Devin Doyle had the day off. The phone rang and the readout was from an unknown number. But being a freelance 1st assistant cameraman, he explained, “you pick up the phone” because it could mean a gig. “The last person I was expecting to hear from,” recalled Doyle, “was on the line–Steven Poster, president of the International Cinematographers Guild. As a union member, I knew his work and who he is. He called to let me know that my work was going to be honored at the Emerging Cinematographer Awards. It was a complete shock and I became so excited.
“I knew at a very young age that I wanted to be behind the camera,” continued Doyle. “Becoming a member of the Guild was this goal on the horizon that I could only imagine. Then to be a union member, to work in Los Angeles as a camera assistant and then to have my work as a cinematographer recognized by this Guild is beyond measure.
Doyle is one of eight honorees this year along with two other honorable mentions for the International Cinematographer Guild’s 18th annual Emerging Cinematographer Awards (ECA), all on the strength of short films they shot, showcasing their talent as DPs. The 10 short films will debut at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Theater in Los Angeles on Sept. 28. A New York premiere will follow on Oct. 26 at the School of Visual Arts.
Doyle earned ECA distinction for Lancaster Stomp, a short directed by, starring and co-written by John Atzberger. The film centers on six picture frames, each with an old time photo from the 19th century. The scenes and the people in them spring to life and they all interact with one another.” Doyle deployed the RED One and the Canon 5D Mark II for the project, crediting other artisans for their invaluable contributions, including producer/co-writer John Swartz, and VFX coordinator, compositor and editor Spencer Houck.
The shooting of the shoestring-budgeted Lancaster Stomp was piggybacked on a music video which Doyle, Atzberger and Swartz also collaborated on. Doyle and Swartz first met as students at Ohio University in the video production program. Atzberger got his undergrad degree in theater at Ohio University. The three friends have been teaming on projects fairly regularly ever since.
After graduating from Ohio University several years ago, Doyle worked in the two-year program at Panavision in Hollywood, getting the chance to meet and at times observe camera professionals. He then got into the International Cinematographers Guild, IATSE Local 600, serving as a loader, digital imaging technician (DIT), 2nd assistant cameramen and now a first assistant cameraman, working with different DPs and learning along the way. The ECA recognition marks his first major career splash as a cinematographer. “It’s a dream come true. The ECA recognition is validation from your peers that means everything.”
Kyle Klütz
Kyle Klütz knows what it means to be an ECA honoree. This marks the second consecutive year he has earned such recognition. In 2013 he won the award for shooting the sci-fi short Vessel directed by Clark Baker. This year, the Klütz-lensed Sequence returns him to the ECA winners’ circle.
Directed by Carles Torrens, Sequence introduces us to a guy who wakes up one morning to find out the entire world has had a dream about him. He assumes he must have done something terrible given how differently people are treating him. Klütz described Sequence as a hybrid mix of fantasy, action and suspense.
Klütz and Torrens went to the same film school at Chapman University but the director was a couple of years behind Klutz. “A mutual friend connected us,” recollected Klütz. “I wound up shooting his thesis project and we’ve been working together ever since.”
Klütz deployed a pair of Red One Mysterium-X cameras on Sequence. Among the lensing challenges was making it look like a hot day in Los Angeles–all the while shooting in June gloom.
When Klütz won the ECA honor last year, along with it he was lucky enough to be chosen as recipient of a Panavision grant. “It helped me to shoot a feature over the summer, making it a little bit easier on getting other resources like being able to afford two grips instead of one,” related Klütz. The alluded to feature is the Will Slocombe-directed Escort, characterized by Klütz as a dramedy/dark comedy.
Besides the grant, the ECA recognition the first time around helped Klütz meet other filmmakers. “There was a mixer with directors. You get to expand your network. You meet more writer/director/producer types. The screenings, the exposure for your work can only help your career.”
Klütz moved steadily up the ranks upon graduating from Chapman in ‘07 and then taking on focus puller duties. Klutz later joined Local 600, moving up the ladder to 1st assistant cameraman. The last couple of years, Klütz has made the transition to operating and shooting more.
