Great Cinematographers
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- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Mohammad Aladpoush is known for A Report on a Murder (1987), The Deserted Station (2002) and A Tale of Love (2015).- Cinematographer
- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
Hossein Jafarian was born in 1944 in Tehran. He graduated from University of Tehran's School of Dramatic Arts and began his career working for Iran's state-run television where he shot over 40 documentaries and TV shows before retiring early soon after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He debuted in cinema in 1980, and his skills as a cinematographer were soon recognized with the 1984 film titled Grandfather (1986), which received the Best Picture award at Tehran's Fajr International Film Festival. Since then, he has repeatedly been recognized nationally and internationally for his work with numerous cinematography awards. He was a guest at the 2004 Plus CAMEIMAGE International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography with Crimson Gold (2003) and was nominated for the 'Golden Frog' award in the main competition of the festival in 2009 for his work on About Elly (2009).
He has shot some of Iran's critically acclaimed films including Narges (1992), Through the Olive Trees (1994), The May Lady (1998), and Two Women (1999), all of which have won Best Picture awards at international film festivals. He has worked with some of Iran's most renowned directors including Rakhshan Banietemad, Kiumars Poorahmad, Jafar Panahi, Palme d'Or winner Abbas Kiarostami, and Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi. He is also the author of "Lens: In Photography and Cinematography."- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Editor
In 2015 - Alireza Zarindast, was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in Dramatic Arts by the Ministry of Arts and Culture in Iran. Alireza who was born in 1946 in Tabriz, in north of Iran - has made 106 films. Most of his films were made in Iran - however, he has also worked on projects outside Iran. The US, Egypt, Turkey, Italy and France are among some of the locations outside Iran - where has made movies. Alireza started working in the film industry at the age of 20 as a photographer and a camera operator. He shot his first film as a Director of Photography at the young age of 23. At the age of 30 - Alireza filmed one of Iran's most famous, popular and timelessly loved television series: Uncle Napoleon. Very early on - he developed a lighting style as well as filming techniques - which made him a household name and a force to be reckoned with. Alireza made the films: The Report, The Experience and the critically acclaimed Close Up with the late Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami. He also made the The Cyclist, The Nights of Zayandeh-Roud, The Marriage of the Blessed and The Peddler with the filmmaker, Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Alireza has won more than 15 domestic and international awards for best cinematography.- Cinematographer
- Director
- Actor
Raoul Coutard was born on 16 September 1924 in Paris, France. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Hoa Binh (1970), Alphaville (1965) and Z (1969). He died on 8 November 2016 in Labenne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Gianni Di Venanzo was born on 18 December 1920 in Teramo, Abruzzo, Italy. He was a cinematographer, known for 8½ (1963), The Girlfriends (1955) and Juliet of the Spirits (1965). He died on 3 February 1966 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Willy Hameister was born on 3 December 1889 in Kranzfeld, Landkreis Greifenhagen, Pomerania. Willy was a cinematographer, known for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), The Beggar from Cologne Cathedral (1927) and Sein Rekordflug (1914). Willy died on 13 February 1938 in Berlin, Germany.- Cinematographer
- Special Effects
- Editorial Department
The favorite cinematographer of legendary director Alfred Hitchcock began working at Warner Bros. when he was 19 years old. He climbed his way up from camera operator to assistant camera man and eventually took over the Special Photographic Effects unit at Warners on Stage 5 in 1944. He became an expert in forced perspective techniques which were widely in use at the time as cost-saving measures, or on B-pictures. Burks did special effects work on major productions like Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), The Unsuspected (1947) and Key Largo (1948).
In 1949, Burks graduated to becoming a fully-fledged director of photography. His striking black & white work on The Fountainhead (1949) was particularly evocative in showcasing the stark, austere architectural lines of the film's chief protagonist, Howard Roark (Gary Cooper). On the strength of this, and his next film, The Glass Menagerie (1950), Hitchcock hired him to shoot his thriller Strangers on a Train (1951). From this developed one of Hollywood's most inspired collaborations, as well as a close personal friendship.
When his contract at Warner Brothers expired in 1953, Burks followed Hitchcock to Paramount and went on to play an integral part in creating the brooding, tension-laden atmosphere of the director's best work between 1954 and 1964. His range varied from the neo-realist, almost semi-documentary black & white look of The Wrong Man (1956) to the intensely warm and beautiful deep focus VistaVision colour photography of Vertigo (1958). His muted tones matching the claustrophobic setting of Rear Window (1954) stood in sharp contrast to the vibrant, full-hued colours used in the expansive outdoor footage of To Catch a Thief (1955) and North by Northwest (1959).
The experience Burks had gained in forced perspective miniatures in his early days at Warner Brothers, also stood him in good stead on 'Vertigo' (the mission tower), 'North by Northwest' (the Mount Rushmore scenes) and, later, 'The Birds'. Because of his expertise, Burks was often able to contribute ideas to shooting scenes more effectively. He was also an innovator in the application of both telephoto and wide angle lenses as a means to creating a specific mood. The Hitchcock-Burks partnership ended after Marnie (1964), and, under less-inspired directors (except for A Patch of Blue (1965)), his later work inevitably declined in quality. Robert Burks and his wife, Elysabeth, were tragically killed in a fire at their house in May 1968.
Robert Burks won the 1955 Academy Award for Best Colour Photography for 'To Catch a Thief'. He was also nominated for 'Strangers on a Train', 'Rear Window' and 'A Patch of Blue'.- Cinematographer
- Actor
- Director
- Cinematographer
- Director
- Camera and Electrical Department
One of the most respected cinematographers in the industry, Polish-born Rudolph Mate entered the film business after his graduation from the University of Budapest. He worked in Hungary as an assistant cameraman for Alexander Korda and later worked throughout Europe with noted cameraman Karl Freund. Mate was hired to shoot some second-unit footage for Carl Theodor Dreyer and Erich Pommer, and they were so impressed with his work that they hired him as cinematographer on Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) (US title: "The Passion of Joan of Arc"). Mate was soon working on some of Europe's most prestigious films, cementing his reputation as one of the continent's premier cinematographers. Hollywood came calling in 1935, and Mate shot films there for the next 12 years before turning to directing in 1947. Unfortunately, while many of his directorial efforts were visually impressive (especially his sci-fi epic When Worlds Collide (1951)), the films themselves were for the most part undistinguished, with his best work probably being the film-noir classic D.O.A. (1949).- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Otello Martelli was born on 19 May 1902 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a cinematographer, known for La Dolce Vita (1960), The Road (1954) and Carne de horca (1953). He died on 20 February 2000 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Veteran cinematographer George S. Barnes had a well-earned reputation for reliability and a knack for combining artistry with economic efficiency. As a result, he was seldom out of work.
