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Annapurna International School of Film + Media, Hyd.Copyright 2014, AISFM. All Rights Reserved©

at Annapurna StudiosRoad No. 2, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad 500 034 India

+91 40 49141234

info@aisfm.edu.in

www.aisfm.edu.in

For more detailscall: +91 7893752225

Medium of instruction is English

Admissions NOW OPEN!

Adam Arkapaw ......................... 3Andrew Lesnie ......................... 4Antony Dod Mantle ......................... 5Ben Richardson ......................... 6Christopher Blauvet ......................... 7Bruno Delbonnel ......................... 8Eduardo Serra ......................... 9Emmanuel Lubezki ......................... 10Guillermo Navarro ......................... 11Hoyte van Hoytema ......................... 12John R. Leonetti ......................... 13John Toll ......................... 14Lance Acord ......................... 15Lee Daniel ......................... 16Michael Ballhaus ......................... 17Newton Thomas Sigel ......................... 18Peter Deming ......................... 19Robert D. Yeoman ......................... 20Robert Elswit ......................... 21Roger Deakins ......................... 22Roger Pratt ......................... 23Sean Bobbitt ......................... 24Steven Soderbergh ......................... 25Wally Pfister ......................... 26

Table of Contents

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Adam ArkapawAnyone who’s seen The Snowtown Murders and Lore will immediately be taken in by the look of the film: A stripped down version of reality that wields its starkness as a hammer of the gods.

But it wasn’t until the TV series, Top of the Lake that the name Adam Arkapaw really hit popular consciousness. Top of the Lake may have had a gripping plot, some sublime acting and amazing vistas, but it was Arkapaw’s command of his

environment and the ruthless essence of the story that was the real triumph.

His crowning glory, however, would come with critically-acclaimed first season of True Detective, starring Mathew McCounaughey and Woody Harrelson.

Arkapaw found a macabre spirit inherent in the story and transferred it to the Louisiana setting.

His awesome tracking shot in Episode 7 led to people claiming True Detective was visually the best TV series ever made. Whether that’s too much praise or not is beside the point. The main champion here is a cinematographer who’s at the top of his game and whose ability to channel darkness into visual light has few peers.

Must WatchTrue Detective (TV)Top of the Lake (TV)Lore

Upcoming projectsMcFarland USAMacbeth

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Andrew LesnieIt’s easy to disregard a cinematographer’s work when a film is heavily-laden with CGI. In fact it’s in such cases when a cinematographer’s true worth shines through. Andrew Lesnie’s work on Peter Jackson’s opuses The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are masterclasses in the art of cinematography using CGI.

The battle sequences are epic in all respects and the New Zealand landscape is transformed into

Middle Earth with seemingly consummate ease traversing between the verdant Shire, the mysterious yet wonderful Rivendell, and the fire-born evil of Mordor.

Lesnie carried his superb work into the first two Hobbit films and looks set to reprise it in the last chapter in Jackson’s trilogy.

But while LoTR and Hobbit are top of Lesnie’s CV don’t be fooled into thinking he only does epic films (he was also the DoP on Rise of the Planet of the Apes and I Am Legend).

His work on both The Lovely Bones and the heart-warming comedy Babe show that he’s also the master of the subtle, the generous, and above all, he’s the master of those human emotions that we show far too rarely.

Must WatchLord of the Rings trilogyThe Lovely Bones

Upcoming projectsThe Hobbit: The Battle of the Five ArmiesThe Water-Diviner

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Anthony Dod MantleWhen Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later released in 2002 all the talk was about the script, the action, the performances, and the scares, but few realised it was also the coming-of-age of one of the world’s finest cinematographers.

By the time The Last King of Scotland released in 2008, Mantle had already collaborated with the controversial genius Lars von Trier on three films (Dogville, Dear Wendy and Manderlay).

The Last King of Scotland was to mark Mantle’s entry into the mainstream. Slumdog Millionaire followed and so did an Oscar. But it was on 127 Hours that his ability to pick a character to pieces, and then build him up again, shone through. In theory 127 Hours should have been like watching paint dry, especially if it gets in your eyes, but thanks to Mantle’s outstanding visual storytelling and James Franco’s outstanding performance, it was a hit.