Klütz credits filmmaker/DP Roger Chingirian, a graduate of Chapman four years before Klütz, with being a career mentor. “He was the one who got me my initial focus puller jobs right after I got out of school. It started a great learning experience outside of the classroom.”
As for what he learned from the first ECA win that he can now apply to his second, Klütz said simply, “I’m a little less nervous. I feel fortunate to have won again and to continue to benefit from the opportunities that the ECA provides.”
Greta Zozula
Directed by Charlotte Glynn and shot by Greta Zozula, The Immaculate Reception earned a Short Film Grand Jury Prize nomination at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Now the short has garnered Zozula an ECA honor, after only last year joining the International Cinematographers Guild as a camera assistant.
The Immaculate Reception refers to the now classic December 1972 NFL playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Oakland Raiders in which Steelers running back Franco Harris made a seemingly impossible catch of a football that caromed towards him, resulting in the winning touchdown. The short follows a family on the afternoon of that game, which was played in Pittsburgh.
Glynn and Zozula share the bond of growing up in Pittsburgh. They knew the lore of that game and Franco’s all-time highlight reel catch, and when they began discussing the project, it became clear that they should work together. “I read Charlotte’s script and was immediately drawn in. The narrative of the family follows the story of the game as it progresses and climaxes,” related Zozula. To capture this 1970s’ period piece, Zozula and Glynn opted to shoot on film.
Zozula lensed The Immaculate Reception on 16mm film, deploying an ARRI SR3 camera. To have the film win an ECA honor represents “an incredible opportunity that I want to make the most of,” said Zozula. “To have my work and the film recognized on this level is amazing.”
Zozula has come up the ranks of indie features working as a loader, an assistant and operating. The first short she shot was Teacher of the Year, a comedy which was directed by Chris Modoono and went on to screen at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.
Zozula recalled being excited and at the same time apologizing to Guild president Poster, ASC, when he finally got through to her on the phone to inform her that she was an ECA honoree. “I missed his phone call twice,” she said. “I told him I was sorry it had been hard to reach me but that it was an absolute thrill to hear about this from him. Hearing it from him was an honor in and of itself.”
Frank Buono
“When I got the call from Steven Poster, I told him that it felt a little bit like getting a call from the school principal’s office,” recalled Frank Buono. “I wasn’t sure what the call was about at first. When he told me about the Emerging Cinematographer Award, it was a huge thrill. I could check off one of the things that was on my checklist to accomplish during my career.”
Buono earned the honor for shooting 1982, a short directed and written by Jeremy Breslau. “I met Jeremy on a film set three years ago and we had a lot in common. He is an aspiring director. I am an aspiring cameraman. He had a feature project he wanted to do and we tried for quite some time to get that project in the works and bring it to fruition. Unfortunately the funding didn’t come so we resorted to make a short to show folks what we were capable of doing. The short had nothing to do with the feature. It was a standalone short that we both developed.”
That short, 1982, gained acceptance to a dozen film festivals and now the ECA recognition. The film centers on a writer who has a flashback to 1982, a tumultuous year when he and his parents were going through difficult times. “The story is told from morning through night spanning all four seasons–all essentially done in one take,” said Buono. “It was the best and most proper way to tell this particular story.”
Buono deployed the RED Epic camera on 1982. “To pull this off as a one-take effort, we needed a small compact camera with everything on board, a camera that didn’t have to be tethered to anything. We used small lenses to get into tight situations throughout this film. The Red Epic was the most appropriate choice for what we were trying to do.”
Buono has moved up the industry ladder serving as a production assistant, a production coordinator, a location scout, a loader, a camera assistant, and then a camera operator. His DP activity, though, is on the rise as he’s slated to do another short and a feature for director Breslau. Buono hopes that the ECA honor will serve as a launching pad to more cinematography opportunities.
He also provided perspective on the many contributors that go into work worthy of an ECA honor. “I was so fortunate to work with Jeremy [Breslau]. He came up with such a beautiful script and game plan for this movie. He had it so well thought out. The crew worked so hard and diligently. I cannot stress enough that you are only as good as the people who surround you.”
