Cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo reveals how he brought Marvel moon knight live. The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand at a remarkable rate, but moon knight unlike any other MCU TV series yet to air on Disney+, posing some real challenges for the creative teams tasked with bringing the show to life. Its protagonist, Marc Spector, has been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, which means star Oscar Isaac has to play several different Quirks. In order to portray this, cinematographers have come up with creative ways that allow them to interact.

That’s not the only problem facing the production team behind moon knight. Although Moon Knight is often described as Marvel’s answer to Batman, he is very different in appearance. Moon Knight does not attempt to hide in the shadows, but instead wears a dazzling white costume which he believes serves as a symbol of revenge. Whites are a difficult color to use with TV cameras, which means Marvel had to choose its cinematographers very carefully.

Related: Marc Spector & Moon Knight’s Quirks Explained

Screen Rant had the opportunity to speak to Andrew Droz Palermo, one of two cinematographers attached to the project, about how he brought Marvel’s latest superhero to life on the small screen. He talked about his journey, the lessons he learned working with CGI characters, and how he solved tough production problems.

Screen Rant: Could you give us an overview of the work you’ve done on moon knight?

Andrew Droz Palermo: I’m the cinematographer for episodes 2 and 4, as well as a number of scenes scattered throughout the series. This includes the very first scene, where Arthur Harrow puts the glass in his shoes. Myself and the other cinematographer, Greg Middleton, are the two cinematographers on the project.

Screen Rant: What lessons would you say you’ve learned The green knight who helped you prepare this show?

Andrew Droz Palermo: The green knight is a truly idiosyncratic original film. I often work with David Lowery, he’s one of my favorite directors, he’s a lot like moon knight‘s directors in that they all have their vision, they have the things they want to achieve, and they’re visual stylists; one of the easiest takeaways is that there’s a CGI character in The green knighta talking fox.

Of course, there are a lot of CGI characters in Moon Knight. The same methodology applied with someone on set who could provide a head of Khonshu on a stick to give us an idea of ​​its size, or an actor who could stand on a platform to get roughly the same size. The methodology is the same.

Screen Rant: It must be pretty hard to get the actors to interact with so many characters that aren’t actually there.

Andrew Droz Palermo: Yeah, it can be a real challenge. It’s essential for me to have something there in real life, because you get a feel for the framing – you might think you’re shooting a medium close-up of Khonshu, say, but then the head of bird arrives, and I realize I have to step back because its beak is incredibly long. Until he’s there, you’re never in the right place.

It was true for green knight as well. I thought I knew how big a fox could be, but until there was the little fake fox, I was always wrong. Maybe it’s a lack of imagination for me, but I’m getting better.

Screen Rant: I love Khonshu’s interactions, and the previous ones have this horror style where you feel like Steven is so vulnerable and small compared to Khonshu. How did you create this feeling of vulnerability?

Andrew Droz Palermo: Yes, I have to say that I was really inspired by one of the images that Greg Middleton had taken. One of the very first ones, where Steven is standing in an illuminated elevator, and it’s a dark hallway, and he’s so small in frame. I said to Greg when I saw this image, “Man, that’s a North Star for me for the show.” Not only because of Steven’s scariness, but also because of his visual audacity. To have so much darkness, negative space so to speak, a very nice picture of Greg. He’s such a great cinematographer.

For Khonshu in general, I think a lot of it is done by Oscar [Isaac]. You follow Oscar’s feelings of terror, [which are] also greatly tweaked by the editorial team with how many Khonshu you see in a scene, or how few. A flash of him here, a flash of him there. Of course, this is also done by VFX. I was so happy to see these plates for the scenes. When you’re photographing things, it doesn’t often scare you; you get into the technical challenges. But I love watching it with someone who hasn’t seen anything from that project, and hearing that it was scary was really fun.

Screen Rant: There’s this awesome trick of using reflections to communicate, with the various Quirks interacting with each other – well, until Episode 4 – through mirrors. It must have been difficult to make this work.

Andrew Droz Palermo: It’s incredibly different. Each one we would approach as their own challenge. There would not always be a sensitive reflective surface. But in the storage locker, let’s say I wanted to try a reflective metal. This works best when the other part of the conversation is a little diffuse or blurry; he couldn’t see himself perfectly clearly in a mirror. It had a little more mystery. So our production designer provided a few different metals with a coating to determine what kind of reflectivity we liked and how much scatter we could get away with.

You think first about the surface, then what is the camera doing? If the camera moves, it becomes its own challenge to put Oscar in both places. We used a techno-dolly, which could repeat a move for us. So if I circled around him, the camera could do exactly that move for the other side; the B side of the reflectivity. We’ve done a few, which can be very technical, and sometimes we do very old-school Hollywood stuff. Oscar could be Steven in a picture, and by the time I get to thinking, he’s changed characters and he’s Mark.

It’s a real challenge for Oscar, to change posture and say lines about himself, but it’s also a testament to what an actor he is. As the show went on, he got more and more comfortable with these quick cowboy-type changes where you moved and he changed characters. What an incredible feat. I can’t even tie my shoes most of the time, so…!

Screen Rant: Moon Knight’s costume is so different from other superhero costumes. His color palette is so bright, and I can imagine that must make it difficult to work with in terms of lighting. Could you tell us how you managed to do moon knight suits work in different environments?

Andrew Droz Palermo: Yes, it was a fun opportunity for me. I shot this movie called ghost story, where the character was all white, in a full white sheet. That’s one of the reasons I got this job! Oscar said, “Well, if he can shoot a character in a blank sheet, make it cool, then he can do it. moon knight.’ I was so happy to hear that.

In the London streets fight at the end of Episode 2, it’s a lot of sodium vapor light. You want Mr. Knight’s first appearance to look like the white suit you know, and so he finds the ability to make the background be hot sodium vapor but the foreground be a bit more neutral. And then you can do things in post to help it, cut it out, and make it a bit more neutral.

One of the things I love about the comic is that he says he wears white so people can see him coming, and they know he has such an awesome sense of revenge. I like that he doesn’t try to hide in the shadows. He comes to you. That way it’s like “Let’s make it white and shiny, don’t try to hide it.” With such a gorgeous costume, you don’t want to hide it.

Screen Rant: What was your favorite scene to work on that we’ve seen so far?

Andrew Droz Palermo: I really like the sequence in the storage locker where Steven is running away from Khonshu, where the lights are flashing. I thought this sequence was really fun, and the editorial staff did a great job of putting it together, including a really fun freeze frame at the end.

I also loved photographing Tomb Buster sequence. It was fun to flex a different muscle, doing an 80s VHS movie; work in a totally different way and use the camera and light differently. This is the joy of the show, it offers the opportunity to do many different things. It’s not just an action story, it’s all that other stuff, including a mental hospital that was totally unlike anything we’ve seen before.

After moon knight Interviews

Moon Knight follows mild-mannered gift shop clerk Steven Grant, who is plagued by power outages and memories of another life. Steven discovers he has dissociative identity disorder and shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector.

More: How Powerful Are Moon Knight’s Egyptian Gods Compared To Thor & Odin?

moon knight releases new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.

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