The first time proved to be the charm for DP Neville Kidd. Tonight in Los Angeles, the first-time Emmy nominee wound up winning the coveted award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie on the strength of the “His Last Vow” episode of the miniseries Sherlock (part of PBS’ Masterpiece presentation). When SHOOT first connected with accomplished British DP Kidd back in July, he was hopeful that the nomination would help open some doors for him in the American entertainment market. Now that nomination tonight became an Emmy win.
As for the biggest creative challenge that “His Last Vow” posed to him as a cinematographer, Kidd observed, “Sherlock has a very distinctive style. To just come in and work on one of the best looking shows on British television is inherently quite challenging. As a new DP on the show, I wanted to give it some of my style and an edge while maintaining the same visual standards and feel that have gotten Sherlock international recognition. I brought my own touch to it simply by emotionally involving myself with the storyline and characters so that would come across in my filmmaking and lighting.”
Kidd continued with the camera of choice for Sherlock, ARRI’s Alexa. He deployed two Alexas, along with a Canon C300 (with Zeiss prime lenses) for additional footage, on “His Last Vow.”
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, which ran on FOX and NatGeo, scored four Emmys at the Creative Arts ceremony, including one for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming on the basis of the “Standing Up in The Milky Way” episode. The Emmy-winning writers were Ann Druyan and Steven Soter.
Druyan was a co-creator/writer on the original 1980 Cosmos series on PBS for her late husband, the revered astronomer and educator Carl Sagan. She struggled for many years to get a new version of Cosmos on the air though a number of networks wanted the series. “Cosmos was kind of a gold standard for science-based entertainment and there was plenty of interest,” Druyan told SHOOT earlier this year. “But while people wanted to do it, the didn’t want to put up the kind of money needed to make it as commensurately technically satisfying as the original was for its time. No one wanted to give me complete creative control.”
Then a bit of serendipity took hold when astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who would become host of the new Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey on Fox, introduced Druyan to Seth McFarlane (of Family Guy fame). “Seth had been a big fan of the original series and once he became involved, everything began to gel,” recalled Druyan. “He understood what I wanted to accomplish and took me to the Fox network with his considerable influence there.” She added that Fox execs didn’t even want a pilot–that they considered the original series as pilot enough to demonstrate the viability of a new series. “From that moment on, to the end of postproduction,” noted Druyan, “I never had any interference in making the program we wanted to make.”
Druyan said that the new series–for which she served as a director, writer and executive producer–takes on an added importance given that in recent years people seem to have been more threatened by science when they should instead be embracing it. “When Carl [Sagan] died, there wasn’t that globally recognizable trustworthy voice of science who could explain the most complicated scientific ideas in the most poetic and accessible language,” said Druyan. “He stood up against the crazier ideas that were current when he was alive. He fought for the environment and for our future. Notable scientists have since done public outreach but it hasn’t been quite the same.”
Druyan, though, said she has seen a positive change take hold. “My theory is that the pendulum has already begun to swing back. Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey is a point in the curve. Looking at the Twitter feed on Sunday nights from both coasts [after the show has aired], I see a revelatory excitement from people who never realized that science could be so thrilling, that they felt a sense of uplift from seeing the show, that they were inspired. I was teaching a class of seven and eight year olds the other day. There were 25 kids and I was knocked out by how they seemed so well versed in every episode of the show. We are helping to open a new world to them. We went through a period of retreat from science and exploration and I hope that we are helping to change this.”
She also credited host Tyson who is director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. As an author, his credits include “Space Chronicles” and “The Pluto Files.”
Druyan said, “Neil has done a fantastic job of connecting with people as host. His performance is really exceptional without any snobbery or trying to show people how much he knows. I picked him because he had the same warmth and that desire to connect with people that Carl had. I remember happening upon Carl’s office calendar for 1975 in our archives. There was Neil’s name as he was scheduled to meet with Carl on Saturday, September 20th. The moment I saw that, I had chills. I’ve known Neil for 25 years and we have kept in touch. As soon as I decided I wanted to do a new Cosmos, Neil was one of the first people I called. He immediately sparked to it.”
Besides helping her to access Fox and the necessary financial wherewithal to make Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey a reality, Druyan credited McFarlane, an executive producer on the show, with “giving the gift of Brannon Braga. “Brannon’s friendship and collaboration on the series [as director/executive producer] has been wonderful. He has been absolutely critical to making sure everything really happened when it had to for the show. He is a creative force.”
Orange is the New Black
Three Emmy Awards were bestowed upon Netflix’s Orange is the New Black during the Creative Arts ceremony, including one for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series on the strength of the “Tit Punch” episode cut by William Turro.
