SH O OTI N G WOM EN I N LOVE (1968) WITH O LIVER REED, G LEN DA JACKSO N A N D K EN RUSSELL
the lamps and the electricians were doing this flickering effect using some branches to create movement with the light. We shot just one day with Oli [Reed] and Alan [Bates] fully nude, with two handheld cameras and a real blazing log fire, which was crackling away. It was 10 years before Steadicam. We used an Arriflex IIC, which was an ideal handheld, very flexible, so we could follow the wrestling very quickly. What we wanted were very sharp moves, which you can’t do with Steadicam because it smoothes it out. The next day we did the close-up shots with the dialogue, which we did with the blimp camera. We finished all the filming in England, including a drowning scene, which was shot at magic hour. It took three evenings to do, because you only get five or ten minutes at
B I LLY WI LLIA M S
magic hour. Oli went in the water three nights in a row and never complained. He was very good and it was a very dramatic scene. On what attributes make a good cinematographer… Observation. Experience and understanding of light. How to get the best out of available light. To think about the direction of light when shooting exteriors and how that can change the look. Young filmmakers are obsessed about the technicalities of digital cameras, but it doesn’t matter how advanced your camera might be, it’s not going to make you a better cinematographer if you don’t understand how to use it to tell a story. We’re visual storytellers. Whenever I do a film, I’m always very emotionally involved
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