The Cinematography of "Yellowjackets Season 3" (Part Two) with DP Michael Wale, CSC
Friday, April 18th, 2025
Behind the scenes with Director of Photography Michael Wale, CSC, and crew on the set of Yellowjackets, episode 2, season 3, streaming on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, 2025. Photo Credit: Kailey Schwerman/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME.
For part two of our spotlight on Yellowjackets Season 3, we spoke with DP Michael Wale, CSC (Episodes 2, 4, 6, 8, & 10) about the process of coming into a series with an established look and making an impact, from collaboration and teamwork with a close-knit crew, to preparing for logistically challenging sequences in the wilderness (and all the helicopter rides in between.)
Part one with DP Shasta Spahn (Episodes 1, 3, 5, 7, & 9): Click here.
by Ryan Rosenblum
[This interview contains spoilers for Yellowjackets Season 3]
In season three, outside of the division between the past and the present timelines and how you were creating that visual distinction there, is there anything unique about your approach to these more supernatural sequences that split the difference between those two realms?
My approach to the supernatural, and I guess it's my approach to all the scenes in the show, is really talking about the story. So often it comes down to stories because we're storytellers and we're trying to find the best way to convey what's on the page and tell a story to the audience. In terms of visions, and I sort of have a bit of a disadvantage, or maybe it's an advantage in that I just joined the show on this third season, so there's already been a set up and a legacy in the first and second seasons that set the groundwork for that. But in season three, a lot of the visions came from the cave and the discovery of the cave and that central monolith area where we later on find out there's sort of an invisible gas that sort of brings about these visions. In terms of treatment, and just as a general note for the show, I have to acknowledge a lot of work I've done with Shasta. She certainly led the way being the DP for season two, and then I followed with her for season three. So maybe part of this discussion is about the role as the alternating DP on an established series.
I find for that situation it's different than if I was shooting a pilot or shooting season one of a show right from the very beginning because from my perspective I'm coming to the party and it's already up and running. Sometimes I describe it as catching a moving train because it's so many pieces and so much going on and you think of the departments and the equipment and the actors and the story. There's a lot to take on and then you have to then carry that and maintain a look. So a lot of my approach comes in preparation.
Part of that preparation or a large part of it is working with Shasta in terms of what the intentions are for season three. We'd review a lookbook or reference material, photographs, and get a good grasp on our approach. We'd show it with a palette or a style, a guidebook, really, for how we're gonna proceed with season three. We worked together very well. I think the best thing would be if a viewer watches the entire season three and there's a continuity and an agreed upon style and look. And then for both of us, it's about complimenting each other and just keeping the show within the guardrails and within a tone and a style and a visual language that we run for the whole season.
The consistency and the continuity throughout the entire season, and the entire show at large, is excellently done. Within that, there's some of the new elements for season 3 like the cave.
Yes, and then there's the standing sets for the Sadeki House, or some of the other reoccurring sets from the previous seasons. We want to maintain that continuity. So it's a balancing act of maintaining continuity but also telling the best story you can and you get opportunities to do interesting work. I was watching episode two the other day, which was right in the very beginning when I first came on the show. And we had that scene at the urban church where, I remember there's all the candles, and Tai walks up the street and she smokes a cigarette. She hears the pastor and then walks in. This is where she has the matchbook from the restaurant where she and Van went earlier. They ran out in episode one, and the waiter had a heart attack and died.
The whole idea is the wilderness calling for another, for a death or for a sacrifice. And she wrestles with that. The reason I mention that is, that this is a new set and an opportunity to use some interesting lighting and a different look, mixing color temperatures, introducing some candlelight.
Tawny Cypress as Taissa in Yellowjackets, episode 2, season 3, streaming on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, 2025. Photo Credit: Kailey Schwerman/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME.
But again, it's all about telling a story and trying to set up a tone and you set up a look. It's all about story. It's really, I think, as directors of photography, as much as we love lights and cameras, it's all for the end purpose of telling the story. And if we do it well, you're thinking more about story than you are about lighting, and it's just scary to the audience. So anything we can do to complement that and at the same time, take a step back and maintain an established look and keep it within a palette or a style. I think that's very challenging and very rewarding when it all comes together. And so we're staying in that same continuity, but we're also expanding kind of the settings that we're exploring.