In Ron Howard’s Rush, Mantle managed to do what few other cinematographers have managed in the past, and that is to take a fictional Formula 1 race and make it so realistic you can smell the gasoline and rubber.

Rush may have been a slightly above-average film but Mantle’s camerawork was truly exceptional.

Must Watch127 HoursThe Last King of Scotland

Upcoming projectsHeart of the Sea

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Ben RichardsonThat Ben Richardson is a talented cinematographer is beyond doubt but his inclusion in this list is sure to raise more than a few eyebrows.

Richardson is widely known for his cinematography in the immensely popular love story The Fault In Our Stars and the mediocre Drinking Buddies, but it is his work on Beasts of the Southern Wild that has got into this list.

Beasts is arguably one of the finest films of the Twenty-Teens and Richardson’s ability to capture the life, the trials and the tribulations of Hushpuppy, a young girl who lives on the bayou with her hot-tempered father, is exemplary.

Beasts is one of those films that you can spend hours staring at even if you can’t comprehend a thing of what’s going on. In short, it’s a stunningly beautiful piece of visual storytelling.

Richardson reminds us in so many ways of Freddie Young that we thought it would be remiss on our part not to have this audacious talent on our list.

Must watchBeast of the Southern Wild

Upcoming projectsDigging For Fire

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Bruno DelbonnelMention the name Bruno Delbonnel and people will immediately mention the gorgeous cinematography in the French hit film Amelie. And even though that fim is a triumphant piece of cinematography it isn’t the pinnacle of this great DoP’s achievements.

Delbonnel spent years in the French film industry before he broke out with Infamous, a critically well-received film about Truman Capote. Unfortunately the movie released a year after Bennett Miller’s

hugely-successful Capote and couldn’t escape its shadow.

It was with 2007’s Beatles love-fest Across the Universe that Delbonnel began his love affair with music and its on-screen dynamics. Across the Universe was well-received, but thanks to its Beatles soundtrack and some amazing cinematography it gained far more accolades than it should have.

But it was on the Coen Brothers’ 2013 sleeper hit, Inside Llewyn Davis, that Delbonnel’s artistic vision really came through. Set in the New York Folk music scene in 1961, Inside Llewyn Davis is a visual treat that melds wonderfully with the music it showcases.

A masterpiece of muted hues and delicate touches it stands as Delbonnel’s best work yet.

Must watchInside Llewyn DavisAcross the Universe

Upcoming filmsBig EyesFrancofonia

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Christopher BlauveltFor all intents and purposes, 2010’s Meek’s Cutoff should have vanished without a trace. Though strong performances went some way to protect the film it was the stunning visuals that really raised thumbs.

Christopher Blauvelt’s next visual stunners were the tepid Nobody Walks and The Discoverers, but thanks to the cinematographer’s fine work they were made so much more watchable.

But it was with 2013’s hopelessly underrated Bling Ring, directed by Sofia Copolla, that Blauvelt went from talented journeyman to outstanding talent. Bling Ring was a visual masterpiece and while the film was given a critical miss, the cinematography were praised.

Blauvelt, however, seems destined to provide some superb camerawork to solid films that just fall short of getting the public’s nod: both Max Rose and Night Moves were superb films, but both failed to set tongues wagging.

But one thing can never be in doubt when Blauvelt is behind the camera, and no matter whatever else may happen, at least the film will look good.

Must watchBling RingNight Moves

Upcoming filmsSweet Kandy

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Eduardo Serra It’s crazy when one figures that the Portuguese cinematographer Eduardo Serra’s first piece of work was back in 1976. Then 20 years later, having spent most of that time working in films that never seemed to emerge from the depths of obscurity, Jude arrives.

Based on the novel Jude the Obscure by Tomas Hardy and directed by Michael Winterbottom, Serra gave us a vision tinged with Hardyesque despondency yet lifted the troubled characters

out of the human mire. Jude was a depressing tale of human existence transformed thanks to the loving touch of a cinematographer at the very top of his game.