Having started as a still photographer for Thomas H. Ince in 1918, Barnes quickly rose through the ranks to director of photography. In the course of his career he spent time at just about every major studio in Hollywood: Paramount (1919-21), Metro (1924-25), United Artists (1926-31), MGM (1932), Warner Brothers (1933-38), 20th Century-Fox (1940-41), Universal (1942) and RKO (1942-48). During the 1920s he was the primary cinematographer for Samuel Goldwyn and was largely responsible for the success of films like The Dark Angel (1925). Under his auspices Gregg Toland learned his craft, particularly Barnes' trademark soft-edged, deep-focus photography and intuitive composition and camera movement. Barnes was an expert at lighting. He often utilized curtains or reflective surfaces to create patterns of light and shade. Most importantly, he perfectly suited the required style of photography to each individual assignment. He brought a vivid opulence to the dullish Technicolor romance Frenchman's Creek (1944), making it a triumph of style over content. His 'catoon colours' were just as perfectly suited to the fantasy adventure Sinbad, the Sailor (1947). At Warner Brothers the dark, somewhat grainy texture of films like Marked Woman (1937) was in sync with the realistic look the studio wanted to achieve for its product. He also excelled at shooting vivid dramatic scenes, such as the flood sequences featured in The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926).
Barnes did his best work in the 1940s, shooting two classic Alfred Hitchcock thrillers: for Rebecca (1940) he created an atmosphere of sinister foreboding, right from the beginning, with his shots of Manderley (Barnes was hired because Toland was unavailable, but he ended up winning an Academy Award); and Spellbound (1945), with its unsettling surrealist Salvador Dalí-designed dream sequence of wheels, eyes and staircases. A lesser, but nonetheless good-looking, addition to Barnes' resume is a minor film noir, The File on Thelma Jordon (1949). In contrast, he created a suitably lavish look for his color photography, which enlivened two charismatic swashbuckling adventures, The Spanish Main (1945) and Sinbad, the Sailor (1947). Popular with directors and producers (though he was once fired by David O. Selznick for failing to bring the best out of Jennifer Jones) and stars (Bing Crosby) alike, Barnes was continually employed until his retirement in 1953. He was also popular with the ladies, to which his seven marriages testify. One of his wives was the actress Joan Blondell.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Carlo Carlini was born on 20 February 1929. He is a cinematographer, known for Il fornaretto di Venezia (1963), Requiem for a Secret Agent (1966) and Captain Phantom (1953).- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Hamid Khozouie Abyane was born 1963 in Tehran, Iran. Following his passion for photography, he studied English language and Cinematography. He started his career with professional photography for advertisement and commercial purposes and followed his artistic instinct by traveling around Iran and gathering amazing collection of photos with environmental, historical and social subjects.
In 1990, he started his film career with various documentaries and short movies. He has shot many movies ever since that is well known domestically as well as internationally.
Here is the list of some of his movies: His first feature film The Child and the Soldier (2000) was awarded "The Silver Balloon" in "Nant 3 Continent" in France.The movie was directed by Reza Mirkarimi and has been screened in various international film festivals such as "Montreal Film Festival","Asia-Pacific Film Festival".Under the Moonlight (2001) received the best cinematography honor diploma by "Fajr International Film Festival" in Iran. The movie quickly became well known by winning the Critic's week grand prize from "Cannes Film Festival and for the best director "Tokyo International film festival". Hamid Khozouie Abyane also received "Crystal Simorgh" for the best Cinematography in technical and artistic achievement in "Fajr International Film Festival" in Iran for the movie Here, a Shining Light (2003) (Here, a shinning light). The Lizard (2004) was another one of his cinematography experiences with spectacular record breaking box office in Iran that was only allowed to be screened in movie theaters for short period of two weeks and was banned by Islamic Clerics. This movie was also screened in "Montreal Film Festival" and "London Film Festival".So Close, So Far (2005) another one of his movies that was selected to participate in "Oscar" awards as representative of Iranian movies. Among various awards, he received the "Crystal Simorgh" for the best Cinematography in "Fajr International Film Festival",the best artistic contribution for the best cinematography in "29th Cairo International Film Festival"and received the "Cinematography Honor award" that was sponsored by "ARRI" during the "Cinec Salon" in Tehran in 2005.In his next movie, Barefoot in Paradise (2007) directed by Bahram Tavakoli Hamid Khozouie Abyane received the "Crystal Simorgh" for the best Cinematography in "Fajr International Film Festival" and best cinematography award by "House of Cinema (Iranian alliance of motion picture Guilds)". The Kingdom of Solomon (2010) was one of the major productions in Iran with majority of the post production work including visual effects, sound designer & original music being done in Hong Kong, he received the best cinematography award from the "House of Cinema(Iranian alliance of motion picture guilds)" and the best cinematography from "Iranian Society of Film Critics & Writers(ISFCW) in 2010". He was also awarded for the best cinematography for the movie A Walk in the Fog (2010) (Wandering in the Mist), is another one of his movies that received the best cinematography from "Iranian Society of Film Critics & Writers(ISFCW)". Here Without Me (2011) received the best actress award in "Montreal Film Festival" and has been screened in Hamburg, Chicago, Boston, University of California in Los Angles(UCLA) Film Festivals and received the award for the best cinematography by the "House of Cinema (Iranian alliance of motion picture Guilds) ceremony". A Cube of Sugar (2011) was the first "Super 16 mm" movie in Iran, screened in Montreal, San Francisco and Pousan Film Festivals.. He worked as a camera operator with three Academy Awarded cinematographer Vittorio Storaro in [muhammad the messenger of god] (2015) directed by Majid Majidi. Throughout his career , Hamid Khozouie Abyane worked with many well-known directors and award winners such as Reza Mir Karimi, Bahram Tavakoli, Majid Majidi, Abed Abest.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Director
Pierre-William Glenn was born on 31 October 1943 in Paris, France. He is a cinematographer and director, known for Extérieur, nuit (1980), Death Watch (1980) and 23h58 (1993).- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Director
Janusz Kaminski is a Polish cinematographer and film director. He has established a partnership with Steven Spielberg, working as a cinematographer on his movies since 1993. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on Schindler's List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998).
His other film's as an cinematographer includes Amistad (1997), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007), War Horse (2011), Lincoln (2012), Bridge of Spies (2015), The BFG (2016), and Ready Player One (2018).- Camera and Electrical Department
- Cinematographer
John Alcott, the Oscar-winning cinematographer best known for his collaboration with director Stanley Kubrick, was born in 1931, in Isleworth, England, the son of movie executive Arthur Alcott, who would become the production controller at Gainsborough Studios during the 1940s.
Alcott began his film career as a clapper boy, the lowest member of a camera crew. By the early 1960s he had worked his way up to focus puller, the #3 position on a camera crew after the lighting cameraman and camera operator. As a focus puller Alcott was responsible for measuring the distances between the camera and the subject being shot, which is critical during traveling shots, and more vitally, he was tasked with adjusting the lens when the camera is following a subject.
By the mid-'60s Alcott was a member of the camera team of master cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth, working on Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). When Unsworth had to leave the project during its two-year-long shoot to meet other commitments, Alcott was elevated to lighting cameraman by Kubrick. Thus began a collaboration that would reach its zenith a decade later with Barry Lyndon (1975). His association with Kubrick propelled him to the top of his craft, in terms of both style and in pushing the technical aspects of the discipline.
