Brett Van Dyke Captures Comedy of 'Shoresy' with ZEISS Supreme Primes

What led you to cinematography?
My father was a film editor and my mother worked in advertising, so I was around the industry from a young age. Growing up I had always been into photography and backpacking, so I used to take photographs while traveling through Asia and India. I started out assisting in editing, but quickly realized I didn’t want to spend my days in a dark room. I got a job as a PA for a local company in Toronto, then transitioned to gripping and gaffing, which led to the opportunity to work as a DP. I started shooting spec commercials with friends, built up a reel, and landed my first real jobs. Once I got an agent, it just snowballed from there.

How did you come to work on 'Shoresy'?
I was shooting another project with one of the producers when he mentioned an opening on 'Shoresy.' I was already a fan of the show, so I jumped at the chance.

I've shot a number of other series where I've come on to the show after the look has already been established. Shoresy has such a distinct tempo to the timing and the editing, my goal coming in was to maintain visual consistency while subtly enhancing the look — bringing in a bit more cinematic polish without losing what makes the show special. There were specific things that the producers wanted for this season and I was there to massage those elements for them.

What makes shooting 'Shoresy' special?
I think the reviews are all good. There's a rabid fan base, so it does kind of spill over to those same fans wanting to dive into Shoresy's life. And I think if you play beer league hockey, this show is really in your wheelhouse. The jokes can resonate with anyone, but I think hockey as the vehicle for comedy hockey is paramount. The crew sometimes will bust out laughing in the blocking and or during a take because of a joke that lands on set. It's a great environment.

Jared Keeso (the show’s creator who also plays the titular Shoresy) is very loyal. A lot of our crew followed him from Letterkenny and many of the crew are Sudbury North Bay locals. We get to shoot Sudbury for Sudbury, and the city welcomes us with open doors everywhere. There’s no hiding local landmarks or putting up signage to pretend it’s another town. It is actually a dream to shoot Sudbury for Sudbury.

What camera and lens package are you using for 'Shoresy'?
A lens package was already in place for Shorsey–the team had brought similar gear from Letterkenny. But this season was going to feature a lot of Steadicam work and the Supremes seemed like an obvious choice because they would cut well with the Compact Zooms. I was familiar with the Supremes from several commercial shoots and we ended with ARRI Alexa Mini LF with ZEISS Supreme Prime lenses, paired with Zeiss Compact Zooms.

What makes the ZEISS Supreme Primes a good fit for the show?
The Supremes strike a great balance — sharp but not clinical, with a soft roll-off in the highlights. The show has an established 2.39:1 aspect ratio to avoid filling out the hockey stands with extras, and the lenses perform beautifully in that aspect ratio. I really love wide aspect ratio—it has its own kind of look. Paired with the Supreme Primes, the fall off on the edges and corners is beautiful.

We got the full set, up to 135mm. The 29mm has always been a favorite lens of mine and the whole show is mostly shot on the 29mm and the 65mm. The coverage is primarily a four-shot, a two-shot or a single. Based around the comedy of how a joke lands, you cut between the A-and B camera.

I’m not a big “shoot it wide open” guy, so during prep I tested the lenses to see where the contrast comes in. For me, the sweet spot of these lenses, where the contrast really starts to come in, is 2.8-1/2 to 4. In past seasons, Shoresy has tended towards a greater depth of field. I wanted to pull it back just a little–give the show my little stamp with a little shallower depth of field. It wasn’t so much as a move away from the look of previous seasons, but more to just change it a little bit. So far everyone is loving the look.

How is working with directors that come from a stunts background?
Dan and Sean Skeen–they’re brothers–did the stunt coordinating for all the hockey and then took over as directors for seasons three and four. It can be a natural progression for stunt coordinators or second unit directors to take the helm as a show goes on. The Skeens are creative storytellers as well as stunt coordinators, which is paramount when you're doing a lot of hockey choreography.

Something special is that the Shoresy scripts have music beats written in. The music in this show is amazing–really obscure. In the script, Jared (the showrunner) will add timecode to explain what is happening at every beat. It's very specific–each beat matches this exact timecode in the song Jared likes to slow it down and ramp it in the edit, so we shoot almost everything at 60 fps. It's all there on the paper. There's no adlib in the show–everything's by the book.

What are the challenges of shooting hockey?
The show shoots in the city of Sudbury and we shoot the hockey portions on real ice at the Sudbury Wolves rink. Shooting on ice is tricky. There are some existing tools, like a skate dolly, that has skate blades. Or you can put a doorway dolly on a platform and attach pucks on the bottom corners and provided you keep the pucks are wet, they glide nicely on ice.

But mostly I just grab the camera in my hands and skated handheld. The trick is to skate up to speed, then glide. When you skate with a camera, you have to skate upright, using a shorter stride, so you don’t propel yourself forward by leaning. I also had the key grip skating behind me, to occasionally push me. I also used an Easy Rig to help with the bounce. It was a workout, but it adds a raw energy you can’t fake.

There’s less action on the ice in Season 4, but Shoresy also refs a league, so we shot those scenes on ice with him. I played hockey growing up and I’ve been playing beer league for 20 years. There’s a Shorsey on every team–these old men, who put equipment on and become a different person.

How do you approach lighting the show?
'Shoresy' shoots fast — sometimes 20 to 30 pages a day — so we keep lighting simple. For season 4, we shot a lot more outdoors, because the team is on a summer break.

Shooting exteriors, I work with the sun, bouncing light or bringing in an 18K through a super soft diffusion rag. I wanted everything to be front lit and to feel how hot and sunny the characters are. That’s not usually my approach, but this season I wanted to feel the heat. Inside the rink, we use practical fixtures and overheads, shaping the light to keep faces sculpted without losing the gritty atmosphere

Were there any standout moments where the lenses really shined?
The on-ice action, for sure. The 29mm Supreme Prime was my go-to for skating shots — it captured the speed and intensity while still holding contrast and detail. Plus when I finally got into the sets I was really impressed with the contrast. The Supreme primes are phenomenal lenses.