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PROFESSIONAL VIDEO • CINEMATOGRAPHY • DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
MOTION PICTURE & PRO-VIDEO
THE MAGAZINE • ISSUE 28 • SUMMER 2004
M
agic is definitely the buzzword of this issue. That’s what John de Borman BSC was after when he was in Ireland shooting ELLA ENCHANTED, a romantically-comic twist on the old Cinderella fairytale, starring Anne Hathaway, Hugh Dancy and Joanna
Lumley, as the wicked stepmother. With some of the old Technicolor classics as inspiration, de Borman says: “We wanted it to really pop out like a fable or dream. So I started by taking digital photographs of each location and set – and then manipulating the colours to give everything, from the sky to the earth, a bright, pastel, fairy tale feeling.”
Spells are also being cast by Emma Thompson, for her latest role as the extraordinary NANNY MCPHEE, who arrives from nowhere to take charge of widower Mr Brown’s (Colin Firth) seven wayward children. This adaptation of Christianna Brand’s popular Nurse Matilda children’s book series marks Thompson’s first screenplay since she won the Oscar for Sense And Sensibility. It also re-unites director Kirk Jones and cinematographer Henry Braham BSC for their first feature since the hit Waking Ned.
The trio in our regular Behind The Camera series are also no strangers to weaving their own kind of movie magic. JOHN DALY BSC, a double BAFTA winner for his TV work on Persuasion and Far From The Madding Crowd as a well as a veteran of features like Essex Boys and The Parole Officer, talks about his latest assignment - shooting 23-year-old director James Rogan’s short film, The Open Doors, based on a story by ‘Saki’.
At 40 ALEX MELMAN is a comparative latecomer to features but he’s making up for lost time by join- ing fellow debutant, and long-time commercials’ collaborator, Laurence Dunmore on The Libertine, a 17th Century tale of sex and mud, co-starring John Malkovich and Johnny Depp. Says Melman: “We wanted to do the opposite of most period dramas, going for the dirtiest, grungiest look that we could get.” After making his own feature debut a
couple of years back on the BAFTA award-nominated American Cousins, JERRY KELLY has followed that up on Hi-Def with Blinded, like Cousins, set in his native Scotland and currently doing the round of festivals to much acclaim.
The experienced BARRY ACKROYD BSC, long-time Ken Loach collaborator - their latest, Ae Fond Kiss, is released in September - takes time out from his latest film, Northern Souls, directed by Dominic Savage, to sing the praises of a new camera- mounted light, the oval-shaped Eyelite, which he’s helped develop. Ackroyd confidently believes its flexibility helps offer actors the best opportunity to bring the scene to life.
You could also say that there’s something rather magical about the way Soho-based
THE PICTURE PRODUCTION COMPANY, the industry’s premier pit-stop for trailers and TV spots, goes about its prolific business of inspired miniaturisa- tion. In business for 20 years, it’s only really in the past decade that things have really heated-up for this successful one-stop ‘shop’. Another company, Esure, have been given an extraordinary boost and new public profile by the irrepressible MICHAEL WINNER. Veteran director of more than 30 features, Winner has been honing his 40-second craft, calling the shots on a series of car insurance TV ads. And with his trademark cry of “Calm down, dear, it’s a commercial!” he’s also the star.
All this plus COMMERCIAL BREAK, featuring the Clarks Bootleg ad lit by Tat Radcliffe, a report from RUSSIA on a burgeoning industry that’s freeing itself from the old Soviet shackles, and an inter- view with director Allan Mindel on the ‘look’ of MILWAUKEE, MINNESOTA. We also talk to director Jean-Jacques Annaud about his marvellous new tiger cub flick, TWO BROTHERS, round up the golf results and reflect on Cannes 2004, UK Showcase 2004 and the late, great, Marlon Brando. ■
ERIC MOULD DIVISIONAL MANAGER FUJIFILM MOTION PICTURE & PROFESSIONAL VIDEO TAPE www.motion.fuji.co.uk
PAULA DENBY • ROGER SAPSFORD • JOHN ROBINSON • MILLIE MORROW