Young Buck
Meet the New Wave / Justin Brown
Young Buck
Meet the New Wave / Justin Brown
Filmography (so far):
Commercials for Puma, Cravendale Milk, Gucci and Skoda (C5 idents), plus virals for Soulwax, Warehouse. Geberit Challenge, LW-01 and Patrick Wolfe. Music videos for Likke Li, Mint Julep, Maverick Sabre and Stornoway. Short films including Sunny Boy, Ellie, Sam And Jenny Go To A Play, Frozen, Paper Hearts, Mulligatawny, Spilt Milk and Silent Things. Is now waiting for the right film script.
When did you discover you wanted to be a cinematographer?
I was watching Road To Perdition, shot by Conrad L Hall, in the cinema in Taunton, when I was about 15 or 16 years old. I decided that this was what I was going to do. I’d always wanted to be involved in the film industry and this cemented the fact that cinematography was the way I would be heading.
Where did you train?
I trained at the Bournemouth Arts Institute (AIB)
What are you favourite films?
Lost In Translation (2003, DP Lance Acord ASC), Heat (1995, DP Dante Spinotti AIC ASC), Inception (DP Wally Pfister ASC) and Back To The Future Part II (1989, DP Dean Cundey ASC). They are, quite simply, masterpieces in filmmaking.
What’s the best advice you were ever given?
From my Dad… “Never give up!”
Who are your industry heroes?
Harris Savides, Emmanuel Lubeski, Lance Acord, Conrad L Hall and Roger Deakins. They are all masters at working with natural light.
What’s been your proudest moment so far?
Seeing the first thing I shot on film projected in a cinema when I was studying
What's the worst knock back/rejection you've had?
Consistently people mentioning my age, 24, which bugs me.
What's been your best and worst moment on set?
Best was running around on a short film trying to get the fading sunlight that we needed to make the film work chronologically. The worst was working handheld with an ARRI ST for three days in the freezing snow in South London,
Tell us your most hilarious faux pas?
The first time I traineed, I took a 416 off the camera truck and accidentally rolled off a whole roll! Those bloody silent magazines!
Away from work, what are your greatest passions?
Gaming!
What one piece of kit could you not live without?
My light meter, of course.
What films are you most proud of?
A short film called Human Beings.
"[Three words to describe you] Enthusiastic. Spontaneous. Collaborative."
- Justin Brown
What's the weirdest place you've ever shot in?
Jade Jagger’s mansion in Ibiza.
What's the hardest thing you’ve had to light or frame?
A cow’s udder.
Tell us your hidden party trick/talent
I have an extremely wide tongue!
From the pantheon of cinema, which film would you have loved to have shot?
Definitely Road To Perdition. You can pause the film on any frame and it would be the most beautiful frame of any other film.
What are your current top albums?
I listen to the radio.
Can you tell us your greatest extravagance?
My Alan Gordon Mark Vb director’s finder.
What’s the best thing about being a DP?
Being able to do what I love and also to travel doing it.
What’s the worst thing about being a DP?
The hours, and never having enough time.
Give us three adjectives that best describe you and your approach to cinematography?
Enthusiastic. Spontaneous. Collaborative
If you weren’t a DP, what job would you be doing now?
I’d probably be a game designer
What are your aspirations for the future?
To work on good feature films.
Comment / Laurence Johnson, sustainability manager, Film London