Latest / Gilbert. K Show / Daredevil: Born Again Cinematographer Hillary Fyfe Spera

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Daredevil: Born Again Cinematographer Hillary Fyfe Spera · Gilbert. K Show

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Today on the Gilbert K Show, we're going behind the lens with acclaimed cinematographer Hillary Fife Sperra, the visual storyteller behind Daredevil Born Again, you, Dexter New Blood, The Parenting, Run, and The Craft Legacy.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: From creating dark, unforgettable worlds to bringing some of TV and film's biggest stories to life.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Hillary knows how to make every frame tell a story.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Let's give a big welcome to the one and only Hilary Fife Sperra.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Pleasure to have you on the show.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: How are you today?
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for being thanks for having me.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm happy to be on the show.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for being on the show.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um okay, so let's get into it.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um so let's start at the beginning.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: When you were growing up, what kind of kid were you?
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: Were you always the one carrying a camera, or did you love or did you love for visual storytelling come later?
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: Always the one carrying a camera.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: I was always, I think I picked it up when I was really young as a gift for my parents.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: It was sort of just like a, you know, camera they didn't want anymore, whatever it was.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then all through high school, I had a camera with me kind of nonstop.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: And um actually the only class I've ever taken officially with photo has been in high school.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: So that was really where I developed my sort of love for it.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: And um, yeah, I always had a camera by my side and and um, you know, was annoying in that way, probably to everybody around me.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: But uh yeah, that's where I I figured it out.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: And were your parents, your family is in the film industry or music industry?
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: No, not at all.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: My dad is in real estate and my mom was an educator, and um they are I'm an only child and they are incredibly supportive.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I grew up sort of in the woods in Vermont and in Canada actually, and riding horses, and they were uh self-confessed, never really understood the film industry, but they were always super supportive of of whatever I did, and whenever I had to disappear for months at a time, they were great about it.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, yeah.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: So when you were a kid, did you always know that uh you wanted to be in the film industry, or was it just a hobby at that time, like the football?
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, not at all.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: I actually went to school.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I went to the communications school at Boston University, which was definitely like sort of slanted towards media, but I thought I might want to go into still photography and found when I got there it was like sort of more of a photojournalism school and so I or department program.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I just kind of stumbled into cinematography and like took a lot of film classes there, realized I really loved it, like specifically loved film theory.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like I just loved sort of like the thought of you know what it was really about and characters and story, and then being able to sort of convey that visually was just like a really exciting thing for me in a way that my brain hadn't worked before.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: But I was also, while I was there in school in pre-vet, I thought I might become, you know, work going to become a veteran veterinarian because I'd grown up with animals and horses.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was kind of doing both, both like science and photography and cinematography.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I really just fell in love with cinematography and ended up like shooting all of the sort of like class projects I could and um making my own films on 16 and cutting them on Steam Bex and you know doing the OG.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: That's amazing.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I read somewhere that uh still photography came before cinematography.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh do you remember the very first photo we ever took that made you think this is what I want?
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's really funny.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: I was hanging out with one of my really good childhood friends the other day, Nick Haggerty, and he uh he and I I mentioned him, I still remember this one image I took of him in high school, and it's like a portrait, but it's a very kind of like off-the-cuff portrait, and it's just the wide angle lens, and he's kind of close to the camera, and I just have this image like burned in my brain, and I think it was one of the first photos that I saw, and it just felt really cinematic.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: It felt like a really kind of like I don't know, it was like his soul as an image, and um I still have it somewhere, and I think that was like one of the first times I realized like, oh, this is like there's something more here than just taking a photo of a thing.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's like it's at a lot of my kind of interpretation of the world.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then I also um did a lot of stuff where I was constantly taking camera to like music shows and stuff like that, and so a lot of those images I think later went into what I ended up doing because I love shooting live music.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: That's great.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: So every successful career has a moment where things almost didn't happen.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: Was there a project, a decision, or even a setback that completely changed your path?