It was Serra’s intrinsic ability to tackle dark topics with brooding affection that saw M Night Shyamalan hire him as his DoP in his finest film to date. Unbreakable was a masterpiece in almost every way, but not once did the acting, script, or photography battle for supremacy. They were born entwined and stayed that way throughout the film.

Serra’s followed this up with Girl With the Pearl Earring, , Blood Diamond and Defiance, all four of which cemented his reputation as one of the finest cinematographers of his time.

Serra is now in the pantheon, and he’s worked hard to get there.

Must watchBlood DiamondUnbreakable

Upcoming projectsTBA

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Emmanuel LubezkiEmmanuel Lubezki’s filmography looks like a list of the Films Everyone Should Watch. He’s worked with the best director’s in the business and created some of the most sublime visuals ever to grace the screen.

Lubezki had worked a lot with Alfonso Cuaron before Ben Stiller’s Reality Bites, but it was that film that made people in Hollywood sit up and take notice.

In 1998 moviegoers sat weeping as Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins walked off into the night. They had

just witnessed one of the finest closing sequences in a film since Thelma & Louise or Casablanca. The film was Meet Joe Black, directed by the ill-fated Martin Brest whose career was cut short after he made Gigli and committed professional suicide. Meet Joe Black was another one of those films that never got the acclaim it deserved, but for Lubezki it was the beginning of a stratospheric rise.

Y tu mamá también, Ali, and Children of Men preceded the crowning glory of Gravity. But it is Lubezki’s partnership with Terrence Malick that has really put a spotlight on his work. The New World and To the Wonder were delectable pieces of art, but in Tree of Life Malick’s vision permeated Lubezki’s core conjuring one of the best-looking films ever made. The fact that Lubezki has six new films coming out in the next 18 months speaks volumes about his popularity with auteurs and journeymen directors alike. And why not, he’s one of the best there is.

Must watchY tu mamá tambiénTree of Life

Upcoming films Knight of CupsThe Revenant

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Guillermo NavarroGuillermo del Toro has made a number of huge budget films that have set the Box Office jangling, but his Pan’s Labyrinth has stood out as one that showcased our fear of the unknown, a child’s innocence, and the brutality of adulthood on a majestic canvas. And a lot of that magic was down to his cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, so much so that even the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences agreed and gave him an Oscar for his efforts.

But Navarro’s real journey to Hollywood fame started when he teamed up with the irrepressible Robert Rodriguez on Desperado, Four Rooms and From Dusk Till Dawn (he would also work on the Spy Kids franchise).

His work on Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown also caught the eye before layered a thick coating of icing on his career cake.

Since then Navarro has worked on some of the biggest blockbusters: both the Twilight films and Pacific Rim.

And while the juries are out on those films, Navarro’s work has never been in question. The man’s a genius.

Must watchPan’s LabyrinthThe Long Kiss Goodnight

Upcoming filmsLondon FieldsNight at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

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Hoyte van HoytemaWe thought we had seen it all when it came to horror films, but we were so wrong, so very wrong. Tomas Alfredson’s Let the Right One In was a spine-chilling classic garbed in romance, and is widely-regarded as one of the best horror films ever made.

The entire feel of the film was sparse and it just added to the grim setting. And for that we have Hoyte van Hoytema to thank.

Hoytema left Scandinavia and answered the call of Hollywood when David O. Russell decided he needed Hoytema’s austere magic for his film The Fighter. The Fighter won a slew of awards but Hoytema’s contribution went unnoticed.

It took his old pal Alfredson and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, to land Hoytema a Bafta, even though he was ignored by the Academy. If Let the Right One In was Hoytema’s audition for Hollywood, then Tinker, Tailor… was him thumbing his nose at their errors in judgment.

He needn’t have worried because as Leonardo Di Caprio will tell him, an Oscar doesn’t mean squat when it comes to bankability and recognition of sheer talent. That recognition would finally arrive (although still not from the Academy) with 2013’s Her. With Spike Jonze at the helm, a divine script, and actors at the very top of their game, Hoytema created an urban tapestry not seen since Lost in Translation. The Oscar may elude him, but if Hoytema continues in the vein he is then not recognizing him may become a travesty on a Marty Scorsese scale.

