“The letters are, for me, like treasures…”
David Watkin: Oscar-winning Cinematographer
Filming Tea with Mussolini I met David at a party at Franco Zeffirelli’s home in Rome. My son had been cast to play Franco Zeffirelli in Tea With Mussolini (TWM) and I was to be his chaperone (required by law as he was under 18 years of age). We were told about David and...
I knew David for just over thirty years; I first met him in 1977 on a commercial that we were supplying equipment on. About a year later we were to supply equipment on the film Chariots of Fire which David was to light. David had a couple of scenes that needed high-speed photography and...
David received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. The T-Shirt that year quoted David on its front: One tries not to fuck it up. Below are snaps of David’s friends, Peter Macdonald and Madelyn Most at Lodz. Daniel Barenboim “Shortterm thinking, or even worse, thoughtlessness, makes many people think that culture, education and the...
Director: Franco Zeffirelli Writers: John Mortimer (writer) Franco Zeffirelli (autobiography) Release Date: 2 April 1999 (UK) Produced by Marco Chimenz, executive producer Clive Parson, producer Pippo Pisciotto, associate producer Riccardo Tozzi, producer Giovannella Zannoni, producer Frederick Muller, producer (uncredited) Original Music by Stefano Arnaldi Alessio Vlad Cinematography by David Watkin Film Editing by Tariq...
Conception of a new lighting technique Watkin conceived of the idea for a new light which would tackle the problem of light falloff during night shoots. Because of the inverse square law, light from even moderately strong sources starts to fall off fairly quickly as the subject walks away from the light source. Therefore...
British Transport Films was an organisation set up in 1949 to make documentary films on the general subject of British transport. Its work included internal training films, travelogues (extolling the virtues of places that could be visited via the British transport system – mostly by rail), and “industrial films” (as they were called) promoting...
David would, very occasionally, take a little nap on set.. And, on those rare occasions, invariably somebody would have a camera at hand… David found a little cave-like area near the church in San Gimignano, where he could beat the heat and nap. When Baird found this out, he followed suit. I call these...
My meeting with David: I was part of a jury at the 2004 edition of Cameraimage. We were all staying in a particularly depressing hotel where the smell of fried foods was everywhere. In the morning, while I was having breakfast, a man, who appeared both to be of a certain maturity yet also...
One of my favourite memories is him phoning me, hardly able to speak for laughter, to tell me why I wasn’t going to work with him on a film. He was about to photograph a film for Richard Lester who always used two cameras so needed two camera operators. At the time I was...
Born into an illustrious railway family, David Watkin began work with the Southern Region Film Unit of British Railways in the late 1940′s. In 1950 he became a messenger boy and assistant cameraman at British Transport Films. Barry Coward writes: One day in 1981 I received a phone call from a David Watkin asking...
Directed by Tony Richardson Written by Charles Wood Cinematography: David Watkin Film Editing: Kevin Brownlow and Hugh Raggett The Charge of the Light Brigade is a British war film made in 1968 by Woodfall Film Productions, which held the rights to the 1936 film version at the time. It was directed by Tony Richardson....
Goldfinger (1964) Cinematographer: title sequence (uncredited). Pictured: DW behind the camera. Academy Awards, USA Oscar Winner The 58th Annual Academy Awards Oscar Best Cinematography for: Out of Africa (1985) BAFTA Awards 1987 Won BAFTA Film Award Best Cinematography for: Out of Africa (1985) 1982 Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best Cinematography for: Chariots of Fire...
David Watkin died at the age of 82 in his mews house in Brighton at 10.15pm on the 19th of February, 2008 This must come as a shock to those of you who did not know of the severity of his illness, or were unaware of the speed of his decline in health. Those...
