Mark London Williams recaps an eventful weekend at the Creative Arts Emmys – which saw Jessica Lee Gagné make history and British DP Matthew Lewis scoop a major prize – as the annual event celebrating artistic and technical achievement in television rolled back into town. “This is the real Emmys – this is the Emmys … Read more
Does a broken Emmy statuette metaphorically represent the entertainment industry’s ongoing transformation and the broader shifts it faces post-pandemic and post-strike? It is perhaps the perfect metaphor where the entertainment biz stands now, post-pandemic, post-strike, or whether these things are “post” at all, but simply harbingers of bigger changes to come: an earthquake knocking an … Read more
So spring arrives with Oppenheimer having finished its winter-long Sherman’s March – with nuclear fission standing in for fire – through award season, as it kept racking up wins from one guild to the next, all the way through the BAFTAs, to Oscar night. In our December column, having just come back from the Hollywood … Read more
With Cine Gear around the corner, our LA columnist examines the possible implications of the writers’ strike on the much anticipated tradeshow, and speaks to DPs Checco Varese ASC and Ludovica Isidori about their latest projects. As this column goes up, we’ll be on the eve of Cine Gear here in Los Angeles, and its … Read more
As a busy three months of awards season excitement come to a triumphant close, relive all the action from the Academy Awards and ASC Awards. And so, a term which first entered into storytelling in the early ‘60s, in Flash comics about Earths 1 and 2, on the US side of the pond, and via … Read more
“We made use of every single cobblestone we could get.” That’s not the first image that comes to mind when considering a historical drama about U.S. Navy fighter pilots, but it’s revelatory of the attention that Oscar-winning DP Erik Messerschmidt ASC and the rest of the cast and crew, brought to Devotion, the current film … Read more
In an email about his new Netflix show The Midnight Club, cinematographer James Kniest mentioned audiences “pine to be mesmerised”, which may not only include this fun-and-spooky collaboration with producer/director Mike Flanagan (who co-created with Leah Fong), but may explain much in terms of modern politics, sports fandom, and of course, film and TV watching. … Read more
Here in British Cinematographer’s Hollywood bureau, we await our second Pfizer shot, while gearing up to attend – virtually, of course – the coming ASC and Oscar awards. Normally, this column would be reporting on how they were. You will have been well-versed in the nominees by the time this runs, naturally, and it would … Read more
Still buzzing with excitement following this week’s Golden Globes announcements, Mark London Williams’ latest comment piece from LA sees him speak to the filmmaking talent behind The United States vs. Billie Holiday, A Nightmare Wakes, and Bliss. Normally through the month of February, the business of L.A. is waiting for envelopes to be opened, to … Read more
A SNAPSHOT OF HISTORY Phedon Papamichael, ASC GSC, has been making good use of the 1960s lately, gaining BAFTA and ASC nominations for his work on Ford v Ferrari, and now, a year after that film’s release, finding himself at the tail end of that storied decade with Netflix’s The Trial of the Chicago 7, … Read more
Southern California hospitals are facing a crisis the likes of which we have never seen before. Patients are dying in ambulances waiting for treatment because hospital emergency rooms are overwhelmed. You might think we’re quoting L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, or perhaps California Governor Gavin Newsom. But instead, the above comment is from former Beverly Hills, … Read more
Freaks Of Nature Peter Deming ASC / The New Mutants Freaks Of Nature Peter Deming ASC /The New Mutants BY: Mark London Williams “The whole movie’s cursed!,” laughed director Josh Boone, when referring to the source material for the much-delayed, much-speculated about The New Mutants movie coming from Fox. Or make that Disney. Boone was … Read more
GENETIC ENGINEERING Innovator / Chapman/Leonard GENETIC ENGINEERING Innovator / Chapman/Leonard BY: Mark London Williams “We have empathy for our customers as well as concern for their reentry to a new production environment,” Leonard Chapman tells us over the transom, as we catch up on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the venerable and innovative … Read more
THE STORIES BEING TOLD Letter from America / Mark London Williams The Stories Being Told Letter from America / Mark London Williams In his 1986 essay Novel Writing in An Apocalyptic Time, the late Walker Percy (who, ironically enough for our purposes, first came to fame with his novel The Moviegoer), notes, of a culture’s … Read more
Medium Cool Across The Pond / Mark London Williams Ironically, as far as narrative features speaking to the present moment, it may be one of the few written and directed by this particular cinematographer, that reflects the whole tension of watching a thing unfold, versus being a part of it. I refer, of course, to … Read more
Stay Tuned Across The Pond / Mark London Williams And so, quarantine and pandemic continue apace. If we can use “apace” when most of us are still generally housebound. Sadly, fallout from the pandemic continues, as the cinematography community lost the great Allen Daviau, of E.T., Empire of the Sun, and many other fames. He’d … Read more
Stories From Quarantine Across The Pond / Mark London Williams This past month, as many have observed, has been one of the longest years of our lives. It seems like another era when I filed that previous column speculating the NAB might be cancelled. The question a few short weeks later is: What is still … Read more
Just one language – visual language Across The Pond / Mark London Williams Just one language – visual language Across The Pond / Mark London Williams By the time you read this in March – which side of the “Ides” you find yourself on – the Oscars and award season itself will be, as previously … Read more
At The Peak Of Their Craft Across The Pond / Mark London Williams At The Peak Of Their Craft Across The Pond / Mark London Williams By the time you read our next column, the Oscars could well be in the rearview mirror, and it would seem probable that Roger Deakins will be holding another … Read more
Light Is A Universal Language Across The Pond / Mark London Williams Light Is A Universal Language Across The Pond / Mark London Williams We are entering the “’tis the season” season, which means in addition to handicapping whose hands the award statues will wind up in, we’ll also look at both current work hitting … Read more