DOP IN TV SERIES
specially linked to TV series during the last decade. What’s so special about this field? What do you like the most about working in this area? How has your job in TV change since you worked back in 1995 on MTV’s The State, for example?
responsible for lots of episodes of ‘Suits’ and, in my humble opinion, some of the best episodes of ‘The Americans’, among other projects. What is it like to take an already established show, such as the latest, and take it into its final episodes?
What I love about dramatic episodic television is that as we move through a season a TV series takes on a life that in feature films is a bit different. A feature is a finite project, all prepped and executed with a specific vision. I have found that TV has more room for growth in the look as well as in the characters. Just as actors shape a performance over a season, the look of a show evolves as well. In a perfect world, the show grows in its look, the efficiency of execution and depth of character, which the look helps to support.
Taking over a show that has an established look presents its own creative challenges. Fortunately for me, the shows I've taken on have had wonderful look already, so putting on those shoes was painless. The question becomes how I maintain the look of the show, keeping it consistent, and at the same time putting myself into it. I found with ‘The Americans’ following a few ground rules kept the show in the zone but also allowed me to introduce new locations, new characters and keep them in the same world. The lensing of the show was very specific and that to me became the common denominator. We stayed with wider lenses, close in with actors to keep the environments sharp and present. I felt
Before talking about ‘The Boys’, the last big project you were involved, you were 60
that this created a more intimate proximity to the audience. I would often juxtapose very wide shots, through doorways or windows to create an outside perspective, like a spy might view the world, with the close wide intimate coverage, as though inviting the audience in on an intimate secret.
‘THE BOYS’ IS A MASTERCLASS IN EFFECTS, VISUAL EFFECTS, SPECIAL EFFECTS, AND STUNTS. MOST DAYS WE DO THEM ALL.