This is Turro’s first Emmy win, and it came for his third career nomination (the first two coming in 2007 and 2008 for episode of Weeds). Turro said, “For me, it has meant so much to be associated with shows like Weeds and Orange is the New Black. Turro noted that writer/producer Jenji Kohan is a common bond linking Weeds and Orange is the New Black. “All the Emmy nominations I’ve received have been for shows she’s created. These have been the best jobs I’ve ever had.”
A relatively obscure TV series, Hidden Hills, that didn’t get picked up, was cited by Turro as pivotal in his career. “Until Hidden Hills in 2002, a fun series, I hadn’t cut comedy. I remember being interviewed for the show and being told, ‘You haven’t done comedy and that’s what this is.’ My response was I’ve done drama and I don’t think you have comedy without drama—or drama without comedy. I somehow got the job. And ever since I’ve had the chance to cut both comedy and drama—in the same and in different shows. Not everyone gets that chance. The two co-exist beautifully in Orange is the New Black.”
The Square
Like Orange is the New Black, another Netflix presentation, the Jehane Noujaim-directed documentary The Square, came up with three Creative Arts Emmys, including one for editing. Pedro Kos, Christopher de la Torre and Mohamed E. Manasterly came up Emmy winners in the Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming category.
The Square chronicles two-and-a-half years of the ongoing Egyptian Revolution, conveying the story as seen through the eyes, hearts and minds of different protestors as we see them transform over time. “The power of the material is intimate and personal. It puts you on the ground during the revolution,” said editor Kos.
Kos and his editing colleagues culled some 100 minutes worth of feature documentary from 1,600 hours of raw material.
“The film has had an impact in America, reaching a wider audience due to Netflix which believed in the work and did a tremendous job of getting it out there,” assessed Kos. “This is more than just a film. It’s an archive of the revolution. I think the filmmakers are looking to partner with an institution to preserve this archive. Hopefully this historical material will be of use as a resource in the future, something others can learn from.”
Kos recalled first meeting director Noujaim and producer Karim Amer at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. “They had been filming for a year at that point and they were looking to raise funds to continue filming. At the time I had been cutting a film called The Island President. We really connected and they asked if I could come on board–but I was beginning another project. Still, I became enamored with their project and with them. A year later we met again at Sundance. That year I was at the festival with The Crash Reel, a documentary I had cut. Jehane and Karim were still filming yet they showed a work-in-progress version of the film at Sundance and it went on to win an Audience Award though it wasn’t finished. They asked me again to come aboard and I did.”
The modus operandi called for Kos to edit in Los Angeles and relay it to the filmmakers in Cairo. “We would recap and talk almost every night,” related Kos. “They’d tell me what they were filming, the situation on the ground, what was happening to the characters, what additional material we needed to get. We’d discuss the transformation of the characters and what we could do to bring out these characters as much as possible. We were under a tight deadline to deliver the finished film but we made it–in time for the 2013 Toronto Film Festival.”
Kos’ editorial credits also include the documentary Waste Land and the alluded to The Crash Reel–both directed by Lucy Walker. Earlier this year, The Crash Reel earned Walker a DGA Award nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary–an award won by Noujaim for The Square. Back in 2011, Waste Land earned an Oscar nomination for Best Feature Documentary.
Noujaim also won the Emmy tonight for Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming on the strength of The Square.
Black Sails
Black Sails, a Starz series written as a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel “Treasure Island,” won a pair of Emmys tonight, including one for Outstanding Special and Visual Effects in a Supporting Role for the “I” episode.
Erik Henry, sr. visual effects supervisor on Black Sails, is no stranger to the Emmy proceedings. He was part of an effects ensemble on the HBO miniseries John Adams which won an Outstanding Special Visual Effects Emmy in 2008. Black Sails becomes his second career Emmy win.
Looking back on Black Sails, Henry earlier conjectured in a SHOOT interview what the key dynamic would be if the “I” episode wound up winning the Emmy. “The biggest challenge to any period film or television show is authenticity,” said Henry. “The ability to ‘hide in plan site’ is the true measure of the success of our shots in Black Sails. Nowhere is that better represented than in our Emmy selections. In our environment shots as much as 20 percent of the frame is live action set and extras. It’s easier for the audience therefore to believe everything else in the frame is real. Likewise, our ship decks are full scale live action sets and although the masts and sails are added as are the oceans, it helps to keep the audience focused on the drama, not the VFX shot. If we are lucky enough to be winners on August 16th, I think it will be because we met the challenge authenticity brings and transported our audience back in time without them noticing.”
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This is the 11th installment in a 12-part series that explores the field of Emmy nominees and winners spanning such disciplines as directing, cinematography, editing, animation and visual effects. The series will run right through the primetime Emmy Awards live telecast on Aug. 25.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 12, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 10, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 9, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 8, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 7, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 6, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 5, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 4, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 3, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 2, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 1, click here.
To read Primetime Talent, Pre-Road To Emmy feature 2, click here.
To read Primetime Talent, Pre-Road To Emmy feature 1, click here.