Alcott preferred lighting that appeared natural and did not draw attention to itself. His ideas meshed perfectly with those of Kubrick, and the two developed their ideas about "natural" lighting in two landmark films, A Clockwork Orange (1971) and "Barry Lyndon", which incorporated scenes shot entirely by candlelight. The idea of using candlelight solely for illumination was discussed by Alcott and Kubrick after the wrap of "2001" for Kubrick's planned film about the life of Napoleon, but there wasn't a fast-enough lens in existence then.
After a search, Kubrick located three unique 50mm f/0.7 still-camera camera lenses designed by the Zeiss Corporation for use by NASA in its Apollo moon-landing program in order to shoot still pictures in the low light levels of outer space. The lens was 2 f stops faster than the fastest movie camera lens made at the time.
Kubrick tasked Cinema Products Corp. to adapt a standard 35mm non-reflexed Mitchell BNC movie camera so that the camera could accept the lens. The camera was outfitted with a side viewfinder from one of the old Technicolor three-strip cameras that used mirrors rather than prisms (like a modern camera) to show what it "sees", the mirrors providing a much brighter image than did a prism-based single-lens reflex system, which could not obtain enough light to register an image. There was no real problem with parallax, as the viewfinder was mounted close to the lens.
Cinema Products also created two special lenses by mating a 70mm projection lens with the remaining 0.7 Zeiss 50mm lenses. This battery of three lenses allowed Kubrick and Alcott to shoot the indoor scenes using nothing but candlelight. It was a formidable task, as the lenses could not be focused by eye. Metal shields also had to be installed above the sets, which were filmed in actual castles and manor houses in Ireland and England, to keep the heat and smoke from the candles from damaging the ceilings. Fortitously, the shields also reflected the candlelight back into the scene (this approach was later used successfully by lighting cameraman Alwin H. Küchler on the western The Claim (2000), which shot its saloon interiors in very low light). The candles had to be constantly replaced to keep continuity during the scenes, and shooting was hampered by the fact that many of the manor houses were open to the public and the crew had to wait until the intervals between tours to film a scene.
Alcott told "American Cinematographer" in a December 1975 interview that the ultra-fast lens had no depth of field at all. This necessitated the scaling of the lens by doing hand tests. Alcott's focus puller, Douglas Milsome (who would succeed him as Kubrick's cinematographer), used a closed-circuit video camera at a 90-degree angle to the film camera to keep track of the distances to maintain focus. A grid was placed over the TV screen and, by taping the various actors' positions in the set, the distances could be transferred to the TV grid to allow the actors a limited scope of movement during the scene, while keeping in focus.
Alcott won an Academy Award for his work on "Barry Lyndon", which is considered one of the most visually beautiful movies ever made. (Three of Alcott's movies were ranked in the top 20 of "Best Shot" movies in the period after 1950-97 by the American Society of Cinematographers: "2001" at #3, "Barry Lyndon" at #16, and "A Clockwork Orange", for which he won the British Academy Award, at #19.) Alcott realized Kubrick's vision by evoking the paintings of Corot, Gainsborough, and Watteau, creating gorgeous tableaux. It was the aesthetic opposite of the cubism evoked by "A Clockwork Orange",
While shooting what would turn out to be his last film for Kubrick, The Shining (1980), Alcott lit the hotel sets with "practicals" (sources of lighting that are visible on screen as part of the set, such as lighting fixtures). As on "Barry Lyndon", Alcott supplemented the lighting with illumination coming into the set from outside the windows, though the "windows" on "The Shining" were part of a set. The high temperatures (110 degrees Fahrenheit) caused by the 700,000 watts of illumination outside the set's "windows" Alcott used to create the high white effect favored by Kubrick caused the set to burn down.
Alcott, who shot films and TV commercials for other directors in the UK, moved to the US in 1981 in order to obtain more steady work than was possible in the ailing British film industry. His non-Kubrick projects as a cinematographer included three films with director Stuart Cooper and two with Roger Spottiswoode. Alcott could not shoot Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987), which commenced shooting in 1985 and -- like any Kubrick shoot -- would involved a substantial commitment of time, as Alcott was committed to other projects (Kubrick hired Douglas Milsome, who had been Alcott's focus puller on "Barry Lyndon" and "The Shining", to shoot "Jacket"). His non-Kubrick oeuvre was eccentric, and included the Canadian slasher film My Bloody Valentine (1981), but he was able to bring his outstanding visual quality to such movies as Fort Apache the Bronx (1981), The Beastmaster (1982), Under Fire (1983) and Hugh Hudson's Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984).
Alcott suffered a massive heart attack and died on July 28, 1986, in Cannes, France. At the time of his death he was considered one of the film industry's great artist-technicians, someone who through his ability to push back the boundaries of what was technically possible, linked technology to aesthetic needs and contributed to the development of cinema as an art form. His last film, No Way Out (1987), was dedicated to his memory. The British Society of Cinematographers named one of its awards the "BSC John Alcott ARRI Award" in his honor to commemorate his role as a lighting cameraman in the development of film as an art form.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Asakazu Nakai was born on 29 August 1901 in Kobe, Japan. He was a cinematographer, known for Ran (1985), Stray Dog (1949) and Seven Samurai (1954). He died on 28 February 1988.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Takao Saitô was born on 5 March 1929 in Kyoto, Japan. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for Ran (1985), Dreams (1990) and Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior (1980). He died on 6 December 2014 in Zama, Kanagawa, Japan.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Arthur Edeson is an American cinematographer who was a pioneer of his craft. His career spanned four decades and encompassed many films now regarded as classics.
Born in New York in 1891, Edeson first worked as a still photographer. In 1911 he entered the movie business at Eclair Studios, a production unit based in Fort Lee, NJ. There he was employed as an extra and still photographer. He became a cinematographer in 1914 and worked on films starring Clara Kimball Young, a very popular actress of that era whose films are, for the most part, lost. In 1917 Young left New Jersey for California, and so did Edeson.
In 1919 he was one of the 15 cameramen who founded the American Society of Cinematographers. During the 1920s he was hired by actor-producer Douglas Fairbanks for The Three Musketeers (1921) ('Fred Niblo'). Robin Hood (1922) (Allan Dwan) and The Thief of Bagdad (1924) (Raoul Walsh). That last film launched a long relationship between Edeson and Walsh. In 1925 Edeson worked on The Lost World (1925)) (Harry O. Hoyt), the first full-length feature film using the stop-motion animation technique. In 1929 he was cinematographer on In Old Arizona (1928) (Irving Cummings), the first talking picture shot entirely outdoors. Edeson was also one of the first to experiment with the widescreen format on Walsh's The Big Trail (1930). During that period he also worked with Lewis Milestone on the anti-war epic All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). Soon afterward he collaborated with James Whale on two technically groundbreaking films: Frankenstein (1931) and The Invisible Man (1933).
In 1936 Edeson was hired at Warner Bros. There he worked notably on the first film directed by John Huston, the classic noir The Maltese Falcon (1941), and re-teamed with Huston on the lesser known Across the Pacific (1942). He was also lenser on the perennial favorite Casablanca (1942) (Michael Curtiz) and later worked with Jean Negulesco, notably on The Mask of Dimitrios (1944) and Three Strangers (1946).
