The day a BSC membership offer arrived marked a turning point for Christopher Ross BSC, transforming years of effort into a prestigious cinematography milestone.
Membership
/ˈmɛmbəʃɪp/
Noun
- the state of belonging to an organisation.
“Countries seeking membership of the European Union”
- the members or the number of members in a group.
“Our membership has grown by 600,000 in the past year”
“Red-letter days” don’t come around very often in adult life (mostly brown envelopes with HMRC on them). But it’s quite satisfying to recall the day a letter arrives announcing that the Board of Governors would like to invite you to join the BSC. The letter primarily outlines the administrative process should you choose to accept their offer (for what it’s worth, I don’t know anyone who hasn’t) and includes details about the fee structure and membership requirements.
For me, it was 20 December 2012. A Thursday. I had spent the day on set filming season two of Top Boy, and the letter had arrived that morning—innocuous in its white envelope. Simple and to the point, but a breathtaking read.
And so, for the 75th anniversary edition, I thought I would write a little about what BSC membership means to me… then and now.
By December 2012, I had spent the last 15 years trying (and failing) to be a cinematographer. From short films and documentaries to music videos, commercials, online content, television drama, and feature films. Sound familiar? The usual combination of lucky breaks, great collaborations, and some heartbreaking disappointments. But after seven years working as a freelance cinematographer, my work was deemed worthy of inclusion. A red-letter day indeed.
But as is the case for almost all new members, I was not a total stranger to the society. As a member of the camera department and a rental house technician, I had been in the orbit of the BSC for a while. My day job at Panavision in the late ’90s and early ’00s put me in contact with the work of BSC members fairly frequently. A cinematographer would occasionally be in attendance for testing, and I would be assigned to assist. Simple enough, but for a wannabe DP, these interactions were the creative fuel needed to keep the desire to be a cinematographer alive.
At times, a conveyor belt of illustrious DPs seemed to arrive through the doors: Adrian Biddle BSC, Seamus McGarvey ASC BSC, Haris Zambarloukos BSC GSC, Sue Gibson BSC, Brian Tufano BSC, Andrew Dunn BSC, even Jack Cardiff OBE BSC… testing some new piece of kit for a project or for a screening of rushes, etc.
Despite their heavy work schedules and commitments, each of these exceptionally talented individuals took time out to talk to the techs at the rental house… find out a little bit about each of us and offer some nugget of wisdom or reassurance that helped to stoke the flame of creativity and give us all a flicker of hope. This spirit of inspiration sits fondly in my memory and, I hope, paved the way for the cinematographer I was to become.
Fast forward a few years, and as a freelance cinematographer, I was fortunate to swing back into the BSC’s orbit again. Applying for BSC Club membership, I was privileged to attend the Q&A programming and looked forward to the seminar programme at BSC Expo. From its inception, the society has been dedicated to the advancement of the art and craft of cinematography, to engage with and encourage the highest standards in our art form, and as John de Borman BSC AFC so eloquently puts it later in this issue, to “promote, guide, and support its members to keep unwaveringly the highest standards of creativity that this society has been so admired for throughout the world”.
When joining the membership, your thoughts immediately turn to all the great cinematographers who have been members before you… a great caravan of talent leading from Freddie Young OBE BSC to the members who joined in July. You are amongst illustrious peers, you have “made the grade”, and your work is now viewed alongside theirs. A unique pride in finding a place amongst fellow cinematographers after many years of graft and service to your career.
But time and experience have a way of evolving your thoughts, and what is first seen as something individual transforms into a collective experience. After 12 years of BSC membership, I witness a more collegiate version of cinematography. Every day I see the work of our community of filmmakers both behind the camera and in service to the wider world. Within the BSC, I see individuals and committees working across every facet of our craft, aiming for a more technologically advanced, environmentally sustainable, inclusive, and nurturing industry.
The BSC is an organisation like many others, a guild of like-minded artisans. And like all organisations, at its best, the BSC is a mechanism, a tool, for its members and the wider community. For people to come together in service of each other, in service of an industry, in service of core goals and values.
During the preceding 75 years, the BSC has evolved, alongside its membership, alongside the technology that has shaped our viewing habits, and alongside the society that we reflect in the stories on our screens. The next 75 years will see a similar evolution, perhaps even revolution, and the BSC and its membership will be part of that change. A bright future (at least 1000 nits) lies ahead of us, working together, in service to a community unified by the pursuit of excellence and the sharing of knowledge in a craft as complex and enigmatic as cinematography.
Onwards!