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great question.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I didn't have like one, I had one event happen where I was sort of doing finally kind of like taking off with indie film, and I I had a summer where I got into a bike accident and um was uh consequently out for a few months after that, and I had all these jobs lined up and sort of thought like, oh, that's it, you know, this is gonna make a big dent.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: But it I it didn't, you know.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: I think I I just spent the time kind of like reflecting, and I truly think that everything is research.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, you can really be, at least for my point, my my job, it's like I could be taking photos and that's practice and things like that.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so I spent the summer doing that, and I think it actually made a huge impact when I was finally able to get back into shooting.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then, you know, my only other stuff kind of related to that was just, you know, being it's being freelanced is really hard and you kind of never know where your next job's coming from.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that there's definitely moments where you're like, oh, maybe I'll never work again, you know, and then you get a call and you kind of pursue it and it comes from the universe or or who knows what.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, I think that that it just kind of being like it just really believe yourself and and and persevering is when when those times happen is is tough.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: But um, yeah.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's great.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_02: So before Marvel and Hollywood productions, you worked on documentaries in some incredible real life environments.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: What did those experiences teach you that still helps you today when you're shooting bigger?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, I mean, I think the documentary work, not only is it some of my favorite stuff I've ever done before and put me in environments that were totally outside of my element, which I think taught me so much, just about really kind of being flexible and embracing what you can't control and you know, kind of always keeping the other eye open and the world around you.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: And who knows, maybe there's something happening right over there that's that's kind of a better way to photograph, and you have to kind of be open to that and kind of not kind of like contriving it too much so that you're squeezing the life and soul out of it.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: So definitely like having the confidence to sort of trust what the universe gives you is something that you've earned.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and also just being able to be kind of like a total gypsy, like just you know, you kind of find your home where you are and your crew and your family and being able to work in different environments all over the world.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I truly was so lucky early in my career that I was, you know, given these opportunities to kind of pick up and work anywhere.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that taught me, you know, I could have all the toys in the world or none of the toys in the world, and I'd still be okay.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: And you just really have to be inventive.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe you're lighting using, you know, a piece of cardboard because that's all you've got, or you know, like a bare bulb, or maybe you've got all the stuff and the cranes and the tools and and you're good there too.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: But um, yeah, it it taught me to just sort of have that confidence.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and also really just I've developed my passion through it because I think that it, you know, those challenges made me feel that much more curious and invested.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it's all ways to tell the story.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: You don't need the fanciest thing.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: You can tell it with um, you know, a flashlight if you need to.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, that's amazing.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: So you once said learn, uh, learn okay, let's try it again.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: You once said you learned by saying yes to almost every opportunity.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: Looking back, was saying yes more important than waiting for the perfect priority.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great question because I I do think saying yes is important, at least it was for me.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it what I mean by that is just that kind of keeping your heart and your mind open, you never know.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's like don't say no before you kind of just feel it out.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: You never know where you know the next thing's gonna come from, you never know when that job's gonna happen, which you might learn so much from, or meet people that will later become collaborators.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: And it might not seem on paper like it's the best thing, you know, the coolest thing, the most like exciting, but you just never know.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's all, it's all research, it's all it's all practice.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, I think as I work more and more, I think you also have to be kind of aware of your time commitment and you know, just the fact that I have a hard time not pouring my whole heart and soul into everything I do.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that, you know, I have to be a little protective over that now and just be like, you know, I I always like to consider it and say yes, but maybe you also have to think about, you know, this is like at least a year commitment kind of for every project.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, is that something that you can do?
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: And should it be someplace that you are putting your time, you know, kind of in the big picture?
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: But certainly when starting out, saying yes was a huge part of you know, just the opportunities I was able to have.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's great.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so we're gonna take a first break and we're gonna play a game, this or that, and it's a rapid fire game for the audience to get to know you.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, let's do it.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: Sunrise or sunset?
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: Uh practical effects or CGI?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: Documentary or narrative films?
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: I can't.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: They're both deep to my heart.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: I love them both.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh handheld camera or study cam?
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Marvel or independent cinema?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: I love them both.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: I really do.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: I've, you know, they're they're both my family and my home, but I do love independent cinema, just you know, in general.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's really important to me.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_02: Uh New York or LA?
