American Cinematographer - July 2020 - 53

"Every episode has what I like to
call a 'Rubik's Cube moment.' It's a
complex action sequence, often in zero
gravity, that requires elements to be
shot with actors in various set pieces
and bluescreen bits that must be tied
together as one cohesive series of
events. Sometimes the sun is spinning
or moving or other interactive light
sources are in play. These always
require extensive planning, and we've
used virtual reality heavily to previs
those scenes. VR has been a major help
to our show, and it's changed the way I
think and work."

Greenleaf photos by Guy D'Alema, courtesy of Lionsgate and OWN.

James Chressanthis, ASC, GSC
Greenleaf
OWN/Netflix
A family saga about the struggle for
power within an African-American
megachurch in Memphis, Tenn.
"Inspired
by
[executive
producer] Oprah Winfrey, Greenleaf
portrays the struggles within a
complex constellation of family relations - in essence, the conflict between
the flesh and spirit. There is the whole
range of human behavior - goodness,
deceit, frailty, bravery, joy and love -
with characters trying to be good and
failing, recovering and then seeking
forgiveness and redemption. The
dialogue by series creator Craig
Wright, Kriss Turner Towner and their
team is quite elevated, capturing our
everyday speech melded with the
rhythmic, powerful and often majestic
language of Southern black preachers.
"This ecclesiastical element drew
me to the project. Starting in Season 3,
in
concert
with
executive
producer/director Clement Virgo, I
developed a lighting design echoing
the
Renaissance
paintings
of
Caravaggio and Rembrandt, referencing centuries-old religious art not just
for lighting, but also for composing
shots of our large ensemble cast.
"I also used light to subtly
embed iconographic imagery into the
show. I crafted halos around characters
and added delicate, glowing sources of

James Chressanthis,
ASC, GSC on set with
director Crystle
Roberson.

light, always looking for imperfections,
visual accidents or flares in the frame
to create a dialogue of light and dark,
spirit and flesh.
"I shot Season 3 on the Red
Helium 8K S35 using Cooke 5/i lenses
coupled with the new Schneider
Radiant Soft filters. In approaching
Season 4, and with Clement's encouragement to push the look even further,
I paired a prototype Panavision DXLM camera kit with Panavision Special
Optics. The DXL-M, a Panavised [Red]
DSMC2 camera with a Helium sensor,
extends the DXL2 ecosystem into a
smaller form factor.
"I asked [Panavision's senior
vice-president of optical engineering
and ASC associate member] Dan
Sasaki and his team to push the halation aspect of the lenses. Through testwww.ascmag.com

ing, we created a set of Special Optics
Classic Primo lenses, plus a modified
Panavision 19-90mm zoom that we
used for Technocrane work. I continued
using Schneider Radiant Softs, but I also
used a set of unmodified Classic Primos
when I needed a harder contrast.
"With Light Iron colorist Nick
Hasson and the input of ASC associate
member Michael Cioni, we modified a
DXL Film LUT to create our main 'film
stock' look, as well as specialized night,
fire and flashback looks.
"I felt I got the best skin tones,
and many of our cast members said
they had never looked so good! The
full range between high highlights to
deep shadows was beautiful. My flares
and halos and Christological iconic
references were all captured with delicacy to help bring the show to its
July 2020

53
http://www.ascmag.com
American Cinematographer - July 2020

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