The caves were all on stage, and it's quite an elaborate cave, all the styrofoam. Compliments to the art department, to Margot Ready, who's our production designer. And just an excellent team of construction and on set painters and sculptors because making a cave sounds easy, but it's hard, you know, keeping the shape and maintaining a sort of interest in it. And it's an interesting set. It's quite long and winding. But from a technical point of view, and again talking to Shasta, and our show runners, Bart, Ashley and Jonathan, it's how do you light and it was probably the biggest question at the beginning of the season was how do you light a place that's supposed to be black or no light?
Towards the middle part of the season, our team would walk in with candles, so that was a way to motivate a lot of the lights. And if we could, we'd try to do scenes with candlelight, like in episode two when Mari goes into the cave. She falls in the pit and then gets pulled out and coach Ben takes her into the cave. In there we had a fire, that's great. There's a fire. There's a source that you can motivate this lighting with. The challenge was in the central part of the cave, where the monolith is, the gas, the candles go out and we can't have a flame. So we just have to take a bit of license with where does the light come from. And, you know, you’ve probably heard this before. People say, “the same place as the music.”
We opted for putting a wet down on the walls and spraying them down so that there's a bit of reflection, a bit of light through there. But shooting the cave, at the end of the day, it worked, but it was a challenge. And a challenge to shoot in a tight space is almost like shooting in a submarine. Not a lot of movement. But, I think shooting in a tight space and having that physical space restraints and restrictions, it helps, again, tell story. It makes it for the actors, they're acting in a confined space, in a dark space. And I think that brings a better performance and a better story.
And I think that, you know, there's some truth to be said to, sometimes restrictions breed a lot of creativity. So when you have to kind of make things work in in a small space or in a really dark space and you kind of get creative and it makes you think in a more unique way than you might have approached something in a more traditional setting. If you have unlimited resources, it can almost hinder you creatively. I really do believe that some of the best work comes from restrictions or from limited resources, and it forces a creative decision process.
Outside of all the darkness in the caves that are introduced in episode two, we’ve also got that really pivotal scene where Shauna goes to the bathroom and the lights go out in the bathroom. So you're kind of playing with the darkness in both timelines there.
That's true. That scene was my first scene that was shot. Day one of episode two was shooting with Shauna, our number one actor on the call sheet, in this new set. I was pleased the way it came out. As a DP, day one, you're always a little bit nervous. But, I believe it all worked out quite nicely. Everyone's quite pleased with it.
Ella Purnell as Teen Jackie in Yellowjackets, episode 4, season 3, streaming on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, 2025. Photo Credit: Kailey Schwerman/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME.
In episode four, we've another fantastic horror sequence where Shauna is locked in the freezer and has her supernatural engagement with Jackie. What's your approach to these kind of horror sequences throughout season 3?
Well, the approach comes, again, with preparation and a lot of dialogue and talk with our directors. Obviously we start off with a script, and, part of the process is we script and then we scout and we find our locations. And then once we find our locations, we create a board or a schedule for shooting it. And in the case of that, it was a split between a practical kitchen, but the actual freezer was on stage. It was a set piece.
So there the challenge was to have the door on one set to have the interior shot on the stage and mix those two together. In terms of process, again, much like at the beginning of the show with Shasta and with our creatives going over looks and styles. We referenced other films as well. The Shining came up quite a bit and if you look, on the set there, Margot Ready had put a no smoking sign. If you're inside on the right hand side above beside the door, there's a no smoking sign, which is a a direct riff on The Shining, a no smoking sign that's in the cooler there as well.
And it's a great parallel too with the mental unraveling of these characters as well.
And then, you know, a little bit of VFX with the breath, we add that to it. But, I I have to say, like, again, all these cases, the cave or cooler, it's really a collaboration that makes it work well, and that's what I really, really value. Be it the camera operator, Ryan Purcell, I’ve worked with for years on other shows. We have Mark Alexander, who's a gaffer, who I've never worked with before and is a delightful person to work with. Vincent Phillips is a key grip I'd worked with maybe ten years earlier. So in many ways, it was a reunion. And I think what I really enjoy about the process in the preparation, the shooting, everything is the collaboration and the camaraderie. If you can find a job that you love doing and you do it with your friends, you've won the lottery. It's such a a great experience.
In terms of these horror sequences, on a technical level, something I've heard from a lot of filmmakers that do a lot of horror is that sometimes you end up doing more and more takes just because it's all about timing, when you're actually shooting these scenes. How did that come into play for you?
