Christopher Doyle: The Cinematography Rock Star!

Ryan Patrick O'Hara

Ryan Patrick O'Hara

Veteran
Not only is this man a passionate, talented, and charismatic cinematographer, (who left his native Australia to live in Asia and work in the Asian film industry), but he is one crazy man.

After watching interviews with him and some related videos, I have seen him give interviews shirtless, grab random people on the street to try and engage cinematography conversations, and his under the influence introduction of Micheal Ballhaus at an European Awards show.

One day I want the talent and rockstar gonads of Mr. Doyle. Cinematographers are usually very polite, respected and good people.... all in all.

Party like a rock star, Mr. Doyle. I'm with you. This guy is high on life. You can just tell.

Video One - Interview
Video Two - Master Class (Good)
Video Three- Samples of his work from film student
Video Four- Rockstar!
 
"You f*cking wonderful whore, come up and take your prize!" normally this line is heard at the AVN Awards in Las Vegas not the European Film Awards. hey ryan, have you read his personal quotes on his imdb page? pretty F*cking funny. what films would you recommend of his to someone like myself who just recently discoverd him?

cheers,
Mike
 
PS: are we allowed to swear on this site? anyone know? we're all adults, right? i feel so Christian trying to cover up swear word with asterisks.
 
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smoothmc40 said:
"You f*cking wonderful whore, come up and take your prize!" normally this line is heard at the AVN Awards in Las Vegas not the European Film Awards. hey ryan, have you read his personal quotes on his imdb page? pretty F*cking funny. what films would you recommend of his to someone like myself who just recently discoverd him?

cheers,
Mike
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From IMDB

Trade Mark

Extremely bright, vivid colors.

Trivia

Speaks fluent French and Mandarin
Has made 8 films with Kar Wai Wong.
His Chinese name is Du Ke Fung which means `like the wind'.
Has worked as an oil driller in India, a cow herder in Israel, and a doctor of Chinese medicine in Thailand.
Left Australia at 18.
First learned Mandarin in Taiwan.
Spent three years traveling the world on a Norwegian ship.
Shot Gus Van Sant's remake Psycho (1998) without having seen the original.
Born in the outskirts of Sydney, Australia.
Is the eldest of five children from a family of doctors.
Shot the music video "Getaway" for the band Scottish band Texas in 2005. Lead singer Sharleen Spiteri said they were happy to get him because they had been "stealing" from his work for years.
In addition to Mandarin and French, he speaks Cantonese fluently, and is taking lessons in Spanish, Japanese and Thai. His Chinese is at a higher level than his English.

