C. Kim Miles, ASC, CSC, MYSC grew up in Malaysia at a time when there was just a lone English television station there. Among the handful of shows which aired on that channel was Little House on the Prairie, the 1970s’ TV series which gave him a window–what he described as “an inspiring glimpse”–into a world outside the one he knew in Malaysia.
Fast forward to Miles’ adult life and the world he resides in now is one of filmmaking as he splits his time between Los Angeles and Vancouver. He was an ASC Award winner in 2020 and three years later garnered a Primetime Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program category (shared with Clair Popkin and Julia Liu) for Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.
When he heard about a new Little House on the Prairie, Miles reached out to executive producer Joy Gorman Wettels–for whom he shot an earlier series, Home Before Dark. Thankfully, Gorman Wettels was receptive to reuniting with Miles on the ambitious 2026 reboot of Little House on the Prairie. Miles thus became one of three cinematographers to work on the first season of the Netflix show. The reboot–created by writer and showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine–has been well received. It debuted in July and already has been picked up by Netflix for a second season. Miles shared that it’s been special “to be able to reimagine a show I grew up with.”
That reimagination, though, is a far cry from the 1970s series which became a primetime staple on NBC. The new Little House is not a soft, nostalgic retread but rather more akin to the series of novels written by Laura Ingalls Wilder–raw, gritty and harsher than the first television iteration of Little House.
Miles, who served as cinematographer on four episodes including the season finale, said he benefited from a collaborative relationship with the other DPs on the show–Ari Wegner, ACS, ASC who lensed the pilot, and Nathaniel Goodman, ASC who shot the other three episodes in the first season. “We were able to get together early on,” recalled Miles, taking the opportunity to “shoot ideas across each other’s boughs.
Wegner, a Best Cinematography Oscar nominee for director Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, and director/executive producer Sarah Adina Smith teamed on the Little House pilot titled “Independence.” The two women provided “a bedrock foundation,” said Miles, for he and Goodman to build upon with their own artistic imprints. The overriding priority among the three cinematographers, recalled Miles, was “keeping it honest” with visual references to Days of Heaven, embodying “honesty with a little bit of poetry,” rooted in the beauty of the landscapes. “We didn’t want the photography to get in the way of that,” related Miles as they made a concerted effort to do justice to the natural beauty as well as the harsh challenges of “the world on the prairie.” There was collaboration among the DPs on lens selection, aspect ratios, the look of the show–a give and take that “doesn’t happen an awful lot,” noted Miles.
There were also opportunities that emerged in individual episodes. For example, the cabin for Little House didn’t get built until the third episode. Miles got to introduce the cabin’s interior, exemplifying family life, to the audience, adding that it was creatively inspiring to work with production designer Jonah Markowitz and his team on building that interior world–requiring a balance between staying true to that era of log cabins while also taking practical considerations into account. For example cabin windows were small at that time–yet compromises had to be made since lighting through the windows was essential to maintain a natural, realistic feel. Other modern lighting sources would not be in line with the time period.
The quest for realism also saw the new Little House depart from the period westerns norm. Nostalgic, sepia tone environs and aging buildings are a manifestation of how we traditionally view westerns. But to be accurate, the buildings in a time period aren’t aged. Back then, they were often new. Similarly costumes are new. So the creative decision was made, said Miles, “to let color prevail. Sure, everything can get covered in a layer of dust. But color is what we wanted to pull through” in order to place viewers accurately within the context of the times.
Perhaps the biggest challenge, shared Miles, was the prairie itself–the series was shot in and around Winnipeg, Canada–along with the ever-changing weather. While the stirring natural beauty of the prairie might seem to be “an outwardly idyllic place to make a movie,” the fact is, said Miles, that there are inherent stumbling blocks, including uneven ground which can impact camera movement. As for the weather, Miles was fortunate on his episodes. But he noted that Goodman had some days when the crew had to take cover due to tornado warnings. Helping to mitigate against the unforgiving nature of the prairie, continued Miles, were a fantastic cast and crew.
Wegner, Miles and Goodman deployed the ARRI Alexa 35 on Little House. Miles described the camera as “such a workhorse,” also citing its next-level color science. “It renders color in a way that I’ve never seen before, even in the previous Alexa line,” he assessed. Mile also pointed to the wide dynamic range of the Alexa 35–taking on tones from the brightest whites to the blackest blacks,” giving cinematographers “a lot of forgiveness in making exposure decisions in environments that can be very contrasty.”
Cooke S4 primes were the lenses of choice, according to Miles who noted that Cookes are very reliable and don’t draw attention to themselves or the camera. He characterized the S4s as “very transparent,” a sort of “non-imposing set of lenses” that doesn’t influence the images in a way that is too creative for the subject matter.
The DPs also decided on an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, a slightly taller frame to help take in the sky. The “Little House” novels, explained Miles, made references to the sky above the prairies–and doing justice to the sky was important in terms of the environment being an important character in the TV/streaming series narrative.
As for what’s next, Miles is currently lensing second unit for The Last of Us (HBO). The opportunity to work on The Last of Us came just before Netflix gave a green light to the second season of Little House so staying on that show wasn’t an option at the time. Also influencing his decision was the fact that The Last of Us afforded him the opportunity to be close to home for the summer–after being away during that season for the last four or five years. Miles made the personal decision to prioritize family time this summer.
Miles’ earlier alluded to ASC Award win in 2020 was for “The Flatwoods Monster” episode of the commercial television series Project Blue Book. He has a total of three career ASC nominations–the others coming in 2021 for another episode of Project Blue Book, and in 2023 for an episode of the limited series Lost Ollie.
