VINCENT GONNEVILLE
CINEMATOGRAPHER
EMPATHY.
A CINEMATOGRAPHY SUMMARY
There’s something uniquely exciting about joining a project where you get to shape an entire visual world from the ground up. Empathy, written by Florence Longpré and directed by Guillaume Lonergan (whom I had the great pleasure of working with on Audrey est revenue) was a true playground for image-making.
The series explores the complexities of mental health with both sensitivity and humor. It follows Suzanne, a former criminologist turned psychiatrist, who joins the Mont-Royal Psychiatric Institute. There, she befriends Mortimer, a crisis intervention worker with a troubled past, played by French comedian Thomas Ngijol. Together, they guide patients through personal struggles and healing, offering a profound reflection on empathy and rehabilitation. The series has been praised for its bold storytelling and refined direction, and was selected for the international competition at the 2025 Séries Mania festival—a first for a fully Quebecois production.
Cinematic Challenge of Television
One of the enduring challenges in Quebec television is achieving a consistently cinematic look while working within the constraints of tight schedules and limited budgets. By “cinematic” I mean more than just pretty pictures, I’m talking about imagery with depth, thoughtful compositions, dynamic lighting, painterly color and camera movement that feels expressive rather than mechanical. To pull that off in the high-speed world of series production, I’ve found that the key lies in a sharp, unified approach across departments built around precision and shared visual intent.
Directing Style
Guillaume Lonergan’s directing style always reminds me of great visual storytellers of the 50's like David Lean, John Ford, Hitchcock and Kubrick. He draws on a broad range of film grammar and camera movement, not for style’s sake, but to serve emotion and rhythm. With nearly half of the shoot taking place within the psychiatric institute, his approach was essential in avoiding visual repetition. He kept the camera language fluid and expressive, steering clear of the typical “sit-and-deliver” aesthetic and static mise-en-scène that television can sometimes fall into.
Visual Inspiration
The series moves fluidly between internal and external perspectives, and while we drew from a wide range of visual references, one influence stood out above the rest. For the more observational moments, we looked to the photography of Saul Leiter. His use of long lenses and multi-layered compositions (often framed through reflections, glass, or subtle obstructions) guided us in crafting a sense of poetic detachment. We embraced the 250mm and the 500mm lens for these shots, discovering that even from a distance, the image could evoke absurdity, melancholy, or tenderness with the same emotional intensity of a close-up.
Lighting Design
I’ve worked for years with gaffer Jaden Scholes and key grip Vincent Plourde Lavoie, and over time we’ve developed a shared language when it comes to shaping light. Each project brings its own philosophy. For Empathy, it was all about portraiture and honoring the emotional states of the characters through a lighting style rooted in the elegance of classic Hollywood.
The “Kaminski”
We nicknamed one of our favorite setups “the Kaminski,” in homage to cinematographer Janusz Kamiński’s signature approach of working in and around overexposure. It’s a bold sidelight, typically rated three to four stops over middle gray and, in our case, achieved using a Maxi-Brute with a ¼ CTB gel and a softening diffusion like opal. This combination preserved the texture of the light while gently softening the shadows, enough to make the light feel sculptural rather than harsh. While this kind of setup was often avoided in digital cinematography due to its proximity to clipping, when executed properly with a camera that offers a high dynamic range, it can profoundly enhance the emotional tone of a scene through its luminous intensity.
We used XT26 Aputure units for most of our ambient light, bounced off 8x8 ultrabounce for exteriors or unbleached muslin for interiors. Bouncing, rather than diffusing, helped us keep the light feeling natural and motivated. China balls also played a big role in shaping soft, wraparound key light, especially when we wanted a touch of catchlight in closeups.
The “Wally Pfister”
One lighting technique we relied on heavily was something we nicknamed “The Wally Pfister,” inspired by cinematographer Wally Pfister and his frequent use of this exact approach. It works just as well on small setups as it does on larger ones, especially when using lights rigged on cranes through windows on bigger locations. The concept is simple: we stack all of our lighting on the key side to sculpt the performer’s face with depth and dimension. A ¾ backlight is set two to three stops over middle gray, with either very light diffusion or none at all. A sidelight is set at one stop over middle gray, using a medium-density diffusion like ½ grid cloth. Finally, a ¾ front light is set one stop under middle gray, this time with a heavier diffusion. It creates a rich, three-dimensional quality that brings the performer’s face to life.