Edeson retired in 1949, putting an end to a distinguished career. He died in California in 1970.- Cinematographer
- Writer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Slawomir Idziak was born on 25 January 1945 in Katowice, Slaskie, Poland. He is a cinematographer and writer, known for Three Colors: Blue (1993), Black Hawk Down (2001) and Gattaca (1997). He was previously married to Maria Gladkowska.- Cinematographer
- Animation Department
- Camera and Electrical Department
Kazuo Miyagawa was born on 25 February 1908 in Kyoto, Japan. He was a cinematographer, known for Yojimbo (1961), Rashomon (1950) and Brother (1960). He was married to Kazuko ?. He died on 7 August 1999 in Tokyo, Japan.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Producer
Giorgos Arvanitis was born on 22 February 1941 in Dilofo, Kozani, Greece. He is a cinematographer and producer, known for The Swamp (1973), Such a Long Absence (1985) and Sti skia tou fovou (1988).- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Producer
Vasilis Hristomoglou is known for Synomosia sti Mesogeio (1975).- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Jean-Paul Alphen was born on 20 April 1911 in Paris, France. He was a cinematographer, known for The Rules of the Game (1939), La Marseillaise (1938) and Life Is Ours (1936). He died on 28 April 1993.- Cinematographer
- Actor
Jean Bachelet was born on 8 October 1894 in Dole, Jura, France. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for The Rules of the Game (1939), La réponse du destin (1926) and Nana (1926). He died on 26 February 1977 in Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, France.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Production Manager
Jacques Lemare was born on 14 December 1912 in Paris, France. Jacques was a cinematographer and production manager, known for The Rules of the Game (1939), Ça va barder (1955) and The Hands of Orlac (1960). Jacques died on 2 June 1988 in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France.- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
- Cinematographer
After World War II, Alain Renoir entered college at the University of Santa Barbara. There he met the woman he was to marry, Jane, who was obtaining a degree in nutrition. One of his required classes was nutrition, and he had an assignment to describe a nutritious meal. With Jane's help, he and a friend devised a meal with the least nutrition possible. It drove his professor crazy.
Despite not being able to speak English until after he joined the American Army, Renoir was admitted to the Department of English at Harvard University's graduate school. While there, where he obtained a doctorate in Old English Literature under the brilliant (and slightly wacky) Francis P. Magoun, Jr.
Upon receiving his Ph.D., Renoir came to the University of California, Berkeley, where he remained a professor of English until his retirement in 1989. He co-founded the Department of Comparative Literature there, where it still thrives. A number of important scholars of Old English received their doctorates under his guidance. He was a formidable figure in the field of Oral-Formulaic theory, where his experience as a cinematographer helped bring to life the ancient techniques of storytelling of 7th-10th century England.
He often spoke with great fondness of his father, Jean Renoir, to his students, but he never permitted anyone to discuss his grandfather. Occasionally he would make reference to Pierre-Auguste Renoir (whom he never met) by saying, "I had a grandfather who painted pictures."
Alain Renoir died at his country estate in Northern California on December 12, 2008 in the presence of his late-life companion, Pat Powers.- Cinematographer
- Director
- Camera and Electrical Department
Karl Freund, an innovative director of photography responsible for development of the three-camera system used to shoot television situation comedies, was born on January 16, 1890, in the Bohemian city of Koeniginhof, then part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire (now known as Dvur Kralove in the Czech Republic). Freund went to work at the age of 15 as a movie projectionist, and by the age of 17, he was a camera operator shooting shot subjects and newsreels. Subsequently, he was employed at Germany's famous UFA Studios during the 1920s, when the German cinema was the most innovative in the world.
At UFA, Freund worked as a cameraman for such illustrious directors as F.W. Murnau and Fritz Lang. For Murnau's The Last Laugh (1924) (aka The Last Laugh), screenwriter Carl Mayer worked closely with Freund to develop a scenario that would employ the moving camera that became a hallmark of Weimar German cinema. One of the most beautiful and critically acclaimed silent films, The Last Laugh (1924) is considered the perfect silent by some critics as the images do most of the storytelling, allowing for a minimal amount of inter-titles. The collaborative genius of Murnau, Mayer, and Freund meant that the images communicated the integral part of the narrative, visualizing and elucidating the protagonist's psyche. Freund filmed a drunk scene with the camera secured on his chest, with a battery pack on his back for balance, enabling him to stumble about and produce vertiginous shots suggesting intoxication.
Director Ewald André Dupont gave credit for the innovative camera work on his masterpiece Variety (1925) (aka Variety) to Freund, praising his ingenuity in an article published in The New York Times. Freund was one of the cameramen and the co-writer (with Carl Mayer and director Walter Ruttmann) on Berlin: Symphony of Metropolis (1927) (Berlin: Symphony of a Great City), an artistic documentary that used a hidden camera to capture the people of the city going about their daily lives. Always technically innovative, Freund developed a high-speed film stock to aid his shooting in low-light situations. This film also is hailed as a classic. Other classic German films that Freund shot were The Golem (1920) (aka The Golem) and Lang's Metropolis (1927).
Now possessing an international reputation, Freund emigrated to the U.S. in 1929, where he was employed by the Technicolor Co. to help perfect its color process. Subsequently, he was hired as a cinematographer and director by Universal Studios, where he cut his teeth, uncredited, as a cinematographer on the great anti-war classic All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Universal's first Oscar winner as Best Picture.
Universal's bread and butter in the early 1930s were its horror films, and Freund was involved in the production of several classics. Among his Universal assignments, Freund shot Dracula (1931) and Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), and directed The Mummy (1932). The Mummy (1932) was Freund's first directorial effort, and co-star Zita Johann, who disliked Freund, claimed he was incompetent, which is unfair, seeing as how the film is now considered a classic of its genre. The film uses the undead sorcerer Imhotep's pool with which he can impose his will over the living by spreading some tana leaves on the water, as a visual metaphor for the subconscious. The film is arresting visually due to Freund's cinematic eye that created a sense of "otherness." The film is infused with a dream-like state that seems rooted in the subconscious mind. Freund's other directorial efforts at Universal proved less satisfying.
Moving to MGM, Freund directed just one more motion picture, Mad Love (1935) (aka The Hands of Orlac) a horror classic that utilized the expressionism of his UFA apprenticeship. With the great lighting cameraman Gregg Toland as his director of photography, the collaboration of Freund and Toland created a European sensibility unique for a Hollywood horror film. The compositions of the shots featured arch shapes and utilized the expressive shadows of the best of the European avant-garde films of the 1920s.
