On his technical approach to the project, Pedro said:
“The cinematography was designed to create a subtle sense of unease. Rather than relying on conventional horror aesthetics, the visual language embraced carefully controlled departures from naturalism, allowing the supernatural to emerge almost imperceptibly.
Blending saturated colours, rich blacks and a quietly haunted atmosphere through lighting and composition, we came to refer to our visual language as “Tropical Noir”. This became the project’s guiding principle, shaping every creative decision, from aspect ratio and lens choices to colour separation and the rendering of different skin tones, allowing beauty, mystery and emotional tension to coexist naturally within the same frame.”
Working closely with colourist Jat Patel from Harbor Picture Company, Cardillo has noted that the work of photographer Miguel Rio Branco, César Charlone’s “City of God”, and Kubrick’s “Barry Lyndon” all heavily influenced the vision that he and the team crafted. He favoured the ARRI ALEXA 35 thanks to its exceptional dynamic range, which preserved highlights under the Jamaican sun, and its Extended Sensitivity mode, which proved invaluable for large-scale night exteriors.
After testing a variety of spherical and anamorphic lenses, Cardillo opted for the Atlas Mercury 1.5x anamorphic lenses. Covering 99.3% of the camera’s 4.6K sensor while producing a 2.20:1 image with reduced distortion and a characterful image, the combination offered the balance he had been searching for. Once the camera and lenses had been selected, testing moved into the LUT development stage. Skin tones, fabrics, colours and materials were evaluated under hard light, low light, candlelight, fire and contemporary LED fixtures to understand how they would respond to the “Tropical Noir” LUT.
“Possession” gave Pedro room to experiment even further. For the fourth episode, Cardillo introduced a new shooting style built around uninterrupted takes. In contrast to the Hitchcock and Fincher-inspired approach used elsewhere in the series, each scene of this episode was conceived as a oner, with no conventional breakdown or gradual build-up. The sequences were photographed exclusively with the ARRI Rental LOOK 57 mm, a specially constructed prime lens whose third control ring allows the image to be progressively detuned, even during a take.
Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to an Italian-Brazilian family, Pedro showed interest in cinema, photography, and music from a very early age. After dropping out of business school in the mid-90s and taking a “life-altering” trip across Europe, Pedro started working on camera crews for major Brazilian production companies.
A member of the Brazilian Association of Cinematography (ABC), Cardillo completed a postgraduate programme in cinematography at ESCAC (Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya), affiliated with the University of Barcelona, Spain, Pedro started his international DoP career. His long format work also include Sophie Turner’s “Joan” (ITV/The CW), J. K. Rowling’s “Strike: The Ink Black Heart” (BBC/HBO), David Mitchell’s “Ludwig” S2 (BBC), “Lov3” (Prime Video), “The Followers” (Paramount+) and “The Damned Saint” (Disney+/Star+). Pedro is represented by WPA in the UK and USA, and Ruhe Management in Europe.