Must watchLet the Right One InHer

Upcoming filmsInterstellar

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John R. LeonettiWould you hire a cinematographer with Child’s Play 3 and Hot Shots: Part Deux on his CV? OK so maybe you’d think long and hard about it. But what happens if you throw in The Mask, Soul Surfer, The Conjuring and Insidious? Yup, we thought so too.

John R Leonetti cut his teeth on slapstick comedies and horror films in which you didn’t know whether to howl with laughter or fright. And just when the film

world thought he had found his oeuvre with Piranha 3D, he teamed up with James Wan in the chilling Insidious.

Insidious brought suspense back to the horror genre, breaking away from the blood and gore of the Saw and Hostel franchises. Leonetti’s nod to classic horrors would only get more vociferous with The Conjuring. Apart from being one of the scariest movies of the year, The Conjuring used the camera to tell a tale that was both unnerving and loaded with suspense.

But it was in 2011, that Leonetti did his best work, telling the true story of surfing legend Bethany Hamilton who returned to competitive surfing after losing her arm in a shark attack, in Soul Surfer. Stunning visuals for what is a notoriously hard sport to film not only bolstered the film but made it one to cheer for.

Must watchThe MaskThe ConjuringSoul Surfer

Upcoming projectsSleepy Hollow (TV)Annabelle (as director)Nowheresville (TV series as director)

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John TollIf anyone knows how to film a sweeping epic it’s John Toll. His camerawork on 1994’s Legends of the Fall and 1995’s Braveheart won him two Oscars, and cemented his name in the cinematographer hall of fame.

In 1998 Toll teamed up with Terrence Malick on The Thin Red Line, an adaptation of the novel by James Jones. Considered by many to be extremely difficult to adapt, Malick let Toll’s camera do the hard work, and boy did he rise to the occasion. Arguably one of

Malick’s prettiest films, Toll’s cinematography seeks out the rough edges of the War in the Pacific and smoothens them with an aesthetic kindness that few cinematographers have been able to duplicate since.

Toll then teamed up with director Cameron Crowe for three films, Almost Famous, Vanilla Sky and Elizabethtown. And while Almost Famous was by far the best, it was Toll’s vision on Vanilla Sky that elevated the film above mediocre.

Toll seems to pick projects that seek to adapt some of the most difficult books, narratively and visually. In 2012 he teamed up with the Wachowskis on The Cloud Atlas, based on the bestselling book by David Mitchell.

For the directors and audiences it may have been a bridge too far, but for Toll it was a chance to break free of convention, and he did so with the aplomb of a master at the very top of his game. In fact if you have tricky material that you need filmed, then Toll is the man for the job.

Must watchThe Thin Red LineThe Cloud Atlas

Upcoming projectsJupiter AscendingSense8 (TV)

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Lance AcordIn 1999, Spike Jonze and writer Charlie Kaufman conjured an idea that would test the audience’s imagination to breaking point. To prevent it from snapping they needed a cinematographer who could visualize Kaufman’s convoluted if rich storyline; they chose Lance Acord. Being John Malkovich was the sleeper hit of the year and Acord had finally arrived. After working with Jonze and Kaufman again in 2002 on Adaptation, Acord would begin a project that

would keep his name up in lights for a very long time.

Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation was a film always sprinkled with magic dust. The immense talents of Bill Murray, the precocious sexiness of Scarlett Johansson and Copolla’s script would be the pillars around which the film would naturally pivot, or so everyone thought. Acord was having none of it. His muse was a neon-lit, bustling urbanscape where every window told a story and every light shed forth emotion. Acord transformed the streets and buildings of Tokyo into a character that was more than a match for the actors and eventually proved to be the bedrock on which the film’s success was formed.

In 2009 Jonze tapped him again and this time the task would make Being John Malkovich look like a walk in the park. Jonze was planning an adaptation of the children’s book Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. There was only one problem, there was virtually no text and they were struggling to make a feature length film. But Acord’s imagination took over and Sendak’s world was recreated, and how! Where the Wild Things Are became a living thing; one that delved deep inside the viewer and channeled the child within. Simply put, it was a masterpiece.