But MGM wanted Freund for his genius at camera work. He shot the rooftop numbers for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), another Best Picture Oscar winner, and worked with William H. Daniels, Garbo's favorite cameraman, on "Camille" (1936). He shot Greta Garbo's Conquest (1937) solo, though he never worked with Garbo again. That same year, he was the director of photography on The Good Earth (1937), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
Other major MGM pictures he shot were Pride and Prejudice (1940), for which he received an Academy Award nomination, Tortilla Flat (1942), and A Guy Named Joe (1943). He also worked for other studios, shooting Golden Boy (1939) for Columbia. In 1942, he pulled off a rare double: he was nominated for Best Cinematography in both the black and white and color categories, for The Chocolate Soldier (1941) and Blossoms in the Dust (1941), respectively.
One of the last films he shot for MGM was Two Smart People (1946), starring Lucille Ball. In 1947, he moved on to Warner Bros, where he shot the classic Key Largo (1948) for John Huston. His last film as a director of photography was Michael Curtiz' Montana (1950), which starred Gary Cooper.
Always the technical innovator, Freund founded the Photo Research Corp. in 1944, a laboratory for the development of new cinematographic techniques and equipment. His technical work culminated in his receipt of a Class II Technical Award in 1955 from the Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences for the design of a direct-reading light meter. That same year, he had the honor of representing his adopted country at the International Conference on Illumination in Zurich, Switzerland.
It was perhaps inevitable that the technical and innovation-minded Freund would get to work for a brand new visual medium, television. Lucille Ball, whom he had photographed when she was a contract player at MGM, became his boss when he was hired as the director of photography at Desilu Productions, owned by Ball and her husband, Desi Arnaz. Desilu hired the great Freund as its owners were determined to shoot the show I Love Lucy (1951) on film rather than produce the show live, as was standard in the early 1950s. Most shows were shot live, while a film of the program was simultaneously shot from a monitor, a process that created a "kinescope." The kinescope would be shown in other time zones on the network's affiliates. Desilu's owners disliked the quality of kinescopes, and needed Freund to come up with a solution to their problem of how to maintain the intimacy of a live show on film.
Freund agreed that the show should be shot on film rather than live, as film enabled thorough planning and allowed for cutting, which was impossible with live TV. Freud knew that film would allow Desilu to eliminate the fluffs which were a staple of early television, and would allow the producers to re-shoot scenes to improve the show, if needed.
I Love Lucy (1951) had to be filmed before an audience to retain the immediacy of a live TV show, which meant that the traditional, time-consuming methods of studio production with one camera would not work. Freund decided to shoot I Love Lucy (1951) with three 35mm Mitchell BNC cameras, one of each to simultaneously shoot long shots, medium shots and close-ups. Thus, the editor would have adequate coverage to create the 22 minutes of footage needed for a half-hour commercial network show.
The then-innovative, now-standard technique of simultaneously shooting a situation comedy with three 35mm cameras cut the production time needed to produce a 22-minute program to one-hour. The cameras were mounted on dollies, with the center camera outfitted with a 40mm wide-angle lens, and the side cameras outfitted with 3- and 4-inch lenses. The resulting shots were edited on a Movieola. A script girl in a booth overlooking the stage cued the camera operators. Due to extensive rehearsal time before the show was shot live, the camera operators had floor marks to guide them, but Freund's system was enabled by the script girl overseeing their actions via a 2-way intercom. The system made the shooting, breaking-down, and setting-up process for the next scenes on the three sets of the I Love Lucy (1951) stage very economical in terms of time, averaging one and one-half minutes between shots.
Freund worked out the lighting during the rehearsal period. Almost all of the lighting was overhead, except for portable fill lights mounted above the matte box on each camera. In Freund's system, there were no lighting changes during shooting, other than the use of a dimming board. Since the lighting was mounted overhead on catwalks, power cables were kept off the floor, which facilitated the dollying that was essential for making the system work fluidly.
Freund's solution to the problem of shooting a show on film economically was to make lighting as uniform as possible, taking advantage of adding highlights whenever possible, since a comedy show required high-key illumination. Due to the high contrast of the tubes in the image pickup systems at the television stations, contrast was a potential problem, as any contrast in the film would be exaggerated upon transmission of the film. To keep the film contrast to what Freund called a "fine medium," the sets were painted in various shades of gray. Props and costumes also were gray to promote a uniformity of color and tone that would not defeat Freund's carefully devised illumination scheme.
In a typical workweek, the I Love Lucy (1951) company engaged in pre-production planning and rehearsals on Monday through Thursday. I Love Lucy (1951) was filmed before a live audience at 8:00 o'clock PM on Friday evenings, and Freund's camera crew worked only on that Friday and the preceding Thursday. Freund, however, attended the Wednesday afternoon rehearsal of the cast to study the movements of the players around the sets, noting the blocking and their entrances and exits, in order to plan his lighting and camera work. Thursday morning at 8:00 o'clock AM, Freund and the gaffers would begin lighting the sets, which typically would be done by noon, the time the camera crew was required to report on set to be briefed on camera movements. Then, Freund would rehearse the camera action in order to make necessary changes in the lighting and the dollying of the cameras.
It was during the Thursday full-crew rehearsal that the cues for the dimmer operator were set, and the floor was marked to indicate the cameras' positions for various shots. For each shot, the focus was pre-measured and noted for each camera position with chalk marks on the stage floor. Another rehearsal was held at 4:30 PM with the full production crew. Though a full-dress rehearsal was held at 7:30 PM, with the attendance of the full crew, the cameras were not brought onto the set. The director would take the opportunity to discuss the plan of the show and solicit input from the cast and crew on how to tighten the show and improve its pacing.
The next call for the entire company was at 1:00 PM on Friday to discuss any major changes that were discussed the previous night. After this meeting, the cameras would be brought out onto the stage, and at 4:30 PM, there would be a final dress rehearsal during which Freund would check his lighting and make any required changes.
After a dinner break, the cast and production crew would hold a "talk through" of the show to solicit further suggestions and solve any remaining problems. At 8:00 PM, the cast and production crew were ready to start filming the show before a live audience. Before shooting, one of the cast or a member of the company had briefed the audience on the filming procedure, emphasizing the need for the audience's reactions to be spontaneous and natural.
Shooting was over in about an hour due to the rapid set-ups and break-downs of the crew, which shot the show in chronological order. Due to the thorough planning and rehearsals, retakes were seldom necessary. Camera operators in Freund's system had to make each take the right way the first time, every time, to keep the system working smoothly, and they did. An average of 7,500 feet of film was shot for each show at a cost that was significantly less than a comparable major studio production.
Freund also served as the cinematographer on the TV series Our Miss Brooks (1952), which was shot at Desilu Studios, and Desilu's own December Bride (1954). It was no accident that Desilu productions turned to Karl Freund to realize their dream of creating a high-quality show on film. Freund had the broadest experience of any cameraman of his stature, starting in silent pictures, and then excelling in both B&W and color in the sound era. With his penchant for technical innovation, he was the ideal man to develop solutions for filming a television show. Freund met the challenge of creating high quality filmed images in a young medium still handicapped by its primitive technology.
Freund became the dean of cinematographers in a new medium, with Desilu's I Love Lucy (1951) and its other shows recognized as the gold standard for TV production. His work ensured the fortunes of Desilu Productions, and the personal fortunes of Desilu owners Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, as he provided them with quality films of each show that could be easily syndicated into perpetuity, whereas the live shows filmed secondarily off of flickering TV monitors as kinescopes could not.
