How the creators of Nickel Boys brought a fresh approach to their storytelling

Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Colson Whitehead, Nickel Boys chronicles the powerful friendship between two young Black teenagers navigating the harrowing trials of reform school together in Florida. Elwood Curtis is on the cusp of adulthood, mere days away from attending his first college classes, when an innocent wrong -place/wrong-time misstep reroutes and shatters the course of his life.

To help bring the novel to life on the big screen, Director RaMell Ross and Director of Photography Jomo Fray, focused on creating what they referred to “sentient images.”

“We always wanted the image to feel like it was attached to a real person” Jomo recalls. When Ross and Fray set out to create an immersive experience, they knew they needed a camera that could adjust and shift quickly. In the Sony VENICE 2, they found “an amazing modular system” that was as flexible as the characters they were portraying. Hear more of Jomo’s thoughts on the creative process and working with VENICE 2 below.