Must watchBeing John MalkovichWhere the Wild Things AreLost in Translation

Upcoming filmsGod’s Pocket

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Lee DanielSometimes even the best-written script can’t save a film that’s not well shot. Thankfully that situation never arose for director Richard Linklater, who could always bank on his DoP Lee Daniel to make sure that his words leapt out and danced on a sea visual magic.

In 1993 the duo teamed up on Dazed and Confused, which along with Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Say Anything…, and Stand By Me is widely regarded as a

seminal coming-of-age film.

In 1995, Linklater and co-writer Kim Krizan decided that they would reinvent the love story. So they strained out the mush, added a dollop of intellectuality, stirred in some reality, and reinvented the genre.

Before Sunrise is a phenomenal creation. Its success took even the filmmakers by surprise. The simplicity of the story, coupled with superb performances by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy and an amazing script meant that it was always going to be a contender. But when you throw Daniel’s cinematography in the mix it becomes an instant classic. With Before Sunset, Daniel has managed to do for love on film what Shakespeare did for poetry with his sonnets. Daniel has taken a much-misunderstood emotion and stripped it off all social convention and then built it back up using a scaffolding of life experience and an innocence that has withstood the tribulations of life.

The duo’s latest project Boyhood, which released this year, was 12-years in the making: A sublime film that charts the life of a boy from five to 18. It’s already being called the best film of the year, and it is, because at its heart it combines that same innocence that made Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy our favourite couple.

Must watchBefore SunriseBefore SunsetBoyhood

Upcoming projectsAre We Not Men? (documentary)The Other Kind

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Michael BallhausGerman director Reiner Werner Fassbinder saw the talent in Michael Balhaus long before anyone else did, that’s why the two collaborated on 16 films. Balhaus spent his early career in German films and the few Hollywood production he did do flew under the radar.

It wasn’t until 1985 when one Martin Scorsese picked him as cinematographer on After Hours, one of the director’s most underrated films. After Hours would signal the start of a partnership that would give us such

classics as Goodfellas (with its heralded 12 minute tracking shot), The Age of Innocence, Gangs of New York and The Departed. But strangely it wasn’t the Scorsese films that would prove to be Balhaus’s best works.

James L Brooks’s Broadcast News, Steve Kloves’s Those Fabulous Baker Boys, and Robert Redford’s Quiz Show were equally responsible for making sure the film world associates the name Balhaus with excellence.

In Those Fabulous Baker Boys, Balhaus went to work with good actors but a script on the wrong side of mediocre. He transformed not only Jeff and Beau Bridges but elevated Michelle Pfieffer to the kingdom of beauty she dominated for so many years.

Through his work with Scorsese et al, Balhaus has become a master of capturing human emotions, be they depraved or triumphant and lovingly laying them out on a screen that is built just for them. It is why Scorsese loves him, and why every time we see a woman draped on a piano we’re taken back to a smoky nightclub where a woman in a red dress captures our fantasies forever.

Must watchThose Fabulous Baker BoysGoodfellasBroadcast News

Upcoming filmsSinatra

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Newton Thomas SigelWhen Bryan Singer’s The Usual Suspects released in 1995 nobody was quite sure how it would do at the Box Office. They needn’t have worried, the film would not only become one of the finest of its decade, but its ending would become legendary for its mammoth twist. But despite the great script, acting and direction, The Usual Suspects would have been a shadow of itself had it not been for the cinematography of Newton Thomas Sigel.

To capture the ‘imaginary’ persona of Keyser Soze and fill every second with his form, and then allow it to seep into every bit of dialogue can only be done by a master of his craft. The ending especially is a visual triumph and its suddenness owes as much to Sigel as it does to Singer and the writer Christopher McQuarrie.

Taking on the X-Men would have been a daunting task for anyone, but Singer and Sigel managed to keep the essence of Marvel’s band of mutants intact while bringing them to a whole new audience. The duo would also work together on X-Men 2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past.

