Light Iron

Come behind the scenes on the cinematography of The Lowdown with DP‘s Adam Stone and Mark Schwartzbard.

Stone, who shot the pilot and set the tone for the series, tells us, “The Lowdown pilot has a vibey, rough-hewn look – intentionally loose, energetic, and fun. We wanted the visuals to match the spirit and momentum of the script. We drew inspiration from the classic noir playbook, but ultimately pushed the aesthetic in our own direction. Whenever possible, we shot from the shadow side, with little fill, and relied on a hefty LUT to keep the low end rich and inky. At the same time, we wanted to honor the intensity of the Tulsa sun – something that runs counter to traditional noir, but felt essential to the story.

Panavision is consistently the most helpful and reliable camera house. With limited time and budget on the pilot, traveling to LA for lens tests wasn’t an option. Thankfully, Panavision shipped multiple lens sets a week before principal photography, giving us the time we needed to dial in the exact lenses and camera system for the project.”

“The Lowdown comes out of the tradition of the ‘sunshine Neo-noir’,” says Schwartzbard, DP of some of the later episodes. “Adam Stone set the look in the pilot and established a great view of Tulsa – it’s a bit warm and nostalgic, a bit 70’s. The writing in the Lowdown is different, scenes are more centered on individual characters, and so the look that Adam established, and that Chris Norr and I followed, was more about wider lenses closer up.

[Light Iron Supervising Colorist] Corinne Bogdanowicz graded all three seasons of Reservation Dogs, my last project with [director] Sterlin Harjo. She always does fantastic work salvaging my sloppy shooting, and navigating the inconsistencies of Oklahoma weather. Corinne and I followed the vibe Adam set up. We leaned into the 70s a bit more by adding film grain and keeping the HDR from peaking too high, I felt those were both important. Hopefully we ended up a bit retro, a bit timeless. I’ve been lucky to get to work with people like Sterlin, who are doing work that’s meaningful, humanist, and empathetic.”

📸 BTS Photography by Shane Brown

We caught up with breakthrough cinematographer Jessica Arzate on her work on ‘Sheepwell’, a darkly comedic feminist thriller adapted from Margaret Caterisano’s Lope de Vega play ‘Fuenteovejuna’. The film, which premieres in 2026, was shot on the Panavision DXL2 camera with Ultra Speed lenses and supported by the New Filmmaker Program and Light Iron.

“[Director] Kim Caicedo and I have made six shorts together, so by the time we approached this feature we already shared a strong creative shorthand,” Arzate told us. “The goal was a grounded and intimate world, focusing on the ordinary moments in these characters’ lives while letting a slightly absurd comedic tone surface. We leaned toward a Coen-influenced sensibility, and for camera movement, Kim showed me scenes from Hong Kyung-pyo’s work in ‘Burning’.

We wanted to replicate the natural light effects the locations offered, shaping contrast and quality in a way that felt true to each space. We aimed for soft tones and a gentle roll-off, keeping detail in the highlights and shadows. Our gaffer, James Swartz, and the G&E team worked hard to make that approach hold up in every setup.

Light Iron Senior Colorist Katie Jordan was involved from the very beginning. She helped create a LUT that brought us close to the final look on set, and her work matching the cameras and refining the grade made a real impact. With so many night scenes and a tight schedule, the Ultra Speeds were exactly what we needed. Having T1.3 available more than once saved the day (night) while still keeping the image where we wanted it aesthetically.

I’m so grateful to the Panavision crew, whose support and trust helped make this project possible.”

“Twisted Metal is the kind of show that pushes you to your limits, but you love every minute of it.” Light Iron senior colorist Charles Bunnag recaps his collaboration and approach to grading Peacock’s 'Twisted Metal' Season 2.

“I came onto Season 1 when Light Iron was awarded the show, and by the end, the whole team clicked. So, when Season 2 came up, I was thrilled to return. We had two new DPs, Spencer Combs and Fraser Brown [CSC], who brought a ton of creativity to the table. Right away, I could tell there were new opportunities to experiment. I also worked closely with VFX supervisor Josh Spivack to help shape the final images. Josh is wonderfully collaborative, and that let us really push what was possible in the grade.

This season, Fraser had the idea to add greens and blues into the blacks, which gave the image more depth and character. The show also moved from New Orleans to Vancouver, where the clouds are always moving, so there was a lot of work done to line things up. But those challenges became opportunities to be creative. For the massive action in episode 211, we created what the showrunner, Michael Jonathan ‘MJ’ Smith, called the ‘eternal sunset,’ using lighting effects, brute-force shapes, and light rays to tie everything together.

Twisted Metal has a heightened reality to it, which meant we could really lean into color. For example, the prom episode is full of rich, saturated lighting that turned out much prettier than I expected. Episode 205 features a fiery eclipse sequence that let us experiment even more, with Josh and I trading ideas on how far we could push the effects within the grade. Every scene became about adding depth to a 2D image — using light, contrast and atmosphere to build separation and a sense of dimensionality.”

“Chris wanted to shoot in the summer in London because he felt it was essential for this film. Visually, we always wanted to keep a rich look to the movie. We didn’t want to light it in a purely comedic way, but rather in a style that carried some edge. Real life is full of both comedy and tragedy, and that’s ultimately what this story is about.”

Don Burgess ASC takes viewers behind the scenes of director Chris Columbus’ Netflix feature film The Thursday Murder Club.

“Chris prefers to focus on one camera, which I think is great. You design these beautiful shots that really tell the story and then shoot the coverage. Chris has the ability to see it, communicate it, and then make it better once the actors are in rehearsal.

When I started testing, I felt the Panaspeeds had a little softer look to them, which I felt was more appropriate for the material and for the cast. When you’re trying to put everything together in prep, these pieces start talking to you at some point. It’s purely a gut feeling that ultimately happens when you’re looking at the material.

Contrast was really driving the image. The color was what I’d call ‘normal,’ but the contrast became the point of testing — building up the highlights and falloff so the image felt stronger. That process gave us the guidebook for what the dailies would look like, what we’d be tracking toward in post production, and ultimately what the movie would look like.”

Light Iron supervising colorist Corinne Bogdanowicz — who was reteaming with Burgess for their 13th feature together — adds, “We created a show LUT from some test images before production started, which gave us a foundation going into dailies. Don and I have worked together for many years, and we’ve developed a pretty smooth way of collaborating. I graded in Baselight, and we used some shaping and color separation to really draw your eye to the important parts of the frame. With a natural look, the way the characters stand out — or not — becomes a really important element of the grade. Both Don and Chris are very clear about what they want, which made the color correction a really enjoyable experience.”

Watch The Thursday Murder Club now, streaming only on .