After retiring as a cinematographer, Freund continued his research at the Photo Research Corp. He died on May 3, 1969.- Cinematographer
- Director
- Writer
Günther Rittau was born on 7 August 1893 in Königshütte, Upper Silesia, Germany [now Chorzów, Slaskie, Poland]. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Metropolis (1927), Der ewige Klang (1943) and Vor uns liegt das Leben (1948). He was married to Gerda Danker. He died on 6 August 1971 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Walter Ruttmann was born on 28 December 1887 in Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany. He was a director and writer, known for Metropolis (1927), Mannesmann - Ein Film der Mannesmannröhren-Werke (1937) and Acciaio (1933). He was married to Christine Margarete Helene Prasch, Nina Hamson, Erna Treitel and Maria Christina Agnes Sommer. He died on 15 July 1941 in Berlin, Germany.- Camera and Electrical Department
- Cinematographer
- Director
Tom Stern was born on 16 December 1946 in Palo Alto, California, USA. He is a cinematographer and director, known for Changeling (2008), Flags of Our Fathers (2006) and Mystic River (2003). He was previously married to Françoise Combadière.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Blasco Giurato was born on 7 June 1941 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a cinematographer, known for Cinema Paradiso (1988), A Pure Formality (1994) and Octav (2017). He died on 26 December 2022 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Albert Duverger is known for L'Age d'Or (1930), Siren of the Tropics (1927) and La rue sans nom (1934).- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Jimmy Berliet is known for The Late Mathias Pascal (1925), Stella Violanti (1931) and La galerie des monstres (1924).- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Yûharu Atsuta was born on 1 January 1905 in Kobe, Japan. He was a cinematographer, known for An Autumn Afternoon (1962), Late Autumn (1960) and Early Summer (1951). He died on 7 December 1992 in Japan.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
Ted McCord learned his craft "on the job" as a camera assistant at Hobart Bosworth Productions in 1917. His first credited film as full-fledged cinematographer was Sacred and Profane Love (1921), billing himself as "T.D.McCord". During the '20s he worked on a wide variety of subjects, from romantic comedy (Irene (1926)) to westerns (The Code of the Scarlet (1928)) to melodrama (The Crash (1928)). Almost from the outset, his work displayed a mastery of lighting, specifically in his use of deep shadows. He later explained that he had been influenced by the paintings of Rembrandt and by the mentoring of pioneer cinematographers James Van Trees and Gregg Toland.
Between 1924 and 1929, McCord worked at First National which later became a subsidiary of Warner Brothers. In the early '30s, he had brief spells at Universal (shooting several films for cowboy star Ken Maynard), Columbia and RKO-Pathe, before finally settling at Warner Brothers for the bulk of his career (1936-57). During World War II, he served as a captain with the US Army Photographic Unit and was among the first to enter devastated Berlin, filming inside Adolf Hitler's ruined chancellery. After the war, he was given several A-grade projects that enhanced his reputation; among them superior melodramas like Johnny Belinda (1948) and Flamingo Road (1949). He also won critical plaudits for his excellent shooting of John Huston's seminal western epic, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). This prompted Elia Kazan to request his services for East of Eden (1955), which was shot in Technicolor and CinemaScope.
During the '50s and '60s McCord excelled at other Technicolor assignments: most memorable are the rich saturation and sharp detail used for the gripping outdoor western The Hanging Tree (1959), and his Oscar-nominated romantic, soft-focus visuals for The Sound of Music (1965), shot in 65mm Todd-AO wide-screen format.- Cinematographer
- Actor
- Camera and Electrical Department
Michael Chapman is an American cinematographer. He is best known for Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), The Fugitive (1993), and Primal Fear (1996).
Chapman began his film career as a camera operator before making the leap to cinematographer. As a cinematographer, he became famous for his two collaborations with Martin Scorsese.
He was also cinematographer for the hit remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978).
In 1987, Chapman collaborated again with Martin Scorsese on the 18-minute short film that served as the music video for Michael Jackson: Bad (1987).- Cinematographer
- Actor
Théophile Michault is known for A Fall from Five Floors (1906).- Cinematographer
Lucien Tainguy was born on 10 August 1881 in Paris, France. Lucien was a cinematographer, known for God's Country and the Law (1921), Checkers (1913) and Courage for Two (1919). Lucien died in February 1971 in Baychester, The Bronx, New York, USA.- Cinematographer
Bert Haines was born on 14 December 1896 in Dayton, Ohio, USA. He was a cinematographer, known for The General (1926), Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) and College (1927). He was married to Olga McCoy Gummerson and Dorothy (Theodora) Vidou. He died on 19 June 1991 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Cinematographer
- Visual Effects
- Camera and Electrical Department
Devereaux Jennings was born on 22 September 1884 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. He was a cinematographer, known for The General (1926), Unconquered (1947) and Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928). He was married to Adele Camille Badarous Davis and Cleo Wells. He died on 12 March 1952 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Regarded as one of the foremost exponents of cinematic expressionism in the 1920's, Fritz Arno Wagner was trained at the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris and began in the film industry working for Pathé Freres in 1910. Within just two years, he was promoted to head Pathé's offices in Vienna, and, subsequently, in Berlin. He briefly worked out of New York in 1913, reporting for Pathé Weekly, then returned to Germany for wartime service in the cavalry. After being invalided out, he progressed from still photographer to 2nd Cameraman. By 1919, he had advanced to full director of photography.
