Seminal Cinematography
Posted on Nov 30, 2024 by Samara Husbands
Best of 2024
Which TV shows & films boasted the best cinematography of 2024? The Definition team make the case for their favourites
Ripley
Words Nicola Foley
I interviewed Robert Elswit, DOP on Ripley, back in the spring, having just binged the entire eight-part series. The time pressure on the interview necessitated a speedy watch, but it wasn’t a chore in the least: I’d argue that this stunning Netflix show doesn’t just offer some of the best cinematography of 2024; it’s a strong contender for some of the best ever
seen on television.
One of the first things Elswit said to me was that he had initially been reluctant to take on the project when director Steven Zaillian reached out, since there was already such an iconic adaptation of Ripley out in the world. But where Anthony Minghella’s 1999 feature brings the conman’s story to life as a stylish, sun-drenched Mediterranean fever dream, this gives an inverse take: shadowy, cold, menacing and entirely monochrome. The team paid close attention to how they could make the audience feel through lighting, building tension and manipulating it to illuminate character dynamics. Tom Ripley, ever the enigma, lurks in the shadows; while Dickie, morally ambiguous and self-absorbed, hovers in half-light. Marge, the most transparent and sincere of the trio, is fully lit, exposed.
With a stylised, film noir approach, Elswit embraced the interplay of white and black highlights and shadows, in part using traditional tungsten lighting for the unique contrast, which lends itself well to black & white. The lenses, Panavision VA primes, were also key, with Elswit enthusiastically praising how they hark back to vintage movies, adding elegance to every frame. Another hallmark of the cinematography I loved was the sneaky camera work. As duplicitous as Ripley himself, clever framing and movements capture the action from unexpected angles – up high, down low or through foreground objects. It often feels as if we, the viewers, are eavesdropping, peering over shoulders and around corners, stealing glimpses of Ripley’s deceptions. We become uneasy accomplices, sharing in his misdeeds.
Elswit’s cinematography doesn’t just help tell the story – it lures us into it, pulling us along in the shadows, where everything is just a little bit dangerous…
Small Things Like These
Words Oliver Webb
Director Tim Mielants reunites with regular collaborator DOP Frank van den Eeden, with the pair masterfully depicting the mundane routines of coal merchant Bill Furlong in this adaptation of Claire Keegan’s novel. The film weaves between the winter of 1985 in the town of New Ross and flashes back to the fifties. Working alongside production designer Paki Smith, the DOP beautifully brings both periods to life with his stark cinematography.
Capturing the film with the ARRI ALEXA 35 and Panasonic PVintage lenses kept the overall look of the film grounded in reality, without taking away from the overall story. Much of the film takes place during the night, so van den Eeden relied on natural lighting sources, as well as using available streetlight for exterior sequences.
With a powerful leading performance by Cillian Murphy, this film is a harrowing look at Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries.
Wicked
Words Katie Kasperson
Based on The Wizard of Oz and adapted from the beloved stage musical, Universal’s Wicked – directed by Jon M Chu and shot by Alice Brooks – brings the Emerald City to life in the first half of a two-part project. Working with existing IP meant that Wicked had much to live up to, both in terms of retelling the original story and capturing the land of Oz in all its saturated spectacle – yellow brick roads, fields of red poppies and, of course, Elphaba’s green skin.
Aided by gravity-defying footage, aerial DOP Jeremy Braben flew heavy-lift drones over the film’s various sets, where they were often shooting scenes simultaneously. The result is a movie that maintains the magic of its predecessors, inviting audiences into its whimsical, wonderful world.
Find out more in the NBCUniversal special Defying Gravity: The Curtain Rises.
Paddington in Peru
Words Katie Kasperson
The third instalment in the Paddington film series, Paddington in Peru sees the beloved bear return to his homeland – the Amazonian jungle – in search of Aunt Lucy. Shot both on location in South America and in the studio in the UK, the family-friendly adventure film blends excitement, sentimentality and British sensibility.
Marzano Films handled the aerial work, travelling to Colombia (instead of Peru, due to political unrest at the time) for eight weeks to capture the landscape and create the film’s breathtaking backdrops, from the Andes to the Amazon. Certain shots required the crew to reach remote locations. Collaborating with a local company based out of Bogotá, Marzano employed three separate drone set-ups, including a VFX plate unit. With cinematography by DOP Erik Wilson, the film combines in-camera effects with VFX added in post – after all, Paddington bear is CGI-animated.
