From the return to VistaVision that sent cinephiles into a state of ecstasy over “One Battle After Another” to the religious ecstasy given visual expression in the 35mm imagery of the wildly experimental musical “The Testament of Ann Lee,” 2025 is a year that has been marked by bold swings in cinematography. Recently the directors of photography behind “One Battle” and “Ann Lee” joined the cinematographers responsible for the lush period exteriors of “Train Dreams” and the Bergman-esque close-ups of the academia-set “After the Hunt” for a wide-ranging discussion of their craft at IndieWire’s first ever cinematography round table.

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While each of the films represented is technically virtuosic, all four cinematographers focused less on the mechanics of what they do than on the ineffable qualities of the art form — and how the environment on set seeps into the DNA of a film. “I really do feel like the energy gets recorded,” Malik Hassan Sayeed (“After the Hunt”) said, noting that the positive feelings generated by star Julia Roberts in prep set the tone for a positive collaboration — something that was essential given the difficult nature of the material.

“That energy allowed us to react creatively, and the producers gave us the space to honor the truth of the moment, even if it meant we take a little longer,” Sayeed said, adding that giving the actors an environment in which to create isn’t just the director’s job. “I think we as cinematographers have a huge responsibility in setting that.”

Adolpho Veloso (“Train Dreams”) concurred, noting that the approach to cinematography on his film lent itself to a more friendly space in which the actors could perform without obstacles. “Being in front of the camera is really scary,” Veloso said. “I don’t understand how [actors] do it. So I’m always trying to make it easier on them. If I was in that spot, I would rather have a smaller footprint around me, so I’m always trying to work in a way where I don’t have a bunch of stuff around them.”

Because the period aesthetic of “Train Dreams” called for natural light, Veloso was able to keep that footprint to a minimum. “You don’t have a lot of stands around,” he said. “They’re around an actual campfire, not around LED lights that are flickering like a campfire. I feel like the whole thing helps, like actually feeling the warmth of the campfire instead of just pretending. And also to allow them some flexibility. I think beautiful moments in the movie came from little pieces that we just improvised.”

Michael Bauman was going for a similar tone on the set of “One Battle After Another,” even though the scale of production meant it would be difficult to keep things stripped down. “[Director] Paul [Thomas Anderson] wanted it to feel like an indie movie, but of course he didn’t really write that kind of film,” Bauman said. Still, Bauman tried to supply the energy Anderson was looking for — something that was particularly challenging given the size and noise of the VistaVision cameras, which made it difficult to stay nimble.

“The format has peculiarities,” Bauman said. “The noise is a big thing. We built a blimp, which was successful, but now you’re just making the whole thing big. Paul doesn’t like stages, he likes practical locations. Trying to jam the camera in some of those places was an adjustment.” Bauman looked to cinematographer Owen Roziman’s work on “The French Connection” to make sure he was maintaining the loose, energetic style Anderson wanted. “We carried a print of ‘French Connection’ so we could watch it periodically. Because the weight of everything starts to creep in, and there were definitely moments where it was starting to feel too polished. Then we gotta muck it up a little bit.”

In the case of “The Testament of Ann Lee,” cinematographer William Rexer aspired, like his peers on the panel, to a personal, handmade look. To that end, he collaborated closely with the production designer and visual effects team to find old school methods of recreating 18th-century England and New York on a modest budget. “The set extensions were all old style glass paintings,” Rexer said. “Tonally, we didn’t want the film to feel too tech-y; even in the color grading, we never over massaged it. We wanted it to feel authentic. All of our lighting had to be justified by candles or the sun, because it’s 1740 to 1780 — there’s nothing else to justify the light.”

Rexer, like Bauman and Sayeed, shot on film rather than digital, something else he feels gave the movie a more handmade feeling. (“Train Dreams” was shot digitally, but feels in its way just as textured as the others thanks to Veloso’s skillful application of the Alexa 35, which the cinematographers agreed is the gold standard for digital capture.) “One of the reasons why shooting film is so exciting is that I’m always surprised when I get the dailies, no matter how much film I’ve shot,” Rexer said. “I get in there and there are happy accidents, always.”

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