By Randi Altman

Based on the 2011 film of the same name, Amazon’s Hanna tells the story of a girl raised in a Polish forest by the only father she’s ever known, former CIA agent Erik Heller. The two are hiding from a rogue CIA agent who wants Hanna dead, so Erik trains her to protect herself at all costs and kill if necessary. Part thriller, part coming-of-age story, the show follows Hanna (Esmé Creed-Miles) on her journey to find out who she is while also dealing with the struggles of being a teenage girl.

Ollie Downey

With Season 2 now streaming, Hanna finds herself at an assassin training school and still very much a target. This season was shot in a variety of locations around Europe, including the UK, Paris and Barcelona. The show also stars Dermot Mulroney, Mireille Enos and Yasmin Monet Prince.

We recently reached out to cinematographer Ollie Downey — who shot Episodes 1, 2, 3, 7 and 8 — to find out more.

Tell us about working on Hanna Season 2. How early did you get involved in planning?
I came onboard for six weeks of prep before shooting started. It’s always busy and you’re playing catch-up for the first couple of weeks, as the director, production designer and location manager have often already spent several weeks recceing. Tom Coan is a great executive producer, very calm and trusting. I think the key requirement was keeping the visual spirit of Season 1, letting it evolve but hanging onto the sensitivity of the imagery.

What is your process when coming onto a show after the first season?
A second series tends to be a much simpler process. There tends to be a general acceptance amongst producers, execs and studios about what worked visually and what didn’t, and that’s where you start.

I set up a Dropbox folder divided into story arcs and locations and share it with the director, production designer and other HODs. We keep adding and subtracting images until we have a pretty comprehensive set of references. I think that it’s really important that whatever you do visually, it’s motivated by the writing.

How did this season look different from the first, if at all?
DP Dana Gonzales did a brilliant job with the first episode of Season 1; it has a beautiful, sophisticated look that suits the story well. It feels cinematic, sensitive and sophisticated. Season 2 was very much about evolution rather than revolution. It was about capturing that lovely sensitivity of Dana and director Sarah Adina Smith’s imagery and bringing it into our new, expanded world.

Eva Husson, the director of Block 1, was very keen that we keep things as naturalistic as possible. She felt that the material was heightened anyway and that the important thing was that the characters and relationships remained relatable. If you’re trying to keep things naturalistic, then the change of geography also dictates a change of look — much of our material was set in Northern England, Paris and Barcelona. The architecture, the local culture and the weather all influence the look to some degree.

How would you describe the look?
I think it has a European indie feature feel to it. Quite naturalistic, quite subtle and sensitive. Obviously, the look is about so much, and props here to the brilliance of Carly Reddin’s production design, Anthony Unwin’s costume design and Sian Wilson’s hair and makeup design. Carly, in particular, was working across four countries simultaneously, so it was a great achievement on her part.

How did you work with the directors and colorist to achieve the intended look?
We managed to shoot some camera and lighting tests in prep, both at one of our main locations and in a test room at Panavision with Esmé Creed-Miles, who plays Hanna. We took these tests to colorist Asa Shoul at De Lane Lea and played with some different looks. We settled on a slightly lo-con, two-strip feel that really suited our world and existing costume choices that had been made in the first season, such as the color of the recruits’ jumpsuits.

It was also great to have the time with Esme to make the most of her skin tone and those striking blue eyes. We only used the one LUT, and it worked very well. My DIT, James Hogarth, has a brilliant eye and did a great job of then finessing the scenes further while shooting. James and I work quite hard on that part of the process — I think it’s really helpful to get the rushes as close as possible for the cut. The grade then tends to be quite straightforward — there will be changes, but they are usually to reinforce story points or the tone of the scene.

Unfortunately, when the grading of Episodes 1 through 3 began, I was still shooting in Barcelona, so we would do reviews in the evenings at Deluxe there and then send notes for the next day. It’s not an ideal way to work, but Asa is a great colorist, and I had Laura Hastings-Smith (our series producer) for company.

Laura has produced Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth and Steve McQueen’s Hunger (among many others). As you can imagine, she has a brilliant eye, and grading with her became a really enjoyable part of the process.

As you mentioned earlier, you shot in a variety of places in Europe. That must have come with some challenges. Can you talk about that a bit?
Travel was one of the most enjoyable, and challenging, parts of the job. We shot the first three episodes over 10 weeks in London, Wales, Paris and Dunkirk and finished with two months in Barcelona shooting the last two episodes of the series. Production did a great job.

It was busy but great fun. You really have to trust your HODs because the logistics can be quite daunting. Fortunately, camera operator John Hembrough and grip Phil Whittaker are regular collaborators, and they really take care of everything. I also worked with gaffer Andy Bailey for the first time, and he and his team did a great job across wildly different terrains, from drizzly forests in North Wales to fifth-floor apartments without lifts in Paris on the hottest day ever recorded there (42 degrees C).

