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PAUL ENGLEFIELD
“If I had to describe myself it would be someone who has his roots in documentaries but who has experience of bigger productions”
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commercials and it suggests a broad range of experience.
His latest, perhaps most challenging, job came on The Lives of Animals, a literary drama first broadcast on BBC4 but scheduled for a re- run on BBC2 in the autumn. Adapted from the novel by J.M. Coetzee it is a thought- ful assessment of life as it is lived in contemporary west- ern society.
“The story tells of a cele-
brated author [Eileen Atkins]
returning to England to do the
yearly lecture at the college
where her son [Paul Rhys]
teaches,” Englefield explains.
“Rather than deliver a lecture about her work as a writer she gives a talk entitled ‘The Lives of Animals’. The lecture takes up a large proportion of the book but we tried to open it out, developing the nar- rative around her visit and only dipping in and out of her talk.
With limited time and – as ever – a tight budget, Englefield worked closely with director Alex Harvey to create lighting effects that complemented the unfolding drama.
“Most of the action takes place indoors. The only outdoor scenes are
this woman’s arrival at the air- port and her departure at the end of the film. I tended not ever to have daylight looking a day- light blue; I went for a much more steely blue colour which was achieved with a mixture of filtra- tion and lighting when I was film- ing the interiors.
“When she goes back to the airport we actually
staged the scene in a tunnel. The colour cast by these mercury lights had the effect of being quite alienat- ing, and with filtration it turned out as a bluey green colour. Some of the film was terribly formal, but other times we shot it hand held, which
meant it could be freer and had a sense of reality.”
A particular challenge that also allowed the lecture scenes to be bro- ken up and made more visually inter- esting involved the creation of some ‘vintage’ footage of a supposed experi- ment into animal behaviour.
“We shot a black and white silent movie which was then projected as part of the lecture,”
Englefield explains, “and we
did it as if it was a slightly impressionistic piece from the late 20s. We got our- selves a hand cranked cam- era – actually an adapted SR – and we played around with filters.
“It got to the point when
we were filming when my
assistant started hand crank-
ing the camera and we noticed how much it was wobbling. And, of course, when you see the result it looks even more authentic because not only have you got speed fluctuations but the camera is moving just like on some old Charlie Chaplin film.”
Versatility might be a virtue in most careers, but in a business where you tend to be ‘cast’ on the back of your last successful job this
can be a problem, as much for a cameraman who has avoided being typecast as for any actor.
“I suppose it is a slight disadvantage,” Englefield muses. “If I had to describe myself it would be someone who has his roots in docu- mentaries but who has expe- rience of bigger productions.
“The people that I’ve worked with have a certain simplicity in their approach. Which is not to say that Roger Deakins doesn’t light something with 100 maxi brutes, or that Dick Pope or Haskell Wexler don’t bring in
all the equipment they possibly need. But their first principle is how it would happen naturalistically.
“I guess the reality of your work as a DP in the smallest scale production isn’t that different to the biggest scale production. There may be more peo- ple and it may all move at a different speed, but you’re always having to think on your feet.
“And that’s nice too because while this is a collaborative business there is a sense that the DP is out there alone, trying to achieve some- thing that is your idea of what’s required.” ■ ANWAR BRETT
The Lives Of Animals
was originated on Fujicolor Motion Picture Negative
“We shot on the Fuji 500 tungsten stock because we had a lot of tungsten lit interiors. It was able to work in very low light situations, yet when we went outside – and bearing in mind it was a bright February day with a low sun – it was also very adaptable and could handle that contrast as well.”
Photos top: Eileen Atkins in The Lives Of Animals; above left: “Fat Boy” from Cabbage; right: still from the Commercial for Children’s Charity
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