Specular Highlight
One of the more unusual questions we rarely stop to ask ourselves when lighting a scene is: How much specular highlight do I actually want? Or, to put it another way: How much light reflection do I want on a performer’s face? This is largely determined by how close the light source is to the subject. And while it might seem like an unimportant detail, the answer to that question can go a long way in defining the visual style of a show. For Empathy, we embraced this principle, especially in close-ups. Whenever possible, we placed a LiteMat or a LiteTile just 3 to 4 feet from the performer’s face, close enough to catch that crisp, beautiful reflection that adds contour and definition. It’s a simple trick, but incredibly effective: the reflected light immediately pulls the viewer’s attention to the face, often making it the brightest point in the frame. Even in darker scenes, this technique allowed us to plunge deep into the shadows while still anchoring the frame with a clear, intentional highlight, usually hovering 1 to 2 stop above middle gray.
Keying on the broad side
In lighting and framing, the "broad side" refers to the side of the face that is more exposed to the camera. In contrast, the "far side" is the part of the face angled away from the camera. In a standard ¾ front camera setup, it's common to place the key light on the far side to create sculptural dimension and natural contour across the face. Placing the key on the broad side, however, disrupts this traditional approach. It flattens the modeling slightly and introduces a quiet sense of unease. This subtle shift in lighting can heighten the emotional undercurrent of a scene, especially during tense or uncomfortable exchanges, such as the many emotionally charged and awkward conversations between Suzanne and Émilien.
The setup in short:
– A soft top key, nudged toward the far side to light the face unevenly
– Negative fill on the near side to deepen contrast and separation
– Optionally, a subtle backlight to add depth
And voilà!
Color and Filtration
Guillaume wanted a visual contrast between the cold, impersonal world outside the institute and the warmth and emotional complexity within its walls. Instead of relying solely on a DIT on set or digital tools in post, I leaned into an analog mindset, using color filters in-camera, paired with a custom LUT developed with colorist William Albu. Inside the institute, we used Tiffen 81EF and Sepia 2 filters to add warmth and saturation. For exteriors, an 80D cooled down the image without completely killing warmth in the highlights. William then came on board and elevated the visuals with a refined touch, adding texture, cohesion, and a naturalistic feel that pushed the filmic quality to another level. This approach let us get much closer to our final look on set, which gave us the freedom to light and shoot with more emotional accuracy, scene by scene, at a low cost.
Camera Movement
We relied heavily on the GFM Primo dolly and GFM jib arm for most of our camera movement, with a Steadicam always on hand for more fluid, character-driven sequences. The show features a number of zooms, ranging from classic push-ins to Vertigo-style dolly zooms and what we informally call “Zoomys,” all achieved with the FUJINON 80–250mm zoom. While “Zoomy” isn’t a formal cinematography term, it’s often used to describe a simultaneous zoom-in and push-in, an expressive, kinetic move favored by directors like De Palma, Kubrick, and Paul Thomas Anderson. Though rarely seen in television, we used this dynamic technique sparingly in Empathy, and it has since become a signature element in our upcoming series Vitrerie Joyal, written by and starring comedian Martin Matte and directed by Guillaume Lonergan.
The Little Oner
A “oner” in cinema is a single, unbroken shot that can last anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes, often used to immerse the viewer or build tension. Within the rhythm of a television series, a oner serves as a deliberate break from conventional editing, introducing visual variety and narrative punctuation. Guillaume often incorporated what we called “little oners” within scenes themselves, almost like adverbs carefully placed within a sentence. Even in more classically covered sequences, we would inject movement, whether through a zoom, a dolly, or both simultaneously, that would span a portion of the dialogue and bring rhythm and emphasis to key moments.
Empathy was one of those rare projects that demanded a fully human approach, technically, emotionally, and visually. It challenged us to recognize and reveal the quiet beauty that exists on the other side of madness. With a second season now confirmed, we find ourselves both grounded in the visual language we’ve established and inspired by the opportunity to push it further.
Technical specifications
ARRI Mini LF
2.8K 1:1 mode (for a final 2:1 aspect ratio)
Cooke Anamorphic
Zoom Fujinon 80-250mm