Page 8 - Fujifilm Exposure_37 Candy_ok

NIGEL WILLOUGHBY
“You can’t put a price on a good gaffer – especially when you’ve got pre-lights and you can send the guy in to do that for you.
When you turn up, it can be 90% there. Yes, a good gaffer is priceless.”
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the prospect of working with a man of his reputation - not only a great film- maker but formerly one of the finest- ever cinematographers - was quite daunting. “Of course, I was well aware of his work and I was very nervous when I started shooting because I knew I had that eye
upon me. In fact, we clicked from the start and he gave me an enor- mous amount of free- dom. I also think I’ve learned more about life from Nic than I have from anybody.
“He loves experi- mentation, He also never told me he didn’t like anything I lit; in fact, I was constantly flattered by him which then gave me the motivation to be bolder. Just occasionally there might be a tug on the coat when I was operating, pulling me somewhere else when we hand-held.
“We were filming in
County Monaghan
where it rains and
shines all day every day
in about equal amounts.
It even snowed one day
in the middle of all that.
Can you imagine trying to keep a continuity of look? I’ve always want- ed to do what Storaro did on Apocalypse Now. He walked onto the set one morning, looked up at the sky and said, ‘No shooting today’, and they all went home.
“Of course, you can’t really do that: you just have to shoot all the hours you’ve got in daylight, whatev- er the weather. Mind you, I love hav-
ing problems, actually thrive on it. The more ‘prep’ I have, the less it will hold my attention. That’s probably why Hollywood will never come call- ing,” he smiled.
From the 78-year-old Roeg to Loach, who achieved his own three
ing for me begins on the set when you all arrive to shoot for the first time.
“Okay, you’ve had meetings with the director, spoken to the actors and to the other heads of department. For, me, that’s when the story really begins to take shape however much ‘prep’
with migrant workers from Eastern Europe through the eyes of a feisty young woman Angie (Kierston Wareing), who sets up an agency to deal with them.
Having only used Fujifilm once before on Mr Polly, Willoughby said
he was “quite nervy” using it again on These Times especially, because of time restraints, as he never got to see rushes dur- ing shooting. However, when he finally did get to see them, he claimed he was delighted with the results.
“Ken likes every- thing to be as natural as possible so that was a learning curve for me. My only thing was not putting lights in where I might normally do. It wasasmuchatestofme as of the stock.”
score and ten just last year. As well as their earlier brief encounters dur- ing the Nineties, Willoughby had also got a sense of the Loach modus operandi from Peter Mullan on The Magdalene Sisters.
“You start at page one and work your way through the script. Personally, I like working that way because the story somehow evolves as you go. A lot of the magic of filmmak-
you do. It becomes like a life that you all have that’s unfolding in front of your eyes. Certainly all the actors I’ve been involved with seem to love it. So I prefer shooting in sequence but it isn’t necessarily a better way than the other; it’s just a different discipline.”
Written by Loach regular Paul Laverty, These Times, principally set in London but with locations including Suffolk, Poland and the Ukraine, deals
it for six years
something new every day.” ■ QUENTIN FALK
Willoughby, some- thing of a poet in his spare time, confessed that the idea of directing had crossed his mind. However, “as far as I’m concerned,” he said, “I’m still a novice as a camera- man. I’ve only been doing and I am still learning
These Times was originated on 35mm Fujicolor Eterna 250D 8563 and Eterna 500T 8573; The History Of Mr Polly, to be aired on ITV1 around Easter, was predominantly originated on 16mm Fujicolor Eterna 250D 8663 and Eterna 500T 8673
Photo inset: Lee Evans and Anne-Marie Duff in The History Of Mr Polly;
above: Nigel Willoughby with Nic Roeg (left), Statten Roeg and focus puller Ben Chads on Puffball; with Ken Loach on These Times (photo Joss Barratt)
6 • Exposure • The Magazine• Fujifilm Motion Picture