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 Everyone loves to talk to cinematographers whom, we note, seem to have a better dip-bag of first-hand anecdotes and ‘take-home’ information than many other members of the film crew.
Not so long ago, Sydney born cinematographer, Peter James, veteran of more than 30 major features, visited the Panavision Sydney office to share stories of his career and progress in the world of cinematography with our staff. This was pretty much a master-class in cinematography from the man who recently shot the visually extraordinary Mao’s Last Dancer (Dir.: Bruce Beresford, 2009). Accompanied by clips of scenes from his very diverse film portfolio including Black Robe (Dir.: Bruce Beresford, 1991), Alive ( Dir.: Frank Marshall,1993), Meet the Parents (Dir.: Frank Roach, 2000), Double Jeopardy (Dir.: Bruce Beresford, 1999)and Diabolique (Dir.: Jeremiah S. Chechik, 1996). Peter filled us with anecdotes and insights into his path to the film business. He also shared the practicalities of shooting some of these features - large and small. The logistics involved in shooting Alive, for instance, were truly remarkable and the problem-solving techniques were inspirational.
He was truly gracious with his time and information. Such face-to-face encounters certainly put into context Panavision’s close supportive relationships with customers from the start of their careers and beyond. Peter’s vast passion and knowledge left everybody motivated and uplifted in regard to direction of the industry which (all too often) falls victim to negative vibes.
We best leave the comment about ‘what Sharon Stone did to his feet’ behind closed doors.
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