Amazing Stories cinematographer Neville Kidd has some great advice for amateur filmmakers

From Apple TV+’s Amazing Stories to Doctor Who, cinematographer Neville Kidd shared with FanSided what it’s like to shoot some of TV’s most popular shows.

There’s an understated beauty in the job that a cinematographer does. You don’t have to watch several viewings of The Shining or 2001: A Space Odyssey to “Get” cinematography, but when watching something, there are moments that just resonate with you because it looks so darn good on screen.

And the person behind that TV magic when it comes to some of the most popular shows on TV is cinematographer Neville Kidd, who knows what it takes to be a director of photography. Most recently, Kidd worked on the Apple TV+ series Amazing Stories for the episodes “Dynoman and the Volt!” and “The Heat.” We won’t be revealing any spoilers here, but these episodes of the Steven Spielberg revival series are definitely worth a watch for fans of, well, amazing stories.

But Kidd also has a storied career of working on some of the UK’s best series, including Doctor Who and Sherlock, as well as playing cinematographer for Netflix series like The Umbrella Academy and Altered Carbon. Neville chatted with FanSided via Skype to tell us about his time working on these shows, and even how the amateurs back at home can embrace their own inner cinematographer.

Fansided: I wanted to start off with getting familiar with what a cinematographer does. What’s the first thing that comes to your mind as a cinematographer when approaching a new project?

Neville Kidd: I think the first thing is when you read the script, I always find I can see it in my head. And I kind of start to visualize it as soon as I start to read it. And if I don’t see it, I know the script’s not for me. Do you know what I mean? If I can’t see the world I’m about to build, then I know that it’s not doing anything. It’s not, sort of, tickling any kind of sensory visions, and I always find when I’m interested in a project and the project’s right for me, I can visually mark it in my head.

And so then when you do find a script that works for you and you think you can execute it, what’s the next step of the collaboration process?

Yeah, then you spend a lot of time with the director and the showrunner kind of finding out what their vision is, you know? At the end of the day, my job is to visually tell the story that the director wants to tell. And then if you’re on something like The Umbrella Academy or Amazing Stories, the showrunner has their vision as well. And it’s a real collaboration between the producers and the director, and then the production designer gets involved, and then everybody kind of comes up with the final product.

So for Amazing Stories, what drew you into wanting to go ahead with those scripts?

In the case of Amazing Stories, I was given the scripts; I was given the projects. And they were great scripts, and I love “The Heat.” And then when I read “The Heat,” I kind of wanted to make a visual, modern-day Western that’s set in the city. That was my idea. So we use a lot of those wide shots to show the city, too — so to give a kind of flavor to where the girls come from.

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And for “Dynoman and the Volt!”, what were you looking for as a cinematographer to bring that story to life?

I wanted to create a little bit of magic. I wanted to create a real warm family home. And then to kind of trace the boy’s journey going into the school: And then I kind of cooled the whole school down and let him feel a little bit alienated. And then to show his journey into feeling abandoned and on his own. And then the relationship he has with his father. And then the magic kicks in!

My lighting always had a little hint of magic, and a little bit of hope, and that something was gonna work out. And then when you came to the big event on the roof, because the way we shot it, we had to do a lot of it in the studio and a lot of it on location. So I use the flashing lights of the Halloween party to kind of blend the two together. So that was a nice kind of an anchor, so the viewer doesn’t realize they’re in a studio, doesn’t realize it’s stunt people [and] all that kind of stuff.

For either episode of Amazing Stories, what shot did you find the hardest to pull off?

Definitely the car on the roof was the most challenging… because you get to have a car hanging off a roof!

And so what did you all do to make it work?

We actually had a car in the schoolyard on the roof on a huge big crane. But you know, for health and safety, we couldn’t have anybody in it. So then we had to re-make the top of the roof in the studio, and we shot it all as a big giant blue screen. And then we have the stunt person involved on location who would do all the stunts for real — And then with that same stunt person because the great thing is he’s wearing his mask, so we could keep the stunt person, rather than use a real boy…  So we had many pieces to the jigsaw. And we’re pleased with how it all worked out.

