Sir Roger Deakins is one of the most respected cinematographers of the last 40 years. Celebrated for his collaborations with directors such as the Coen brothers, Sam Mendes, and Denis Villeneuve, Deakins put his talents to famed titles like No Country for Old Men, 1917, Blade Runner 2049 and countless others.
And that’s just a short glimpse of Deakins’ greatest efforts because he has also provided the cinematography for the highly-lauded movies Kundun by Martin Scorsese, The Shawshank Redemption by Frank Darabont and A Beautiful Mind by Ron Howard, in addition to several other movies since the late 1970s.
Beginning his career in that decade meant that Deakins first learned to shoot on film, which might lead some to believe that he found the switch to digital production something of a nuisance. However, the truth of the matter is that Deakins actually seems to prefer shooting digitally.
“I think digital cameras, digital projection, they’re all tools; it depends on the project,” he once explained. “You choose a different camera like you used to choose a different film stock. It’s going to be digital projection; that’s going to be the norm. That’s the way the world’s going, so you make it the best you can.”
“It’s certainly got a lot of advantages that film never had,” the cinematographer added. “It’s about the eye behind the camera; it’s not about the bloody technology. It’s about the person behind it. It gives me more than I can get with film. It gives me more options.”
Of course, as Deakins professes, whether a film is shot digitally or on film largely depends on the project. Directors might be going for that classic feel, particularly if it is a historical or period piece. But for Deakins, the beauty of shooting digitally is that he can see what he’s actually been filming right there and then without waiting for the film stock to be developed.
“It’s a bigger palette really than I can get with film,” he said. “It’s very quick; I can see the image that I’m photographing. I can play it back; I can see the shot we’ve got in full resolution. I can sleep at night, not worrying about what the lab report is the next day.”
The legendary cinematographer concluded: “You can take it further because you know it’s there. Sometimes I feel on film, I’m playing a little safe because I might go too far underexposed or too far over. Here, I can do it and go further.”