering exclusive local broadcasts of Rams preseason games, weekly year-round programm...
18/05/2026
Skyline Communications has announced an integration between its DataMiner xOps p...
18/05/2026
eCLUTCH, the hybrid esports platform powered by iKOMG, has announced an expansion of its distribution across Europe, MENA, Africa, and Asia, along with new cont...
18/05/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/05/2026
With 22 games this season, the production team looks forward to tweaking and enhancing the coverage
After 8,660 days off the air, the WNBA returned to NBC yest...
18/05/2026
(L-R) Midori Francis and Natalie Erika James attend the Saccharine premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 22, 2026, in ...
18/05/2026
Last night, the Spotify Podcast Awards in Mexico returned to the country's capital. Now in its second year, the evening honors creators whose voices are hel...
18/05/2026
ZEN-Core synth goes mobile
Roland's powerful ZEN-Core software synthesizer has just been introduced to the iPad, offering a convenient entry point into ...
18/05/2026
Versatile new limiter plug-in announced
Based in Sheffield, UK, fedDSP offer a range of plug-ins that span the music production, live sound and high-end med...
18/05/2026
A new use for convolution?
Viiri Audio's debut plug-in aims to do something a little different with convolution processing, allowing users to adjust all...
18/05/2026
Delta Goodrem shines for SBS as more than 3.27 million Australians tune in for E...
18/05/2026
The Australian Defence Force uses L3Harris T4 and T7 robots for explosive ordnan...
18/05/2026
Continued investment across Europe and Germany is expanding local teams and improving access to stock, regional expertise, and specialist broadcast support.
CV...
18/05/2026
18 May 2026
Dubai and New York, May 18, 2026 - VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON), a glob...
18/05/2026
Monday 18 May 2026
Sky News offers ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes for just...
18/05/2026
Comscore March 2026 Consumer AI Chatbot Usage Rankings Show Claude Gaining Share OpenAI's ChatGPT maintains lead while Anthropic's Claude continues to c...
17/05/2026
Delta Goodrem's Eurovision Eclipse marks end of a stellar run
17 May, 2026
Media releases
Bulgaria wins Eurovision 2026
Relive every spellbinding mome...
17/05/2026
Back to All News
Oasis Premieres on Netflix June 19
Entertainment
17 May 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Summer, sunshine, the beach, parties. T...
16/05/2026
Helps to deliver a clean, balanced midrange
Developed alongside Newfangled Audio, the latest plug-in in Eventide's software collection has been designed...
16/05/2026
Brings onboard stem rendering to RANE System One
Engine DJ have just released Engine DJ 5.0, a free update for their Engine DJ OS embedded hardware and Engi...
16/05/2026
Boris FX Continuum Pairs AI Precision and Advanced Creative Controls
Jessie Electa Petrov May 16, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic de...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Seattle Sounders FC and Seattle Reign FC, in partnership with RAVE Foundation an...
15/05/2026
Dan Brumm has served as sound designer on Bluey, the Australian children's t...
15/05/2026
The Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA) and Shure Incorporated are accepting applications for the 6th annual Mark Brunner Professional Audio Schola...
15/05/2026
Netflix has announced an expanded NFL schedule for 2026 and beyond under a four-year partnership extension with the NFL through the 2029-30 season. Each season,...
15/05/2026
Ateme is supporting TVRI (Televisi Republik Indonesia) with a contribution and d...
15/05/2026
Concacaf has announced the launch of a new website and mobile app built on Deltatre's FORGE platform. Concacaf.com and the mobile app, available on iOS and ...
15/05/2026
Eutelsat has announced the launch of QBC Business Economic Channel by Qatar Media Corporation, broadcasting in 4K/UHD via Eutelsat's 7/8 West video neighbo...
15/05/2026
Major League Soccer has announced four original content series timed to the 2026...
15/05/2026
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) has announced it will exhibit and present at InfoComm 2026, taking place June 13-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Cente...
15/05/2026
InfoComm 2026 will take place June 13-19 (exhibits June 17-19) at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The show will include sessions and exhibits covering broadcas...
15/05/2026
Tracy McGrady's Ones Basketball League (OBL) and FuboTV Inc. have announced ...
15/05/2026
Disguise has partnered with Creative Technology (CT) to deliver visual playback ...
15/05/2026
Sony Electronics has announced two new products for professional imaging: the Alpha 7R VI full-frame mirrorless camera and the FE 100-400mm F4.5 GM OSS super-te...
15/05/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
15/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
15/05/2026
For sports organizations, the most valuable assets are often the most sensitive:...
15/05/2026
The NFL's broadcast partners released their 2026 regular season schedules ye...
15/05/2026
Besides drawing on experience with boxing, the production integrates specialty c...
The recent features and bear a number of similarities. Chief among them: Both were shot by cinematographer Hillary Spera. Each story also exists in the realm of horror-thrillers, and each involves a mother-daughter relationship that turns out to be something other than what's originally believed. In both cases, I would say it's a very strong bond between the mother and daughter, Spera notes. In both movies, they really love each other and are working to define their relationship. 
