American Cinematographer - February 2017 - 22

Quyen Tran at work on Mogadishu, Minnesota.

in the streets. "I remember seeing a
Steadicam in action for the first time as a
young kid at Billingsgate Market. That was
the first time I thought about the different
jobs in moviemaking." Parsons studied
photography, performance art and audiovisual mixed media at the Wimbledon School
of Art (now Wimbledon College of Art) in
England before moving to Halifax, Canada,
to complete her studies at the Nova Scotia
College of Art and Design.
Although her degree was in photography, she was shooting short films before
she graduated, and after college she took
whatever jobs she could get to gain experience. "I carried sandbags, put lights
together, and at leaner times joined other
departments like set dressing," she says.
She ultimately found work as a camera
assistant on such projects as the TV movie
Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story,
which was photographed by Uta Briese-

witz, ASC. "She went on to shoot The
Wire," Parsons recalls. "Her handheld work
was impeccable." Parsons was also
mentored by photographer John Glover,
whose influence on her work, she says, has
been profound.
Both the celluloid and digital work of
Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC continue to
inspire Parsons and shape her own philosophy when it comes to cinematography. "I
agree with his aversive attitude toward
creating stunning images simply for the
sake of creating stunning images," she
explains. "The job is more about creating
images that are in service of a larger
purpose." Parsons skillfully applied that
theory to her work on Weirdos, a comingof-age story set in the 1970s that garnered
widespread acclaim at last year's Toronto
International Film Festival - and is set for
wide theatrical release in Canada on March
17. Parsons' black-and-white photography

On interviewing:
"A very important aspect of the agency's work is making sure you, the
cinematographers, have as much information as we can give you about the
people you are going to meet in the interview. Make sure you've seen the
films they've done before, and know the surrounding elements, such as the
cast, the production designer, the line producer, the first AD, the locations.
Think about what kind of crew you might take with you, and go into the
interview with visual references."
- Claire Best, Claire Best and Associates

22

February 2017

American Cinematographer

Quyen Tran
Quyen Tran came to the cinema via
still photography and photojournalism,
disciplines that continue to inform her work
as a director of photography. "Hailing from
a photojournalistic background, I'm always
looking to tell the story in the most
economical way possible," she explains.
"With stills, you have one frame to tell a
story. Sure, it can be beautifully composed
and lit, but what is the essence of that
frame? Why does it exist? What's behind
those eyes?"
It was while shooting stills on an
NYU thesis film that Tran caught the movie
bug and decided to apply to film school
herself. She attended UCLA, where she
met cinematographer-in-residence Roger
Deakins, ASC, BSC, who became a valued
mentor, along with Johnny Simmons, ASC.
In fact, she still implements a piece of advice
from Simmons regularly. "He said, 'Anyone
can get the job done, but how do you want
to do the job?' - which really stuck with
me," she says.
Tran also received some valuable
extracurricular education by spending time
in her sister-in-law's editing room, where
she had the opportunity to study footage
from films like There Will Be Blood. "I got to
see [ASC member] Robert Elswit's dailies,
which was insanely amazing," she recalls.
"That taught me a lot about coverage and
gave me a totally different perspective from
what I was learning in the classroom."
Tran's time at UCLA led to her first
job as director of photography - when she

Tran photo by Wilson Webb, SMPSP.

was singled out by critics, and she loved the
opportunity to shoot monochrome in a
period setting. "It was a pleasure to see a
moving black-and-white view of the world
through the eyepiece, and to work with
contrast alone," she says.
Having shot in both color and blackand-white, and on film as well as digital,
Parsons remains open to the possibilities
inherent in all formats. "I feel blessed that I
am from a generation that knows well
what it is to shoot on film," she says - and
adds that "digital sensors able to dip more
and more into the low lights create a whole
new set of choices for the cinematographer.
The study of this craft is wonderfully
endless."
American Cinematographer - February 2017

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