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F Exposure 1997-2007
The Things They Said...1997 - 2001
1997
“Half the time, the picture’s so bad on the video that you can’t make a prop- er decision on it. At least when you’re looking through the camera, you do get a good image whatever the lighting conditions.”
Tony Pierce-Roberts BSC
“I’d rather be a good operator than a lousy cameraman.” Mike Roberts
“I’m not fond of cinematography that’s loud – where you sit in the cinema and go, ‘Cor, what a great shot!’ What’s impor- tant to me is that the shots and the cine- matography disappear. That’s what I call an invisible style.” Oliver Stapleton BSC
“While he [Ken Branagh] might give us directions for camera, because he did- n’t know the difficulties of what he was asking us to do, it left him free to sug- gest it. But then it became a challenge forustodoitforhimsothatwasa sort of freedom too.” Chris Plevin
“On Moulin Rouge (1954), we were after an image that was soft, muted and diffused but the powers-that-be at the time felt that would be too much like as black-and-white film. Anyway we filled the set with fog, put fog fil- ters on the camera and the tests looked great. But then we had this meeting with Technicolor’s major executives who saw some rushes with us before standing up to say that they totally deplored what we were doing to their system [three-strip]. We were, according to them, meddling and
demeaning everything they worked for, and they implored us to stop... When the film came out, it wasn’t all that good a movie but visually it won great acclaim. We got letters from Techniocolor saying how marvellous it was and that they should be associat- ed with a breakthrough in colour. After that, I had them eating out of my hand...” Ossie Morris BSC
“You shouldn’t be able to walk on a set and say, ‘I’ll do this but it’s not quite right so I’ll fix it later in post-production. In rushes or digital tape, I expect to see what I photographed, not altered, not changed by a grader or telecine opera- tor. I’d like to be able to say, ‘Right, print it all on one light.’ That’s what I want, and that’s the goal everyone strives for.” Robin Vidgeon BSC
“As if the weather wasn’t bad enough, the really hairy thing about being DP for the first time [Mad Dog Morgan, 1976] was having the scenes flow together while trying to keep the photographic style uniform. Which I didn’t actually do. I think I tended to experiment just a bit too far.” Mike Molloy BSC
“My first big break was when Micky [Powell] hired me for A Matter Of Life And Death. He was a very courageous director. For instance, this was a film about Heaven and Earth, and when the film was about to start I asked if Heaven would be in colour and Earth in black-and-white. He said, ‘no, the reverse.’ I asked him why, and he said it’s because people would not be expecting it that way round. Clever thinking.” Jack Cardiff BSC
1998
“From the outset, he [Michael Winner] was very clear what wanted, which was a lot of set-ups – I’m talking some- times more than 30 a day – and he also shoots in continuity. By that, I don’t mean day-to-day but actually scene-to-scene. He likes to construct a scene literally bit-by-bit, even line-by- line, because he’s cutting the film in his head as we go along. So your set- up might change 180 degrees between shots in a short scene. And unlike other directors I’ve worked with, he doesn’t ever use master shots. Now, that might have occasionally been a problem with artistes but it was fine by me.” Ousama Rawi BSC
“We’re beginning, I believe, to reap the whirlwind of of woefully inadequate technical knowledge. To succeed prop- erly as a cameraman, you must be truly interested in movies... want to look at them, actually get a sense of them... the smell, even the touch of them.” Chris O’Dell BSC
“I’m a nuts-and-bolts operator; I know all the equipment; I know what we can do and I have guys with me to help me achieve what I need to achieve. People hire us to make it look good – but, given enough time, I know we can always make it look better.” Mike Proudfoot
“I have never liked using 12Ks and cherry pickers when shooting at night, but we had an important night sequence [on his BAFTA-winning The Wings Of The Dove], the carnival,
which would be about 12 minutes long. What I wanted were torches and fire. I didn’t want to light from above so what you see is the light coming from floor level, mostly fire... but we did cheat a bit by using a little tung- sten on some very wide shots.” Eduardo Serra AFC
“The script is the most important part of making a film. Good cinematogra- phy helps enormously, but if the script isn’t right you’re lost. If you have a good script, the task then is to try and recreate the atmosphere from the page onto the screen. Then and only then, you’ve really got something.” Freddie Young BSC (who died in 1998 aged 96)
“The last thing you ever said to any- one on a set was that you’d been to film school because everybody else had worked their way up through the ranks. That’s the way it always was, an in some respects it’s a very good way to learn. I wanted to be able to fit into the industry – I didn’t want to change that world, I wanted to be part of it.” Sue Gibson BSC
“When you’re working with a lot of first- time directors, as I have, then you have directed to some extent. I have a project – but then, doesn’t everyone in this busi- ness? Making films is all about being cre- ative and surely the ultimate creation is about total control.” Alan M Trow BSC
“Kelvin [Pike] was such a good teacher and, like other pivotal people in my career such as Robin Browne and Chick Anstiss, has taught me a lot
part one 1997-2001
Fujifilm Motion Picture • The Magazine • Exposure • 19