Armando Salas, ASC, on Ozark season 3, his Emmy-nominated episode, shooting the series Mr. Mercedes, From Dusk Til Dawn, Strange Angel

Armando Salas, ASC was recently nominated for an Emmy for his work
on Ozark season three. Ozark is intentionally lit and shot to be
very blue and very dark, because all the characters are in the
shadows, desperately hiding and scrambling to avoid exposure.
Armando began working on Ozark during season two and was already a
fan of the show. He worked closely with director and actor Jason
Bateman and the other DP on the series, Ben Kutchins. On season
three, Armando shot the last four episodes with director Alik
Sakharov. (Find our interview with Alik Sakharov here.) This four
hour block of the show was a lot like shooting a film, and required
him to refer to a detailed shot list, make many notes and
continuously refer back to the script. As a kid, Armando grew up in
Miami and was drawn to cinematography as a teenager, when he
started shooting skateboarding videos. He studied fine arts and did
a graduate program for film school, starting off his career as a
gaffer before transitioning fully into cinematography. Armando shot
several indie features and worked on a few films in China before
landing his first episodic show, From Dusk Till Dawn, based on the
film by Robert Rodriguez. For the Stephen King series Mr. Mercedes,
Armando had the opportunity to create the look of the show,
traveling to locations and deciding how to shoot it. The show
quickly transitions from from loose and handheld at first, to very
smooth and formal framing once the vehicle arrives on the scene. On
the CBS show Strange Angel, Armando shot the second season. In this
case, the whole look of the show was meant to feel different from
the first season, with different cameras, lenses, and lighting. You
can find Ozark season three streaming on Netflix. Find Armando
Salas: https://www.salasfilm.com/ Instagram: @cinesalas Find out
even more about this episode, with extensive show notes and links:
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