{"id":103894,"date":"2018-07-24T13:47:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-24T18:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?p=103894"},"modified":"2018-07-24T13:47:00","modified_gmt":"2018-07-24T18:47:00","slug":"interview-cinematographer-lucian-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/interview-cinematographer-lucian-read\/","title":{"rendered":"A Conversation with Lucian Read, Cinematographer of America Divided"},"content":{"rendered":"

We had the opportunity to chat with cinematographer Lucian Read about his work\u00a0on the EPIX\u00a0show, America Divided<\/em>, plus his thoughts on what makes a great cinematographer and how to approach story as a DP.<\/h2>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

PremiumBeat:<\/strong> Can you tell us a little bit about your career path and how it led to filming America Divided<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Lucian Read:<\/b> I didn\u2019t go to film school. I didn\u2019t go the AC route or was mentored. The truth is, the first time I crossed the line with the camera I jumped in head first. I took an editing class because I wanted to know what I needed to bring back to make the edit. I knew I needed to make post easier.<\/p>\n

I actually started out as an journalist, that is my training. I started back in 2002. I was doing newspaper work every day for a couple of years, and then I went on tour with the Marine battalion in 2004. I began working in Afghanistan for the better part of the next seven years. I did a dozen or so long-form reports for a period primarily in Afghanistan and few other places as well. I was not trained as a television producer or a cinematographer, but through that experience I had my transition from field\/stills into motion. From that program I went on to be hired for a documentary series called Years of Living Dangerously<\/em>. It was on Showtime for the first series and recently had its second series on National Geographic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It was on that show I did producing work primarily in the Middle East, but I was also essentially the in-house director of photography. That was the first season that I worked on with\u00a0nine one-hour episodes. I shot portions of all of those hours all over the world \u2013 all over the country \u2013 and so that was really the kind of transition from the single-camera shooter producer-type of work that I was doing for the newsmagazine into [working with] a much larger crew, multiple-camera interviews, and large production. […] Out of that experience myself and a couple of the other people formed our own production company and developed the America Divided<\/em> series.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

PB:<\/b> Which camera and lens format did you shoot the series on?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

LR:<\/b> We shot on the Canon C300 Mark II. At times we would have\u00a0three to four cameras rolling for coverage during an interview. Our lenses would vary between Canon Cinema Primes, a 70-200 or the Canon Cinema 30-300.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

PB:<\/b> One thing I really enjoyed is that you go right into the conflict. Sometimes people get afraid about conflict, but that’s what makes good content. How do you approach it?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

LR:<\/b> You should be afraid of conflict. You should think about how [you] want to tell the story beyond just what you get on the surface. I <\/b>certainly knew that my news documentary conflict background means I am willing to suffer a bit to get the image I want. You should think through every situation and think what are the best ways of doing it. Do I want to do it up close? Do I want to do it at a distance? Do I want to come in here on a gimbal, do I want to come in here on sticks? What is the frame rate I want? Everything should be a decision. There should be a creative process going on even in situations where you might think that just the kinetics of the scene are all you need. Obviously the best people enter into every cinematographic problem and think\u00a0[it] has many solutions and then\u00a0[decide] on one.<\/p>\n