For the Amazon’s sequence honored with the TV Premiere Viewers Award at SXSW 2025 Yamit Shimonovitz used Zeis Supreme Primes and Batis lenses and Sony Venice II and FX3 to realize her purpose.
Directed by Jody McVeigh-Schultz, Spy Excessive investigates a chilling real-life surveillance scandal in a Philadelphia highschool. As a filmmaker and guardian, Shimonovitz was instantly drawn to the story. “I’ve two sons who’ve acquired laptops from their college,” she mentioned. “I at all times remind them that nothing they do on these units is non-public. I’m completely happy to be a part of shedding mild on the potential for hurt by way of this story.”
In Spy Excessive, when a pupil’s household kicks off a lawsuit in opposition to the general public college district, it exposes not solely the edifice of presidency overreach, however the harmful biases displayed within the college students most keenly focused. Spy Excessive strikes between interviews with the important thing characters concerned within the 2010 scandal and gripping recreations that evolve with the story.
For documentary cinematographer Yamit Shimonovitz (Let Us Prey: A Ministry of Scandals, Candace Parker: Unapologetic, and The Goop Lab) every mission provides an opportunity to craft a particular visible language. Sky Excessive offered the best stage for her to discover that purpose. Shimonovitz made use of daring stylistic contrasts to inform the true story of surveillance overreach in a Philadelphia highschool. She turned to Zeiss Supreme Primes and Batis lenses with Sony Venice II and FX3 respectively to realize a duality of elevated documentary imagery and uncooked recreations.
Right here is the entire story, shared by Zeiss, concerning the mission:
The filmmakers assist create gravitas and emotional impression by using polished B-roll and atmospheric pictures that present context for every character and story beat. Shimonovitz selected Zeiss Supreme Primes to create this elevated aesthetic. “The Supremes have this lovely distinction and flare high quality I really like—nice blacks and lovely out-of-focus roll-off,” she mentioned. “You possibly can see within the trailer how we transfer the digicam across the room, as an illustration over gadgets a desk to create a lovely ripple of recent data. That was our high-gloss, intentional look.”
Counterbalancing this stylized B-roll are uncanny, security-style recreations, that graphically depict the invasion of pupil privateness. Whereas these sequences look sensible sufficient to have been pulled straight from surveillance archives, in truth the aesthetic was cleverly crafted with Batis lenses and a singular DIY answer. “I wished the safety footage to really feel legit, with pure reflections and lightweight aberrations,” Shimonovitz defined. “I took a transparent plastic dome, rigged it with {hardware}, and connected it to a digicam arm on the Sony FX3. Positioning it barely away from the Batis lens created ambient reflections of the lights, and rooms. It helped promote the look.”
The Zeiss Batis’ quick aperture and dependable autofocus made it a super alternative for this unconventional rig. “Batis lenses are quick, lovely, and have nice autofocus—particularly when paired with Sony’s Monitor & Management App. I might function all the pieces remotely. It was quick, versatile, and let me seize scenes that felt actual and gritty.”
The Zeiss combo set up a singular double look that stitches collectively purposefully with the interview footage to introduce the present’s main characters. Shimonovitz shot the interviews utilizing Angénieux zooms in a three-camera setup designed for a layered perspective–a large, an in depth and a high-angle C-cam that additionally remembers a safety digicam POV. “As soon as we begin taking pictures an interview, I do my greatest to not change or modify something,” she famous. “It’s about sustaining the emotional circulation.”
Past the gear and setups, what lingers for Shimonovitz are the folks. Spy Excessive options difficult characters–a number of the protagonists aren’t essentially the most likeable whereas others are completely heartbreaking. The cinematographer remembers one participant that left an enduring impression, a younger man named Kieran who had been a sufferer of the college’s overreach. “We recreated his bed room as a set, and he introduced down all his tutorial awards—it was extremely touching,” she recalled. “That form of entry and vulnerability—that’s what stays with me.”
Yamit Shimonovitz continues to innovate with each mission. Now she evens owns her personal set of Zeiss Batis lenses, including a brand new software of versatile creativity to her package. “Even once they’re not my A-cam lenses, the Batis are unimaginable for second-unit, B-roll, driving pictures, and on the Ronin.”
The2025 Spy Excessive debut was a success with SXSW audiences, incomes the filmmakers a TV Premiere Viewers Award. The present is accessible to look at now on Amazon Prime.