In 2011, Nicolas Winding Refn banked on Sigel to give the film Drive a look that would be faithful to James Sallis’s book and walk hand in hand with the outstanding soundtrack. Drive became the epitome of cool, and Ryan Gosling the godfather of apathetic panache. Sigel’s use of colours and wide-angle lenses elevated downtown Los Angeles and catapulted it squarely into Refn’s vision for the film.

If the X-Men is what Sigel will be known for, Drive will be the film he’ll be remembered for.

Must watchDriveX-MenThe Usual Suspects

Upcoming filmsSeventh SonCrouching Tiger Hidden Dragon II: The Green Destiny

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Peter DemingMy Cousin Vinny is arguably one of the funniest films you’ll ever watch: Joe Pesci is as good as he can be without bludgeoning someone to death with a baseball bat; Melissa Tomei is at her sensuous best; and Ralph Macchio looked like he was finally going to emerge from his Karate Kid hangover relatively unscathed. But it was the perfect pace of Peter Deming’s camerawork that made My Cousin Vinny such a cult classic.

Deming’s string of low budget also-rans came to a halt in 1997 when he teamed up with the Master of the Obscure David Lynch on Lost Highway. That same year he filmed Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery for director Jay Roach. The two projects may have been poles apart but the skill Deming showed to take wildly disparate themes but still showcase visual artistry proved his phenomenal skill.

He would use that artistry in stunning fashion on Lynch’s seminal Mulholland Drive. The film may have required one to watch it multiple times before you grasped what on Earth was going on, but its look was brilliant right from the first viewing. From Goldmember to the Scream franchise, Deming has brought his unique brand of talent to comedy, often in an extremely dark setting.

None more so than in 2012’s Cabin in the Woods: a stroke of sleeper genius that combined raw horror with hilarious gruesomeness. Thanks to Deming’s superb pacing and understanding of the innards of the script, it soared. Deming’s innate ability to produce masterpieces from scripts that were often just OK, and deconstruct intentionally convoluted narratives is one that far too few people possess, and that’s why he’s made this list!

Must watchMulholland DriveThe Cabin in the WoodsMy Cousin Vinny

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Robert D. YeomanIn 1989, a young director embarked on his first feature-length venture. Accompanying him was a cinematographer who while by no means a novice, had as yet failed to create any ripples in the very big pond that is Hollywood.

Drugstore Cowboy was always going to be an achingly realistic film about drugs and their demons. But director Gus Van Sant and his DoP Robert Yeoman trusted Van Sant’s script and the ability of a fresh-faced

Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch to carry it through. Yeoman’s compassion behind the camera allowed Van Sant’s hard edges to resist scraping audiences. The film was a spectacle for all the right reasons, and marked the start of two stellar careers. It would be seven years after Drugstore Cowboy when Yeoman ran into another young director about to make his first feature film. It would also mark the start of one of the most ingenious partnerships in contemporary film. Bottle Rocket announced to the world that the precocious talents of Wes Anderson had arrived, and while he may have been bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, his partner in crime was not.

The two would collaborate again on the superb coming-of-age film Rushmore, and the critical hits would follow thick and fast.

But the duo’s most glorious achievement came this year with The Grand Budapest Hotel, a story as miraculous and vibrant as its setting. In the hands of anyone else other than Yoeman it would have plodded along like a blind man in a School for the Deaf. Anderson’s imagination was elevated by Yoeman’s…well…Yoeman camerawork and Stephan O. Gessler’s astounding art direction.

Must watchThe Grand Budapest HotelMoonrise KingdomDrugstore Cowboy

Upcoming filmsSpyDjango Lives!

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Robert ElswitRobert Elswit had been around for ages when he signed on to a young director’s debut film. In 1996, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Hard Eight would only give an inkling of what was to come from the director/cinematographer partnership that was to develop in later years, but it was enough for critics to sit up and take notice. But it was 1997’s Boogie Nights that really put the duo on the map. Set in the steamy world of 1970’s pornography, and featuring outstanding

performances from Mark Wahlberg, John C Reilly and Heather Graham, it was always going to have tongues wagging. But thanks to Anderson’s superb script and Elswit’s soft focus, faux jazz-induced camera work it transcended all labels. The barn doors had finally opened and the horse had bolted to freedom. But Elswit’s gems lie elsewhere.

