American Cinematographer - September 2013 - K9

The popular UK television dramedy Doc Martin is back for its sixth
season. The show follows a doctor, played by Martin Clunes, who
after developing a crippling fear of blood, retrains as a GP. He
moves to a quirky seaside town, where he opens a practice and
quickly offends the locals with his poor bedside manner.
Doc Martin is fi lmed on location in the village of Port Isaac in
Cornwall, England, where “apparently the sun always shines,”
jokes the show’s director of photography Simon Archer, BSC. The
cinematographer, who took over for Chris Howard, BSC after
season 3, uses a full range of 16mm stocks on the series.
“KODAK VISION3 [50D Color Negative Film] 7203 can claim
much of the credit for rendering often-inclement British weather
conditions in such a way that the audience still believes it’s
perpetually bright and sunny here,” says Archer.
Archer employs KODAK VISION3 250D Color Negative Film
7207 for daylight location interiors, and KODAK VISION3 200T
Color Negative Film 7213 is the default studio stock.
“[KODAK VISION3 500T Color Negative Film] 7219 often
saves the day when we are chasing the light,” notes Archer. “It is
usually my choice for night exteriors.”
This season’s camera package includes ARRIFLEX 416s mounted
with a variety of ZEISS lenses, including Primes for STEADICAM
and lowlight situations.
Archer has maintained the much-admired visual history
established on the show by Howard, while also investing in his
own preferences, working alongside directors Nigel Cole and
Paul Seed this season, and Ben Bolt along with various guest
directors during previous seasons.
“Anyone familiar with Cornish architecture will know how tiny
the domestic spaces are, and how low the ceilings tend to be,”
says Archer, citing this as one of the main challenges for the
show’s production. “Our studio sets also refl ect this tiny scale, so
placing cameras and lights, and working with the art department
to move furniture and props as a scene is fi lmed from different
angles requires enormous reservoirs of Zen patience and calm
headspace. An impulsive move can result in a concussion from
contact with a low ceiling beam.”
Another challenge for Archer has been some extended
grandstand scenes with long set pieces, and much of the
cast outside during daylight hours. These scenes often take a
couple of days to fi lm. Demanding situations include the sun
traversing the sky and weather changes. For Archer, maintaining
a consistency of light is everything.
“If it’s all sun or all clouds, or all hazy scrim, that’s grand,” Archer
explains. “But more often than not it’s a mix of all, and that means
tons of technical lighting challenges for me and my team. I
calculate to control as much as I can — as every cinematographer
understands, but some are just luckier in other parts of the world
with better weather. Ultimately, you do what you can to balance
the changing conditions, but
you cannot hold back the tide.”
Archer honed his craft at
the UK National Film and
Television School. While a
student there in 1984, he
was fortunate enough to
intern with Vittorio Storaro,
ASC, AIC on Ladyhawke and
Billy Williams, OBE, BSC on
Dreamchild.
“I loved their mastery of soft
naturalistic lighting,” he recalls,
“beautiful and cosmetic, yet
never fl at. I soon learned that
emulating a master of light
was not necessarily a route to producing pleasing images, but
was merely copying another’s lighting technique. Without an eye
and a taste of one’s own to know where the light belongs, one can
end in the visual equivalent of Mickey Mouse in ‘The Sorcerer’s
Apprentice’ from Fantasia. He tries to conjure using his master’s
spells, but it goes horribly wrong because he has no understanding
or control. You can observe how a master works, but copying his
techniques will not necessarily produce pleasing results without his
vision of what he is trying to achieve. Developing one’s own takes
time and practice.”
Archer’s work on Doc Martin can be seen when the fi nal season of
the series airs this fall.
Photos: Behind the scenes on Doc Martin. (Photos by Rob Ebdon.)
American Cinematographer - September 2013

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