"There Was an Interesting Opportunity to Mix Formats": DP Ethan Palmer on Plainclothes

The 2025 Sundance U.S. Dramatic Competition feature Plainclothes, the feature debut of writer-director Carmen Emmi, mixes a paranoid, anxious police thriller with a coming out narrative. It follows a police officer, Lucas (Tom Blyth), tasked with arresting gay men whose job gets complicated when he falls for one. Plainclothes mixes lo-fi surveillance footage with a contemporary digital aesthetic. The film’s cinematographer, Ethan Palmer (Ted K, Goat) discusses mixing formats and using cinemato...