David Kruta
The short film Wallace, directed by Ian McCulloch, has made its mark on the festival circuit as a selection at this year’s Cameraimage, NY Shorts Fest, Independent Film Festival Boston, the USA Film Festival and the East End Film Festival. The latest honor is the short securing an ECA honor for its cinematographer, David Kruta.
“The ECA recognition means validation,” assessed Kruta. “It’s nice to be recognized for all the time and effort I’ve put into building my career as a cinematographer, specifically the time and effort put into this short. It was another low budget narrative shoot that you kind of hope turns into something, and this clearly did.”
Wallace tells the story of a man who feels like he’s been wronged so he decides to exact some revenge in his own quirky way–but things don’t turn out quite as he expected.
Kruta credited McCulloch with writing “this great little script following these super quirky characters around. Ian was a long-time writer and a first-time director and our collaboration was wonderful. He openly admitted he didn’t have an extensive technical vocabulary so he put a lot of trust in my expertise and creativity. He allowed me to take the reins of the imagery to convey what he wanted.”
Kruta went with the Red Epic to shoot Wallace. He is starting to make his mark as a cinematographer–reflected not just in the ECA honor but also by the Stacie Passan-directed feature Concussion which was selected for the dramatic competition at last year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Kruta joined the International Cinematographers Guild as a digital imaging technician. He now is a union member as a camera operator but noted that he is almost exclusively working as a DP.
Kruta first established himself in web design but found it wasn’t for him. He got interested in cameras and spent time online learning about them and dabbling in photography. “I originally thought I would go into film via the writing/directing route. But then a teacher in Providence, Rhode Island, invited me to get involved in a 48-Hour Film Project. I offered to shoot it for him and we wound up winning for best film. Things kind of clicked from there, initially with little or no-budget projects. But at a certain point I realized I needed to go back and learn the fundamentals. After being an assistant cameraman and gaffing, I found out about the DIT position and given my experience as a web designer with computers and color, it was a natural fit. I joined the Guild as a DIT and was lucky enough to work with a few wonderful DPs whom I learned a lot from. It was my version of film school–working with DPs, some of whom worked fast, some who were perfectionists, some who were great politically and in communicating. It was the best education you could imagine.”
Field of honorees
In addition to Kruta, Buono, Zozula, Klütz and Doyle, there are three other 2014 ECA honorees: George Feucht (Guild member as a camera operator) for his cinematography of the short Une Liberation directed by Brian James Crewe; Sidarth Kantamneni (a Guild camera operator) for lensing the Nikoloz Kevkhishvili-directed short Saerto Ena; and Bartosz Nalazek (preview system) for Making a Scene: Forest Whitaker directed by Janusz Kaminski.
Additionally there are two ECA honorable mentions this year: Chris Heinrich (1st assistant cameraman) for the Deborah Reinisch-directed Sure Thing; and David Jean Schweitzer (Guild camera operator) for Good Luck, Mr. Gorski directed by Arron Shiver..
The purpose of the ECA is to nurture talent within the Guild and to give promising cinematographers the exposure essential to succeeding in the motion picture industry.
The ECA is open to any member of the Guild who is not already classified as a DP. Members are asked to submit films they have photographed with a running time of 30 minutes or less. The winning films are selected by a panel of Guild members from across the country.
Guild president Poster, ASC, said of the ECA honorees, “These 10 aspiring directors of photography truly represent the future talent in our industry. Each of the films that they helped to create is an example of inspiring and creative cinematography. They also demonstrate a mastery of the new technical skills required by our craft. Our judges had a difficult time choosing the winners from the high number of entries this year. These films without a doubt are extraordinary achievements and deserve the recognition they will receive at this year’s Emerging Cinematographer Awards.”
Jim Matlosz, who has been chairman of the Guild’s ECA committee since 2008, added, “Once again we had a great turn-out for submissions to the ECA. And again our members have proven their talent. It seems as though we always have more great films than we do winners. This means we usually have about 20 top films that all come very close in numbers and votes, culminating with the 10 we choose based solely on judges’ votes.”
The 10 honorees were selected from nearly 90 ECA competition entries. Trailers of the shorts from all the 2014 ECA honorees can be viewed here.
