08/10/2026
For Potsy Ponciroli's near-wordless film starring Alan Ritchson, Ben Foster and Shailene Woodley, Cinematographer John Matysiak and Gaffer Jason Velez lit the street, the windows and the wet pavement as if a huge vintage neon sign hung overhead. The sign itself came later, in VFX.
"In some ways, we weren't trying to recreate the source as much as recreate the memory of what that source did to a place—the color it put into someone’s skin, the way it reflected off wet pavement or glass, or how quickly it disappeared into darkness." - Cinematographer John Matysiak
Sitting down with us, John talks about making a film like it's 1976, why "punch bowl" light became the crew's shorthand, and how precise tools helped build a much less precise world.
🔗 Read the full story at astera-led.com/news/matysiak-paints-motor-city-in-neon-with-astera