In 1999 Andrew Kevin Walker put out a script revolving around a private detective looking for a missing girl in the world of Snuff pornography. Joel Schumacher (never one to shy away from such subject matter) helmed it, Nicolas Cage starred and Elswit got behind the camera.

The result, 8MM, was a superb piece of cinema that till today lives in the dark recesses in the memories of those who saw it. Brutal and scarring, it was Elswit’s cinematography that made it survivable. Along with Anderson, they even managed to make a decent Adam Sandler film in 2002’s Punch-Drunk Love, which is arguably one of the best shot films of the last 25 years.

But probably the best example of the respect Elswit commands in the industry is the fact that even after he shot the ill-fated Gigli he still received plum projects, although even he had to take a couple of years off.

Must watch8MMPunch-Drunk LoveThere Will Be Blood

Upcoming filmsNightcrawlerInherent ViceMission Impossible 5

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Roger DeakinsIf anyone deserves an Oscar, even more so than Leonardo Di Caprio, it’s Roger Deakins. The cinematographer has been nominated 11 times for films that have been either fantastically epic, or subtly brilliant.

Deakins may be known for his work with the Coen Brothers (Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Man Who Wasn’t There, No Country For Old Men,

etc) and Sam Mendes (Skyfall, Revolutionary Road, Jarhead, etc) but like Robert Elswit, it is the films that have flown under the radar that really shine.

Deakins’ ability to use a relationship as the canvas on which to build a story is as exemplary as it is unique. And in The Reader this shines like a beacon. Kate Winslet may have the acting chops but it was under Deakins’ watchful gaze that she blossomed through the film into a misunderstood and tragic heroine.

In Andrew Dominik’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, the pace of the film is held back so the mastery of Deakins’ camera can conjure an atmosphere of guilt, regret, and a life misspent.

In The Shawshank Redemption (you’d be surprised by the number of people who haven’t seen this film) he takes the human condition with all its flaws and transforms it into a Phoenix soaring from the ashes of misfortune.

Deakins is arguably the finest working cinematographer in the business, and his catalog goes a long way to prove that.

Must watchThe ReaderThe Shawshank RedemptionNo Country For Old Men

Upcoming filmsUnbrokenSicario

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Roger PrattBy the time 1985 came around, director Terry Gilliam was starting to emerge from the considerable glow of a post-Monty Python era, and with Brazil he found the perfect vehicle. Part dystopian farce, part allegory on totalitarianism, Brazil was a profound piece of filmmaking with a light enough touch to keep audiences entertained. Dystopian urbanscapes are easy to imagine but notoriously difficult to film, but Pratt was up to the task and how. As the red tape

billowed his camera rode a crest of nuanced technique that made the film a cult classic. That ability to uncover a city’s nightmarish and often disturbing soul was put to scintillating use in Tum Burton’s Batman. This film is arguably the definitive Dark Knight film because it rebooted a superhero who was threatening to descend into the slapstick netherworld.

In 1991, Pratt teamed up once again with Gilliam for The Fisher King, without a doubt Robin Williams’ best film. The fantastic imagery of a different sort of ‘dark knight’ coupled with Gilliam’s vivid imagination would have been too much for a mere mortal cinematographer. For Pratt it was second nature. But make no mistake, Pratt could also do tender and beautiful. In both Neil Jordan’s The End of the Affair and Richard Eyre’s Iris he transformed love and its loss into something that transcended normal emotion. Under the steady gaze of his lens they became things of tragic wonder, beautiful and fleeting.

But in Pratt’s heart a dystopia lurks. But it’s one where the skies aren’t dark and acid-filled, and the sun doesn’t hide its face behind plumes of death. Rather his dystopia is a battlefield of the heart and mind, and the results are thought-provoking and tinged with a figmentitious beauty few can replicate.

