April 2024

Shōgun: A Stranger in a Strange Land

Unit photography by Katie Yu. All images courtesy of FX The cinematographers of Shōgun were tasked with delivering a fresh take on classic source material. That meant simultaneously transporting viewers into the milieu of Edo-period Japan and the perspective of an interloper surviving within it. Christopher Ross, BSC — who shot the 10-part FX miniseries’ first two episodes, “Anjin” and “Servants of Two Masters” — says this approach reflects the “political minefield” at the heart of its drama: “We’re delving into a hierarchical civilization, and how the Japanese view a ‘primitive’ European. We wanted to capture medieval Japanese life through the eyes of a stranger, and, equally, to immerse ourselves in that world and view the stranger as an...more