Joe Oldroyd

Books

Higham ,Charles (1970). Hollywood Cameramen: Sources of Light. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd. p7-175.

Laszlo, Andrew (2000). Every Frame a Rembrandt, Art and Practice of Cinematography. Boston, USA: Focal Press, Butterworth-Heinemann.

Rogers, Pauline (2000). Contemporary Cinematographers. Boston, USA: Focal Press, Butterworth-Heinemann.

Rogers, Pauline B. (2000). More Contemporary Cinematographers. Boston, USA: Focal Press, Butterworth-Heinemann. p1-199.

Salvato, Larry and Schaefer, Dennis (1984). Masters of Light. London: University of California Press Ltd.

Sutton, Damian (2009). Photography, Cinema, Memory. Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota Press. p1-135.

Films

All the Presidents Men, 1976, motion picture, Warner Bros, Director – Alan J. Pakula

Manhattan, 1979, motion picture, Director – Woody Allen

Annie Hall, 1977, motion picture, MGM, Director – Woody Allen

The Big Combo, 1955, motion picture, Director - Joseph H Lewis

Children of Men, 2006, motion picture, Universal Pictures, Director – Alfonso Cuaron

Citizen Kane, 1941, motion picture, RKO Radio Pictures, Director – Orson Welles

End of the Road, 1970, motion picture, Director – Aram Avakian

Enter the Void, 2009, motion picture, ICI Films, Director – Gaspar Noe

The Godfather 1972, motion picture, Paramount, Director – Francis Ford Coppola

The Godfather Part II 1974, motion picture, Paramount, Director – Francis Ford Coppola

The Grapes of Wrath, 1940, motion picture, 20^th Century Fox, Director – John Ford

Gravity, 2013, motion picture, Director – Alfonso Cuaron

The Great Escape, 1963, motion picture, Director – John Sturges

Innocence, 2013, motion picture, Director – Hilary Brougher

Irreversible, 2002, motion picture, 120 Films, Director – Gaspar Noe

Klute, 1971, motion picture, Director – Alun J Pakula

Palmy Days, 1931, motion picture, Director – Edward Sutherland

Sin City, 2005, motion picture, Dimension Films, Director – Frank Miller/ Robert Rodriguez

Sleeper, 1973, motion picture, Director – Woody Allen

Spring Breakers, 2012, motion picture, Director – Harmony Korine

Stardust Memories, 1980, motion picture, Director – Woody Allen

Take the Money and Run, 1969, motion picture, Director – Woody Allen

Reflective Account – Joseph Oldroyd

My main practice within film is cinematography. I eventually want to be a Director of Photography for feature films, but before I get to this stage I need practice in all aspects of cinematography. In the past year I have really pushed myself with external projects, thus developing as much experience as possible.

The past few months have been extremely busy for me, as many external projects/job offers have come in along side the pre-production and production of my graduate films.

I work for a Corporate & Private events company called Flix’n’pix, as a camera operator. This is mostly to generate some money for new camera equipment, but I have also learnt a lot from working on these events by observing the practice of the two company owners, as they are very particular and caring over their kit. This is a good trait to have as I now carry this attitude with me throughout filming. I have also learnt how to handle clients and crowds. These events are often very busy, filled with family and friends, so it is important to constantly be polite and friendly, but at the same time get all of the shots that are needed. I used to be shy and reserved on bigger sets or with people I didn’t know but this has helped me over come this, and can take this attribute into my practice.

I have also worked free-lance on other external projects. I have done a number of behind the scenes videos for a new company called Wreck My Dress, which is a collaboration including the highly regarded Manchester based production company Sitcom Soldiers, who specialise in music videos. These ‘behind the scenes’ videos led to me working along side them as a camera operator on a publicity stunt they did with Key 103 in February. I have also done two promotional videos for the Cassie Lomas Make-up Academy, owned by make-up artist Cassie Lomas, who has worked on celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Iggy Azalea and the Brits. I have made a good contact with Cassie and she has promised me more work in the future. I also recently worked for the BBC as a focus puller for steadi-cam, on a live broadcast of the 6 Nations Rugby match, Scotland v France. This was in preparation for the Commonwealth Games, in which I am being steadi-cam assistant/focus puller for 18 days in a row, in Scotland. This is all paid work, including paid hotel and food/travel expenses. I am looking forward to this, as I am sure I will learn a lot and try to get myself known in the industry, hopefully leading to even more work. I also have two paid music videos that are in pre-production at the moment.

My ultimate aim is to be working on feature films, but I have a long way to go yet. Once I leave university I plan to work free-lance on as many events/projects as possible, to earn money to live off, and also to fund my short films, and build up a reputation this way. Many famous DPs work their way up by starting like I am, then moving from music videos to commercials, and then some make it to feature films.

I have been researching the art of cinematography thoroughly over the past few months, reading articles and watching interviews with top DPs in the business. I found it very interesting to see the varied opinions and tastes that these DPs have, but yet they all seem to agree about two things. One being that the main goal of the cinematography is to aid the story/director’s vision in the best possible way, and another is how important lighting is. One of the main influences in my work comes from a cinematographer who is seen in many people’s eyes as the best ever, Gordon Willis. Willis shot films such as Manhattan (Woody Allen, 1979) and The Godfather (Coppola, 1972), changing the art of cinematography forever. Another, more contemporary cinematographer which I am majorly influenced by is Benoit Debie. Debie shot Harmony Korine’s latest feature Spring breakers (Harmony Korine, 2013), and Enter the Void (Gaspar Noe, 2009), which both have strikingly vibrant visuals and colour schemes. Like Willis, Debie uses colours and lighting to set the overall mood/look to a film, ultimately shaping the way that the audience feels about a scene. This is something I have taken into my practice, as when I read a script now I categorise the aim of the scene, and from this decide how the scene should ultimately look.

