Bradford Young, ASC- PART 2: Arrival, directors Denis Villeneuve, Ron Howard, and Ava DuVernay, Solo: A Star Wars Story, When They See Us, working on long form episodic vs. movies

The Cinematography Podcast Episode 78: Bradford Young, PART 2
Bradford Young continues our conversation from his busy household.
One lesson he's learned is that the cinematographer's job is to
make the director happy. Bradford was drawn to the science fiction
film Arrival because it had an intimacy and a perspective about who
we are that many sci-fi movies lack. Arrival takes us on a journey
of discovery while keeping the human experience at the center of
the film, with the camera following Louise, played by Amy Adams,
the entire time. At first, Bradford found it difficult to find the
visual language of the story, since it was so much about decoding
the aliens' language. But his collaboration with Denis Villeneuve
and the rest of the team makes Arrival feel cohesive and engaging.
When Bradford was approached to shoot Solo: A Star Wars Story, he
knew it would be a power move for his career, although it was
uniquely challenging to work with four cameras plus huge action
sequences and special effects. He also had to adjust to the turmoil
of Lucasfilm's decision to fire directors Phil Lord and Chris
Miller, who were replaced by director Ron Howard in the middle of
the Solo shoot. But Bradford felt fortunate to be able to continue
shooting Solo and to work with a seasoned and respected director
like Ron Howard. Bradford was happy to work with director Ava
DuVernay again on When They See Us, which was his first episodic
series. He and DuVernay wanted to bring weight and care with their
approach to the story of the Central Park Five, using minimal
lighting, composed photographic shots and anamorphic lenses. For
Bradford, When They See Us was a hard story to tell and they told
it the best way they could. He feels that while films are powerful,
they are also fleeting- sometimes it takes longer to tell and
inform a story, and the injustices done to Korey Wise, Kevin
Richardson, Raymond Santana, Antron McCray and Yusef Salaam was
better served as a series. Find Bradford Young
https://luxartists.net/bradford-young/ You can stream When They See
Us right now on Netflix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHbOt2M8md0 You can find Selma
streaming on Amazon, Vudu, or iTunes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6t7vVTxaic Bradford Young was
featured in the May 2020 issue of American Cinematographer.
https://ascmag.com/magazine-issues/may-2020 Find out even more
about this episode, with extensive show notes and links:
http://camnoir.com/ep78/ Sponsored by Hot Rod Cameras
www.hotrodcameras.com Website: www.camnoir.com Facebook: @cinepod
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