The directors behind some of Netflix’s biggest hits of the year came together to speak to their creative processes and storytelling techniques in conversations moderated by Variety in partnership with Netflix.

Antonio Campos, who directed “The Beast In Me”; Max Winkler from “Monster: The Ed Gein Story”; and Alexandria Stapleton, director of “Sean Combs: The Reckoning” spoke with Variety’s Jazz Tangcay about their visual languages, the challenges of documenting an unfolding story and portraying real-life people.

Campos described his show as “contemporary noir,” saying, “we embrace weird ideas… I’m always thinking about the edit as the rhythm of the show and making it dynamic.” Campos said he and his director of photography, Lyle Vincent, often drew inspiration from 1970’s paranoia thrillers, like those from Gordon Willis or “Michael Clayton.”

Winkler also drew inspiration from films, like Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood,” when building the stillness and quiet of the plains, aiming to make Gein’s character appear small. Stapleton discussed the chaos and challenges of working on Sean “Diddy” Combs’ story as the grand jury trial unfolded in real time. “The other thing that we were fighting was that everyone was really obsessed with these really scandalous details,” said Stapleton. “[There’s] a whole doc about baby oil, and so we really wanted to dig under the hood to understand the context, the timeline, all of the origin story: how was this even possible?”

Winkler also talked about the extensive interview and research process that went into the process and using a recording of Gein to help shape star Charlie Hunnam’s performance, while Campos said he was also heavily involved in the production process, overseeing everything from color grading to sound mixing. Stapleton’s editing process was trickier, as the team had no idea of the trial outcome until the last episode, often facing curveballs which included needing to find new footage and jurors to interview.

The Duffer Brothers and Marc Munden also appeared in a separate conversation with Variety’s Michael Schneider to discuss “Stranger Things” and “Lord of the Flies,” respectively.

Ross Duffer began by acknowledging the 10-year long process of making “Stranger Things,” saying, “Every year we were learning something new, trying something new, and trying to swing for the fences as much as we could.” Matt Duffer referred to wrapping the show as “very emotional,” and added that they tried to “tap into what it felt like in that first season.”

Munden explained the importance of staying as true to the “Lord of the Flies” source material as possible, saying, “I think the main difference is that you’re just getting much more of the characters, in a way, than in the previous adaptations, and my take on it really was to be true to that period of the 1950s, in the middle of the Cold War, and bring all those elements in.”

The directors also discussed the challenges and joys of working with young actors. Ross Duffer said, “What we were looking for is kids that felt really authentic, but because they’re so young, it forced us to adjust the roles, because they’re not necessarily playing Mike as written or Dustin as written, they’re bringing their own personalities to it, and I think actually make them a lot more interesting.”

Munden revealed the difficult shooting conditions in Malaysia, including uninhabited islands, monsoons, and dangerous wildlife. “We could never film at night, yet a fifth of the script was set at night, so we ended up taking the infrared filter out of the camera and filming day for night, which turns all the foliage pink and orange,” Munden explained. “Maybe people wouldn’t recognize it as night, but it might connote something a little bit different but it just adds to the hallucinatory feel of the piece.”

All three directors spoke about the emotional experiences of shooting the final episodes of their shows, and the pride and satisfaction of seeing their vision come to life.