I also wanted to talk about one of your past projects, Sherlock, which I’m a huge fan of. What did you find unique or fun about getting to shoot that series?

Sherlock was fantastic to film because it was the best-looking show on TV in the UK. At that time it was the one everybody wanted to work on. So the challenge and the pressure you had as a D.P. was you had to make it as good as all the rest of them had ever appeared because their standards are so high. And the genius of Sherlock is, you know, the camerawork has to match the cleverness of Sherlock. So that was the challenge to come up with ways to move the camera… it really took you out of the box and made you think in a different way. And “His Last Vow,” the one where it won an Emmy, I designed a rig [where] the camera went 360 like a kind of cheap Matrix effect. And we managed to do that effect for relatively little money. And we shot it in about an hour, where these things cost a fortune and take days to shoot.

And at what point do you step in and collaborate with the director? Or was [showrunner] Steven Moffat involved in that process?

Well, we spent a lot of time with the director and Steven Moffat as well, kind of planning. The great thing about Steven Moffat is his scripts are so brilliant. So you know, these are the best scripts you’re going to be getting in the business. So you just have to visually add to that. What I love, Nick Hurran, the director and I, we would just kind of lock heads and just think of new ways to do our tricks. Because the great thing about Sherlock is the camera does things that you just don’t expect.

I also wanted to talk about some of the work that you’ve done on Doctor Who, which I would imagine is is something uniquely special!

Doctor Who is fantastic for a British D.P. to film because it’s what we grew up with as kids. I spent my time hiding behind the sofa, hiding behind the cushions, terrified of the Daleks and Cybermen, having nightmares! So to film it, that is just the best. I think to film “Asylum of the Daleks,” I think, is one of my high points. It really was. I was in heaven to film Daleks — every single Dalek that ever existed. And the great thing about a Dalek is it’s not a real Dalek until it’s been filmed. So what we’re getting was Russell T. Davies’ Dalek, we got people who had Daleks but they hadn’t been kind of baptized on camera… I think we had about 30 of them there!

What was the atmosphere like when filming on set?

It really was a great atmosphere. I think everybody kind of kicks off each other. And I think that’s sort of set by the director. Like Nick [Hurran] was great at creating an environment where Matt Smith and Karen Gillan could all kind of be able to react. And then you know, you’ve got fantastic episodes of Doctor Who.

This is something where I want to shift gears. With everyone shut-in at home, it seems like people have lots of time to create their own videos, and lots of people are flocking to Tik Tok or YouTube. For the amateur video maker, what can they do at home to capture their inner cinematographer?

You gotta listen to your inner voice. You know, listen to what you like. Don’t go on endless tutorials and do what they say. Do what you want to do.

Definitely learn all the technical skills and learn all the tricks. But always listen to your inner voice saying, “Oh, I love this. This is what I want to do.” Because that way, it’s going to come through something different and something special. And I think at the end of the day, that’s what the world wants to see. It wants to see something different, something special. It doesn’t want to see the same thing done well or set standards. You know what I mean? Know the rules to break the rules! And definitely just listen to your own taste.

That’s great advice! Is there anything else you want to add about any of your upcoming projects?

The next thing I’m doing coming up is The Umbrella Academy season 2, which comes out this summer, I think. And it’s gonna be phenomenal.

Oh, awesome. So it’s already been filmed and just in preparation?

It’s just in its final stages… So Netflix will announce when it’s coming out.

And what did you love about working on that?

It was phenomenal because it was great to work with Steve Blackman and create the show with Steve. And we’ve worked together on Altered Carbon. And then we went over to Umbrella Academy, and it was just phenomenal to create the world from the very beginning.

That, for me as a D.P., is the most satisfying thing, to create a world from scratch. And then see people believe in it… that was like, you know, people kind of got what we were trying to do, and that’s hugely satisfying!

All episodes of Amazing Stories are out now on Apple TV+. And look out for season 2 of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy coming soon.