David Watkin BSC (23 March 1925 – 19 February 2008) was an English cinematographer, an innovator who was among the first directors of photography to experiment heavily with the usage of bounce light as a soft light source. He worked with such film directors as Richard Lester, Peter Brook, Tony Richardson, Mike Nichols, Ken Russell, Franco Zeffirelli, Sidney Lumet and Sydney Pollack.

In 1985, Watkin won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on Out of Africa. He received lifetime achievement awards in 2004 from the British Society of Cinematographers and the cinematographic-centric Camerimage Film Festival in Łódź, Poland.

In Chariots of Fire, he "helped create one of the most memorable images of 1980s cinema: the opening sequence in which a huddle of young male athletes pounds along the water's edge on a beach" to the film's theme music by Vangelis.

Early life and career Watkin was born in Margate, Kent, England, the fourth and youngest son of a Roman Catholic solicitor father and housewife mother, and grew up within a well-to-do upper-middle class household. He gained an early enthusiasm for European classical music, which was left to be satisfied only as a passive listener when his father rejected his request for a piano and lessons; Watkin always contended that he would rather have been a professional musician than a cinematographer.

After a brief period in the Army during World War II, Watkin started work at the Southern Railway Film Unit in 1948The Exploiter and the Exploited : Railway Filmaking [sic] 1930 - 1949 by Paul Smith as a camera assistant. After the unit was absorbed into British Transport Films in 1950, he eventually climbed the ranks up to director of photography at BTF before going off to work freelance in commercials around 1960.

Before working in feature films "as a fully fledged cinematographer", he shot the title sequence of the James Bond film, Goldfinger (1964) for Robert Brownjohn.

Work with Richard Lester It was on a commercial shoot that he met Richard Lester, who hired him for his feature film, The Knack …and How to Get It (1965) which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. The two men subsequently worked together on Help! (1965), How I Won the War (1967), The Bed-Sitting Room (1969), The Three Musketeers (1973), The Four Musketeers (1974), Robin and Marian (1976) and Cuba (1979).

Watkin's casual approach He was noted for his very casual approach; when asked when he first developed a passion for photography, he answered that he hadn't yet (his main passions being classical music and books). However, filmmaking did have an attraction because, as he said, "I knew filmmakers didn't have to wear a suit".

He also has a rather famous habit of sleeping on-set in between lighting setups, because "it's the only thing you can do on-set which doesn't make you more tired". This habit was humorously referenced in Night Falls on Manhattan (1996), which he shot, where he has a brief cameo towards the beginning as a sleeping judge. In the case of the film of Marat/Sade (1967), problems with a tight shooting schedule and restricted set space were innovatively resolved through the use of one single lighting set-up for the entirety of the film – a translucent wall lit by twenty-six 10 kW lamps as the sole source of light.

Style and technique He was generally recognised for the "painterly qualities" in his work with some critics comparing him with Vermeer, the Dutch artist "who often illuminated his subjects with light refracted through windows".

In Out of Africa he broke with tradition and "used fast film for exteriors and slow film for night and interiors. This typically maverick move gave Sydney Pollack's film a lush, soft quality that matched its romantic mood".

Conception of a new lighting technique Watkin also conceived the idea for a new light which would tackle the problem of light falloff during night shoots. Because of the inverse square law, light from even moderately strong sources starts to fall off fairly quickly as the subject walks away from the light source. Therefore, films shooting at night had the problem of trying to hide light sources in places which would be out of shot but maintain a fairly constant level of illumination over any amount of distance (and thus not indicate a large lamp as a light source). But this time-consuming approach created problems with multiple shadows of divergent angles.

His solution was to build a large array of tightly spaced Fay lights in a 14 x 14 square (196 lights total), which was then elevated high on a cherry picker placed roughly a quarter of a mile away. Due to the long distance between the light and the actors and the high luminescence of this light array, the actors could walk across long distances without the intensity of the light hitting them seeming to vary. Subsequently, the array was named the "Wendy-light" in his honour – Watkin, who was gay, used the camp name "Wendy".Watkin, David. Why Is There Only One Word for Thesaurus?: Being an Autobiography of David Watkin, p. 235. Brighton: Trouser Press, 1998.

Personal life David Watkin lived in his adopted home town of Brighton, East Sussex, when he wasn't working on a "picture". He had a personal library of mostly First Edition 18th Century literature.

He was openly gay.

Death David Watkin died, aged 82, at his home in Sussex Mews, Brighton on 19 February 2008, having been diagnosed with prostate cancer just six months previously.

