Feature and commercial DP Dion Beebe, ASC, ACS capped an amazing awards season this week, winning the best cinematography Oscar for Memoirs of a Geisha. This came on the heels of Beebe’s work on the film earning a BAFTA Award and then the top honor in the feature film competition at the 20th annual American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Outstanding Achievement Awards.
It was the first ASC Award and second ASC nomination for Beebe, who was also nominated last year with Paul Cameron for Collateral. Beebe previously garnered Oscar and BAFTA nominations for Chicago.
Having recently wrapped the upcoming Miami Vice, Beebe reported that he is returning to commercials, to take what he described as a “necessary break” from features and to allow more time with his family.
At press time, he had just lensed a Ford campaign, directed by John Dolan of bicoastal Anonymous Content. And on the eve of the ASC Awards, Beebe served as DP on USTA work for director Sunu, also of Anonymous Content.
“The great thing about commercial work is the opportunity to work in short form with a number of different directors,” Beebe told SHOOT. “Every time I work with a different director I learn new things and watch their process of interpretation.”
When asked his thoughts about the state of his art, Beebe explained that the tools have changed but the goal has not. “The tools are changing and with that, our approach to our craft changes. But we still tell a story no matter what format.”
Looking back on Geisha, Beebe said he was very proud of the effort of the crew. “We had to create a believable 1930s Japan,” he explained. “It was a complicated world to create, and the fact that we managed to create it almost entirely in California is a testament to the efforts of everyone involved.”
Beebe’s Geisha topped a field of ASC Award nominees that included Robert Elswit, ASC for Good Night, and Good Luck; Andrew Lesnie, ASC, ACS for King Kong; Wally Pfister, ASC for Batman Begins; and Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC for Brokeback Mountain.
The award was presented by actor Bill Paxton who observed, “All of the nominees have artfully rendered images that create a sense of time and place… They guided the audience under the surface, where they discovered the souls of the characters and the spirits of the stories.”
Robbie Greenberg, ASC and Nathan Hope claimed ASC Awards in the two television categories. Greenberg led the field in the television movie competition for HBO’s Warm Springs. Hope won the episodic television competition for the episode “Who Shot Sherlock?” of CBS’ CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. It was the fourth ASC Outstanding Achievement Award for Greenberg, and the second for Hope.
Richard Kline, ASC–who earned Oscar nominations for Camelot (1968) and King Kong (1977)–received the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award. As well, director Sydney Pollack was bestowed the Board of Governors Award; Woody Omens, ASC, the Presidents Award; documentary filmmaker Fredrick Wiseman, the Award of Distinction; and Gilbert Taylor, BSC , the International Achievement Award.
Does “Hundreds of Beavers” Reflect A New Path Forward In Cinema?
Hard as it may be to believe, changing the future of cinema was not on Mike Cheslik's mind when he was making "Hundreds of Beavers." Cheslik was in the Northwoods of Wisconsin with a crew of four, sometimes six, standing in snow and making his friend, Ryland Tews, fall down funny.
"When we were shooting, I kept thinking: It would be so stupid if this got mythologized," says Cheslik.
And yet, "Hundreds of Beavers" has accrued the stuff of, if not quite myth, then certainly lo-fi legend. Cheslik's film, made for just $150,000 and self-distributed in theaters, has managed to gnaw its way into a movie culture largely dominated by big-budget sequels.
"Hundreds of Beavers" is a wordless black-and-white bonanza of slapstick antics about a stranded 19th century applejack salesman (Tews) at war with a bevy of beavers, all of whom are played by actors in mascot costumes.
No one would call "Hundreds of Beavers" expensive looking, but it's far more inventive than much of what Hollywood produces. With some 1,500 effects shots Cheslik slaved over on his home computer, he crafted something like the human version of Donald Duck's snowball fight, and a low-budget heir to the waning tradition of Buster Keaton and "Naked Gun."
At a time when independent filmmaking is more challenged than ever, "Hundreds of Beavers" has, maybe, suggested a new path forward, albeit a particularly beaver-festooned path.
After no major distributor stepped forward, the filmmakers opted to launch the movie themselves, beginning with carnivalesque roadshow screenings. Since opening in January, "Hundreds of Beavers" has played in at least one theater every week of the year, though never more than 33 at once. (Blockbusters typically play in around 4,000 locations.)... Read More