Wagner was noted for his moody, atmospheric lighting. He did outstanding work for the directors F.W. Murnau and Georg Wilhelm Pabst, best exemplified by his chilling, eerily-lit gothic masterpiece Nosferatu (1922), with its shadows and distorted images (the jerky, unsettlingly grotesque movements of Count Orlock -- as played by Max Schreck -- have undoubtedly served to inspire more recent examples of the genre, such as The Ring (2002)). Wagner photographed Arthur Robison's hallucinatory thriller of obsessive jealousy, Warning Shadows (1923), in a similar vein, using mirrors and light effects to convey delusions and subconscious desires. Wagner's career remained prolific during the 1930's. He worked on many more prestige films (to name but a few: Pabst's Westfront 1918 (1930), M (1931), The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933), Amphitryon (1935), Two Merry Adventurers (1937)), but the quality of his output began to decline by the mid-1930's under the artistic strictures imposed during the Nazi regime. Post-war, he directed the newsreel "Welt im Bild" and largely confined himself to work as cinematographer on mainstream popular entertainments for DEFA. At age 63, Wagner died as the result of falling from a camera truck.- Cinematographer
Günther Krampf was born on 8 February 1899 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. He was a cinematographer, known for The Hands of Orlac (1924), Rome Express (1932) and Pandora's Box (1929). He died on 4 August 1950 in London, England, UK.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Director
Carlo Montuori was born on 3 August 1885 in Casacalenda, Molise, Italy. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Bicycle Thieves (1948), The Roof (1956) and L'uomo dall'artiglio (1931). He died on 4 March 1968 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Cinematographer
Morteza Poursamadi was a cinematographer, known for Endless Night (1999), The Rose (1990) and Third Floor (2010). He died on 2 September 2023 in Iran.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Writer
Edward Klosinski was born on 2 January 1943 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland. He was a cinematographer and writer, known for Three Colors: Red (1994), Three Colors: White (1994) and Europa (1991). He was married to Krystyna Janda. He died on 5 January 2008 in Milanówek, Mazowieckie, Poland.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Noted Italian cinematographer G.R. Aldo (born Aldo Graziati) began his film career as an actor in French films, but soon gave up that profession. He kept his hand in the film business, however, becoming a still photographer, a position he kept for nearly 20 years. His eye was always on becoming a cinematographer, though, and to that end he worked his way up to assistant cameraman, then camera operator, until he finally secured the position of full-fledged cinematographer. He shot La Terra Trema (1948) to great critical acclaim. He worked with the finest of Italian directors, such as Vittorio De Sica and Luchino Visconti, and was responsible for the photography on such classics as Umberto D. (1952), Miracle in Milan (1951) and Terminal Station (1953).- Cinematographer
Yoshio Miyajima was born on 3 February 1910 in Nagono, Japan. He was a cinematographer, known for Harakiri (1962), Kwaidan (1964) and Kanikôsen (1953). He died on 21 February 1998.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Jean Tournier was born on 3 April 1926 in Toulon, Var, France. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for Moonraker (1979), The Day of the Jackal (1973) and The Train (1964). He died on 5 December 2004 in Paris, France.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Goeffrey Unsworth was one of the great cinematographers of the 20th Century, the winner of two Oscars, five BAFTA awards, and three awards from the British Society of Cinematographers for his work as a director of photography. Born in 1914 in Lancashire, England, Unsworth started in the industry in 1932 at Gaumont-British before joining Technicolor in 1937. He worked as a camera assistant and operator on a many of the most important color movies made in England.
In contrast to the Technicolor aesthetic, when Unsworth became a director of photography (starting in 1946 with the musical The Laughing Lady (1946), he used a somber palette. Moving to Rank at Pinewood Studios, he shot adventure films, comedies, and thrillers in black and white.
His breakthrough into the top ranks of cinematographers was Becket (1964) in 1964, for which he received his first Academy Award nomination. He did not get Oscar-nominated for his spectacular work on 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) because Stanley Kubrick generally was given credit for the visual style of the film, but his ability to integrate cinematography and special effects was put to great effect with Superman (1978) (1978). He was in demand for period pieces, winning his first Oscar for Bob Fosse's Cabaret (1972) and his second Oscar posthumously for shooting Roman Polanski's Tess (1979).
Geoffrey Unsworth died in Brittany on the set of "Tess" after suffering a heart attack. He was 64 years old.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
Oscar-winning cinematography Oswald Morris was one of the most outstanding directors of photography of the 20th Century, making his reputation by expanding the parameters of color cinematography. Born in November 1915 in Hillingdon, Middlesex, England, a month short of his 17th birthday, he became a factotum and clapper boy at Wembley Studios, which churned out quota quickies. The studio made one movie a week at a cost of one pound per foot of film. He left the studio in the spring of 1933 to go to work at British International Pictures at Elstree Studios, but soon returned to Wembley after it was taken over by Fox and became a camera assistant.
In World War II, he served as a Royal Air Force bomber pilot, flying missions over France and Germany before being transferred to transport planes. After being demobilized, Morris joined Independent Producers at Pinewood Studios in January 1946, where he became a camera operator for director of photography Ronald Neame. When Neame became a director, he was promoted to d.p. on Golden Salamander (1950) (1950). He soon made his name shooting Moulin Rouge (1952) (1952) for John Huston, which was famous for its use of color suggesting the palette of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, the subject of the film. The British Society of Cinematographers awarded him its Best Cinematography Award for his work on the film.
"Ossie" Morris had a distinguished career as a director of photography for 30 years, working with some of the top directors in English-language film, including Huston, Stanley Kubrick and Sidney Lumet. He was nominated three times for an Academy Award, for Oliver! (1968), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), and The Wiz (1978). He won an Oscar for "Fiddler" plus three BAFTA Awards and was honored with the International Award by the American Society of Cinematographers in 2000.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Music Department
From 1997 until his death, Subrata Mitra taught cinematography at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) at Kolkata, India. Subrata Mitra won the National Award for his work in Ramesh Sharma's New Delhi Times in 1985, and the Eastman Kodak Lifetime Achievement for Excellence in Cinematography in the year 1992.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Soumendu Roy was born on 7 February 1933 in British India. He was a cinematographer, known for Pather Panchali (1955), The Zoo (1967) and Saranga (1961). He died on 27 September 2023 in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Director
Gunnar Fischer was born on 18 November 1910 in Ljungby, Sweden. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Wild Strawberries (1957), The Seventh Seal (1957) and Smiles of a Summer Night (1955). He was married to Gull Söderblom. He died on 11 June 2011 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden.- Cinematographer
- Director
- Actor
Sven Nykvist was considered by many in the industry to be one of the world's greatest cinematographers. During his long career that spanned almost half a century, Nyvist perfected the art of cinematography to its most simple attributes, and he helped give the films he had worked on the simplest and most natural look imaginable. Indeed, Mr. Nykvist prided himself on the simplicity and naturalness of his lighting schemes. Nykvist used light to create mood and, more significantly, to bring out the natural flesh tones in the human face so that the emotion of the scene could be played out on the face without the light becoming intrusive.
Nykvist entered the Swedish film industry when he was 19 and worked his way up to becoming a director of photography. He first worked with the legendary Swedish director Ingmar Bergman on the film Sawdust and Tinsel (1953), but his collaboration with Bergman began in earnest with The Virgin Spring (1960). From that point on, Nykvist replaced the great Gunnar Fischer as Bergman's cameraman, and the two men started a collaboration that would last for a quarter of a century. The switch from Fischer to Nykvist created a marked difference in the look of Bergman's films. In many respects, it was like the difference between Caravaggio and Rembrandt. Fischer's lighting was a study in light and darkness, while Nykvist preferred a more naturalistic, more subtle approach that in many ways relied on the northern light compositions of the many great Scandinavian painters.
Nykvist's work with Bergman is one of the most glorious collaborations in movie history. Nykvist created a markedly different look for each installment of Bergman's Faith Trilogy. Through a Glass Darkly (1961) had an almost suffocating quality to it, and The Silence (1963) hearkened back to the days of German Expressionism. Winter Light (1963), the middle part of the trilogy, may very well be the most perfect work of Nykvist's repertoire. Having studied the light in a real provincial church carefully, he then recreated the subtle changes in the light as the day went on on a Stockholm sound stage. Indeed, it's hard to believe that the film was shot on a stage and not in a real church in Northern Sweden. For Persona (1966), Nykvist relied heavily on Sweden's famous Midnight Sun. In The Passion of Anna (1969), Nykvist was able to capture the chilly, soggy, and melancholy look of Faro, one of Nykvist's first color films. Both Nykvist and Bergman were both very reluctant to film in color. He created a fascinating study of white and red in Cries & Whispers (1972), for which Nykvist won an Oscar. He won an Oscar again for the last feature-length theatrical film that Bergman made, Fanny and Alexander (1982).
