Petros Antoniadis is a recent 2023 Emerging Cinematographers Award honoree who received recognition for his work on the short Flickering Souls Set Alight. A prolific cinematographer, Antoniadis has lensed four feature films, along with over 30 shorts and numerous commercials and music videos. In this interview, we dive into his recent projects and craft, how Antoniadis’ Greek upbringing has affected on his work, and what’s next.

Can you tell us a little bit more about your rise as a cinematographer?

I was fortunate enough to grow up in a very artistic and supportive family that immersed me in various different art forms. (Music, Painting, Philosophy, Photography). This early exposure would ultimately become the foundation to my career and overall aesthetic. I knew from a very early age what I wanted to do and started working on feature films and commercials sets as soon as I could. In the beginning as an AC, and soon after as a DP.

I started my career in my homeland of Greece and in environments where one is forced to find solutions and make things work in, sometimes, unconventional yet effective ways. This path started shaping through my experience a perspective that I find to be useful both in similar / tight situations as well as in bigger sets, where this unconventional thinking can give instant solutions to problems that arise. And sometimes the challenges can only be overcome if there is the right mindset behind the solutions. And somehow, the tougher circumstances one has faced successfully, the more positive the mindset tends to be.

As my career progresses, my experience advances but my greatest goal remains the same: To honor what has been handed to us by the outstanding filmmakers before and on every project I have the honor to lens, to add my little stone to the path towards its most compelling visual storytelling. The world around us is constantly progressing and we have to always keep our eyes open for the next stories and the best ways to serve them visually.

You worked on the short film Flickering Souls Set Alight, which follows a Greek family as they navigate financial, emotional, and physical hardships. Why did you choose a square (1:1) ratio to portray this story?

Besides the “happy accidents” (as the masters Francis Kenny and later Roger Deakins referred to) most of the major decisions happen (and have to happen) during prep – the most important stage of the film. It was there where Iakovos (the director) brought an incredible amount of information based on the 2-years he allocated researching ALS patients and their families in Greece.

In this research, a key piece of information stood out to me. The underlying similarity for these families was that these people were unable to move their bodies and thus their field of vision. In turn, loved-ones would place photos, artifacts, and trinkets in their direct line of sight. This felt very much like a trapped  door to their long gone moments or, as  Iakovos put it, a “Square of Memories.”

I was blown away by this. I felt that this may serve as the one and only window for these trapped souls to fly free. But yet, as free as they can be inside the parameters of a square. Now, the narrative is also very claustrophobic because everyone involved seems to be trapped in a world ready to collapse. A ticking bomb in a contracted universe.

All these elements made me feel that a wide aspect ratio (even the 1.85) would not serve the story well and thus I proposed to Iakovos the use of a tight frame: The 1:1 ratio, the perfect square would create a canvas which, in my opinion, would help us bring all these elements to the screen and feel the contraction of the world we are bringing to life.

What are some of the artistic and technical decisions you made that helped the story come to forward in such a bold way?

Although the use of the 1:1 seemed to be the way to go, we had to carefully examine that the idea would indeed work in our real life scenario. Given the fact that Iakovos wanted each scene to be a single take, we had to be capturing everything necessary to tell the story and not leave any vital visual information out by cropping our frames. The tight locations did not help for the wider frames / camera positions so we had to figure out a way to maintain the 1:1 without cropping. So, instead of reducing the information, the only solution seemed to be “adding” information to the sensor but vertically.

This is when the idea of using the anamorphic lenses (that squeeze 2x the information – usually horizontally to create the 2.35 / widescreen) –but this time vertically– crossed my mind.

But, going from the idea / theory to the technique was a very unique process on its own! We tried to find similar examples, but quickly realized that this technique had not really been explored previously. Besides a couple of experiments we found online– using the vertical-to-the-sensor format, it was an “unknown” territory and so the 1-year prep we had at our disposal was really important us to curve the path.

The first challenges rose immediately. From mounting some lenses sideways / the “wrong way” all the way to having live monitoring on set (as at the time there was no camera function or monitor with the ability to de-squeeze the feed vertically) I felt that we are on for quite a ride.

Watching the first test-footage though gave us an ultimatum: this was the film!

Creating our own software and a system to de-squeeze the picture in real-time for live monitoring would be just the warm up!

How your background as a Greek filmmaker has influenced your work in the US? Is your heritage a valuable strength in your skill set?

I consider myself fortunate to have started my career in my homeland of Greece–  because in this environment, and especially when you are surrounded by determined people, more frequently than not, you have to find solutions away from the perfect-case-scenarios.

