Discover the camera choices and visual themes that bind characters across Beef season 2
The second season of Beef expands both its narrative reach and its visual ambition, and cinematographer James Laxton played a central role in that growth. Taking over from Season 1 director of photography Larkin Seiple, Laxton set out to preserve the show’s ability to map power and intimacy between characters through framing, lighting, shot scale, and movement. The season follows multiple couples — including Josh Martin (Oscar Isaac) and Lindsay Crane-Martin (Carey Mulligan); Austin (Charles Melton) and Ashley (Cailee Spaeny); and new country club owner Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung) with Dr. Kim (Song Kang-ho) — and Laxton needed a visual strategy that could accommodate all their perspectives without diluting emotional intensity.
To accomplish that, Laxton made a deliberate equipment decision: he mounted much of the season on the ARRI 265 with its 65mm sensor. He has noted that the camera delivered a large-format image similar to features he has worked on, while being compact enough to support rapid changes in camera configuration — from steadicam to handheld to studio-style setups. That blend of scale and agility let the crew maintain a cinematic look within the demanding rhythm of television production, where speed and adaptability remain essential.
One of the central visual challenges for Season 2 was creating a distinctive lens on each relationship while keeping the larger ensemble coherent. Laxton focused on using camera size and lens choices to give viewers a sense of proximity or distance to the characters’ inner lives. By leaning on the large-format characteristics of the ARRI 265, he could render faces and spaces with rich detail and subtle depth, and then alter camera movement and scale to shift emphasis between characters. The goal was to let the audience feel lodged inside each character’s point of view without abandoning the sense of an interconnected social ecosystem.
Beyond the sensor, Laxton spoke about adopting specific visual fingerprints—what he described as an ARRI DNA—that blend modern clarity with older, more tactile textures. That combination was intended to suggest overlapping eras and recurring patterns across generations. In practical terms, this meant balancing pristine glass-like rendering with a fullness that recalls vintage analog imagery, enabling the camera to speak to both present anxieties and inherited cycles. Such a palette supports the show’s thematic interest in how different couples mirror and diverge from one another.
Laxton’s visual storytelling culminates in a season-closing sequence that crystallizes the notion of intergenerational resonance. The shot begins with Chairwoman Park at the grave of her first husband and then gradually expands into a composition that gathers all principal characters into one layered frame. The effect operates like a cinematic samsara — a visual circle that places individuals at varying stages of their arcs while implying they are part of a common whole. For Laxton, the composition allowed a simultaneously intimate and observational vantage point: not close on each subject, but spatially arranged so viewers could absorb the web of relationships they had witnessed.
That distance was deliberate. Laxton favored a posture of being present but not suffocating the characters with constant tight coverage; instead he used measured long takes and controlled camera movement to let scenes breathe. In his approach the camera becomes a tool for perspective rather than spectacle, enabling the audience to track how power and vulnerability travel between characters. This restraint is as much a storytelling decision as a technical one, illustrating how cinematography can translate themes—like cyclical behavior and generational echo—into visual terms.
Pragmatically, the choice of the more compact large-format body delivered production benefits beyond image quality. The camera’s portability sped up setup changes and allowed the crew to match the series’ fast shooting tempo without sacrificing the cinematic look. Laxton’s use of the system demonstrated how modern camera technology can reconcile the competing demands of television—high visual standards and tight schedules—while supporting the creative imperative to connect an ensemble cast through a coherent, emotionally precise visual language. Beef season 2 is now streaming on Netflix, and its imagery stands as a clear example of how equipment choices and aesthetic intent combine to deepen serialized storytelling.