American Cinematographer - April 2016 - 20

Production Slate

Rewriting History
By Kevin Barnes

Adapted from Stephen King's novel of the same title,
11.22.63 is an eight-part limited series produced by J.J. Abrams' Bad
Robot for Warner Bros. and Hulu. Jake Epping (James Franco) is a
high-school English teacher tasked by Al Templeton (Chris Cooper) to
travel back in time to prevent the JFK assassination. A supply closet
in Al's diner serves as a portal to 1960 - more than three years
before the fateful day. Forced to blend into a decades-old era, Epping
embarks on a journey of subterfuge, murder and love.
Longtime colleagues David Katznelson, BSC, DFF and Adam
Suschitzky, BSC photographed the pilot and remaining seven
episodes, respectively. Katznelson, known for his work on Downton
Abbey and Game of Thrones, came to the project by way of pilot
director Kevin Macdonald, with whom he has enjoyed a working
history in commercials. Suschitzky was busy shooting The Whispers
for Amblin when he was recommended to 11.22.63 showrunner
Bridget Carpenter. The two cinematographers collaborated on many
key decisions, such as camera format and lenses. Crediting Katznelson for his generosity, Suschitzky notes, "He respected that I had a
long journey to take, and he wanted me involved. It was a new,
enjoyable experience and a real partnership."
Film was not in the budget, so the pair discussed several
methods of digital capture. Hulu had weighed in with a 4K delivery
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April 2016

mandate, and "Kevin and I came up with the 2:1 [aspect ratio] idea
and sold it to Hulu," says Katznelson, "who luckily thought it was a
good idea." With these parameters in mind, the decision was made
to go with a Red Epic Dragon. Images were recorded in 5K for spherical and 6K for anamorphic, and at an 8:1 compression ratio on
512GB RedMag SSD cards.
The cinematographers employed an extensive lens package,
which primarily included sphericals for present-day scenes and
anamorphics for period work. The spherical package consisted of
Cooke Speed Panchros (S2s and S3s), Zeiss Super and Standard
Speeds, and an Angenieux Optimo 24-290mm (T2.8) zoom.
Anamorphic lenses consisted of Vantage Film's Hawk V-Lite and CSeries lenses and an anamorphosized Angenieux HR 50-500mm
(T5.1) zoom. While period delineation was an overarching motivation, lenses were also chosen for specific purposes within each era.
The Super Speeds, at T1.3, showed their strengths in the pilot's lowlight setups, and the Panchros' warm, rich softness in modern
settings provided a subtle contrast when paired with period footage
shot with anamorphic glass. Zooms were limited to the pilot, but
were employed for scenes set in both the '60s and the present day.
Additionally, Katznelson leaned on the V-Lite 35mm, 45mm and
55mm in the anamorphic range, and the Super Speed 25mm and
35mm for spherical shots.
Suschitzky photographed the lion's share of the 1960s
scenes and most of the anamorphic work. "Episode two was a really

American Cinematographer

11.22.63 photos by Ben Mark Holzberg and Sven Frenzel, courtesy of Hulu.

High-school
English teacher
Jake Epping
(James Franco,
left) is tasked by
Al Templeton
(Chris Cooper) to
travel back in
time to prevent
the JFK
assassination in
the eight-part
limited series
11.22.63.

American Cinematographer - April 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - April 2016