Publications His autobiographies, Why Is There Only One Word for Thesaurus?, first published in 1998 and the second volume, Was Clara Schumann a Fag Hag?, published in 2008, by Scrutineer Publishing, were both designed by his good friend the artist and designer Rachael Adams.

Awards and honours + List of awards and nominationsCeremonyCategoryYearFilmResultAcademy AwardsBest Cinematography1986Out of AfricaBritish Academy Film AwardsBest British Cinematography1966Help!, The Knack...and How to Get It1968MademoiselleBest Cinematography1969The Charge of the Light Brigade1971Catch-221975The Three Musketeers1982Chariots of Fire1987Out of AfricaBritish Academy Television AwardsBest Film Cameraman1978Jesus of Nazareth (shared with Armando Nannuzzi)

Selected filmography Director of photography Film Year Title Director Award Notes 1965 The Knack ...and How to Get It Richard LesterFirst collaboration with Richard Lester Help!Second collaboration with Richard Lester1966 MademoiselleTony RichardsonFirst collaboration with Tony Richardson 1967 Marat/SadePeter Brook How I Won the WarRichard LesterThird collaboration with Richard Lester1968 The Charge of the Light BrigadeTony RichardsonSecond collaboration with Tony Richardson1969 The Bed Sitting RoomRichard LesterFourth collaboration with Richard Lester1970 Catch-22Mike Nichols 1971 The Devils Ken RussellFirst collaboration with Ken Russell The Boy FriendSecond collaboration with Ken Russell 1973 The HomecomingPeter Hall Yellow DogTerence Donovan A Delicate BalanceTony RichardsonThird collaboration with Tony Richardson The Three Musketeers Richard LesterFifth collaboration with Richard Lester1974 The Four MusketeersSixth collaboration with Richard Lester1975 MahoganyBerry Gordy 1976 To the Devil a DaughterPeter Sykes Robin and MarianRichard LesterSeventh collaboration with Richard Lester1977 Joseph AndrewsTony RichardsonFourth collaboration with Tony Richardson 1979 Hanover StreetPeter Hyams That Summer!Harley Cokeliss CubaRichard LesterEighth collaboration with Richard Lester 1981 Chariots of FireHugh Hudson Endless LoveFranco ZeffirelliSecond collaboration with Franco Zeffirelli1982 La CenerentolaJean-Pierre Ponnelle1983 YentlBarbra Streisand1984 The Hotel New HampshireTony RichardsonFifth collaboration with Tony Richardson 1985 Return to OzWalter Murch White NightsTaylor Hackford Out of AfricaSydney PollackAcademy Award for Cinematography1986 Sky BanditsZoran Perisic1987 MoonstruckNorman JewisonFirst collaboration with Norman Jewison 1988 MasqueradeBob Swaim Journey to the Center of the Earth The Good MotherLeonard Nimoy Last RitesDonald P. Bellisario 1990 Memphis BelleMichael Caton-JonesFirst collaboration with Michael Caton-Jones HamletFranco ZeffirelliThird collaboration with Franco Zeffirelli 1991 The Object of BeautyMichael Lindsay-HoggSecond collaboration with Michael Lindsay-Hogg The Cabinet of Dr. RamirezPeter Sellars1992 Used PeopleBeeban Kidron 1993 This Boy's LifeMichael Caton-JonesSecond collaboration with Michael Caton-Jones Bopha!Morgan Freeman1994 Milk MoneyRichard Benjamin 1996 Jane EyreFranco ZeffirelliFourth collaboration with Franco Zeffirelli BogusNorman JewisonSecond collaboration with Norman Jewison Night Falls on ManhattanSidney LumetFirst collaboration with Sidney Lumet 1997 Through RosesJürgen Flimm ObsessionPeter Sehr Critical Care Sidney LumetSecond collaboration with Sidney Lumet 1999 GloriaThird collaboration with Sidney Lumet Tea with MussoliniFranco ZeffirelliFifth collaboration with Franco Zeffirelli2001 Lover's PrayerReverge Anselmo

Actor

Year Title Director Role Notes1996 Night Falls on ManhattanSidney LumetSleeping Judge

Camera and electrical department

Year Title Director Role Notes1964 GoldfingerGuy HamiltonCinematographer: Title sequence

Short films Year Title Director1963 The Six-Sided TriangleChristopher Miles

TV movies Year Title Director Notes1966 One-Eyed Jacks Are WildFranklin J. Schaffner1977 Jesus of NazarethFranco ZeffirelliFirst collaboration with Franco Zeffirelli1989 Murder by MoonlightMichael Lindsay-HoggFirst collaboration with Michael Lindsay-Hogg

TV series

Year Title Notes1977 Jesus of Nazareth4 episodes

References

External links

Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers