There was such a huge jump between the early 2000s and the late 2000s. I feel like the digital cameras, while continuing to get better, have slowed down a bit. What new technology has changed the way you work (looking back over the past few years)? Some developments you simply can’t ignore I remember the day I saw footage in class from a Panasonic DVX100. I’ve noticed over the years that I’m becoming less and less invigorated by the tech - many of the new tools are invaluable, but I love relying on my team to filter out the good from the hype so I can focus on how best to tell the story. Staying on top of the technology oscillates between an uncontrollable obsession and an unbearable chore. It’s very much a sort of “blue-collar” film language. I will say that those popular ‘90s films had a great combination of efficient storytelling and technical craft that I still resonate with to this day.
As we got older, my film language expanded and I started watching films by Lynch and Fincher. I wasn’t introduced to Bergman or Fellini until much, much later. It was all pure entertainment, of course. We watched things like Spies like Us, Star Wars, Indiana Jones and The Princess Bride. My family was a lover of popular films, especially American comedies and action adventure. You could say it was much more grassroots. I learned it all just by doing and paying attention to what I responded to. What inspires you artistically? And how do you simultaneously stay on top of advancing technology that serves your vision?Īs I mentioned earlier, I didn’t discover film via fine art or photography, so I didn’t have that foundation of image making and color theory. Later we moved closer to Seattle and I was able to take vocational programs in media production and went on to do film theory and experimental video at the University of Washington, where I think I started distilling my focus as a cinematographer. I was conning my teachers into letting me produce “video” essays instead of writing them.
#GREENBOOKS MOVIE PC#
I picked up the technology bug and by the time I was in middle school I was using our family’s first PC to render chromakeys - well before I had access to NLEs. We were experimenting with high-level concepts at a very young age, like forced perspective, matte paintings, miniatures (with our “giant” cat as the monster) and stop motion. As the cameras became more compact and easier to use, my brothers and I would make all kinds of films, trying to emulate what we had seen on the show. My dad was always keen on technology and he had various camcorders throughout the years, beginning with the VHS back when the recorder had to be carried separately. There were episodes showing how these films achieved all sorts of amazing images using rather practical tools and old school artistry. It was right before Jurassic Park changed the SFX landscape - it was a time when everything was still done photographically, by hand. I think that show honestly was a huge inspiration, not only to me but to my brothers as well, who are also visual artists.
#GREENBOOKS MOVIE MOVIE#
We’d come home from school, put on the TV and at the time Movie Magic was airing on The Discovery Channel. There wasn’t much to do there, so we naturally had to be pretty inventive in our play. We grew up in a small town about an hour outside of Seattle, we had a modest yard that butted up to the “back woods.” It was an event when the neighborhood kids got on bikes and road a half mile or so to the only small convenience store around.
I’m the oldest of four - two brothers and a sister. I went in through the front door when I was probably 12 or so, and it’s been a long road. I didn’t study fine art or photography in school, but discovered it later as many others do.
My relationship with cinematography, and really filmmaking, developed over many years during my childhood. How did you become interested in cinematography? We spoke to him recently about his rise to director of photography and his work on Green Book:
Porter chose the Alexa Mini mounted with Leica Summilux-C lenses to devise the look for “Green Book.” End-to-end post services were provided by FotoKem, from dailies at their New Orleans site to final color and deliverables at Burbank. Green Book director Peter Farrelly (blue windbreaker) with DP Sean Porter (right, brown jacket).
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