Below the Line: Shooting 'Nebraska' From "Sideways" to "The Descendants," Alexander Payne's movies have long created a strong sense of place. That trend continues in Mr. Payne's latest film, "Nebraska." Nebraska is Mr. Payne's home state, and he has set four of his movies there. "Nebraska" follows along on a father-and-son road trip from Billings, Mont., to Lincoln, Neb., with the black-and-white cinematography, courtesy of Phedon Papamichael, building a special mood. It is Mr. Papamichael's third collaboration with Mr. Payne, and could be his most visually striking. Below the Line This series singles out behind-the-scenes players and their contributions to films competing during the movie awards season. Read More  Speaking by phone from Los Angeles, Mr. Papamichael said that five months before shooting began, he and Mr. Payne met in Billings to take the same road trip Bruce Dern and Will Forte do in the movie. "It's not technically what you usually do in terms of scouting or looking for a town," Mr. Papamichael said. He just wanted me to get a sense of the land and the people. They drove for three days, visited Mount Rushmore and various towns that approximated the size of the Dern character's hometown. Mr. Papamichael said there were some key first impressions from the trip that he used for the film. "We'd drive down these main streets and I'd never see any people," he said. "I asked, "Where is everybody?" He said, "I guess they're inside watching TV."" These observations led Mr. Papamichael to think about ways to visually capture a sense of isolation and loneliness. "When we shot the trip, we drove the full distance," he added. All the shots you see are in correct geographical order. They created small units for this purpose. We put the actors in the car and usually it was just Alexander, me and our camera assistant sitting in the trunk with the camera. To create an even more expansive scope in the shots, Mr. Papamichael used special lenses that made the image narrower from top to bottom, but wider. This allowed for ways to put more in the frame. "It's a format I really like," he said. It's fun to compose with it. We have a lot of situations with all the family members. One good example is a shot where all the brothers are watching the football game. It would be hard to accomplish without this format. The format also allows for compositions that can include a close-up of a character with a lot of background behind, making it both a close-up and a landscape shot in one. "Another thing we talked about was having a pacing to the film that allowed the audience to take in these images," he said. The compositions are of greater importance in a movie that is not as cutty and fast-paced. The film was shot on digital, but in the post-production process Mr. Papamichael and his team used tools to get more of a film look, including adding grain to the image. He said the black-and-white imagery punctuated the movie's themes as well: "It has a greater emotional strength and graphic value in black and white." He cited as an example the character of Woody (Mr. Dern), whose wind-whipped white hair and textured face would elicit a different feel in color.