{"id":14233,"date":"2025-06-09T16:46:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T16:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/?p=14233"},"modified":"2025-06-09T16:46:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T16:46:20","slug":"andor-lensed-by-christophe-nuyens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/?p=14233","title":{"rendered":"Andor lensed by Christophe Nuyens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Serving as a prequel to <\/em>Rogue<\/em> <\/em>One<\/em>, <\/em>Andor<\/em> follows Rebel spy Cassian Andor’s formative years of the Rebellion and his numerous missions for the cause. Season two of the show was captured by Christophe Nuyens SBC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nuyens\u00a0first got involved with Andor through a friend he\u2019d worked with on\u00a0Riviera<\/em>\u00a0in 2017. \u201cDavid Meanti\u00a0was a 1st<\/sup>\u00a0AD and moved to the UK before becoming a producer,\u201d\u00a0begins\u00a0Nuyens.\u00a0\u201cHe worked on the first season of\u00a0Andor<\/em>. Originally, he tried to get me on the first season, but that didn’t work. Then on the second season, they offered me the first block and after a few weeks of work, I was also offered\u00a0the last block. Suddenly, I was doing six episodes. It wasn\u2019t originally my intention to be on that project for so long, but when I read the script of the second block, I was very impressed. The first block is episode four, five and six, which is not a typical\u00a0Star<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Wars<\/em>\u00a0arc. It\u2019s more about the growing relations between different planets. It was more like a spy movie but set in the\u00a0Star<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Wars<\/em>\u00a0universe. Episode one, two and three of the last blocks were really\u00a0Star<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Wars<\/em> and I knew I needed to be part of this.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) in Lucasfilm’s ANDOR Season 2, exclusively on Disney+. \u00a92024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Joining a show for its second season isn\u2019t without it\u2019s difficult, though Nuyens was grateful for the prep time he had. \u201cThe first month of prep was about discovering the crew,\u201d he explains. \u201cThere were lots of departments and I had to just find my way around all of those in the beginning, but from the moment I found my place and my marks, it was incredible. Everybody was in the same office working together: the art department, VFX and we could previs everything. We could also discuss the sets with our production designer, Luke Hull to optimise everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it came to shot listing, there were the occasional difficult shots which Nuyens and his team had to previs to ensure they were possible to achieve on set. \u201cThen the day we had to shoot them we could really refine them,\u201d he says. \u201cWe also pre-lit the sets before the sets were built. I already had light plans and my gaffer also had a long prep. He was in the office, next to me. If it wasn\u2019t exactly what we wanted, then we could keep on looking. It was rare to have this time on a show. I really enjoyed the prep just as much as the shooting time.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) in Lucasfilm’s ANDOR Season 2, exclusively on Disney+. \u00a92025 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Several planets feature in Andor<\/em>, <\/em>old and new and capturing the numerous environments was all part of the process. \u201cThere were a few which were technically the most challenging,\u201d says Nuyens. \u201cMina-Rau, the agricultural planet with the grain fields was one of them. They planted those fields especially for us and there was a window of four or so weeks when the crops were perfect. One day before we had to go out in the fields, the SAG strike started. That ultimately meant that we could only shoot with non-SAG actors, so for some scenes we shot with doubles. For reverse shots, we had to shoot five months later on a stage with all the crops. It was very challenging to make that all feel as real as possible and to light it in a realistic way. While we were shooting in the actual fields, we were measuring the colour temperature of the sky and sun for every shot. The DIT was noting all those values and for the stage, I had a ceiling with 300 sky panels and everything was LED, so we could really dial in those colour temperatures like they were on the real set. Hopefully you barely notice it. I notice it for some shots, but I think the majority of people won\u2019t see it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A particularly challenging shot for Nuyens was the oner shot in episode six that was shot across four days. \u201cIt goes from a truck, through a tunnel and then another tunnel,\u201d he says. There were three sets and a VFX set in-between. We shot with the Technocrane, then the camera had to be hooked off for us to go in the tunnel and then we had another Technocrane in the tunnel and we go through water. It was a very challenging shot. It’s not a oner like you see in some episodes of shows, where full episodes are being shot as a oner, although I\u2019d love to do that someday. Another element of the show I loved was the quality of the scripts. We could be really precise. At the end of every episode there\u2019s a cross cut: an edit of three things coming together and happening at the same time. It was written so specifically that it really helped with prep and the way that we were telling the story.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The jet fighter dog fight sequences required long prep and lots of previs. \u201cWe shot those in 10 days, on a lot of stages. Part of it was shot in the hangar, which was a full stage. The walls of the set were against the wall of the stages and we used the entire stage. There were parts also shot on a gimbal five months later. Everything had to be matching lightwise and because we were working with LEDs we really relied on my DIT, who was writing all the settings down to keep it exactly the same to match it. For the stuff in the cockpit, we had so many shots and not a lot of time, so we decided on the gimbal to hard mount six cameras. We used two Venices, FX3s and FX6s otherwise there was no light coming through the window. We had to find ways because even on a show like Andor<\/em>, you don\u2019t have enough time or money and everything was very ambitious.