I think the trickiest shot, and just thinking about timing, might have been the very last episode, episode 10, when we were in the snow and there was a pursuit and we had Mari being chased. We wanted to have a moment where she comes around the corner and runs into somebody, and they fall down. Bart Nickerson who was directing it, wanted to do a shot where we could cheat it and not just rely upon stunts to do the whole thing.
So what we devised was a Steadicam shot where we're following our actor and she'd look over her shoulder so we could see who she was. And as she looked back over her other shoulder, we'd then pan the camera over, see what she's looking at, and do a quick switch while the camera was off of her, the cowboy switch into a stunt double. So we keep a continuous take but swap out the actor for a stunt double and then continue the shot up into the point where they collide. That took a few takes to get, with the challenges of working in snow and a Steadicam running behind somebody. Credit to Ryan for pulling that off. That's an example I think where timing was critical in the shot construction.
A still from Yellowjackets, episode 10, season 3, streaming on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, 2025. Photo Credit: Kailey Schwerman/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME.
On that note of old school cinema techniques being brought into a contemporary setting, a moment that really stood out to me is in episode six when we get the stop motion bear. What's the process like dealing with stop motion when that's obviously not what you're dealing with, effects-wise, most of the time in 2024 or 2025?
I have to hand that one to Bart. That was his desired call. I remember we had a meeting during prep of the episode. This effect came up, and at one point it was going to be a computer generated visual effect, and there was talk of maybe we do an actual bear, a stock footage bear or do something with green screen.
Bart was really eager to do something with old school, stop motion work. You're right, it's quite a departure in terms of the conventional approach to shooting a bear, but Bart was really interested in pursuing this creative choice. We gave him our full support, and it ended up in the show.
Much like if you're doing a big visual effects sequence, there may be a post supervisor or visual effects supervisor that would farm out the flame effects to one company, and the water effects to another, and textures to another company, depending what their specialty is. In terms of the bear, that was sent out to a company that specialized in stop motion work, Masters FX. I've worked on some other shows with them too where, we did a sasquatch movie and they built the monster suit. I did a zombie film and they did the prosthetic heads, made the brains, and all that sort of stuff. The whole molding and building of costumes and masks and creatures is their specialty. So those are the guys that did the stop motion. I think back to one of the first films I can remember ever seeing, going with my father to Jason and the Argonauts. It really reminds me of those old movies.
Moving a little bit forward into episode eight. We've got the big reveal of Melissa, who is played as an adult by Hilary Swank. What was that process like, handling such a pivotal reveal for the overall arc of the season?
Well, everyone was excited in the cast and crew as well because it was kept a bit of a secret for a while. Everyone knew Melissa was coming, that we'd meet adult Melissa, but no one really knew who was gonna be cast. So we all had our guesses, but I think I knew earlier, because I worked with Hilary Swank on a series called Alaska Daily. It was a show that shot up here in Canada. And, just a year or so prior to that, I'd worked with her, and I knew she lives in Bellingham and would have a commute to Vancouver, just over the border. It's just fifteen minutes over the border from the Canadian side. And I'd heard that the person they cast lived in Bellingham, so I sort of thought that she's probably Hillary.
We were all happy to have her on board. And, like I said, it was kept under wraps for a while, and then, we're all excited to see her when she came up. And I was excited to see her again because last time I'd worked with her, she was pregnant with twins, and it was right during all the COVID and everything. It was nice to see her again.
Hilary Swank as Melissa in Yellowjackets, episode 8, season 3, streaming on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, 2025. Photo Credit: Kailey Schwerman/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME.
Of some of the other moments in episode eight, we’ve got other/dark Tai as an adult coming in to play. What would that process look like for these kind of split screen moments?
That process, when we did that the scene in the hospital, and Van's in the hospital and Tai goes into her room. The alternative Tai was outside, and we had that split screen. And the way we did that was very simply with a locked off camera. We shot a plate with one side, a clean plate, and we shot a third plate with the actor, framed against the earlier plate. And in terms of technology, a locked off camera and a video switcher so we could line up and make sure that the eye lines look great and that timing worked. Maybe that's another example of where timing came in because you'd have to make sure that the dialogue was timed, the looks were timed. That was pretty straightforward, basic, almost back to old school again, a split screen and a lock off to put that together. Sometimes a simple approach works quite nicely.
