Inside the July 2025 Issue of American Cinematographer
The July 2025 issue of American Cinematographer spotlights the evolving artistry of lighting for streaming series. Productions covered in this issue include Severance, Black Mirror, Doctor Who, Adolescence and Daredevil: Born Again. An expanded showcase of New Products and Services also offers a look at camera tracking for virtual production.
Shooting Severance Season 2
Cinematographer/director/producer Jessica Lee Gagné, alongside cinematographers David Lanzenberg, ASC and Suzie Lavelle, BSC, ISC, and director/executive producer Ben Stiller, share how they collaborated to create the surreal world of Severance. Director Uta Briesewitz, ASC also shares insight into Season 2's distinctive visual tone. The filmmakers' discussion reveals how the Apple TV Plus thriller series' lighting techniques enhance the dual realities depicted in its story.
Also Read — Severance: Ben Stiller Shares Creative and Personal Influences
Watch — Clubhouse Conversations: Severance (Season 2) | Cinematographer Jessica Lee Gagné
Crafting Sci-Fi Aesthetics for Black Mirror
Cinematographers Jo Willems, ASC, SBC; Stephan Pehrsson, BSC; Philipp Haberlandt, BVK; and Álvaro Gutiérrez, AEC break down their lighting strategies and other creative and technical choices for the latest season of Netflix’s dystopian anthology, Black Mirror.
A Singular Episode of Doctor Who
In “The Story & the Engine,” an inventive episode of Doctor Who, cinematographer Ashley Barron, ACS brings a new visual language to the BBC/Disney Plus series. Barron explains how the crew's lighting concepts, and her collaboration with the VFX team, helped elevate the show's signature time-travel action.
Bringing Raw Emotion to Adolescence
Cinematographer Matthew Lewis and gaffer Max Hodgkinson discuss their approach for a crucial episode of Adolescence. The filmmakers' key lighting and camera-movement choices help the Netflix limited series balance social realism and fraught family dynamics.
Daredevil: Born Again — Superhero, Mean Streets
Cinematographers Hillary Fyfe Spera and Pedro Gómez Millán, AMC bring the grit of 1970s New York City-set cinema to a modern superhero story for Daredevil: Born Again. The Marvel series, streaming on Disney Plus, features a perilous showdown set in a penthouse that called for elaborately choreographed lighting cues.
New Products and Services
This month’s showcase expands to highlight a variety of tools for tracking production cameras in virtual-production environments.
In Memoriam: Bruce Logan, ASC
A tribute to the late visual-effects expert, whose work on 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars and Tron, among other productions, has left lasting impact on the medium.
Wrap Shot: The Godfather (1972)
Revisiting Gordon Willis, ASC’s work on the influential restaurant-shooting scene in director Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather.
