The Cinematography Podcast

Director Dave Boyle and DP Patrick Ouziel on making the ghost story Never After Dark in Japan: a 28-day shoot, a backlit zoetrope mirror, and in-camera magic.

Podcast highlights:
-How Boyle, fresh off the Netflix hit House of Ninjas, made the film in Japan. Cast and crew were locked in before the script was finished, a development cycle very different from what happens in Hollywood's.
-What it's like to shoot in a language you don't speak. Ouziel worked through a translator and alongside lighting director Hidenori Nagata, whose traditional fixtures and custom mirrors changed how he thinks about light.
-How they built the spinning, ghost summoning zoetrope mirror and captured its reflections in camera. With careful tests and planning, Ouziel filmed all the mirror shots exclusively with in-camera effects.

Never After Dark opens September 25 in New York and Los Angeles and expands nationwide October 9.
Find Never After Dark in theaters: https://www.magpictures.com/neverafterdark/
Find Dave Boyle: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2279419/
Instagram: @thedaveboyle
Find Patrick Ouziel: https://www.patrickouziel.com/
Instagram: @patrickouziel

Hear our previous interview with Dave Boyle on House of Ninjas: https://www.camnoir.com/ep254/

Show Rundown:
02:16 Close Focus
13:03-01:01:42 Interview with Dave Boyle and Patrick Ouziel
01:02:14 Short Ends
01:08:49 Credits

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social

Director Wesley Wang on building Wesley Wang Media, an indie studio incubator for online creators, launching a $100K open contest, and staying a filmmaker himself.

Podcast highlights include:
-How Wesley Wang Media flips the traditional development model. Rather than years of notes and pitch meetings behind closed doors, the company funds small, low-cost proofs of concept and lets online audiences decide what gets scaled toward streaming or theatrical.
-The $100,000 open filmmaker contest the company just launched. No agent, lawyer, or prior credits required — just a 60-second pitch video, with finalists flown out for a filmed "camp" challenge to help pick the winner.
-What it's like negotiating the split between building a company and staying a filmmaker himself. Wang talks candidly about the pull toward becoming an "executive producer" full-time, and his plan to keep writing and directing on the side.
-Where Wang draws the line on AI. He explains why Wesley Wang Media isn't funding AI-made or AI-assisted projects right now, and compares the pull of human-made films to why nobody roots for a computer chess player over a grandmaster.

If you're a creator, brand, investor or anyone with a great idea, Wesley Wang Media would like to hear from you! Email: team@wesleywangmedia.com
Apply for the $100,000 filmmaker contest: https://wesleywangmedia.com/apply
Find Wesley Wang: https://wesleywangmedia.com/
Instagram: @wesleywanggg
@wesleywangmedia

Show Rundown:
02:13 Close Focus
09:13- 52:47 Wesley Wang Interview
53:11 Short Ends
59:52 Credits

The Cinematography Podcast
website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social

Remembering cinematographer Rodney Charters, ASC, dp of 24, Sleepwalkers, and much more in this classic Cinepod conversation on craft, career, and lighting.

DP Brett Pawlak on grounding Spider-Man: Brand New Day in natural light, practical suit design, and 17 years collaborating with Destin Cretton.

Podcast highlights include:
-How Pawlak and Cretton’s input about the suit design kept Peter Parker feeling human. The mask allowed Tom Holland's jaw to move, and his real eyes were visible through the mesh so the audience never forgets there’s a human under the mask.
-Pawlak's approach to lighting a tentpole movie. Using as much natural light as possible.
-Solving the Jean Grey telekinesis sequence with a simple method. Capturing a choreographed "wave" through the cast with both whip pans and lock-offs.
-How fundamentals of story and composition don't change when scaling up from TV’s Wonder Man to a Spider-Man tentpole.

Find Brett Pawlak: https://www.brettpawlak.com/
Instagram: @brettsbo

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is still playing in theaters and conquering the box office.

SHOW RUNDOWN:
01:50 Close Focus
13:07-01:14:46 Brett Pawlak Interview
01:15:25 Short Ends
01:26:10 Credits

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social

Cinematographer John Matysiak on shooting Motor City's nearly dialogue-free story, real in-camera stunts, and building its 1970s Detroit look from film tests.

Podcast highlights include:

-Why Motor City tells its story with almost no dialogue, and how that shaped everything from frame rate to needle-drop music. The crew tested wildly different frame rates to find moments where the image alone could carry the emotion of a scene.
-The commitment to shooting practical over digital, including a real car fight and a one-day elevator brawl. The team built real stunts on real streets, saving resources for the effects work that truly needed it.
-How the team engineered Motor City's period 1970s Detroit look. Side-by-side film tests on 35mm and Alexa helped the team reverse-engineer a great film look for digital.
-Pulling off an ambitious 44-location shoot in just 27 days. Heavy pre-production and storyboarding gave the crew the flexibility to improvise and pivot when locations and permits fell through at the last minute.

Find John Matysiak: https://www.johnmatysiak.com/
Instagram: @john_matysiak

Motor City is still in select theaters and available on pay per view.

Hear our past interview with John Matysiak and Potsy Ponciroli on their film, Old Henry: https://www.camnoir.com/ep143/

SHOW RUNDOWN:

02:09 Close Focus
12:46-01:01:45 John Matysiak Interview
01:02:26 Short Ends
01:11:33 Credits

The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com
YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast
Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod
Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social