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ONLYTHELONELY
CINEMATOGRAPHER DAVID HIGGS BSC REFLECTS ON AN UNUSUAL ASSIGNMENT
After an award-winning short by East London-born filmmaker Gerard Johnson caught the attention of BAFTA laden writer-producer Paul Abbott, he set about creating a fresh character, which with some friends, his actor and cousin Peter Ferdinando (in the title role) and £100 worth of filming over one weekend, he turned it into a new short called Tony. On seeing the first cut, Abbott suggested they turn the subject into a feature film, which he then wanted to produce through his new talent com- pany, Abbott Vision. After an intense six- month casting and rehearsal process, Tony - about an oddball loner who also happens to be a serial killer was shot around the East End with Abbott Vision and UK Film Council funding. The result was an invited entry at the Edinburgh International Film Festival earlier this year.
One thing about this business is that it loves pigeonholes, and putting people in them. After
“finishing RocknRolla, a mad 32-day shoot that was big budget but, unbelievably, also a very creative experience. I was then approached by Dan McCulloch, about doing Tony.
Dan had previously produced a short that I’d lit called The Stronger (directed by Lia Williams), which was BAFTA nominated last year.
After talking with Gerard, Dan and Paul [who exec produced The Stronger], it became clear that Tony was an opportunity to explore and observe a dark, claustrophobic, but also darkly comic, environment with a visual grammar that wasn’t slick, but which held a mirror up to an odd character and his mad world.
Gerard talked about rediscover- ing the power of the image. The mesmeric pull of a way of seeing that doesn’t automatically advance the action by necessarily assigning a meaning to each shot. Of course, it has to do that at some point, and on the way helps add to the atmosphere.
learned from Tony to the 1983 episode I shot which was directed by Anand Tucker.
Gerard wanted to use film, shooting on a Steadicam Flyer. An A-Minima and a regular Aaton Extera seemed a natural fit. Wonderfully, Fujifilm also agreed to help.
That, for me, seemed to be a counter to any digital/big budget pigeonhole - shooting out the back of a car with minimum crew. The only lights I had were some Chinese lanterns and some Kino-flos for the nightclub sequence.
The making of Tony was relaxed. We had the time, but not always, though, to discuss how we were approaching a scene. It sometimes took a force of will not to fall into the conventional grammar of coverage.
Going guerrilla in London with the camera worked wonderfully well, particularly with the A-Minima going under the radar. It reminds you of how the hubris of filmmaking can get in the way of telling the story. At the same time, not every story can be told this way. It works well, however, with a singular story thread.
psychophysical visual images that suggest a reality that maybe called a life, worked well. Don’t think that this deconstructive approach works for every project, but sometimes when you let the brakes off, the fun really starts.
The more I do, the more I believe in my instinct when filming.
The DI was done at Ascent, with the same equipment that I’d graded my previous two films. If, with Super 16mm negative, you hold it up to the light, and look at a frame, it seems almost physically impossible to be able to take this fingernail-sized image and blow it up 30ft across.
The Fujifilm stocks, however, held up incredibly well, far better than I’d dared hope. The calculated risks that I’d taken seemed to pay off.
There was one shot in particular which later became the poster. This was of Tony going into a lift using just one practical, with the actor Peter Ferdinando standing under it.
Fujifilm mirrored and embraced the uncorrected fluorescent in wonderful hues and shades. We could read the right amount of detail to reflect the performance, and Fujifilm got it spot on.
go and earn!
Tony was originated on 16mm Fujicolor ETERNA 250D 8663, ETERNA 500T 8673 and REALA 500D 8692
Tony’s actions aren’t explained in the film. We follow him through a week of his life, and we worked hard on reflecting his skewed perspec- tive. He just kills for company.
We looked at a number of films
that seemed to strip narrative to the
minimum. Earlier in the year, we had
covered the same area in
conversation with Paul about
workshopping with actors, writers
and directors to rediscover the inclusive than conventional film ”
Cinematically, we wanted to evoke a reality that was more
My thanks go to the crew who helped out on this and Dale McCready who covered the
last few days when I had to
power of film.
Interestingly, this ‘stripping
away’, giving power to the filmmakers, resurfaced for me in the Channel 4/Revolution Films’ Red Rid- ing series when I brought what I’d
grammar. This is often driven by the execs’ desire for pace, using close ups which leave no doubt as to the actors’ response.
Placing Tony into a context where the continual influx of
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