American Cinematographer - April 2020 - 59

Unit photography by Jan Thijs, courtesy of Amazon Studios.

found inspiration in the work of
Marina Abramovi´c, Edward Gorey,
Joel-Peter Witkin and Erwin Wurm,
among others, was already well
aware of Stålenhag's illustrations.
"What I liked about the paintings was
how little you knew about them, and
how there was a big narrative going
on that you could fill in for yourself,"
says Romanek. "It became my job to
fill it in, but we wanted to keep that
enigmatic quality."
Building
on
Stålenhag's
artwork, Halpern constructed the
series' narrative tone by referencing
the films of Ingmar Bergman, Andrei
Tarkovsky and Krzysztof Kieslowski
- hardly typical choices for an
American sci-fi TV show. But they
were ideal points for Romanek, who
says of his initial meeting with
Halpern, "I liked him immensely.
He's in his thirties, but he's got a deep
knowledge of cinema. I was like,
'Okay, I'm down with that stuff.'"
Other references Romanek ultimately
brought to the show's aesthetic were
Ang Lee's The Ice Storm (shot by
Frederick Elmes, ASC) and the
photography of Cristina Coral.
Once
onboard,
Romanek
wasted no time in approaching twotime Oscar-nominated cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth, ASC, with
whom he has collaborated for 25
years. "Jeff always comes to mind
immediately," says the director. "I've
had the greatest experiences with
him. He's the chillest, most poetic
guy. He comes across as a patient
suburban dad, but he's an artist - a

tt An underground
machine brings about
anomalous occurrences
for the citizens of Mercer,
Ohio in the Amazon
Prime series Tales From
the Loop. p A girl (Abby
Ryder Fortson) and boy
(Duncan Joiner) happen
upon a mysterious cabin
in the woods.
t Cinematographer Jeff
Cronenweth, ASC (left)
and director Mark
Romanek have
collaborated on projects
for 25 years.

sculptor of light. We vibe together
really great."
Romanek and Cronenweth first
worked together on Michael and Janet
Jackson's
1995
Scream
video,
photographed by Harris Savides,
ASC. Cronenweth was the B-camera
operator on that project, and he went
on to shoot many music videos for

Romanek, as well as One Hour Photo,
Romanek's first feature. "I've known
Mark a very long time," says
Cronenweth. "We've done a lot of
music videos, and those videos were
always pushing the boundaries. We
were always doing something unique,
trying to create something new."
Romanek
had
previously

Cronenweth grew up in the industry learning from not only his father, Jordan Cronenweth, ASC, but also such cinematographers as John Alcott, BSC; Conrad Hall, ASC; and Sven Nykvist, ASC. His experiences with Nykvist, with whom he
worked as 1st AC or camera operator on seven features, came in particularly handy on Tales From the Loop because
Winnipeg's light is so similar to Sweden's. "I channeled Sven a lot on this," says Cronenweth.
Cronenweth first met Nykvist as a child, and recalls him talking about wanting to bring his version of soft light to the
United States. "Sven used to joke that he didn't [light] anything - he would just adapt to what the Swedish weather was
doing. It was always overcast. There was always a window with soft light coming through."
Nykvist's mastery of natural light served as a primary model for the exteriors on Tales From the Loop. According to
Cronenweth, "We were very careful about where we were at what time of the day. We were trying to always get the long
shadows, to create drama photographically as much as we could to add weight to the story."
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April 2020

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American Cinematographer - April 2020

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