Page 19 - Fujifilm Exposure_37 Candy_ok

ANDREW SPELLER
“I love looking through the camera
and I love composing images; it’s all about framing and camera movement.”
continued from page 14
and shooting documentaries for serv- ice companies that send out crews to whoever needs them. Then I was oper- ating second unit here and there for film or television.
“The operating tended to be fea- tures, dramas and commercials while television work as a DP tended to be documentaries or current affairs. I did quite a lot
for Granada – like World In Action - BBC current affairs pro- grammes, things like that.
“I suppose the next specific turning point was when I got a call to go out to a commercial shoot in Malta. That came com- pletely out the blue, I was out of work at the time, the phone rang mid afternoon asking if I could be on a flight that night because they needed a Steadicam operator. That was where I met Michael Seresin.”
A long and productive rela- tionship with Seresin ensued,
including high profile commer-
cials such as the Nicole-Papa
Renault Clio ads, and an entry in
the popular Stella Artois cam-
paign. In between all this, Speller continued to work on other jobs, including the current affairs
strand Dispatches. It was this that brought him into contact with
director David Cohen, who one day confessed an ambition to make a movie.
Eventually he did, and The Pleasure Principle – released in 1991 – marked Speller’s debut as a feature DP. But even after this, he continued to work as an operator. “I love operat- ing,” he says, “I love looking through the camera and I love composing images, it’s all about framing and cam- era movement. For me, still, I think that’s my first and foremost emotional connection to filming, and while I was doing that I was really enjoying it.”
Yet in spite of fruitful working relationships with the likes of Alan
Almond and Lawrence Jones, the ambition burned within Speller to make the move to DP permanent.
“I did a really long job for Lawrence called The 10th Kingdom,” he continues. “I was the main opera-
ed with his director David Richards – who had, years before, been a fellow student at the Leicester College of Art – to light Little Devil which aired last year. That was shot on 16mm Eterna 250D, 250T and 500T.
Speller returned to the same stocks for another recent project - two one-hour dramas in a series entitled Supernatural. “I did the first block under the title Empathy,” he adds, “and that was shot on a range of Fujifilm 16mm stocks. A lot was on Eterna 250D with a little bit of Eterna 250T. Then in the faster areas, I used the Eterna 400T and the Reala 500D.”
Now that he is establishing himself as a DP, Speller can at least apply the lessons he learned from watching the work of heroes such as Chris Menges and Sven Nykvist from afar, or from observing up close the styles and methods of men like Roger Deakins and Michael Seresin. From student to teacher, Speller’s experiences continue to serve him well.
“Obviously when you’re working with people of that cali- bre, you’re looking, listening and learning. Their styles are very distinctive to them, so I guess
through some sort of osmosis you absorb lessons from them.
“Now, when I’m lighting, I would certainly reference Michael, because I really like the way he lights. So if there was ever a question mark in my mind about going for one thing or the other, I hear his voice saying ‘keep it simple’. It sounds a cliché, but it’s fantastically good advice.” ■ ANWAR BRETT
Empathy was originated on 16mm Fujicolor Eterna 250D 8663, Eterna 250T 8653, Eterna 400T 8683 and Reala 500D 8692
tor, and it was six months of six-day weeks. At the end of it I thought I was ready for a change. I had to really think about it, because there are lots of implications if you decide to make the move from any grade. Also if you’re going to make the move you have to tell people; you can’t acciden- tally do it, you have to say ‘right, I’m moving into lighting’. After a bit, that’s what I did with Perfect Day.”
Shot in 2005 on 16mm Super F- 64D, Super F-250D and Eterna 500T, Perfect Day depicted a wedding day gone awry, but the experience proved entirely positive for Speller. He reunit-
Photo main: Steven Moyer in Empathy; above: Claire Goose as Amy the bride in Perfect Day
Fujifilm Motion Picture • The Magazine • Exposure • 17