In addition, I believe that a cinematographer’s best asset – and what will always make them differ from everyone else – is their unique eye. And this eye is heavily influenced by – or even based on – the upbringing environment. The first experiences and visual stimulations are key on how you perceive the world and mine where in the blessed, beautiful and fully picturesque island of Crete.

Throughout my career I am doing my best to combine my best asset with my career problem-solving experiences, while also being an excellent listener, to deeply comprehend and decode the needs, constraints and requirements from the director, the production and the entire cast and crew – in addition to having an eye (and ear) for the smallest details. Then, upon crafting the plan, to have at “peak” a combination of strong technical knowledge, great organization and communication skills as well as team-spirit and positive mindset in order to successfully and effectively execute the vision.

These are the strengths that I am doing my best everyday to keep on building upon. And it is all in the mindset you develop. I tend to face every situation (from prep to post), even the most stressful ones, with positivity. During the process of a film, there will be tense moments as well as “happy” and “unhappy” accidents. We have to make the best out of every situation. Most importantly to make sure that everything that ends up in the frame will work for the story.

Lensing the vastly popular show The Chosen: how different is it from lensing Flickering Souls Set Alight or your other independent features?

Lensing “The Chosen” has been a very unique and extremely rewarding experience for me, which I feel so blessed to have had. It differs in many ways from everything else I had done before, but it feels so similar at the same time.

The biggest differences lie in the scale and the responsibilities. The available resources (which are greater to the majority of independent projects) are there to secure the high visual standards and the incredible crew to be on their A-game to achieve those goals greatly, safely and on time. As the DP of such a project you have to set these goals, set the pace, manage the resources considering all the needs (from budget to schedule), and then add your aesthetic approach in each of your scenes while making your artistic choices to fall under the same general visual umbrella that has been set and is expected. It is an incredible and fascinating process that I have adored every second of!

But I also love independent filmmaking too, as long as it is true and honest. The tighter budgets often call for out-of-the-box solutions and I adore the long conversations with the directors and crew in finding unconventional ways that will serve our storytelling goals. It is so mentally stimulating and when the solution is found the feeling can’t be matched! But these magical moments happen only when the project is true to itself and doesn’t “try” to be something that it is not.

At the end of the day, I do love being behind the eye piece on any good story that resonates and connects with me. No matter the scale of the project, the principle of it is always the same: I am there to serve the director and the story to the best of my abilities, making sure we capture the emotions and the performances that resonate with the audience.

What was the most challenging part of working on the set of The Chosen? How did you overcome it?

Well, the Texan weather can be very tricky to film in sometimes. It is common for the weather there to be quite inconsistent and this can lead to big challenges while shooting day exterior scenes.

I will never forget one of my first days (from EP301) and where we were shooting a huge scene, the Sermon of the Mount. That entire sequence was scheduled for 3 days and we had to match the look from some shots that had been filmed previously with the weather being overcast. I was anxious due to the scale of those scenes as it would be impossible for us to flag such vast areas and make it look cloudy if it was not. But there was a miracle and for more than 2 days it was a beautiful overcast! And then it was that last day, which started as promising but then the clouds started disappearing. One by one. Until we were left with complete sunshine.

It is in situations like this that you have to rise up to the challenge, recognise the problem as soon as possible (before it arises), think fast yet effectively, be constantly flexible and be able to catch as many curveballs as possible, in order to turn a very stressful situation into a complete success. When you have the support of your amazing crew (hats off to our incredible key grip Jeff McWhorter) and the entire team, you see the results and a smile comes on your face.

Even those challenging moments I have loved. A huge shoutout to all the Chosen family the ingenuous director Dallas Jenkins and, of course, the very talented main cinematographer of the show Akis Konstantakopoulos!

What’s upcoming?

Well, our industry is going through unprecedented days. We are all in for the long run and so it is important to set some heavy guidelines that will secure humanity, the true human “touch” – which is what makes every story relatable – in the days to come. Every project is a piece of collective art made by humans for humans. 

I believe that although it is impossible to predict the future with certainty, doing our very best in the present will help establish the right circumstances for the future we want. 

Personally, I am always heavily focused on now and doing my best so that when this now becomes past and the future is present to look back and say that I did everything I could. Maybe, the perspective – through the experience gained – will be different but the efforts and focus will be the same.

I believe in God but nothing will be given to anyone without the effort, constant advancement and, of course, a little bit of luck. The ancient Greeks said “Τα αγαθά κόπεις κτόνται” (ta agatha kopis ktonte) which means that all good things in life are gained through effort. So, let’s keep our biggest efforts focused on the present, creating the future that will make us all proud to live in.

Regarding the imminent present and future I am excited to have lensed my first Indian feature (more details to come soon) and I am honored to have been one of the 8 honorees for the 2023 Emerging Cinematographers Award!

Learn more about Petros Antoniadis via his website.