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Diego Luna on the set of Lucasfilm’s ANDOR Season 2, exclusively on Disney+. \u00a92024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nuyens enjoyed the creative freedom that came with working on the show. \u201cThat was also the nice thing about creator, Tony Gilroy,\u201d adds Nuyens. \u201cHe was very specific in his writing and so it was easy to understand exactly what he wanted. He\u2019s not a person that is on set all the time and intervening. I had the feeling he trusted myself, as well as the director. On other shows, I\u2019ve had more remarks than I have working on Andor<\/em>, so there was a lot of freedom. I also redesigned the LUTs and changed the lenses and all of those things were fine as long they thought it was making the show better. Of course, we had to discuss those things, but I didn\u2019t have the feeling I was limited in a creative way.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although stepping into a beloved franchise, Nuyens didn’t really feel the pressure of working within the Star Wars universe. \u201cI think that was down to the time we had to prep it, so on set we were confident. We made a moodboard for every different set and planet. I discussed lots of references with the directors and we had loads, with very few actually coming from other Star<\/em> <\/em>Wars<\/em> films. There were so many references that it\u2019s difficult to point to just one. One I will point to, however, was the wedding in episode three. Our main reference for that was Macau in Skyfall<\/em> <\/em>and <\/em>M<\/em>emoirs of a <\/em>G<\/em>eisha<\/em>.<\/em> In the end we graded it colder and that\u2019s where Tony did intervene because he doesn\u2019t like too much warmth. I shot those scenes really warm like in Skyfall<\/em>, but in the grade it\u2019s colder. I\u2019m still really happy with it and that\u2019s the nice thing about using references: it\u2019s a direction, but you don\u2019t have to copy it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) in Lucasfilm’s ANDOR Season 2, exclusively on Disney+. \u00a92025 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Overall, Nuyens worked on Andor<\/em> for a year and a half, with the SAG strike delaying production. He used the Sony Venice 1 to capture the show. \u201cIn the first season they used the Venice with Panavision Cs and I wanted to use those, but they don\u2019t cover full frame. Rogue One<\/em> was shot on Alexa 65, large format and as this serves as a prequel, I wanted to also go bigger on our sensor. It was really difficult to find anamorphic lenses that cover full frame. I knew Panavision had Ultra Vistas, but I very quickly ran into difficulty as those lenses are made by hand and not a production series of lenses. There aren\u2019t many of them around and we needed four sets of them. It was really hard to find them in the beginning, but we did eventually and I\u2019m really happy with them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cinematographer Christophe Nuyens on the set of Lucasfilm’s ANDOR Season 2, exclusively on Disney+. \u00a92025 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite not being the biggest Star<\/em> <\/em>Wars<\/em> fan, Nuyens has seen all the movies and really enjoys the cinematic universe. \u201cThe creation of the world is so beautiful and it\u2019s great to work with the sets and costumes and everything,\u201d he concludes. \u201cIt was like a child\u2019s dream to work on this. One morning I was in my house with my family. The morning sun would come through the window, making shadows on the wall. These little beautiful sparkles. I had an incredible light crew, especially my gaffer and rigging gaffer. I was talking with my gaffer, as I wanted to emulate the light in my house. So, we tried everything until we ended up with the same result. I really enjoyed having lots of time to experiment on this show that elements such as this were possible to achieve. There was also one wedding scene where we used a painted backing. We overexposed it and tried several lamps. That\u2019s the only set where I used only Tungstens. It was an old school set and I was super happy with it. It\u2019s not usually me, as I prefer to use LEDs. I also learnt a lot about VFX on this show.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key Crew<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russell Diamond – Key Grip<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iain Struthers – Camera Operator: b camera<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee Daniells – Electrical Rigger<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neil Ashton \u2013 Electrician<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ben Emerson \u2013 Grip<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonathan Spencer \u2013 Gaffer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke Harris – Lighting Technician: Main unit<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Oliver Webb\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Serving as a prequel to Rogue One, Andor follows Rebel spy Cassian Andor’s formative years of the Rebellion and his numerous missions for the cause. Season two of the show was captured by Christophe Nuyens SBC.  Nuyens\u00a0first got involved with Andor through a friend he\u2019d worked with on\u00a0Riviera\u00a0in 2017. \u201cDavid Meanti\u00a0was a 1st\u00a0AD and moved to the UK before becoming a producer,\u201d\u00a0begins\u00a0Nuyens.\u00a0\u201cHe…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":14247,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-productions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14233"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14282,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14233\/revisions\/14282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sbcine.be\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}