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Cinematographer Robbie Ryan's collaboration with Yorgos Lanthimos has always been defined by technical daring and dark humor, and "Bugonia" is no exception. In their latest project -- a surreal sci-fi tale "about bees and a basement," as Ryan recalls -- the pair leaned into both analog imperfection and formal precision to create a visual world that feels unsettlingly alive.

That sense of unease extends to the story itself: "Bugonia" buzzes with eerie tension as Michelle (Emma Stone), a sharp-tongued pharma CEO, is kidnapped by Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis), who demand she confess to being an alien. Held captive in a shadowy basement, Michelle's ordeal blurs the line between paranoia and revelation on Teddy's remote ranch, where his hive of bees becomes a haunting metaphor for control.

From the start, Ryan and Lanthimos were determined to push the boundaries of large-format film. They chose to shoot "Bugonia" on VistaVision cameras -- specifically the Wilcam W11 and the Beaucam -- using prototype lenses developed by Dan Sasaki, nicknamed "GW lenses" after the late cinematographer, Gordon Willis. The combination produced extraordinary resolution and texture, but also a fair share of headaches. "The camera pushes the film horizontally through the gate instead of vertically," Ryan explained, "so you get brand new problems that I didn't know existed, which is camera jams. We ended up using it in the film. It's interesting looking."

Lanthimos' signature low-angle framing returns here, grounding the film in a subtly distorted perspective that keeps viewers off balance. Speaking with Variety, for Inside the Frame, Ryan said, "If there's ever a shot at normal height." He added, "He'll say, 'What's this all about? This is horrible.'" Movement, too, is meticulously choreographed: "Yorgos' approach to filmmaking is if somebody's moving, the camera should be moving; if they stop, you stop. The timing is very precise."

One of the film's standout moments -- the early kidnapping sequence -- captures that precision and playfulness. Shot over the first days of production, the scene was rigged with cameras on the bonnet of a G-Wagon, capturing chaos as Emma Stone's character fights back against her would-be captors. Despite a few technical hiccups ("the speed bumps made [the camera] shake and jam"), the sequence embodies Lanthimos' blend of absurdity and tension. Ryan describes it as "observational," filmed mostly in wide shots that let the awkward clumsiness of the attack play out in real time.

Lighting, as usual for Lanthimos, leaned heavily toward the natural. "He tends not to want film lighting if he can get away with it," Ryan said, admitting he snuck in a small light for one car shot out of fear that the reflections would obscure Stone's face. "He probably would've given out to me for that," he added with a grin.

Perhaps the most striking shot in the kidnapping scene, filmed through the glass of Stone's character's modern home and across her indoor pool, was born from improvisation. A crane setup intended for a cut scene became a new vantage point.

"Yorgos just said, 'Why don't we try the attack from inside over the pool?'" Ryan recalled. The result is a quietly surreal image that encapsulates the film's tone: brutal yet darkly funny.

In "Bugonia," the imperfections of vintage cameras, the precision of Lanthimos' direction, and Ryan's instinct for how the camera should move fuse into something wholly unique. "Anytime I work with Yorgos," Ryan reflected, "I feel like an audience member. I never know what's coming next."