In conversation with cinematographers

243 Pages·2015·4.041 MB·English

by  David A. Ellis author of Conversations with Cinematographers

In Conversation
with
Cinematographers
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In Conversation
with
Cinematographers
David A. Ellis
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
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Published by Rowman & Littlefield
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Copyright © 2015 by Rowman & Littlefield
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic
or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written
permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ellis, David A., 1947–
In conversation with cinematographers / David A. Ellis.
pages cm
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-4422-5109-0 (cloth : alk. paper) – ISBN 978-1-4422-5110-6 (ebook) 1.
Cinematographers–Great Britain–Interviews. I. Title.
TR849.A1E55 2015
777'.8–dc23 2015011564
™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
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To my wonderful wife, Margaret;
my late caring father, John Arthur Ellis;
my late caring aunts, Violet Dimeloe and Florence Ellis;
my uncles, Samuel Dimeloe, Jonathan Ellis, and Alfred Ellis;
my two stepchildren, Nicky and Tracy;
and my two grandchildren, Chloe and James
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Contents
Foreword ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xiii
1 Sue Gibson, BSC (1952– ) 1
2 Gavin Finney, BSC (1963– ) 9
3 Oliver Stapleton, BSC (1948– ) 17
4 Phil Meheux, BSC, Hon-ACS, GBCT (1941– ) 26
5 Brian Tufano, BSC (1939– ) 48
6 Clive Tickner, BSC (1943– ) 56
7 Stephen Goldblatt, ASC, BSC (1945– ) 64
8 Seamus McGarvey, ASC, BSC (1967– ) 77
9 Peter MacDonald, BSC (1939– ) 85
10 Mike Southon, BSC 98
11 Rob Hardy, BSC (1972– ) 108
12 Harvey Harrison, BSC (1944– ) 114
13 Mike Valentine, BSC 125
14 Robin Browne, BSC (1941– ) 136
15 Adam Suschitzky, BSC (1972– ) 146
16 Ken Westbury, BSC (1927– ) 155
17 Simon Kossoff, BSC (1948– ) 160
18 Chris Seager, BSC (1949– ) 173
19 David Worley, Associate BSC, ACO, GBCT 180
20 Trevor Coop, Associate BSC, ACO, GBCT (1945– ) 186
vii
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viii CONTENTS
21 Haris Zambarloukos, BSC (1970– ) 195
22 Peter Hannan, ACS, BSC (1941– ) 202
23 Roger Pratt, BSC (1947– ) 208
Index 215
About the Author 227
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Foreword
Sir Sydney Samuelson CBE, BSC Hon. Fellow BKSTS
Ingmar Bergman once said about cinema, “No art passes our conscience in the
way film does, and goes to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our
souls.”
David A. Ellis has brought us a second collection of interviews with back
room technicians, those senior showbiz folk whose talent, experience, and un-
derstanding make such a contribution to how a movie, every movie, looks when
it is up there on the screen. They get none of the press and public attention of
the front-of-camera glitterati, but the skill and the art of cinematographers are
absolutely vital to the creation of atmosphere and the emotion triggering im-
ages experienced by audiences. The people included in this book are all differ-
ent—their backgrounds, personalities, and the influences that remain with them
from the demands of directors of movies they have previously photographed.
As you read through the book you will come to realise that DPs (directors of
photography) are all “one offs.” Producers and directors recruit their cameramen
and their crewmembers very carefully. These days they already know well the
photographic “style” of each candidate via DVDs of his/her previous work. But
there is more to it than that; a senior technician’s attitude towards others during
production, the ability to get on with colleagues of both sides of the camera is
also important, especially at times when a shoot is not going well. A DP with
tact, understanding, and a degree of common sense can be a veritable peace
broker, a tower of strength to all concerned at times of stress.
The average film production camera department is not famous for the
creation of tabloid headlines of scandalous behaviour. Nevertheless, one of the
fascinations of this book is the insight the reader gets about problems, pending
technical disasters, and personality clashes that have to be addressed and solved
with minimum time loss. David A. Ellis’s subjects explain the challenges that
occur and how they are overcome—hopefully without too much fuss.
ix
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