Roger Deakins ASC, BSC Will Mentor UCLA Film Students

Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC has been named Kodak Cinematographer in Residence at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Deakins will conduct a series of screenings and workshops focusing on the role that cinematographers play in the collaborative art of filmmaking. The annual residency program was conceived by UCLA Professor William McDonald in 2000, and is sponsored by the Kodak Student Filmmaker Program.

“This is an excellent opportunity for our students to gain insights into the creative process of the world’s most talented cinematographers,” says McDonald. “Roger Deakins is compiling an extraordinary body of work. His peers have nominated him for five Oscars® over the past 10 years, and he is still in the prime of his career.”

Deakin’s mentorship program launches with a public screening of THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE at 8 p.m. on April 25, at the James Bridges Theater, which is located on the northeast corner of UCLA’s Westwood campus near Sunset Blvd. and Hilgard Ave. Admission is free and open to the public with parking available in Structure 3 for a $7 fee.

Deakins has earned both Oscar and American Society of Cinematographers award nominations for his work on FARGO; KUNDUN; O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?; THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE. He claimed top honors in the ASC competition for the latter two. His body of work also includes such memorable feature films as SID AND NANCY, DEAD MAN WALKING, THE BIG LEBOWSKI, THE HURRICANE, INTOLERABLE CRUELTY, HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG, A BEAUTIFUL MIND and THE VILLAGE. He recently completed principal cinematography for JARHEAD in collaboration with director Sam Mendes.

THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE was a 2001 collaboration with filmmakers Ethan and Joel Coen. The film is a character study that takes place in Santa Rosa, California, during the 1950s. Billy Bob Thorton plays a barber who discovers that his wife is engaged in an affair with her boss who is a department store magnate. The barber decides to blackmail his wife’s lover and invest the money in a get-rich scheme proffered by one of his customers. His convoluted scheme leads everyone involved on a downward spiral.

“When I first read the script, I thought that it was a dark, funny and absurd story about a character whom I found both touching and sort of haunting,” Deakins says. “Joel and Ethan had been talking about their black-and-white film for years. They wrote it as a black-and-white film because of the period and the film noir-ish theme.”

The problem was that there was a contractual commitment to distribute videocassettes of THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE in color to overseas markets. How do you release a film in both color and black and white? Deakins will answer that and other questions following the screening.

The cinematographer has followed an unusual career path. He was born and raised in Torquay, a relatively small seaside community in Devon, England. Deakins recalls walking three to four miles with his brother to see movies at the nearest cinema — although filmmaking never seemed like a career choice. The headmaster at his school advised him to pursue a career as a bank clerk.

“I started painting when I was very young,” says Deakins. “They were very dark, morbid pictures but nonetheless I was accepted as a graphic arts student at the Bath Academy of Art. They had a fine arts department that taught painting and sculpting. That’s when I discovered photography. I would go off for weeks at a time taking pictures, and then process and print them in the darkroom when everyone else was asleep.”

After graduation, Deakins attempted to enroll in the National Film School in London, intending to pursue a career as a documentary filmmaker. He was initially rejected because his still pictures weren’t deemed to be ‘filmic’ enough. Deakins persisted and he succeeded in enrolling the following year. After graduation, his first job was as a cameraman on a film for the African National Congress about the effects of the liberation war in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). That was followed by a film for independent television about the experience of the crew on one on the entrants in the 1977-‘78 around-the-world yacht race. It was a nine-month journey for a film on which he was director-cameraman. His next project took him to Africa covering the civil war in Eritrea again as a director-cameraman. Deakins worked almost exclusively on documentaries for seven years.

Deakins shot his first narrative film, ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE for Channel 4 in England in 1983. The following year, he shot his first studio feature, 1984, based on George Orwell’s classic science-fiction novel.

Deakins came to the United States in 1986 with the film SID AND NANCY, part of which was shot in New York and Los Angeles. BARTON FINK was his first collaboration with the Coen brothers in 1991. That same year, he worked with David Mamet on HOMICIDE and Michael Apted on THUNDERHEART. The following year he worked with John Sayles on PASSION FISH. Deakins moved to Los Angeles that year, though he still maintains a quiet place to escape to in his native Devon.

Chances are that future film historians will look back on 2000’s O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? as a significant milestone in film history. It was the first narrative feature produced for the cinema where a cinematographer timed a film for continuity, and put finishing touches on the “look” in a digital intermediate suite.

“Ethan and Joel wanted a dry, dusty and very hot look,” he recalls, “and we were going to be shooting in Mississippi at a time when the foliage would be various shades of lush green. We had to find a way to desaturate the greens and give the images the feeling of old, hand-tinted picture postcards.”

Deakins shot a series of tests comparing different film stocks and processing techniques. He also tested converting the film to digital format and desaturating images in a digital suite at a visual effects house. They decided to follow the latter route. The entire film was scanned and converted to digital picture files. Deakins, working in collaboration with digital colorist Julius Friede, desaturated the green tones and added other touches to the look. Along with the Coen brothers, they were literally blazing a new path to the future of filmmaking.

“I am looking forward to working with the students and faculty at UCLA,” Deakins says. “I think all of us who have been lucky enough to succeed in this industry have an obligation to help mentor the next generation of filmmakers. Just as both Ozzie Morris and Dick Bush were so generous with their time when I was a film student in London.”

Previous participants in the Kodak Cinematographer in Residence program were Dean Cundey, ASC; Allen Daviau, ASC; Conrad L. Hall, ASC; Owen Roizman, ASC and Laszlo Kovacs, ASC.

The Kodak Student Filmmaker Program was organized in 1990. It provides significant support for film schools and students, including scholarships, film grants and discounts valued at millions of dollars, in addition to sponsoring mentoring programs and distributing educational materials.

“Roger Deakins is an innovative artist who has generously agreed to share his experience and wisdom with the next generation of filmmakers,” says Collette Scott, worldwide manager, students and emerging filmmakers, Kodak’s Entertainment Imaging Division. “I have no doubt that someday the students who participate in these workshops are going to look back on this as a turning point in their lives and careers. They will learn how the subtle nuances in the way artists like Roger compose and expose images on film can make all the difference in the world.”

More information about Kodak and the Student Filmmaker Program is available at the website listed below.

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Keywords

"william mcdonald" "dean cundey, asc" "allen daviau, asc" "conrad l. hall, asc" "owen roizman, asc" "lazlo kovacs, asc" 

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