A few things worth knowing about this month:
The April issue of American Cinematographer is out, covering Project Hail Mary, The Bride!, Wuthering Heights, and Amrum. Linus Sandgren breaks down his approach to Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights adaptation, and the issue includes a report on a performance-capture demo that James Cameron recently led for ASC delegates. New ASC members this month include Jarin Blaschke, Jomo Fray, and Zoe White.
NAB 2026 opens April 19-22 in Las Vegas. CineCentral sessions include a talk by Roberto Schaefer, ASC, on cinematography alongside panels on exposure, vertical production, and immersive production. Worth keeping an eye on if you follow gear and technology announcements.
On the virtual production side, VSS has partnered with ARRI to build one of Europe's largest VP facilities at ARRI Stage London -- over 700 square meters of creative space. The footprint of serious VP infrastructure outside of North America continues to grow.
The Cameron performance-capture demo for ASC members is worth a conversation of its own. His use of that technology across the Avatar films has pushed what is possible on set, and the implications for how cinematographers work within those environments are still being worked out.
Anything here you want to dig into further? Drop your thoughts below.
I'm especially excited to see what new cine gear emerges from NAB this year, and that ARRI partnership for Europe's largest virtual production stage sounds like a game-changer for how cinematographers can shape light and atmosphere on set.
I'm curious about NAB. Also, over the past few months, I've read a couple of rumors about ARRI: one about a possible sale (I hope not) and another about a hypothetical Alexa Mini "for the masses" (this one might be interesting).