Diving into episode ten, the season three finale, we have this fantastic opening montage vision, a supernatural moment where we're in the cave. There's a stunning visual of the antler queen with beams of light pouring around her. With this moment, we’re delving into more esoteric or abstract visuals. What was preparing for that sequence like?
It was fun. During prep, I shot some tests on my iPhone for that moment at the very beginning. What we did, we went into the practical cave set and I used an x effects light, which is a light that has a rotator built into it and put some color on it and then it creates that pattern. So you have that pattern of what you saw. It's quite a hard light so it's good for creating shadows. But, it was, again, very simple to come up with an idea of antler queen in the cave. Kept it simple with one light behind her and shot some tests with my iPhone.
The process of that was to shoot some tests and show them to the creatives, to Bart, Ashley, and Jonathan. Everyone was very pleased, and we moved forward with it. The technology of being able to shoot on an iPhone was very helpful. And I think the iPhone has been helpful for so many shows. And it's not just the iPhone, but all the apps used.
When we're shooting, there's apps for lens selection, and to use it as a viewfinder. The feedback is much more immediate, which I think helps creatively because you see your results right away and you're able to tweak and make adjustments based on that feedback, which I think is just again going back to the prep and having communication. It's so important to be able to communicate ideas in a relatively short turnaround because in episodic you don't have a lot of time to play around with ideas, and you have to make decisions. Having that technology makes the decision process easier.
There's a lot that happens visually in the finale. We start transitioning away from that spring/summer warm look. The cool energy starts coming back and the snow starts to fall and we're in the winter again. Obviously, not a good sign for our characters. But that was a noticeable moment in the episode when we get that visual transition. As I was watching, I was thinking, “winter's coming again.”
Yeah. That was all done during our fall time. So any snow you saw, or dusting of snow, is all a credit to our excellent special effects team that did a great job of doing that sort of light coating with the snow. There's a moment where Shauna comes out of her hut. The shot is down low and she's asleep and someone opens the little doorway. She sits up and goes outside, that's the first time seeing the village is now under a blanket of snow. It was a nice moment.
It looks pretty. Snow is pretty stuff, and we like shooting pretty things. So it's a lot of fun.
That's one of the things about Yellowjackets consistently, is that there are these gorgeous images, but the subject matter is not quite as beautiful. It's that balance.
Yeah. The balance. It's sort of the beauty and the horror.
Sophie Thatcher as Teen Natalie in Yellowjackets, episode 10, season 3, streaming on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, 2025. Photo Credit: Paramount+ with SHOWTIME.
What were some of the challenges of the mountaintop climax to the finale?
It started off with a script, and it said Natalie climbs up the mountain. Right away, the first discussion is, is it done practically, or do we do it on a green screen or volume or something like that? Looking at it and talking to Bart, we decided that practically with a reduced crew would be the best way to do it. It started off with a group of us doing a scout. It was exciting. We got in the helicopter and flew up onto a mountain, took some photos, and then we'd look around.
They went, what’s that mountain like? And we'd hop over to that one and take a look. So it was a great adventure. But when you find the right place, and we found it fairly quickly, then it's a matter of figuring out, okay, you have logistics coming into it where you have limited daylight, limited time. You only have so much time on the mountain and then you really have to pick your shots and figure out how you wanna shoot it.
We shot it with one camera and we had one drone with us as well. I think we had two helicopters go up with us. One cast member, we did all the hair and makeup and costuming prior. Everything was all prepped and set up down below at the base camp. And then it was about a twenty five to thirty minute flight up to the mountain location.
We'd land and we'd start our process. We kept track of where the sun was and we just kept following the backlight. There were certain features we wanted to shoot at certain angles. That was all very well thought out and designed ahead of time for maximum efficiency, but also for creative purposes and to get that wild factor. So it was a fun day because it was something you don't do every day, and, we had beautiful weather, and it was lovely.
At one point, we broke for lunch. We were sitting there having lunch, and they had brought up a pumpkin pie. And we're sitting on top of his mountain eating pie, beautiful sunshine, and we were in t-shirts because it was warm. And it was like, well, this is a pretty good job we have! I think everyone really enjoyed the day, enjoyed the experience, and it was a lot of fun. So, always happy when a plan comes together.
