Page 24 - Fujifilm Exposure_25 Jean Francois Robin_ok

MATTIAS NYBERG
“I was soon struck by the vibrant culture here. You walked through Soho and there were film companies everywhere, and everyone seemed to talk about film.”
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runner-up in the Arriflex Award for Best Camerawork and Lighting. He also won the Kodak Nahemi Cinematography Award 2000.
“I’ve been back lecturing, giving lighting and camera workshops for Master’s students and they now seem to have much more back-up and equip- ment since we left. Was this a direct result of the Fujifilm awards? Well, they were certainly very excited at the uni- versity about the awards,” he smiled.
After Guildhall, Nyberg stepped almost immediately into work on a pair of shorts – Life Of A Lighter and One In Something – thanks to a helpful recommendation from the location manager on The Brothers Martorana who had turned producer for director Nick Moorcroft. His career plan was now clear: “to go on and shoot films.
I was raring to go. I was also very naïve and didn’t realise just how tough it would be.” What Nyberg needed was a mentor and he found it in Roger Eaton, successful photogra- pher turned busy cameraman.
“We first met in January 2000 when Fuji were demonstrating one of their new stocks in Wardour Street. Roger was about to light a funded short called The Courier and he invited me to come along as a kind of DP assis- tant. There was no defined role as such but Roger and I would talk about shots and the lighting. It was incredi- bly helpful to me.”
his part, Nyberg fulsomely acknowl- edges Eaton’s help and encouragement.
His current CV is perhaps a typical mixture of commercials, shorts and bread-and-butter television work including ‘reality’ series such as Would Like To Meet, Behaving Badly and Young, Posh & Loaded, with for- mats spanning 35mm to DV.
As for the future, he would like to do “more commercials and pro- mos. Commercials not only pay very well but also give you a chance to play around with a lot of kit. There’s lots of back-up, the best crews and you’ve time to per- fect things.
“Pop promos give you a chance to experiment, to try out new tech- niques. Often there’s no narrative as such but you can try things which
might not cut together if it was a drama or commercial.”
Inspired by the work of Darius Khondji, Conrad Hall, Gordon Willis and fellow Swede, Sven Nykvist, Nyberg admitted his ultimate “goal” is features.
“Naturally I would love to work again on longer films with some of the people I’ve already made shorts. With Florian Giefer, of course, and, say, Kara Miller, who directed Cheese Makes You Dream which I shot on DVC-Pro. She’s certainly someone to watch.
“I’ve had several scripts sent to me but turned them all down because, as far as I’m concerned, they weren’t
good enough. I don’t want to end up shooting for six or eight weeks with very little money then be unable to stand by the product which may not get shown anyway.
“I hear people saying, ‘just get a feature under your belt.’ Am I too choosy? I really want a script I feel I can do. Some problems can be fixed but if those problems are fundamen- tal, it’s a waste of time all round. I’m determined to hold out on this,” said Nyberg. ■ QUENTIN FALK
Water Baby, Descent, Project Car Park and The Brothers Martorana were originated on Fujicolor Motion Picture Negative
Photos inset above: Stills from photographic artist Catherine Yass’ 2002 Turner Prize entry Descent;
Left l-r: A scene from the 1999 Fujifilm Scholarship Award for Best Overall Production, London Guildhall’s, The Brothers Martorana; Mattias Nyberg (standing, first from left) and the winning production crew line-up with Jack Cardiff (standing, third from left) presenting the trophy award, certificates and prizes; Split, a short film directed by Nick Franco
Their collaboration continued in a more profitable way when they then worked together on The Real Eve, a major documentary for Discovery about the origins of man. As the 1st unit focus-puller and 2nd unit camera operator, Nyberg travelled to Kenya and Oman as well as Scotland for the programme which was later to earn the channel’s second highest ratings after The Blue Planet.
Eaton has continued to involve Nyberg on various projects, most recently when he directed Water Baby, a commercial for The Green Party which he invited the younger man to light. For
22 • Exposure • Fuji Motion Picture And Professional Video