During the late 1970s, Nykvist began making films elsewhere in Europe and in the United States, working for directors such as Louis Malle (Pretty Baby (1978)), Philip Kaufman (The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)), Bob Fosse (Star 80 (1983)), Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle (1993)), Woody Allen (Another Woman (1988), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)), Richard Attenborough (Chaplin (1992)), and fellow Swede Lasse Hallström (What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)). The documentary Ljuset håller mig sällskap (2000) paid homage to Nykvist, although it does not grant us any real secrets about his working methods. Nykvist died in 2006.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Born Russell September 16, 1903 in Los Angeles, California to Frank and Bertha Harlan, who hailed from Iowa and Missouri. Russell was raised in Los Angeles along with his younger brother Richard (b. 1911). His paternal grandmother Sarah J. Harlan also lived with the family.
Harlan started in the film industry as an actor and stuntman, and by the early 1930s was working behind the camera as an assistant. His first work as lead cinematographer was in 1937, when he filmed four "Hopalong Cassidy" westerns for Harry Sherman Productions. Harlan had a career as a cinematographer that spanned some thirty-three years from 1937 to 1970. He was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, including two in 1962 for his work on Hatari! and To Kill a Mockingbird.
Russell was married to Willette Marion Gregg (1914-1963). They had three children together.
Russell Harlan died February 28, 1974 in Newport Beach, California and was laid to rest in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale, California.- Actor
- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Cinematographer
- Director
John Seale was born on 5 October 1942 in Warwick, Queensland, Australia. He is a cinematographer and director, known for Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), The English Patient (1996) and Witness (1985). He has been married to Louise Seale since 23 September 1967. They have two children.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
Sean Bobbitt was born on 29 November 1958 in Corpus Christi, Texas, USA. He is a cinematographer, known for 12 Years a Slave (2013), Hunger (2008) and Shame (2011).- Cinematographer
- Director
- Camera and Electrical Department
Of Ukrainian and Indian descent, Andrij studied cinematography at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts (MFA, 2001) and the FAMU film school in Prague. He currently lives and works in New York, shooting features, commercials and music videos. In 2004 he was named one of Filmmaker Magazine's "25 New Faces of Indie Film". Recently, he was included as one off Variety Magazine's "Ten Cinematographers to Watch".- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Director
Bruno Delbonnel was born in 1957 in Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France. He is a cinematographer and director, known for The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021), A Very Long Engagement (2004) and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013).- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Special Effects
Ennio Guarnieri was born on 12 October 1930 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a cinematographer, known for La Dolce Vita (1960), La Traviata (1982) and Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972). He died on 1 July 2019 in Licata, Sicily, Italy.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Pasqualino De Santis was born on 24 April 1927 in Fondi, Lazio, Italy. He was a cinematographer, known for Romeo and Juliet (1968), Death in Venice (1971) and Three Brothers (1981). He died on 23 June 1996 in Lviv, Ukraine.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
Robert L. Surtees began his working life as a portrait photographer and retoucher, before becoming camera assistant at Universal in 1927. He spent a lengthy apprenticeship (15 years) working under such experienced cinematographers as Hal Mohr, Joseph Ruttenberg and Gregg Toland. Between 1929 and 1930, he was seconded to the Universal studios in Berlin, subsequently spending the remainder of the decade at First National, Warner Brothers and Pathe. He settled at MGM in 1943 (remaining under contract until 1962), and soon developed a reputation as one of Hollywood's foremost lighting cameramen.
In keeping with the glamorous, lavish look of MGM product of the time, Surtees typically employed high-key lighting. This particularly suited big budget colour epics, like Quo Vadis (1951) and Ben-Hur (1959) (filmed in the large screen Camera 65 process with anamorphic lenses, which greatly enhanced colour definition and sharpness); expansive outdoor musicals like Oklahoma! (1955) (the first picture shot in 70 mm Todd-AO ultra wide- screen format); or lush, romantic period drama like Raintree County (1957). Forever at the cutting edge of technological innovation, Surtees was an extremely versatile craftsman. He excelled at every genre and photographic process, superb at shooting sweeping scenery (for example, his Technicolor lensing of King Solomon's Mines (1950)on location in Africa), or bringing the best out of his close-ups. An undoubted high point in his career would have to be the 9-minute chariot race from "Ben-Hur".
Surtees received the first of his 16 Oscar nominations for Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) (when the studio system was at its peak), and his last - some 33 years later - for The Turning Point (1977). Testimony to his ageless endurance was being picked by director Peter Bogdanovich to shoot The Last Picture Show (1971). In the same nostalgic vein, his work on The Sting (1973), photographed in subtle sepia tones (the film was deemed by the Library of Congress as 'aesthetically significant'), contributed greatly to its winning 7 Academy Awards.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Director
Wally Pfister is an American cinematographer and film director, who is best known for his work with Christopher Nolan. He is also known for his work on director F. Gary Gray's The Italian Job (2003) and Bennett Miller's Moneyball (2011).
He made his directorial debut with the film Transcendence (2014), starring Johnny Depp.
His first collaboration with Nolan was on the neo-noir thriller Memento (2000). The success of this collaboration resulted in Pfister taking over as director of photography for Nolan's subsequent films: Insomnia (2002), Batman Begins (2005), The Prestige (2006), The Dark Knight (2008), which he partially shot with IMAX cameras, and Inception, which was shot partially in 5-perf 65 mm. He is the only cinematographer that has worked with director Christopher Nolan between Memento and Dark Knight Rises.
Pfister won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Inception (2010).- Cinematographer
- Additional Crew
- Camera and Electrical Department
Pawel Edelman was born on 26 June 1958 in Lódz, Lódzkie, Poland. He is a cinematographer, known for The Pianist (2002), Oliver Twist (2005) and The Ghost Writer (2010).- Cinematographer
- Director
- Camera and Electrical Department
One of the highest appraised contemporary cinematographers. He was born in Spain but moved to Cuba by age 18 to join his exiled anti-Franco father. In Havana, he founded a cineclub and wrote film reviews. Then, he went on to study in Rome at the Centro Sperimentale. He directed six shorts in Cuba and two in New York. After the 1959 Cuban revolution, he returned and made several documentaries for the Castro-regime. But after two of his shorts (Gente en la playa (1960) and La Tumba Francesca) had been banned, he moved to Paris. There he became the favourite cameraman of Éric Rohmer and François Truffaut. In 1978, he started his impressive Hollywood-career. In his later years, he co-directed two documentaries about the human rights situation in Cuba: Improper Conduct (1984) (about the persecution of gay people) and Nadie escuchaba (1987). He shot several prestigious commercials for Giorgio Armani and Calvin Klein. Nestor Almendros died of cancer.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Robby Müller was born on 4 April 1940 in Willemstad, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for Breaking the Waves (1996), Paris, Texas (1984) and Repo Man (1984). He died on 3 July 2018 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.