The Marzano team would film a sequence and send it back to the UK, where it was then used as a backdrop with the actors in front. This required meticulous attention to both creative and technical details – including accurate GPS positioning, collected by the DJI Inspire 3 and an RTK ground station – and regular communication between the plate unit director, VFX producer, drone pilot and aerial DOP, John Marzano.
Besides the Inspire 3, Marzano’s team used a Freefly Alta X to bear a DJI Ronin 2 and three-camera array, as well as an FPV hybrid, which captured the action shots on the river rapids. The array included three RED KOMODOs with Canon 24mm primes – a configuration they had previously used on Wonka. With Paddington in Peru, though, they faced an additional, unexpected challenge: the Colombian heat and humidity, along with high altitudes, caused the motors to stall. A slight re-jig and a small cooling fan allowed Marzano to complete the task on time.
Paddington in Peru had some big shoes to fill; the result is an Indiana Jones-esque adventure that rises to the occasion, a story inseparable from its setting and bolstered by its world-class camerawork.
Sweetpea
Words Oliver Webb
Ella Purnell is having quite the year, with Fallout and Sweetpea both under her belt. Sweetpea is a gory, chaotic and refreshingly original entry into the serial killer canon. The six-part series is based on CJ Skuse’s novel series of the same name. Purnell stars as Rhiannon Lewis, a receptionist at a local newspaper whose life quickly takes a turn after a series of dramatic events and begins work on a kill list. DOP Nick Morris’ dark and stylish cinematography helps bring this twisted thriller to life. Morris relied on the ARRI ALEXA 35 to capture the dark undertones of the show, with a combination of Master Prime lenses.
My favourite moment from the show came in episode 2 with the unsettling karaoke scene. We see a nervous Rhiannon finally finding her confidence and delivering a powerful version of Katy Perry’s Roar before being interrupted by police looking for information about a murder. The scene marks a significant shift in Rhiannon’s approach and is acted out perfectly. In fact, the song choices throughout the entirety of the show are all carefully selected. The show has been criticised as being humourless and dull – and I couldn’t disagree more. Sweetpea is a fine balance of dark comedy and tragedy but shouldn’t be pigeonholed into any one genre.
Bird
Words Nicola Foley
I caught Bird at the opening night of Cambridge Film Festival in October, and found myself thinking about this wonderfully weird coming-of-age story for days after. Blending kitchen-sink grit with moments of magical realism, the film follows 12-year-old Bailey (played by incredible newcomer Nykiya Adams) as she navigates a fractured home life, impending adolescence and the arrival of a mysterious stranger into her life.
Despite the heavy themes – drugs, domestic violence, poverty, teen pregnancy – there is a hopeful undercurrent, and some of the needle-drop moments are downright euphoric. Bailey’s father Bug (Barry Keoghan) swaying to Blur’s The Universal, a drunken wedding line dance to Cotton Eye Joe and a deranged e-scooter dash to a soundtrack of Too Real by Fontaines DC stick in the mind.
At the heart of Bird is the extraordinary cinematography by Robbie Ryan, who reunites with director Andrea Arnold after their acclaimed collaborations on American Honey and Fish Tank. Ryan’s camerawork has a shaky, handheld style that draws the audience into Bailey’s emotional landscape.
The camera stays close, capturing every expression and making us feel as if we are experiencing her world alongside her. It shifts between traditional POV shots and a more instinctive, rhythmic style. As Bailey navigates her chaotic life, the camera mirrors her emotional state – unsteady and frenetic at times of anxiety, tender and still during her reflective moments.
Bailey’s obsession with filming her surroundings gives an interesting lens through which to view her world. As she captures moments on her iPhone, we get immersed in her memories and inner world. But where Bird really takes flight is in a scene towards the end of the film, depicting Snake (Bailey’s mother’s abusive boyfriend) on a violent rampage. This brutal scene,
which suddenly takes a turn for the supernatural, was one of the most powerful I’ve seen in a cinema in a long time.
Anora
Words Oliver Webb
Sean Baker is one of Hollywood’s most daring filmmakers, and Anora is perhaps his finest work yet. Mikey Madison stars as the titular Anora (Ani), a young sex worker from Brooklyn who meets the son of a Russian oligarch. While Baker has frequently explored sex work in his films – with The Florida Project, Tangerine, Starlet and Red Rocket notable examples – each film is a unique character study and doesn’t feel repetitive.
