Shooting Stars: Interviews with the Worlds Greatest Living ...

Tag : angle fitting
JOHN SEALE
Last year's Oscar winner for The English Patient is clearly on aroll. A former camera operator for Peter Weir (The Last Wave,Gallipoli, Picnic at Hanging Rock), Seale has been riding a freighttrain of critical acclaim since his American feature debut,Witness, way back in 1985. Of course, working with directors likeGeorge Miller, Ron Howard, John Boorman, and long-time Aussiecollaborator Weir, doesn't hurt. But then, most DP's who have hitthis level of commercial success rarely jump back behind the camerato operate as Seale did, on the 1995 Beyond Ragoon. Tough,illuminating, sensitive, transcendent are just some of the termsused to describe Seale's work. At the end of the day, theseattributes seem to account for why he seems able to capture MotherNature's ferocious glory better than any other cameraman on theplanet.
MM: You're the only Aussie on this list and I'm curious as to how thatcontinent shaped your early years?
John Seale (JS): I was about 18 or so when I went traveling into the Australianoutback. I brought along a little 8mm camera to record myexperiences for my parents to see. The imagery out there was sospectacular-climatic things like dusk rising off the back of sheep;endless sunrises that went on for miles. I thought wouldn't it be alovely life to travel around the world and record life and deathand man's unrest within nature in moving issues/29/images.
MM: Apropos of that, many people characterize your work as having anintense quality of "realism." Does having a style, perse, interest you?
JS: I've never set out to create a style. There are so many differentscripts, locations, climatic situations that can influence the lookof a film, that it would seem unfair to bring a standard approachto each project, particularly since I believe that no two filmsshould look alike. I suppose those who say I have a sense ofrealism in my work are making an honest appraisal, since I oftenfavor natural lighting techniques or the enhancement of naturallight sources to photographic levels.
MM: The natural world is such a big part of your work. Yet nature,especially in its elemental form, is totally chaotic. A tough jobmade tougher for the DP who is trying to capitalize on thatenvironment.
JS: Absolutely. That's why anticipation is the single most importanttool a DP needs to have. Nature is raw and unpredictable and theguy who can anticipate where the sun may be, or what is going tohappen with the light puts you way ahead of the game. The elementof chance is a huge part of making movies, but if you cananticipate, you can adapt quickly and control the moment, ratherthan being controlled.
MM: Do you have an example to share?
JS: Well, this may sound like an anomaly because it was a scene I wasdoing inside a jail, which is about as controlled an environment asyou can get. But I hadn't anticipated the light that day becausewe'd just changed locations very quickly. I realized that the sunwas going to come through this six-inch window shaft in about 15minutes. I said to the director, can we just wait 15 minutesbecause the light is going to be amazing. I grabbed the smokemachine and raced down the hallway to prepare. We began to rehearseand the director thought I was insane because absolutely nothingwas happening! Everything looked the same. About 15 minutes laterthe sun suddenly rose up and burst through these slots, tracingdown the entire walkway inside the jail.
MM: Wow! That's working in the moment, alright.
JS: Yeah, it sure was.
MM: If you had to pick a single shot that best sums upcinematography's potential, could you do it?
JS: Well, this too may sound ironic, considering how I told you theoutback inspired this thirst for moving issues/29/images, ratherthan static still frames. But, I think it would have to be thatshot from Lawrence Of Arabia, when Lawrence goes to sit in thedesert and contemplate the attack on Aquaba. He's totally alone onthis sandhill with his back to the camera. The only movement is thesand being blown past him at dusk. It's basically a still frame.Yet that shot represents everything Lean was going for within thatscene: the stillness of thought, the character's back to us forindecision, and the sands of time sweeping past. Combined with ananamorphic frame to show the vastness of the desert, it createsthis incredible overall power even though it's just a singlecinematic frame.