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm a New Yorker, so I have to say New York, but I love LA as well.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: Second best.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh black and white or color?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Color.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: Uh film green or crystal clear digital.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: All day long.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh coffee before call time or always before call time.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_02: And finally, golden hour or blue hour.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's such a good one.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: I love blue hour, but golden hour, of course, amazing, but that is a great.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm gonna go with Blue Hour.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_02: Blue Hour.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um uh Daredevil Born Again has one of the most unique visual styles in the Marvel universe.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: When you first joined the project, what was your vision for making New York feel like a character in the story?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: This is very dear to my heart.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I think, you know, my real vision for Daredevil kind of right off the bat, and it's just based on reading the script, you know, knowing a little bit about the character and and how he's a very street level, um, grounded character.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't have like, I mean, he has supernatural abilities, but he's really, you know, he's he's essentially human and on the uh at street level.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: So my essential, my my first sort of inclination was just, it feels like a 70s movie in New York City.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: It feels gritty, it feels very much um, you know, taking place kind of on the streets with the texture of the streets, with all of New York's kind of just character, like from a lighting perspective and having the lights feel really naturalistic and not matching and not perfect, and a lot of interactive lighting where we were using um, you know, headlight sources and trash trucks and you know, alarm, you know, ambulances and all that kind of stuff.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: Just what it felt like to really be on the streets of New York.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: And after living here for um almost 20 years at this point, you know, I just I felt like it was the New York that I kind of both see in my mind in my era and also the New York that I've seen in films of the 70s, which to me are like, you know, the absolute best sort of texture characterization of of a New York City.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: So um that was my vision for it.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I was, I really just kind of threw it out there, and and luckily they went for it, and and that was the show that we made.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: But it definitely developed over the course of the two seasons.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I think that, you know, what was so cool about that idea was it was sort of just a template, which really took in, you know, what it what the Netflix show had been as well, which was very cinematic and and noir, and that was ours as well.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Ours had a little bit more of naturalism groundedness, and then um also these we it gave us this ability to kind of like elevate it and take it further and make it, you know, bring in comic book elements and these moments that were very cinematic and um kind of the antithesis of realism, but again, they were always grounded in like a real motivated thing.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the long answer to your question.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: No, no, that's amazing.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_02: I it's it's stunning.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_02: The visuals are very stunning.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: Is there one sequence in Daredevil, born again, that pushed you creatively more than anything else you've worked on?
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I I have to say, honestly, kind of weekly, there was a sequence that was just like, you know, it would challenge all of us, like the whole crew, um, which felt really cool because we were such a tight unit that the crew was such a family.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and a lot of the collaborators in camera I'd worked with for almost 15 years at this point.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so we were kind of all challenged across the board very frequently, which was awesome.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: But there's two that really stand out to me.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: It was the um the Dolly zooms that we did for the sensory work was very unique, and I'd never done that before, and I'd never seen it before, which was really cool.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and the way that we sort of had to, I mean, it was such a huge collaboration with lighting, camera movement, lensing, performance, obviously.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it was it's such a challenge of if we kind of it was essentially like mini winners, and we had to get them really right with the right timing.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so that was a big challenge.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: And another one that stands out was the beginning of season two, which was it took place on an actual cargo ship on the East River in New York City in the harbor, which at night, which was just like across the board, a technical feat, um a performance feat, um, stunts, you know, lighting, everything.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then just on top of it all, it was at night in the New York Harbor, if live, you know, traffic on the air and wind and cold and all of it.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, that's amazing.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_02: So fans know uh the series U for constantly making viewers question every character.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: As a cinematographer, how do you help build suspense before the audience even realizes something is wrong?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you is you is such an interesting show, and I I loved working on it.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: And it was um, I came on for the fifth season, so it was already the look of the show had already been pretty well established.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um but what we did, which and I this is all credit to for me, credit to Marco Siega, who is the director of I think the first two seasons, and then he's a partner crime of mine over the years, and we did the fifth season together.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he really uh embraced these.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: There's a set of vintage lenses called Tadeos, which are anamorphic lenses, but the show was not shot with anamorphic aspect ratio, it was shot with um, I believe it's two one.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: So we used anamorphic lenses to get what they do, which is that like sort of soft around the edges, sharp center.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then it had all these like really interesting sort of like aberrations and softness and flares, which I think was so uh effective for the show because the show is essentially romantic, right?
