HBO’s new comedy The Chair Company, which follows Ron investigating a conspiracy after an embarrassing incident at work, has been receiving glowing critical reviews for its entire run.  Ashley Connor, the cinematographer behind the show, shared with us how she moved away from a classic glossy look associated with the genre and pushed the 70s and 80s thriller aesthetic.  The Chair Company looks so much different from what one might expect a comedy to look like. How did you first approach creating the look for the show, and how did you amp up the tension with your camera movement? Andrew DeYoung (the pilot director) and I knew we wanted the photography to lean into genre and be in conversation with thrillers we loved from the '70s and '80s. We wanted Ron’s journey throughout the season to be reflected and enhanced by the way we film him - long zooms into his face and frenetic camera movement were ways we brought the audience into his perspective. My team was super talented and quick, which helped accomplish the dolly moves we used for most of the season. What camera and lens did you use? And why? We shot on the Alexa 35 because I wanted to build texture into the digital negative. Our main lenses were rehoused K35s and a Cooke 25 - 250 zoom lens. I had used this combination in the past and was very pleased with the level of character the lenses brought. We were actively trying to push our lenses to their breaking point in terms of being wide open or adding extenders to get a little more built-in flavor. Apparently, you distorted... Read More