Percy Jackson relied on advanced technology to make Greek myths seem “real.”

Percy Jackson may have been drawn into the world of Greek mythology in the first season of his show, but the production crew had the exact opposite challenge: making the gods and monsters of Greece look like they fit into the real world. According to Pierre Gill, the show’s director of photography, this meant approaching the scenes as grounded and realistic as possible.

In an interview with Polygon, Gill said this approach came directly from showrunners Dan Schatz and John Steinberg.

“They really wanted to do something natural and realistic, as much as possible,” Gill said. “Not like a superhero show, not over the top. (They wanted to) keep Percy as a real character, a real person, a real child, going through this journey. That was the main direction we discussed (…) we really got aligned on this.”

What added to the challenge of making it all seem real was the fact that most of the show was shot on the Volume – essentially a soundstage with a huge LED screen around it to simulate different locations, which has been used in shows like Loki And The Mandalorian. Gill isn’t immune to the benefits of Volume, but he says there are some productions where it makes things easier, and others that make it a little more challenging.

“The volume is very specific,” says Gill. “I’ve said it many times, but I still believe it: The Volume is great for science fiction and fantasy. But it’s very, very difficult to do more realistic things. And this is what we want to achieve.”

The way Gill dealt with the specific challenges of the Volume was basically to start within the Volume and work outward.

Photo: David Bukach/Disney

“It makes me start my testing and preparation and all my vision from the Volume,” Gill said. “The Volume became my central core, because when I shoot outdoors I can always find the look I want, or more contrast or more light or whatever. If I’m shooting in a stage, I can also light it up and do another one. When I shoot on the Volume I can’t do that.

So he tested all his lenses in the Volume first, to make sure they looked good there, and then adapted his approach in other shooting locations to make those lenses work, since the first priority was to get the Volume make work look real.

Gill feels that this unique approach ultimately paid off and helped make the show seem realistic.

“I think we did a pretty good job of that,” Gill said. “Some people didn’t even know that the outside of the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art) and the inside of MET were in Volume. And that the Minotaur was in Volume. (…) But when I hear this, it’s really good news for me, because I think, ‘Well, I worked really hard to make it work.’”

Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 1 is now streaming on Disney Plus.