American Cinematographer - January 1993 - 28

tors.

Harris honed his skills

jobs for

Banks is known for his

are

such high-profile clients as IBM Eu¬

rich, saturated look, "which tends

rope, Kodak, Coca-Cola, and Miller
Beer (Japan). Since he also shoots

to have a fair amount of movement
and strong imagery." But he be¬
lieves that regardless of their forte,
"commercial shooters are hired to
do what they've done before."
There are exceptions, however.
Banks shot two years' worth of Levi

And new cinematographers
coming in from every direction:

film school, music videos, MTV,

low-budget features. It's not hard to
get work if you're talented."
An increasing number of
spots today ride on visuals and
style, which makes the cinema¬
tographer's role increasingly im¬
portant. Even though agency
producers like Gaston Braun at
N.W. Ayer and Susan Scherl at
Saatchi & Saatchi trust the directors

they hire to select a cinematogra¬
pher, they pay close attention to the
director's choice. "Directors

are

enough to find a good cin¬
ematographer," says Braun. "But if
smart

variations in the director's
reel that indicate that the cinema¬
we see

tographers he works with have a
big impact on his look, we'll get
more

involved. If

we

don't know

the

cinematographer he's selected,
we
may ask to see the cinemato¬
grapher's reel. Rarely do we recom¬
mend a cameraman, or go against

features, documentaries and shorts,
he's

of the distinct require¬
being a commercial cam¬

aware

ments of
eraman.

"When

you're shooting

a

movie," says Harris, "you're trying
to establish

a

look and maintain

continuity, which you vary for
emotion and story points. In a com¬
mercial, the goal is not to tell a story
but to glorify a product. It's a cousin
of commercial photography." He
also finds that shooting spots
means
speed. "You have to be able
to look at a storyboard and gener¬
ate ideas for filming it in an excit¬
ing way, then accomplish that idea
quickly so the producer or director
can have time left over to
explore
other options."
Harris has worked exten¬

501

spots for Foote, Cone and
Belding, but the cinematographer

was

hired not

so

much for his rich

lighting

as for his dutch angles
"and ways of putting together im¬
ages that are bright and full."

Typically, Banks doesn't
mind agency involvement in his
work. "I like people who have in¬

teresting ideas," he says. "As a cin¬
ematographer, my strength is put¬
ting reality behind some director's
vision, and the same goes for the
agency. If they have an interesting
idea, I like to play with it, to make
it

sively in Europe, where he finds
that cinematographers have more
creative freedom. "In Europe, I

real, to fulfill the idea within the
parameters of the spot." Banks also
likes to have the flexiblity to change
his style - to shoot long lenses,

move so

shoot commercials that aren't

handheld

has

my reel. If they like your look, you
won't have to have done a carbon

a

director's choice. But commercials
a

quickly today that the look
big impact."

Scherl also watches for dif¬
ferent lighting styles on a director's
reel. "If the spots on a director's reel
show inconsistencies in terms of

lighting, and there's one look I like,
I'll ask to

screen

that cinemato¬

grapher's reel." It's hard for her to
express what she looks for when
she

screens

shooter's reels, "be¬

it's

of their spot." In the States,
things are different: Harris recalls
that

friend who was called to
lawnmower commercial
was asked
to send over his
lawnmower reel. "They should be
a

shoot

a

looking for versatility," says Harris,
"and for

composition, camera
lighting. That's

movement and

what we're all about."

and shares Hewes' view that cin¬

Larry Banks

ematographers don't suffer from
the same stereotyping as directors.
"When you're looking for a cin¬
ematographer, you're looking at
light," she points out. "I'd like to see
more director/cameramen
give up
camera and hire cinematogra¬
phers. Directors need to concen¬

the

trate

on

what the

scene

is about.

They should leave the lighting to
someone

else."

Stephen Michael Harris
became

Stephen Michael Harris
tabletop specialist when

a

he began working with European
director David "Tabletop" Saire.

American

Cinematographer

on

copy

subjective. Good lighting
to one person could be bad to an¬
other." She likes to see diversity,
cause

26

on

As the

black & white to

son

a

since shot Lee's famed Nike and

campaigns,

as

well

as

Banks
with which he must execute his dif¬
ferent looks and feelings as a chal¬

lenge rather than an obstacle. He
simply looks at commercial work
as an alternative
and equally
imaginative - art form. "The im¬
ages being conveyed are the impor¬
tant thing. They must be visually
striking, and they must be con¬
densed into something like a haiku
rather than a Rudyard Kipling
-

put

together three lines of rich, strong
images."
Can such "haikus" be
written

by two people,

or three or
more? "In features, it's a meshing
of two minds: the director's and the

cinematographer's. In commer¬
cials, it's more complicated. But it
can be done with the
right team."
When Banks and Lee talk about

style, Lee tells him exactly what he
say, 'Larry, I want this
to be fast and vibrant, moving with
short, sharp shots.'" When Lee

wants: "He'll

called for hot, saturated color

Juice, the directorial debut of Lee's
regular cinematographer, Ernest

basketball court

Dickerson, ASC.

Banks

January 1993

cre¬

feelings.
regards the speed

novel. You have to be able to

of

gaffer,
Larry Banks grew up in New
York's film industry. His first
job as a lighting director, on Lizzie
Borden's critically acclaimed
docudrama Working Girls,
launched his career as a cinematog¬
rapher. Banks subsequently lit
spots for Steve Horn, whom he
credits "as one of my first real
teachers, besides my father," then
hooked up with Spike Lee. He's
Levi's 501

or

ate different looks and

used

on a

for Nike,
filtration
and
scene
American Cinematographer - January 1993

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