Page 35 - Fujifilm Exposure_44 Damned United_ok

FUJIFILM MOTION PICTURE •
THE
LEARNING
CURVE
AN INTERVIEW WITH
TONY COLDWELL
or his first job out of university, FTony Coldwell found himself
working as a clapper loader on Brideshead Revisited in 1981. The Yorkshire-born cinematog-
rapher recalls the fantastic learning experience of working on that land- mark television series and of the multitude of high quality produc- tions that were also made by Granada around that time.
“I was only there for about five years,” he explains, “but at that time Granada was a hothouse for the best documentaries and some of the best TV dramas. I worked my way through the system as an assistant, a camera operator and then towards the end as a documentary camera- man and doing a bit of lighting. It was a very good training ground where you were able to work on major dramasandwithsometopartists.”
After his stint at Granada, Cold- well worked as a freelance camera- man, concentrating on shooting, and
occasionally directing, documen- taries. But even before his career took off Coldwell decided to add to his practical expertise with a sound theoretical appreciation of his craft. Having previously studied graphic design, majoring in photography and film at Manchester University, he took the unusual step of returning to the academic world.
“I took a year out,” he says, “and did an MA in film at the University of East Anglia. I spent a lot of time studying Italian cinema, British cin- ema and the whole classic Holly- wood system, and then came back into the industry at the age of 28. That was something I wanted to do, to fill in some of the background that I’d always wanted to find out about.”
Returning to the industry, Cold- well continued to work across a rangeofprojects,makinga con- scious decision in the late 1990s to concentrate on drama. His first credit as Director of Photography
THE MAGAZINE • EXPOSURE • 33
Photo main: Tony Coldwell at work
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