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's like the object of his affection for these women, and these he kind of falls obsessively in love.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so these lenses are very soft and romantic, and it's got like misdirect because we're using them often to show sort of the object of his affection and and use this fall off to kind of create this like portrait lens, portrait image.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but then it's just building the suspense because you realize that like it's actually not, you know, it's like this horrific obsession that's gonna sort of badly.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so I just love the look of the show and the way that it had that signature.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I think for us it was about when to use those specific lenses at that moment and using that way to kind of like draw the audience in, um, and then later say, sorry, this is actually quite um, you know, it's essentially a thriller.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: So that's amazing.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um uh the parenting mixes horror and comedy, which is a difficult balance.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_02: Is it harder to make audience laugh or make them uncomfortable with that?
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think comedy is the hardest.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, you know, I was just listening to something recently, and uh actor was sort of saying the same thing.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's comedy's really hard, you know.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: You're relying on trying to like pique people's sense of humor.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that um visually I comedy's hard too, because you're trying to add something cinematic to it and you're trying to sort of like give it this shape and but also sell the visual joke.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, you don't want to take too much away just to make it visual.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: You want to obviously be able to tell the story, like you know, it was my job essentially on everything.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: But um what was so cool about that movie is it it allowed us both.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: It allowed us the ability to do some really funny, very broad, you know, kind of just like humor from like like our references were a lot of 80s movies.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so it was like that type of broad humor, but then also do 80s movies with like poltergeist and like, you know, some really like fun horror that we all grew up with and loved.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so um, yeah, it was like where's the line?
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then figuring out kind of the space we had on both sides.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that we were able to go scary and then also go really broad, you know.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: So uh yeah, I think it was a really unique story and project for that reason.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_02: That's great.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Dexter Newblood uh brought back one of the TV most iconic characters.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_02: Did you ever feel the pressure of honoring something fans already loved while still making it feel fresh?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: I had a huge responsibility.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm a massive Dexter fan of the original series, loved it.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: When Marcos, you know, mentioned to me that it was coming back and he was gonna do it.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: I fell off my chair.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm just I was so honored to even be a part of it at all.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, huge responsibility.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the Dexter canon is is massive and sort of it's very identifiable with the way that they told that story.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's really cool that we were able to take him and take him out of Miami and put him in a new environment, which was upstate New York, or we shot it in Massachusetts in the winter, which is just a 180 to the Dexter language visually.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I think we had the challenge of again like m maintaining the Dexterism and um, but putting it in a new world, a new environment.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, you know, the minute I think it's in episode one, but it's not at the very beginning.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: But when his voice comes in, you know, his voiceover, it was like everyone just was like, okay, here we are.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: And it was a really cool, uh such a special experience to be able to be a part of that.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, and I I keep doing reboots, and so it's it's like I keep going into this like responsibility bubble that I feel so, you know, is such a huge part of my job is to give homage to that and and for the fans as well, you know, just make sure that they're getting what they love about these characters and these stories, you know.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's amazing.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so we're gonna take a final break and we're gonna play a game true or false, and it's time to test some facts about your life and career.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, um, true or false, the best shots are usually the hardest to get.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh true or false preparation is more important than expensive equipment.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh true or false, great cinematography can save a weak scene.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if that's true.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: I think that if they're noticing the cinematography in the scene, that's all they notice, then it's you're in trouble.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uh natural true or false, natural light is still your favorite lighting source.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh true or false, every project teaches you something new.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_02: And true or false, some of the best ideas happen by accident.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_02: True or false, you still get nervous on the first day of the channel.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: Forever true.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_02: And true or false, collaboration is more important than perfection.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: And true or false, viewers notice great cinematography even if they don't realize it.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: And finally, your dream project is still waiting for you.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, true.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: So you work on intimate drama, psychological thrillers, horror documentaries, and now Marvel.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_02: Which genre surprises you the most every time you step onto the set?
