When long-time collaborator Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki was forced to step down as cinematographer on Roma due to scheduling conflicts, director Alfonso Cuarón made the audacious decision to take up the camera himself. Having previously crafted visual masterpieces like Children of Men and Gravity alongside Lubezki, Cuarón faced the daunting task of capturing his deeply personal, semi-autobiographical chronicle of 1970s Mexico City without his signature DP. The result was not merely a compelling directorial exercise, but a watershed moment for modern digital black-and-white cinematography.
Rather than relying on 35mm film stock, the historic default for monochromatic period pieces seeking nostalgic grain, Cuarón embraced state-of-the-art digital capture. He selected the ARRI Alexa 65, a large-format camera system equipped with a massive 65mm-sized sensor, pairing it with vintage Panavision System 65 lenses. This unexpected combination allowed Cuarón to build an aesthetic that felt distinctly contemporary yet hauntingly archival, setting a new benchmark for how digital medium-format sensors can be harnessed for intimate storytelling.
Large-Format Fidelity and Deep-Focus Staging
The decision to deploy the Alexa 65 was fundamentally tied to scale and perspective. The camera’s 54.12 x 25.58mm sensor provides an expansive field of view while preserving incredible resolving power across wide focal lengths. In Roma, Cuarón rarely punches in for traditional close-ups. Instead, he favors expansive medium and wide shots that treat the environment, the echoing tiled hallways of a middle-class home, the bustling streets of Colonia Roma, or the turbulent waves of the Pacific Ocean, as a living character equal in weight to protagonist Cleo.
By shooting at stopped-down apertures on large-format glass, Cuarón achieved an extraordinary depth of field without sacrificing background detail. The resolution of the Alexa 65 sensor captures minute textures: individual cobblestones wet with morning water, distant background extras moving through traffic, and subtle reflections in puddles. This deep-focus approach demands meticulous staging, blocking every frame so that foreground intimacy and background context exist in perfect visual harmony.
Cuarón utilized high-end digital technology not to achieve hyperreal sharpness, but to render everyday memory with profound clarity, patience, and spatial presence.
Rethinking Modern Monochrome Tone
Shooting in color and converting to black and white in post-production provided Cuarón and colorist Steven J. Scott complete control over the tonal spectrum. Many modern digital black-and-white projects lean into high contrast, crushing shadows into deep, impenetrable blacks and blowing out highlights to emulate aggressive graphic novel aesthetics. Roma violently rejects this trend. Instead, the grade echoes the delicate grey scales of Italian Neorealism, reminiscent of Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini, while maintaining the clean dynamic range of 21st-century digital sensors.
The Alexa 65’s gentle highlight roll-off proved essential in managing high-contrast exterior scenes under bright Mexican sunlight. In post-production, the DI team used complex color channel mixing to map specific hue values to precise shade variations. Red and green channels were tuned to keep skin tones creamy and luminous, while shadows were deliberately kept soft and textured rather than clipped. This meticulous preservation of midtones gives the film a soft, velvety texture that feels tactile and living.
Light, Panning, and Temporal Spatiality
Lighting a large-format black-and-white image requires a disciplined approach to naturalism. Working with key rigging crew and gaffers, Cuarón relied heavily on soft, diffused natural daylight, bouncing ambient sources through large overhead silks and manipulating interior practical lights. In the interior domestic scenes, light streams through windows and skylights, creating natural gradients across walls and floors that guide the viewer’s eye through the frame without explicit cueing.
Camera movement in Roma is similarly deliberate. Cuarón frequently mounts the heavy camera setup on precision fluid heads or tracks, executing slow, rhythmic 360-degree pans and long lateral tracking shots. Because the large-format frame captures so much spatial data, these sweeping movements feel less like stylistic flourishes and more like calm, observant sweeps of human memory. The camera stands as an empathetic observer, allowing scenes to play out in long, uninterrupted takes.
Ultimately, Roma serves as a blueprint for contemporary cinematographers. It proves that digital technology does not have to feel cold, sterile, or clinical. By combining large-format sensors with thoughtful color science, disciplined deep-focus composition, and respect for midtone latitude, Cuarón demonstrated that high-resolution digital tools can be channeled to create works of breathtaking poetic resonance.
This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Learn more.