The film, which scooped the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes, also marks Baker’s second feature collaboration with DOP Drew Daniels after Red Rocket. Daniels used ARRICAM LT 35mm cameras and anamorphic lenses to shoot the movie, echoing the films of New Hollywood and seventies cinema. It is no surprise that Daniels lists Owen Roizman ASC – The French Connection (1971), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975) – as an influence on his approach. Roizman’s work is clearly reflected through Daniels’ stylistic choices. Seeing Anora on the big screen was a treat, leaving a sold-out audience dazzled by its brevity. Expect to see Madison bag best actress at the Oscars, and perhaps a nom for Daniels, too.
Slow Horses
Words Katie Kasperson
Now in its fourth season, and with the fifth already fast approaching, spy thriller Slow Horses continues to paint London in a decidedly ‘unsexy’ light, according to DOP Danny Cohen. Unlike the worlds of James Bond or Jason Bourne, Jackson Lamb’s (played by Gary Oldman) is much grittier and more tactile, shedding light on the oft-overlooked areas of the Big Smoke.
The series incorporates aerial cinematography, once again by Jeremy Braben, who mixed establishing shots with in-air action footage filmed largely at night. It is also thanks to Cohen, who shot the series’ first, second, fourth and fifth seasons, that Slow Horses subverts expectations about what a spy thriller should be – and how it should look. Mostly, it is about everyday people who just so happen to be spies. While the series’ style reflects this mediocrity, it is far from a visual bore.
Challengers
Words Katie Kasperson
Introducing a new love triangle to the cultural conversation, Challengers – directed by Call Me By Your Name’s Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes – is a sexy tennis movie that uses the sport as a metaphor for all relationships. Starring Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, a feisty ex-athlete; Mike Faist as Art Donaldson, her pro player husband; and Josh O’Connor as Patrick Zweig, Tashi’s ex-bf and Art’s ex-bff, the film follows the trio over the course of 13 definitive years.
Backed by a score that could set clubs ablaze, Challengers mixes fast-paced tennis with slower, more meditative cinematography by Guadagnino’s regular collaborator, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom. Their third film together after Call Me By Your Name and Suspiria, Challengers employs some creative camerawork – particularly in the final sequence, or the match point. The camera repeatedly changes POV, hovering above the court and offering a bird’s-eye view, then dropping below and looking up (filmed beneath a glass floor), then becoming the ball itself. Mukdeeprom also uses a split dioptre to frame Tashi in between Art and Patrick, all in focus, demonstrating her allegiance to both yet neither.
While the film is framed by this high-stakes match, the stakes are only made such by the characters’ collective backstory. Told through flashbacks, it’s the off-court action that carries the drama, from Tashi encouraging Art and Patrick to kiss and watching with a smug expression, to Tashi experiencing a career-ending injury, to Patrick picking her up in a windstorm the night before the New Rochelle Challenger final, which pits the two men against each other. This latter scene is particularly breathtaking. Patrick and Tashi face one another in an empty car park illuminated by red brake lights – the wind whipping them both, the frame rate slowing while the music crescendos – and the two share a moment that has been years in the making. While the hyperactive, adrenaline-heavy scenes are technically impressive, it is ones like these that make Challengers truly aesthetically exciting.
House of the Dragon
Words Katie Kasperson
Perhaps the most hotly anticipated series of last summer, House of the Dragon – the Game of Thrones prequel – is the epitome of high-end TV. A VFX-heavy project, the show blends traditional and aerial cinematography, as there is as much action in the sky as there is on the ground.
To mimic gigantic dragons in flight, Jeremy Braben – the show’s aerial DOP and CEO of Helicopter Film Services – would capture the creatures’ ‘eyeline route’ with the DJI Inspire 3, working with four DOP-director duos across the second season. It is thanks to the crew’s penchant for planning that a series steeped in fantasy maintains its sense of realism.
The Outrun
Words Oliver Webb
DOP Yunus Roy Imer expertly intertwines the bright, colourful hues of vibrant London with the rugged and wild landscapes of Orkney, shifting the viewer’s expectations. Boosted by an exceptional performance from Saoirse Ronan as Rona, The Outrun offers a perfect tonal balance of landscapes that shape Rona’s world.
The stunning images of seals in the Orkney waters by underwater cinematographer Raymond Besant also deserve a special mention. Yunus Roy relied on the ARRI ALEXA Mini to shoot the film, meanwhile incorporating documentary-style footage for the intercuts using the ARRI AMIRA and a Super 16 Cooke 10.4-52mm zoom. For the flashback sequences, he used Panavision C Series lenses and opted for Panavision Primo prime lenses to capture the rugged beauty of the Orkney landscapes.
The Outrun is a brilliant adaptation of Amy Liptrot’s memoir and one of the year’s best character-driven films.
