Taking the Quantum Leap of faith entailed cinematographer Ana M. Amortegui being up for multiple challenges, including arriving at the delicate balance of giving a nod to the original sci-fi series of the 1990s but not to the point of replicating it, instead creating a new and inspiring aesthetic with a style all its own, continuing the story for today’s audience.
“You want to honor what it was, what it meant to the fans,” explained Amortegui. “But you also want to bring your own skin and heart to it.”
The new show made its mark right out of the gate. In fact, the NBCUniversal pilot for the reimagined Quantum Leap drew more than 10 million viewers, making it the best ever drama launch on Peacock. The show takes place nearly 30 years after the original series in which Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished, thrown into a series of time travel adventures. Now the new protagonist is physicist Ben Song (portrayed by Raymond Lee) who’s assembled a team to restart the ambitious project in the hope of understanding the mysteries behind the machine and the man who created it. The new cast also includes Caitlin Bassett, Ernie Hudson, Mason Alexander Park and Nanrisa Lee.
Song makes an unauthorized trip through time, leaving his team behind to solve the mystery of why he did it and how they can bring him back. At Song’s side is Addison Augustine (played by Bassett) who takes the form of a hologram that only Song can see and hear.
Amortegui shot multiple episodes in the first season, including the pilot and the season one finale. Quantum Leap has already been renewed for a second season.
Paying homage to the original series yet bringing a new visual signature to the proceedings was just one of the tasks at hand for Amortegui. By its inherent nature, a time travel premise necessitated that the cinematographer adapt to varied settings and eras. “We have one standing set for the show. The rest of the sets are changing every single week,” related Amortegui.
Those changes required extensive research delving into the time periods visited, what settings should look like, the music, the photography of that moment. At the same time that such accuracy was sought, the showrunners, said Amortegui, wanted Quantum Leap to be stylized and beautiful. So shooting in a 1980s setting, for example, had to be true to the time period yet also have a kind of contemporary feel, relatable to viewers.
Amortegui embraced the challenge of revitalizing a beloved series, changing and evolving the visuals to best support the story, at times dealing with large-scale scenes, massive set pieces and locations with hundreds of actors.
Amortegui deployed the Sony VENICE on Quantum Leap, originally in tandem for the first four episodes with Cooke anamorphic Special Flare lenses and Hollywood Black Magic filters when shooting present time, and Cooke S4s with Black Promist filters for sequences in the past. Starting with episode five, lenses were switched to Zeiss Supremes. Amortegui gravitated to the VENICE for Quantum Leap due to several factors, including the camera’s dual ISO, large dynamic range and handling of color. Dual ISO gives the camera’s imaging sensor two distinct sensitivities to light–one low at ISP 500 for higher light levels, and one high at ISO 2500 for lower light levels. Flexibility in adjusting to light levels came in “handy,” said Amortegui, in that the series was on such a fast paced schedule, shooting a high volume of material each day. The dual ISO proved invaluable when time was too limited to light everything.
“The beauty of this job is that you’re always learning,” observed Amortegui, who noted that time travel has put her in such settings as a battleship, genres like a Western and so on. “The experience is different every single time” and navigating that learning curve makes you “a better cinematographer, a better person every single day.”
Amortegui noted that the collaborative bond is strong on the show, from executive producers Martin Gero and Dean Georgaris on down. “You’re as good as your team,” affirmed the cinematographer, citing her crew, the camera department, costume and production designers, et al. “No matter where we’re going in the show, we have a team that backs you up and supports you. With that, you can achieve anything. I’m very proud of the show that we have.”
Quantum Leap adds to a body of lensing work for Amortegui which also encompasses such series as Black Lightening, Resident Alien, Twenties and Into The Dark.
This is the ninth installment of SHOOT’s weekly 16-part The Road To Emmy Series of feature stories. Nominations will be announced and covered on July 12. Creative Arts Emmy winners will be reported on during the weekend of September 9 and 10, and primetime Emmy ceremony winners will be covered on September 18.