Problem solving is constantly present on set. Especially on the low budget films/videos that I work on, and I feel that I am good at overcoming these problems. Time is a constant strain, so therefore I have had to learn to work fast and efficiently. When working as a camera assistant, it is crucial to be able to think fast and ways around things, to take a weight off the DP’s shoulders. A good 1^st AC should be doing the job without having to be told what to do by the DP. This means checking batteries for charge, having lenses to hand and most importantly understanding the look that the Director of Photography is trying to create, and aiding his vision in the best possible way. Over the past 2 years I have been a 1^st AC on many shoots. I am now much more efficient than I was when I started, as I am much more technical and experienced. I am a kinesthetic learner, meaning that I learn best from working practically, so getting as much experience on set as I can improves my practice greatly. Being an Assistant also allows me to observe how other people work. It is also a good chance to get to grips with new equipment, for example I hired a Canon C300 for one of my graduate films, and because I had been around it before it was much easier to get used to. I also hired a Profoto Pro-daylight HMI that I had used on sets before so therefore I had knowledge on whether it was capable of functioning well enough for the purpose I had in mind. Working in film creates lots of problems, both technical and artistic. There are often disagreements on how to shoot a certain scene or shot, and it is up to the crew to come to a conclusion on this, sometimes having to compromise for the macro perspective of the film. I have learnt that cinematography isn’t the most important aspect of a film, instead, the camera is a tool used to put someone’s vision on the big screen. This means that sometimes I have to compromise on certain shots that I want if the director doesn’t feel that it would aid the story.

I have improved on my organisational skills a lot since starting University. I have seen first hand that lots of work needs to be put into the projects to get the results wanted. Once I have read the script of a film and broke down the scenes into how they should visually look, I then start to research how I could best create these visuals. I look at the technical and creative side, watching certain films or scenes from films that created a similar look to what I want, and then researching the best technology/kit (within my budget) to achieve this look.

There were many techniques used on Holloway’s Garden that I had not had experience with before, and therefore had to do thorough research in order to pull it off. One of the most challenging of these was the green screen. For the research film we briefly used the chroma-key method, but this was sprung on me last minute and therefore I did not have chance to do my research. The lighting was wrong thus the green screen did not work correctly. As I had lots of time to prepare this time round, I did my research on the correct way to light the subject and the green screen itself, but I also went into the studio and practiced these methods. The tutor in the green screen studio was very helpful and gave me tips on how to use the green screen properly. As we needed a full body shot for the fairies, the lighting method is slightly different and more difficult than normal, so therefore I had to practice this a number of times until I got it right. The tests that we have done so far look good so I am hoping the hard work will pay off in the final film.

I also experimented with underwater filming. Underwater filming is a specialist area of filmmaking, which is very difficult to perfect. Although my underwater shoot was very simple, consisting of just a few shots and a couple of seconds of film time, it proved to be very difficult. We used Levenshume Swimming Baths for this shoot, where they kindly allowed us to turn the house lights off, and use 1 800w redhead to shine directly through the water, giving shards of light into the water, which was the look I originally wanted but thought this may not be possible in a public swimming baths. We then laid black cloth across the wall of the pool, behind the subject to disguise where we were, and weighed them down with weights. I used my own Canon 6D DSLR for this shoot, in a waterproof case, which proved very difficult to use. I had to set all the in camera settings before placing it into the case, including the focus and aperture, and then guess the focus point once in the water as I was unable to see the screen through the case. When we started filming we quickly found out that our actress was a weak swimmer, although she told us otherwise in her audition, so therefore we were unable to get the exact shots we initially wanted. Instead I managed to capture decent snippets of footage that we can chop up and add into a sequence. Although this shoot did not go to plan, there are still some shots worthy of making the final film and it was a good experience for me to learn from.

For Elliot’s film, Peasants (working title) I had to be very organized. I was hiring a large amount of equipment from Calumet, and also had to organize an official police officer to be in the film. He agreed to have a small role in the film as long as his badge number was not visible, and he checked with his boss to make sure this was ok, which it was. The problem was that we had to film whilst he was working; therefore I found a location suitable for the scene in Swinton where he works, so that if he got a call he would be close by. I was very stressed on the day of shooting this scene because I knew that so much could go wrong. Elliot and I went to the location extra early to plan out all of the shots. We just about managed to get the footage we needed, but the quality of it suffered because of the lack of time. I also managed to hire a steadi-cam at a cheap rate for two shots in the film. These shots were very specific and would not have had the same effect if I had done them handheld so therefore it was important to hire this piece of equipment.

I have tried to be experimental and innovative in my time at University, particularly in my final films where I have used many different styles and techniques, consisting of cranes, steadi-cam, underwater filming, green screen, and industry standard cameras. I have used the time to explore and develop my own style, practicing and testing an array of different styles until I found my own. Through the study of cinematography theory, I have much more knowledge and understanding on how to tell these stories in the best possible way, through lighting and how a character is portrayed on screen.

Bibliography

Manhattan, 1979, motion picture, Director – Woody Allen

Enter the Void, 2009, motion picture, ICI Films, Director – Gaspar Noe

The Godfather 1972, motion picture, Paramount, Director – Francis Ford Coppola

Spring Breakers, 2012, motion picture, Director – Harmony Korine

Joe Oldroyd

Monday 28 April 2014

Distribution Package

My Show Reel

Naked Veins Music Video

Research Bibliography

My Reflective Account - Joseph Oldroyd

CV

Sunday 27 April 2014

Music Score - Peasants

Blog Archive