That does sounds a lot more logistically challenging than the average scene, if you're hopping in a helicopter and loading all your equipment in and flying it up the mountainside.
It was definitely a bit involved for sure. Yeah. It is the nitty gritty because you have to figure out what equipment you're gonna take, and then you have to find out how much it's all gonna weigh, and then you have to figure out which helicopters you're gonna take, and who's gonna travel with you. It was a great team effort because it was such a small crew.
There were only five of us that went up there. It was all hands on deck. The AD's helping hold a bounce board, and the sound mixer has got his mixer on his chest, but he's also holding the microphone up and it was a great time. And, it's probably one of the highlights of the season to be a part of that. Very happy. We had had a camera operator with us, we had one grip, one AD, myself, the director, a cast member, and two camera assistants. So that was the full package up there. And a pumpkin pie!
I really enjoyed it. And, again, working with Bart, I give him full credit because he's such a nice person and such a great director to work with. And it's not just because he's my boss, but I really, really, truly enjoy his company. He's a nice fellow. That's great.
For that sequence, making those choices, how you might want it to be a lighter weight package for taking it on the helicopter. Was there anything unique about the setup that you chose with your AC team to build the camera in a different way for that sequence?
It was an Alexa Mini LF, so we already had a small camera to start off with. In terms of what we scaled back on, it was maybe fewer lenses we took, because we knew we wouldn't be using big, long lenses. We basically scaled down, but we had more than enough in terms of the camera package, and then we took up a backup body just in case something happened to our hero camera. So we had a spare body with us, as well, in case something was to happen on the mountain.
But it's was pretty bare bones. If I remember, we had the body and a spare body that we kept in the helicopter. I think I had maybe six lenses, a couple of bounces. We had one head and sticks, babies, standards, and a sandbag. I think that was our package. We may have had an apple box as well, but it was a basic package.
L-R: Behind the scenes with Jasmin Savoy Brown, Director of Photography Michael Wale, CSC, Liv Hewson and crew on the set of Yellowjackets, episode 2, season 3, streaming on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, 2025. Photo Credit: Kailey Schwerman/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME.
When you think about Yellowjackets, what comes to your mind about the experience?
When I think about Yellowjackets, it's the cast and the crew. Whenever I have good experiences, it's the people. And, usually what follows is a great product afterwards. So, I can't help but feel that some of that energy and feeling you have on set comes through with the camera. If it's an enjoyable, pleasant, healthy set, and great people, I think you can't help but have that come through in the final product.
Taking a step back, and it's not just because I'm talking about Keslow, but, Steve Demeter (Executive Director of Business Development, Vancouver,) I knew him way back when I was a camera trainee and he worked in shipping at another camera rental house. And, so it's been well over twenty five, thirty years maybe. But, he went to SIM and then eventually went to Keslow and he's been a tremendous excellent friend, and excellent support. I can’t say enough about how appreciative I am for what he's done for me, and, I really thank him for that. And I really mean it.
Equipment wise, at the very, very beginning, Shasta and I talked about cameras and we looked at some options, looked at the ARRI 35 as well. We looked at lenses and we agreed upon the package based partially on what was shot last season, and what we wanted to do for season three. Again, I can't say enough about the collaborative process and how happy I was to work with her. She's certainly a generous and creative person, and an equal partner. That's a really nice environment to walk into when you're the new DP, or the new kid coming to school for the first day, to instantly have support and friendship. That's the theme I'm coming back to is just having support, technical support from a camera rental house and the creative support, from the creative team but also from your contemporaries, for a mutual appreciation.
I loved Shasta’s work and she said so many kind things about my work. So when you ask me what I think about Yellowjackets, I think about the positive experience it was. And, hopefully, excellent work will be able to come out of that. So, that's very rewarding.
And I'm sure you've had plenty of experiences that were the opposite, and so that helps it stand out for sure.
It does. And it makes all the difference. Sometimes, on set, it feels like you're on a lifeboat, and you're at sea for three months, and so you wanna have people you get along with. With the people you're with, you wanna have some people that are really good at rowing, and some people that are really good at navigation, and some people that are really good at catching fish, and people that are really good at building shelter. And, I think a crew like Yellowjackets is all that. It's having the right people and people you enjoy being with, and that's priceless, really.
People that you wouldn't be opposed to getting stranded in the woods with, I suppose.
Right. But then, you have to decide who you're gonna eat! [x]