John Brawley, DP of the Hulu series The Great, talks creating his visual manifesto for the satiric show and more

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 82: John Brawley John Brawley
began his career shooting television series in his native
Australia, coming to the U.S. to shoot the USA series, Queen of the
South. John approaches each project with a “visual manifesto,” or a
set of rules for yourself and the crew to follow with the camera,
lenses, lighting, and color story defining what you're doing.
John's recent project, The Great, stars Elle Fanning as Catherine
The Great and Nicholas Hoult as Peter, the (not great) king of
Russia. John worked closely with series creator Tony McNamara, a
fellow Aussie who also received an Oscar nod for writing The
Favourite. While shooting, John, Tony and the production designer
determined that all the light sources be consistently candlelight,
daylight, or firelight. Since it was Catherine's story, she was
always in the center of the frame and her close-ups were always
just a little closer. The UK is the home of period drama, but Tony
McNamara wanted The Great to be “punk history” or satire, taking
liberties with the Catherine The Great story, both in costuming and
language. He and John also resisted the urge to do period cliché
visuals- for example, they did not use any “sweeping” crane shots
and avoided using excess smoke for atmosphere. The Great was just
renewed for a second season. Find John Brawley:
http://johnbrawley.com/ See some tech tests from John's projects:
https://johnbrawley.wordpress.com/ Instagram: @johnbrawley See The
Great on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/welcome Find out even more
about this episode, with extensive show notes and links:
http://camnoir.com/ep82/ Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras
www.hotrodcameras.com Website: www.camnoir.com Facebook: @cinepod
Instagram: @thecinepod Twitter: @ShortEndz