Bradford Young - Cinematographer

Team Deakins

James Ellis Deakins

Tv & Film, Filmlighting, Deakins, Movies, Filmmaking, Production, Film, Cinematography, Film Interviews

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2021

⏱️ 76 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

EPISODE 90 - BRADFORD YOUNG - Cinematographer

Team Deakins sits down with cinematographer Bradford Young, (ARRIVAL, SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY, SELMA), for a great conversation. We talk about many things - among the topics are his belief that the cinematography must always serve the story, how he chooses his projects, what his process is on starting a film, his lens choices, and his desire to shoot it the way you want rather than fixing it in post. He shares his experiences on Arrival and that it was his first experience working with storyboards and also speaks about his work on Star Wars. We learn his unique way of lighting where he blacks everything and then adds light, “subtracting is adding”. And much, much more. You won’t want to miss this conversation with a true artist.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi and welcome to the Team Deakin's podcast. This podcast is a dialogue between Roger and
0:10.8	James Deakin's often joined in the conversation by a guest. It's very informal and we never
0:17.4	know where it will go. We're connecting through Zoom so bear that in mind when you hear
0:22.5	the audio. If you'd like to submit a question or topic, please do so by e-mailing pod
0:29.7	p-o-d at rogerdeakin.com. This episode is sponsored by Ari. More than just the manufacturer
0:38.8	of the film industry's top camera and lighting equipment, they are also the innovator behind
0:44.3	cinematic lenses such as the master prime and signature prime lenses. Ari, truly cinematic.
0:53.4	This episode is sponsored by Otto Nemitz' Camer rental, newly located in Culver City. Otto Nemitz
1:00.4	is known for its premiere service and support to productions for 41 years. Today we have a cinematographer
1:08.6	with us. He shot such movies as Ain't Them Body Saints, Selma, a most violent year, arrival,
1:15.5	and solo a Star Wars story. We're pleased to be joined by Bradford Young today.
1:21.4	Thank you, Bradford, for doing this. I don't know. Thanks for having, but nice. Welcome.
1:27.7	We'd love to start with, how did you get to where you are today? Is it something you always knew
1:32.6	you wanted to do or did you take another path or what happened? Yeah, it truly was on. It was by
1:41.2	accident that I fell into filmmaking, you know? Really? Yeah, I kind of, I'm from originally from
1:47.9	Louisville, Kentucky and I come from 100 plus years of African American mortician. Wow. My great
1:55.9	grandfather started the whole empire and my grandfather took over and then my uncle took over and
2:01.9	my aunts came in and you know, so it was almost like, I felt like my calling wasn't really my
2:09.8	calling. It was kind of being set up for me, but I was going to go to school and come back from
2:14.5	college and run the family business. Funny enough, that was never ever mentioned to me. Now,
2:18.7	I let it like years later, I reflect on it. I think it was the fault of my head. I just felt like,
2:26.3	you know, that's what needed to happen. Yeah. And unfortunately, when I was 15, my mother passed
	...

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