Cooke Lenses Frame CNN’s Pope Miniseries

LEICESTER, ENGLAND—Easter weekend will see the premiere of CNN’s six-part, six-hour miniseries “Pope: The Most Powerful Man in History.” For recreations of different historical eras, cinematographer Dane Lawing, SOC, made the call to go with Cooke S4/i prime lenses to give each era a distinct look.

Lawing utilized a Cooke S4/i kit that came with eight prime lenses: 18/25/32/40/50/75/100/135mm. The 25mm and 40mm were the most prominently used, per Cooke’s press release, for the two-camera shoot, with 138mm +1 and +2 diopters added for close-up work. The cameras used for the production were the Arri Alexa SXT and Amira.

The historical era reproductions were shot in 32 fps and for certain time eras candles were combined with LED lighting to create a natural look.

“Pope: The Most Powerful Man in History” will air Easter weekend, March 31-April 1.