Famously deployed as a secret signal to later be immortalized in a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, the line “One if by land, two if by sea” gave Paul Revere on horseback the message that needed to be imparted to American colonists so that they could be ready for the first battles of the Revolutionary War. One lantern in Boston’s Old North Church meant the British were coming by land while two lanterns signaled that they were crossing the Charles River by boat to march to Lexington and Concord.
Lighting was indeed used to great effect and whether by land, sea or years later by air, director Joseph Kosinski and cinematographer Claudio Miranda, ASC, ACC have been up to the task.
Two of their most recent high-profile features–Top Gun: Maverick in 2022 and F1, released this year–have air and land covered, respectively, conveying human stories while also doing justice to the visceral sensibilities of being in the cockpit of a fighter jet or the driver’s seat of a Formula 1 racecar.
Miranda has lensed all of the Kosinski’s theatrical features dating back to TRON: Legacy–as well as select short film fare and the lion’s share of the director’s commercials. Kosinski and Miranda have developed and continually refined a shorthand over the long haul, instinctively knowing what the other is thinking, and collaborating on the most ambitious problem-solving imaginable, striving to do full justice to the story and the characters who shape it.
What Top Gun: Maverick was to flight, F1 is its counterpart in Formula 1 racing. Both films spurred on the development of technical innovations in production, putting them into play for the first time–but never losing sight of the people-centered narrative.
From Apple Original Films, F1 stars Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes, a hotshot driver back in the day who flamed out of Formula 1. He has since gotten behind the wheel of assorted vehicles in other driving circuits, continuing to race. Hayes is approached by a friend from the past, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), about returning to Formula 1 racing and helping out his fledging team, APX. Hayes turns him down at first but eventually comes aboard–meeting, confronting, butting heads and finally coming together with rookie driver Noah Pearce (Damson Idris) who’s arguably as much of a hotshot as Hayes was originally.
Kosinski and Miranda felt the profound need to give viewers a true Formula 1 experience. They found racing movies of the past to be too slow in terms of what it was like to be behind the wheel, not fully capturing the adrenaline rush and sheer intensity of the F1 experience. Miranda noted that he and Kosinski wanted to bring an unprecedented authenticity to that aspect of the story. The racing scenes had to be practically shot, and feel as grounded as possible. And thankfully, as in the past on such endeavors as Top Gun: Maverick, Kosinski made every effort to carve out additional time so that he and Miranda could problem solve, weigh options together and prepare accordingly.
For F1, this included tasking Sony with developing a super-compact prototype camera, nicknamed Carmen. Panavision custom manufactured compact pan-heads for Carmen. Thus Miranda’s goal of putting cameras onto cars and capturing full-speed action became a reality. Conventional heavier cameras were not an option, weighing down vehicles and making it impossible for them to reach what would normally be regarded as breakneck speeds. The need for speed sparked new technology and experimentation with different angles–as well as consulting with Mercedes about where mounts could be placed to get the desired effect. Carmen was part of a lineup for F1 which included Sony VENICE 2 digital cinema cameras, DJI Ronin 4D cameras, and Apple iPhone tech shrunken down to nimble packages. This all made it possible to lens largely on location, not having to resort to visual trickery entailing shooting of scenes with a car on a platform.
Kosinski and Miranda also take us into the high-tech world of F1 beyond the cockpit. We meet, for instance, a support team assembled by Bardem’s character, Cervantes–including APX chief Kaspar Molinski (portrayed by Kim Bodnia) and technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon)–who monitor the racing performances via state-of-the-art digital sensors connected throughout the cars.
And of course juxtaposed with the high speed dynamic are quieter human moments focusing on the likes of Pitt, Idris, Condon, Bardem and Bodnia. Miranda’s contributions were key in attaining this balancing act–a mesh of quiet and high-octane scenes, all done with a mix of tension, beauty and artistry.
F1 earned Kosinski and Miranda a Golden Frog nomination last month at Camerimage, underscoring the creative power of their collaborative relationship. This marked the third such Camerimage recognition for Kosinski and Miranda in tandem. In 2022 for Top Gun: Maverick, they not only were nominated for the Golden Frog, but also jointly won Camerimage’s Festival Director honor.
Miranda described Kosinski as “a great ally” who keeps pushing people and innovation to greater heights while offering tremendous collaborative support.
Also invaluable has been Miranda’s relationship with Sony, Panavision and other manufacturers who are open to innovating. Sony in the past, for example, made integral technical contributions to Top Gun: Maverick, combining VENICE 2s with the Rialto Camera Extension System, allowing filmmakers to fit the large-format cameras into the tiny cockpits of fighter jets, facilitating his ability to capture imagery that immersed audiences in the world of the pilot.
Last week, F1 made the Oscar shortlist in the Cinematography category. Miranda is no stranger to Academy recognition. He won a Best Cinematography Oscar for director Ang Lee’s Life of Pi in 2013, four years after earning his first Oscar nomination for David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Miranda is also a three-time ASC Award nominee–for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in 2009, Life of Pi in 2013, and Top Gun: Maverick in 2023.
As for what’s next, at press time Miranda was in London shooting the new Star Wars film, which is being directed by Shawn Levy and stars Ryan Gosling.
This is the seventh installment of SHOOT’s 16-part The Road To Oscar Series of feature stories. Shining a light on such disciplines as directing, cinematography, producing, editing, production design, visual effects and animation, this series will appear weekly all the way through to the Academy Awards gala ceremony. Nominations for the 98th Oscars will be announced on Thursday, January 22, 2026. The 98th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Hollywood, Calif., televised live on ABC and streamed on Hulu.