Must watchThe Fisher KingTwelve MonkeysBrazil

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Sean BobbittThere are three reasons why Sean Bobbitt is on this list, and three of them are thanks to director Steve McQueen and the supremely talented Michael Fassbender. The film Hunger about the imprisoned IRA member Bobby Sands and his legendary hunger strike was always going to divide opinion, depending on which side of the political fence you sat. But no one could imagine the visceral response to the imagery. People either loved it or hated it, but of one thing

there was no doubt. It was filmed to perfection. Bobbitt’s ability to take an anti-hero, tear away all shreds of virtue save one shining shard, and then throw him under the harshest of lights was a revelation, and one that would exponentially increase in quality on his next collaboration with McQueen. Nobody in their right mind would think a film like Shame would be anything other than a cult classic: destined to garner fans decades after its release. And those people were right. Shame, a film about an unrepentant sex addict, whose life is upended has all the hallmarks of a film that will have you cringing: full frontal nudity, an incestuous undertone, and a man so morally barren that he could be a tragic villain at best.

But Bobbitt and McQueen took Fassbender’s Brandon and gave him a heart, a soul, and above all the trace of a conscience. Shame is superb film on every level, but one more so because its atmosphere is impregnated with a sense that while many things are not right with the world, we still have to struggle through it. Loneliness, in Shame, is the real protagonist, and it is Bobbitt’s triumph that he made it his cinematic bedfellow throughout the film.

Must watchShameHunger12 Years a Slave

Upcoming filmsKill the Messenger

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Steven SoderberghOK, so you’re probably wondering what a director is doing on this list. Well, have you ever wondered who Soderbergh’s cinematographer is, after all he has worked with the director on almost every one of his films! Sure, you say, he’s Peter Andrews. Well, here’s a news flash, Peter Andrews IS Steven Soderbergh.

Soderbergh didn’t unleash Andrews on the world until 2000’s Traffic, a tale of family and drug trafficking told by an ensemble cast. But if Traffic gave us a glimpse

of the mastery to come then Ocean’s 11 and Solaris made sure that the glimpses were replaced by full frontal snapshots.

But Andrews’ finest films were yet to arrive, under his own tutelage The Good German, Contagion, Side Effects and Magic Mike became visual triumphs that not only aided the film along its fast-paced course but made sure that it told the story every bit as vividly as the script.

I guess it helps that the person calling the shots and painting the imagery are the same people, but it take a certain type of talent to be able to combine both jobs and conjure a piece of cinematic genius that Soderbergh seems to have a factory churning out.

Must watchOcean’s 11ContagionMagic Mike

Upcoming projectsMagic Mike XXLThe Knick (TV series)

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Wally PfisterThe problem with Wally Pfister is that he cinematic co-conspirator is a larger-than-life director of exceptional ability. But it’s also his biggest advantage.

Christopher Nolan has an imagination that has few peers in the industry, and to have the ability to capture that imagination, translate it, and then lay it out oozing with aesthetics and lustre is a skill in very short supply at the moment. Nolan and Pfister first teamed up in Memento, Nolan’s inadvertent nod to David

Lynch, and as complicated as anything the master of skullduggery could muster. In Memento the plot was king and the visuals ably supported it through its more treacherous stretches.

But in 2002’s Insomnia, Pfister unleashed his armoury and the gods flinched. Insomnia may not be Nolan’s finest film, but Pacino’s weariness and the pristine starkness of the setting were raised by Pfister and converted into lead roles. The real journey, however, would begin in 2005 when Nolan did what no one thought he should and decided to reboot the Batman franchise (after it was bludgeoned to death by Joel Schumacher). Batman Begins was a success beyond wildest imaginations. Thanks to a strong performances, superb direction, and a cinematographer who actually got what the comic book was really about. But don’t be under the misconception that Pfister is only about Batman. Inception, Moneyball and The Prestige are all testaments to his ability to find suspense in the drabbest of settings, and most convoluted of plots.

Let’s put it this was, Nolan doesn’t make it easy for Pfister, but we’re sure that if you asked the cinematographer, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Must watchThe Dark Knight franchiseThe PrestigeInception

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