Personal Quotes

I left Australia when I was 18 and I've been a foreigner for 36 years. I think that's very important to the way I work because as a foreigner you see things differently. But I started making Chinese-language films so I regard myself as a Chinese filmmaker. I just happen to be white. Or pink, actually.
I really think music and movement - dance, you know - and literature inform my visuals. I think film is also based in dance. The relationship between me, the camera and the actor is always a dance.
I went to France and tried to learn cinematography. Then I realized that I didn't care. So I came back to making films as I could. I think I started to know what I was doing in the middle of "Days of Being Wild" (in 1991). You can't learn how to make films. You gotta make mistakes and you have to appropriate the mistakes, and then you learn from those things. Then you have a voice.
I went to Taiwan to study Chinese and, as usual, I hung out in bars, and people in bars are usually musicians and artistic kinds of people. I had accumulated a little life experience so I could articulate things which were a little bit more complex than I could actually do and for some reason Edward Yang trusted me. And then we made this film ("That Day on the Beach," 1983) that won all these awards and I didn't know what I was doing. I fluked it.
My best film is always my next film. I couldn't make Chungking Express now, because of the way I live and drink I've forgotten how I did it. I don't believe in film school or film theory. Just try and get in there and make the bloody film, do good work and be with people you love.
For years most people didn't know I wasn't yellow. Du Ke Fung [his Chinese name] means `like the wind'. It's an extremely poetic name, as opposed to this piece of **** sitting before you. So this person called Du Ke Fung with no past or parents or ID card makes the films and at night he turns back into this drunkard called Chris Doyle.
Looks like we got it right on Hero and if you get it right the eye connects directly with the heart, doesn't matter what the language is. But Hollywood has fallen into making mechanistic, assembly-line movies. Now they have to steal ideas from Asia because that's where the originality is. I have a very strong identification with Asia, there's a different type of energy there, and I had a delayed adolescence in China so I feel I grew up there.
I was born Australian but I'm more Francis Bacon than Mel Gibson, who is the antithesis of me. Actually, I always wanted to be the Mick Jagger of cinema but I think I'm the Keith Richards, by force of habit, perhaps.
I didn't start making films until I was 34.But that wasted youth was probably the most valuable asset for what I'm doing now. You see the world, you end up in jail three or four times, you accumulate experience. And it gives you something to say. If you don't have anything to say then you shouldn't be making films. It's nothing to do with what lens you're using.
I think what we're doing here [Asia] is much more valid. We've got half the world's population here. The implications are as evident as they would be for the French New Wave.
The idea is becoming a blueprint. The visual aspect of film is expanding, we're evolving a new relationship with film-making over here [Asia]. I really think we've moved beyond all that auteur theory. People will have to come up with a different theory for what we're doing here.
The East is rising and the energy of the region is reflected in everything we do here, whether commercial, military or cinematic. I just happen to be part of that. We're in a golden age of cinematography. Most people are on-line at least four hours a day. They're seeing images all the time and their visual sophistication is jumping far beyond all the old farts in the Academy.
"I was born five months after my parents were married, so I understand why mistakes have informed my world."
"I feel that 2046 is unnecessary, in retrospect. I think probably Wong Kar-Wai realized that somewhere, and that's why it took so long. You do realize that you have basically said what you needed to say, so why say more? I feel that way. I think you have to move on."
"What I'm trying to do is make the camera-work lyrical rather than fragmentary. It's a dance between the camera and the actors."
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My favorite:

My best film is always my next film. I couldn't make Chungking Express now, because of the way I live and drink I've forgotten how I did it. I don't believe in film school or film theory. Just try and get in there and make the bloody film, do good work and be with people you love.
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:beer::beer::beer:
 
Chunking Express and Fallen Angels has a great influence on me.

Chris is a guy who selects lenses based on how they make him feel, rather than what's "cleanest" or other arbitrary technical specs.

I also only shoot after downing a couple cans of Heineken! (just kidding -- for now...)
 
WONG KAR WAI:
Chungking Express - a great introduction into what Doyle and Kar Wai can do. Artistically I wouldn't call it his best work but the way the camera moves, the freedom of the story is simply gorgeous on its own. It is a true urban story which drives its aesthetic qualities not from fancy compositions and lighting but from the true and human elements of the space and the environment.

In the Mood for Love (with additional photography by Ping Bin Lee) - this is the film that without a doubt convinced me that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. It is one of the most beautiful stylish films I have ever seen. The film plays out like one long dance between three parties the audience, the actors, and the camera (this is one of Doyle's principal philosophies). The compositions in this film, the way he photographs his actors, and the perfect harmony of the photography with the music and the environment make it a masterpiece.

OTHER
Hero (Directed by Zhang Yimou) - This is a mind numbingly beautiful execution of visual artistry. If you have seen Ashes of Time (Doyle's other wuxia film) you can expect to see this film as a representation of Doyle's respect of the beauty of Chinese art. I am at a loss for words to really describe the visuals in this film all I can say is that when you take the guy who did the opening for the Olympics (who btw started out his career as a DP) and a genius like Doyle you get some seriously badass results.
ASC Article on the film:
http://www.theasc.com/magazine/sept03/cover/index.html
His color philosophy is very Storaro like.