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they kind of all do.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I would say, you know, just sort of just.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Straightforwardly, I think documentary because um, but also comedy because it's something that you kind of never know where it's gonna necessarily lead, and you have to be sort of making room for that.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: But that could happen in any genre, honestly.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like it could happen on a thriller set.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, you know, the greatest thing about collaboration is being able to sort of trust that and know that um, you know, maybe an actor does a really interesting performance that's not exactly as it's on the page, and or maybe the blocking's different than what you thought you were gonna do, and you have to sort of account for that.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I think just keeping that aspect open, um, that element of surprise is what makes it feel really um tangible and palpable for for an audience.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: So you've collaborated with so many talented directors.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_02: What's the biggest lesson you learned about communication and trust on a film set?
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: You really have to trust your team, your collaborators.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you work with them, you hire them for a reason, and you have to give them the space to, in my opinion, to bring something to the table, you know.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's why prep is so critical is to really all get on the same page, talk about it, scout it, you know, make a plan, and then be ready to throw that plan out the window if something better develops.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: And also just not micromanaging, trusting the people that have the experience and the heart and the passion to bring something to it.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe it's not the idea that you had when you started.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that, you know, really good collaborators will understand that and not feel threatened by it, and you know, not letting ego get in the way because there's just no possible way that your idea is the only and best idea all the time.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's just not not yeah, yeah, of course.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um so technology keeps changing filmmaking, but storytelling never does.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think great cinematography is about the camera or about understanding the people?
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's all about understanding the people, understanding the story.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, cameras come and go, and the technology is constantly changing, but really it's just about, you know, it's just a tool to allow you to tell the story.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I would say I'm definitely more of a lens person than I am a camera person in the sense that, you know, I mean, I work with amazing cameras and technology, but lensing to me is like a real tool in the paint box and allows you to sort of use these different visuals, you know, like essentially different paints to paint the picture.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that, but really it all comes down to, I mean, you could be on an iPhone, you could be on, you know, a handicam.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's really just about the story and the character.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: And a good story and a good character and a good way of telling it will, you know, supersede cinematography all the time.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: And and it should, you know, it should really be about that.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: We're just, I feel like my job is just being a vehicle to sort of bring that to the screen as best I can.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_02: What what do you think about AI?
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a tool.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think that, you know, um, I was speaking about this last week to a bunch of people, and I feel as if, you know, we have to embrace it to a certain extent responsibly.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, as long as humans are obviously involved with decision making and the authorship.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: But um, I think it's like when we look back, it's just gonna be like when cinema became digital, you know, or when there's these new technologies that we embrace, and we really can't, you know, write it off as something that we say no to because it's just another way of using a tool to facilitate visions, basically.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's true.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so if if a young filmmaker watching this interview only has a phone and a dream, what's one habit they should start today that will make them a better visual storyteller five years from now?
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: Shoot as much as possible, different perspectives, you know, just get out of your comfort zone, shoot things that from different angles and different ways of seeing and just being really open, you know.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think it's just as much as you can sort of get out of your head and and not only see the way you imagine it and kind of being open to happy accidents.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, I mean, my thing that I still do every day is just trying to shoot as much as possible, even if it's just for an hour a day on a walk, you know, just it just helps you see and sort of figure out what your um what your visual language is, you know, as an as a as a filmmaker.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_02: And finally, looking ahead, you've already built an incredible career with projects like Daredevil Born Again, Dexter, New Blood, You and Run.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_02: Is there a dream director, franchise, or completely original story that's still on your bucket?
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: I really want to do a Western.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like it would combine, you know, my love of horses and um, I mean, filmmakers, man, there's so many great ones right now.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I would love like a villain of like, you know, some kind of a project like that that has so much heart and so much character, but also is can be a bit of an epic, you know.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: And um, but yeah, I think a western, especially like a female-led Western, would be super fun.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to do it.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and usually for me, the harder the better.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: So it seems to be an apropos to that.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: You never know.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so Hillary, we're nearing the end of the show.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_02: That's all, folks.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for watching.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: Hilary Fife Spera, everyone.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
• 27:32
  unknown: Thank you.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's a pleasure.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.