Balancing Violence with Moments of Humanity

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 312: Ksenia Sereda & Catherine Goldschmidt Season 2 of HBO's acclaimed series The Last of Us sees a shift not only in its narrative focus but also behind the camera, with cinematographers Ksenia Sereda and Catherine Goldschmidt, ASC, BSC, taking the visual reins. The season quickly evolves from Joel and Ellie's shared journey into a harrowing exploration of Ellie's relentless pursuit of revenge following Joel's brutal death. This quest is deeply colored by her grief and rage, yet intricately woven with a burgeoning love story between her and Dina. Ksenia, returning after her work on the celebrated first season, and Catherine, a new addition to the team, split cinematography duties. Ksenia helmed episodes 1, 3, 5, and 6, while Catherine was responsible for episodes 2, 4, and 7. The opportunity to continue collaborating with showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann was a welcome one for Ksenia. "For season 2, we wanted to push the look forward with how the characters develop," she explains. "Not to reinvent the visual language but to think, what can we do better to help the characters and to tell the story, because it's such a character-centered show. The main focus of it is following the characters you love and joining them on this big adventure.” Ksenia developed a lookbook to maintain a holistic visual language, ensuring consistency across multiple directors and the entire crew. The video game The Last of Us was the blueprint for a distinct visual identity. It was important to preserve all the iconic visuals from the game, but unlike the video game, the television adaptation allowed for more character development and connection, with longer shots. Season 2 introduces a host of new characters, storylines, and diverse color environments. Ksenia consciously avoided overly cool tones, opting for warmer colors, particularly for Ellie and Dina, to help the audience fall in love with them as their relationship develops. This warmth is also seen in the homey settlement of Jackson, a sanctuary carved out to evoke a sense of normalcy. In contrast, when Dina and Ellie journey to Seattle, the environment becomes green and lush. Catherine Goldschmidt, ASC, BSC, stepped into this established world for Season 2. Her inaugural week plunged her directly into shooting the pivotal and harrowing Episode 2, which features Joel's death. Catherine reviewed the corresponding cutscene from the game, treating it as a form of previsualization or storyboard, and then determined how to adapt it for television. “The video game acts as a reference, and there are some scenes in the scripts that are taken from the games, and there are some scenes that don't exist and are new,” she says. “It's about serving the show first and foremost, and still paying homage to the game.” Catherine also focused on grounding the lighting in realism, finding real world motivation for light sources that would authentically be available to characters in a post-apocalyptic setting. At times, she notes, "the lighting cues were even written into the script." For Episode 2, with its intense violence, Catherine knew the crew had to prioritize the actors' performances, and respect the scenes that the actors wanted to shoot first. But most violent, brutal, and scary scenes in The Last of Us are balanced by moments of profound humanity, requiring careful attention to the characters' emotional journeys. “I remember asking Craig and Neil, how are you guys planning to tackle that extreme violence?" Catherine recalls. "Craig just said, 'Well we're always trying to counterbalance it, it should always be a light and shade scenario.’” Find Ksinia Sereda: Instagram: @ksiniasereda Find Catherine Goldschmidt: Instagram: @cgdop The Cinematography Podcast website: www.camnoir.com YouTube: @TheCinematographyPodcast Facebook: @cinepod Instagram: @thecinepod Blue Sky: @thecinepod.bsky.social