The final two episodes were a whistle-stop tour of Barcelona. It’s [creator/executive producer/writer/director] David Farr’s favorite city, and we were determined to show it off in all its glory. It was logistically challenging, as we were often shooting two locations a day, but we worked in some wonderful places, and we were fortunate to be working with an excellent local crew. Our Spanish gaffer, Jose Luis Rodriguez, was running two teams (a shooting crew and a rigging crew) for the duration and really worked wonders.

While this is a story of assassins in training, they are also young girls. How did you balance those two things?
It’s a really good question. I think this mix is what makes it such a unique show — that combination of action-thriller and adolescence. I think you have to decide what it is that you are attempting to make. Season 2 is very much a coming-of-age story with mother/daughter relationships at its core. While it’s still part action-thriller, there’s a real sensitivity to it. The cinematography had to reflect that.

The fragility and vulnerability of these relationships had to be there on screen, so we wanted the cinematography to be sensitive and sympathetic to the emotional state of these young ladies. I think in some ways that helps jolt the viewer when the violence does then break out.

How did you go about choosing the right camera and lenses for this project?
Unless there is a pixel-counting reason not to, I tend to shoot on the ARRI Alexa. To my eye, it’s closer to the look of film. We shot on Panavision PVintage Prime lenses, which Dana had shot part of Series 1 on. The older coatings and vintage softness reflect the wide-eyed wonder of how the trainees first see the outside world. Juxtaposing this romantic look with the brutal situations that the trainees find themselves in is what the show is all about.

Can you describe the lighting? Any “happy accidents” you captured?
I think it’s pretty naturalistic for this type of show. I’m drawn to a more naturalistic style anyway. There are times when big shafts of light and uncorrected green fluorescents are right, but for the most part, I shy away from anything that could distract from the story. That said DP Stephen Murphy and director Ugla Hauksdottir did some lovely work on the second block, establishing a slightly more stylized look that reflected the growing confidence of our young characters. Whatever you do should be motivated by the writing.

Any challenging scenes that you are particularly proud of or found most challenging?
Our last two episodes in Barcelona were probably the most challenging (and also the most rewarding). It was almost November by the time we finished, so daylight hours were limited, and as fate would have it, our last week was shooting the denouement in a glass-fronted, south-facing villa up in the hills overlooking Barcelona. Controlling the light was very difficult because of the three-story height of the windows, the length of the villa and its position on a steep hillside. All of our scenes there were set over one day, so continuity was even more important. Fortunately, our Spanish gaffer, Jose Luis Rodriguez, and his team were remarkable — and the key to everything running so smoothly.

The other would be the rescue of Mireille Enos’ character in the desert in Episode 7. We shot the interiors (including the roll) in the back of the van in Ealing Studios in London. We shot the interiors in the front of the van and the exteriors a couple of hours northeast of Barcelona. Hopefully, you can’t tell.

Now more general questions… How did you become interested in cinematography?
I have vague memories of watching North by Northwest with my grandfather as a very young child and being mesmerized by the imagery — the crop duster flying low through the fields and all that fantastic stuff. Before I understood what cinematography was, I was hooked by it. I studied fine art but was frustrated by the solitary nature of it, so cinematography seemed a logical step. I assisted and worked my way up through the camera department shooting low-budget music videos on weekends until I was making more money DPing than assisting.

What inspires you artistically?
Work that has texture, whether it’s looking at a Rembrandt portrait or Darius Khondji’s work on Amour (shooting digitally). I think in this age of super-sharp imagery and ever-evolving technology, I’m increasingly aware of the need to work texture into the image. And then, of course, good storytelling.

I was lucky enough to shoot an episode of Electric Dreams that was beautifully written by Jack Thorne. It was about mental illness and a man’s relationship with his troubled son. Jack introduced the read-through, explained why the story mattered and why it was so personal to him. A beautiful piece of storytelling took on even greater resonance. It was an incredibly moving and inspiring hour.

Ollie Downey (behind camera with hat) on set of Hanna with director Eva Husson (in white).

What new technology has changed the way you work (looking back over the past few years)?
Cameras have obviously come a long way, but I think LED technology in lighting has been the biggest game-changer. Being able to change color temperatures in seconds, have units that are fully dimmable (without a color shift), and being able to run smaller units off batteries is great. It means that you usually have a little bit more time to refine the lighting. ARRI Sky Panels and LiteMats are great bits of kit.

What are some of your best practices or rules you try to follow on each job?
Throw away everything you know to some degree. One of the most enjoyable parts of the process is finding your “look” in prep. Starting with visual references and slowly translating that into a camera package, lenses, lighting style, even the type of lighting units and diffusion that you use. I think it’s really important not to just repeat yourself.

Randi Altman is the founder and editor-in-chief of postPerspective. She has been covering production and post production for more than 20 years.