Page 28 - Fujifilm Exposure_14 Snatch_ok

mon background for Bennett, like Kerrigan, was born in South Wales. But the tyro filmmaker may also have recog- nised the virtue of working with some- one with such impressive experience.
During his days at the Beeb, Bennett worked on documentaries in the Present Imperfect strand, and the award winning From A To B, as well as many dramas including Prisoners In Time with John Hurt, The Easter Day Special Figure On the Cross and the Screen Two presentation Do Not Disturb.
“I discovered that my training at the BBC allowed me to do anything I was asked when I went freelance, and to a very high technical level. I’d worked on documentaries, I worked in the 80s with some really pioneering documentary filmmakers like Paul Watson. But the commercials world was a different thing, something I had- n’t done before. I was very nervous, I admit, but I was fortunate enough to work with some very nice people who were very supportive.”
Like many BBC veterans who saw the glory days of television output fade as the nature of the business, and attitudes of the management, changed, Bennett looks back on his time there with mixed feelings.
“To be part of that history was an
armed him well for the freelance world, Bennett is quick to acknowl- edge the significance of men like John Hooper in his work.
“He was my biggest influence, without a doubt. I took over as his assistant from Mike Southon, and I believe he was one of the finest cam-
DAVID BENNETT
“Human Traffic was definitely one of the best things that ever happened to me”
continued from previous page
incredible responsibility,” he adds. “We all thought at the time that we were going to inherit that reputation and take it on further. I think what hurt everybody, towards the latter part of the 80s
and into
the 90s,
was the realisation that this wasn’t going to be possi- ble.
“In the period from
the 70s I saw
the crews
dwindle from
60 down to 30
down to 20.
John Birt
came in and
swept the
place with a
new broom -
and it needed
that little bit of
a kick - but it
was terribly
severe. In the
end I left
because I
thought what I
had to offer wasn’t being accepted or appreciated any more.
“And I thought when I walked out of the studios I would be really upset, but I wasn’t. I was one of a group of cameramen who was going from one job to another, and was contracted for something like 284 days a year. So
when I left I was pretty confident. My main concerns were the expectations of production companies and direc- tors in a commercial world.”
With his BBC training having
eramen that I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. In the 70s and 80s John did stuff that was phenomenal. This was in the days of the Éclair camera and very slow stocks, and he would do things that would blow you away.”
As for contemporary cameramen, Bennett cites Roger Deakins as a par- ticular favourite, for the rich variety of the work he has done both here and abroad. “To me he has an ability to shoot and operate, yet the camera never gets in the way. He’s an incredi- ble cameraman.”
The chance to follow further in Deakins’ camera tracks may yet arise. Offers of more feature work have not been slow in coming, but have tended to be for stories that are pale imita- tions of Human Traffic.
So for the time being Bennett is focusing on commercials, and a couple of possible features that could happen in the next few months. And he realis- es all too well that his debut will be a tough film to follow, and an even hard- er one to eclipse.
“I remember we wrapped the film on a Wednesday evening, at 10 o’clock, and then I had to travel to New Zealand the following day to shoot something with a rock band, so me and my focus puller immediately set off down the M4 in a hire car.
“I asked him what he thought of the film we’d just finished and he said ‘you never know really, do you?’. That was like the understatement of the year. By the time I returned, it had taken off.” ■ ANWAR BRETT
Human Traffic was originated on
Photos from top: Human Traffic and above David Bennett on location in Kanchanburi, Thailand shooting the Burma Railway for BBC’s Prisoners In Time
EXPOSURE • 26