Last Life in the Universe (Pen-Ek Ratanaruang) - This movie is stunning as well and it is a great piece to watch because there is a full length commentary on the DVD by Doyle on his philosophy and his relationships with the director and the story. Really amazing work and I really don't want to go too in depth into it... GO WATCH IT!!


I am a huge fan of Chris Doyle because he anchors this craft in its roots. It's sometimes overwhelming to look at a lot of cinematographers who work with enormous crews, massive budgets, crazy special effects and lighting rigs (many times delivering stunning results). Seeing a guy like Doyle breaking things down to the basics, to space and light and color, it will remind us of what actually matters. If I was teaching a class on cinematography I would never point my students to Doyle to begin with. He just isn't a good role model but he certainly is an inspiration and it really can open up your eyes to what is possible.

I think he along with Anthony Dod Mantle (who deserves his own thread for his sheer iconoclastic brilliance) definitely are definitely something to point to anyone who feels cinematography has reached a plateau.



Last but not least:
www.geocities.com/lesliecheungalways/journal.pdf
(Link doesn't work... copy and paste the URL to your browser)

Don't ask me how I found this but it's amazing. It's one of the most inspiring things I have read in a long time.
 
wow. thanks ozar and pmark. all of those movies are at my public library except Last Life...
i'll watch them right away.

cheers!

-Mike
 
That guys is nuts. Crazy good though. Funny how those two things always get paired together. I read a quote the other day that ill paraphrase but it went mostly like

"what you give up in normalcy, you make up in sheer brilliance"

Not to say everyone who is a leader in their field is completely insane. I'm sure Lance Armstrong is a normal guy. Unless you check downstairs....
 
Yes catch Last Life.. if you're a shooter or anybody really, for his commentary. Pretty ballsy for him to light a movie like that... totally un-hollywood.
 
From Doyle: "I was born Australian but I'm more Francis Bacon than Mel Gibson, who is the antithesis of me. Actually, I always wanted to be the Mick Jagger of cinema but I think I'm the Keith Richards, by force of habit, perhaps."

I guess he is the rock star of cinematography.
 
I've read somewhere that he only used two sun guns for the whole 'Happy Together' shoot.
 
rsbush said:
I've read somewhere that he only used two sun guns for the whole 'Happy Together' shoot.
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It looks like two battery powered sun guns were use extensively on the exteriors but he used a lot of practical lights for his interiors (by a lot I'm exaggerating since it is really well known that he relies very little on light... BUT HE STILL LIGHTS! It's a common misconception that he doesn't, I've seen pictures of his sets and he usually has red heads and other lights peeking out of corners etc.).

Read the article I have on my previous thread on Happy Together... it has some good stuff there about his method.


Wise words here:

And the future of film in a world going digital?

"I don't care what tools I use as long as they work for me." Doyle told me. "There is no question where the mainstream film industry distribution systems, media complexes etc. are headed. My only concern is finding the medium. I doubt that anyone coming out of film, especially anyone holding onto film can find the true voice of digital media. It will be the kids who give digital imaging its wings since they spend most of their days in a digital world. If they can't find the direction the medium can go, if they can't express the energy and impact of an image, if they can't show us something we kind of know but can't articulate or have never seen who can?"
 
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Thanks for the clips Ryan. I think Christopher Doyle is probably the greatest influence I have ever had. I have spent extended periods in Hong Kong, Shanghai and of course Japan. And I completely understand his passion for shooting in Asia, the sights, sounds and even the smell is like this rich deep tapestry, one you can never fully unlock as a foreigner. But you also see these places and I think he mentioned similar in one of the clips, that they seem on the verge of two entirely different worlds that never quite meet. Even speaking the language you never really understand. If you have seen In the mood for love or 2046 before, I recommend watching them without subs. And watch how Wong Kar-wai weaves it all together, its almost the same feeling. Id recommend adding to that list Days of being wild also shot by Christopher Doyle.

The other thing is, China in particular is full of locations that offer themselves to the deep mood that underlines the places.

I guess Christopher Doyle proves that conventional isnt always the right way.
 
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