{"id":3572,"date":"2021-08-25T11:28:16","date_gmt":"2021-08-25T16:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/?p=3572"},"modified":"2021-08-25T14:36:59","modified_gmt":"2021-08-25T19:36:59","slug":"in-memoriam-dan-kneece-with-cirina-catania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/in-memoriam-dan-kneece-with-cirina-catania\/","title":{"rendered":"In Memoriam: Dan Kneece Renowned Steadicam Operator, DP, and southern Gentleman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A personal note about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dankneece.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dan Kneece<\/a> (RIP) from your OWC RADiO Host, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cirinacatania.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cirina Catania<\/a>. &#8220;The world lost a wonderful person last week. Dan Kneece was loved by all of us in the entertainment industry. He worked tirelessly and with a great attitude. Ask Dan what is most important and he would say, &#8220;I work for the script and the director.&#8221; Words are hard to find right now, but  I wanted to share this interview I did with him back in July of 2019. May you find the love in it and may it help you to savor every moment of your lives. Because every day counts, and the friends you leave behind will remember you for how you made them feel and in Dan&#8217;s case, also what they learned from you.&#8221;  (Cirina Catania, August 25, 2021)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" id=\"Dan-Kneece-on-set\"><img width=\"1000\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Dan-Kneece-Crop-Square-reduced-for-web.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3575\" title=\"Dan Kneece looking serious on set\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Dan-Kneece-Crop-Square-reduced-for-web.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Dan-Kneece-Crop-Square-reduced-for-web-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Dan-Kneece-Crop-Square-reduced-for-web-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Dan-Kneece-Crop-Square-reduced-for-web-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Dan-Kneece-Crop-Square-reduced-for-web-350x350.jpg 350w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Dan-Kneece-Crop-Square-reduced-for-web-800x800.jpg 800w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Dan-Kneece-Crop-Square-reduced-for-web-400x400.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption>Dan Kneece On Set (Courtesy Dan Kneece)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Cinematographer Dan Kneece worked with some of the world\u2019s most iconic directors, including David Lynch, Wes Craven, Quentin Tarantino, and Joel Schumacher. But did you know that he was an award-winning musician, that he comes from a very small town in the American south, that he has worked on more than one movie simultaneously, traveling across the country to meet deadlines with no sleep, and that his favorite camera is\u2026 nope, no spoiler alerts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dan Kneece\u2019s secrets were revealed in this interview with OWC&nbsp;RADiO&nbsp;Host, Cirina Catania. We hope you will enjoy these words from someone we all loved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/video\/vi1250737689?playlistId=nm0460638&amp;ref_=vp_nxt_btn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Here&#8217;s a link to Dan&#8217;s cinematographer reel<\/a> followed by an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/video\/vi1615638297?playlistId=nm0460638&amp;ref_=vp_nxt_btn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">interview with David Lynch about &#8220;Steadicam Dan<\/a>,&#8221; and his move towards more DP work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-in-this-episode\">In This Episode<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>00:35 \u2013 Cirina introduces Dan Kneece, a longtime Steadicam operator and a cinematographer.<\/li><li>08:09 \u2013 Dan tells the story of how he was first interested in making movies with a Super 8 camera at 13 years old.&nbsp;<\/li><li>17:17 \u2013 Dan points out what he learned from the news business that was relevant to the film business.<\/li><li>24:08 \u2013 Dan shares the first experience using a Steadicam in the movie Chain Gang.<\/li><li>32:27 \u2013 Dan talks about movies where he worked with David Lynch and how David entrusted him with his skills and ideas.<\/li><li>40:53 \u2013 Dan explains some of his responsibilities in being a Steadicam operator based on his experiences with various directors and actors.<\/li><li>48:28 \u2013 Dan explains how important it is for the script to be on point and why it is the foundation of a film&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li>57:35 \u2013 Cirina asks Dan if it\u2019s hard to decline projects from his trusted networks. Dan explains his principle of hiring and working with people.<\/li><li>64:24 \u2013 What are some of Dan\u2019s favorite lenses?<\/li><li>71:41 \u2013 Follow Dan Kneece on his social media accounts and visit his website at DanKneece.com to learn more about him.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img width=\"720\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Cirina-Dan-Kneece-Patel-fr-Zeiss.jpg\" alt=\"Cirina Catania Dan Kneece Snehal Patel at LAPPG\" class=\"wp-image-3573\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Cirina-Dan-Kneece-Patel-fr-Zeiss.jpg 720w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Cirina-Dan-Kneece-Patel-fr-Zeiss-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Cirina-Dan-Kneece-Patel-fr-Zeiss-350x467.jpg 350w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Cirina-Dan-Kneece-Patel-fr-Zeiss-400x533.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><figcaption>(l to r) Cirina Catania, Dan Kneece, and Zeiss&#8217; Snehal Patel (photo courtesy Michael Valinsky)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/dan-kneece-renowned-cinematographer\/#links\">Jump to Links and Resources<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-transcript\">Transcript<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This is Cirina Catania with OWC Radio. I am speaking today with&nbsp;<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0460638\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Dan Kneece<\/strong><\/a><strong>, who was a longtime&nbsp;<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/tiffen.com\/pages\/steadicam\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Steadicam<\/strong><\/a><strong>&nbsp;operator and now a cinematographer. We call them DPs in our business. And, Dan, I\u2019m so happy to talk to you on the air because you\u2019re just a rarity in this town. And welcome to the show.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you very much for having me.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>We have so much to talk about. Let\u2019s just start almost at the beginning, and I like asking people what they liked to do when they were 5, 6, 7 years old. What were you like as a little boy, and what was life for you growing up?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I grew up in the small town of Black Hill, South Carolina. It had a population of about 2000 people and was surrounded by swamps and alligators, and it\u2019s 10 miles from Barnwell, South Carolina, where&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_Brown\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">James Brown<\/a>&nbsp;was born. In 14 miles, another side of that is a little town called Allendale, where&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/02\/18\/t-magazine\/jasper-johns.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jasper Johns<\/a>&nbsp;grew up. I think what really happened in the area, people are saying this must have been something in the water. But I think really, what happens is so darn boring down there that if you have a creative urge, you got to figure out a way to get it out, or you\u2019re going to go nuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You need time to be creative. And I think in a busy life in the cities, and we don\u2019t often have time, I totally agree with you. I think some of my most wonderful memories are escaping when I was a little girl from my house and climbing into an apple tree to write poetry and just think about the meaning of life. So I think when you\u2019re in a small town, that\u2019s what happens, right? That\u2019s great.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s not too much trouble you can get into because even if you go out in the woods and get lost, the dog knows the way home. So you just follow the dog out of the swamp, and you\u2019re back in your little town. I grew up from a very young age, but when I was a baby, my mother would take me and put me in the playpen. But rather than turn on the television set, she\u2019d put on classical music on the record player. And so I know all of the melodies, from all the classics of classical music. So that was kind of an interesting way and helped my brain develop musically early. And then that took me in a musical direction for a while. And then, in working as a camera operator or a Steadicam operator, the music helped define the beats of a scene. Movies are interesting; they have a beginning, a middle, an end, loud parts, soft parts, fast parts, slow parts, just like a piece of music. And so when people would have me shoot music videos, or do music scenes and movies or things like that, I was very attuned. I knew when the downbeat was, and I knew where the camera needed to be at a certain point. And it really helped me. It\u2019s the kind of thing that you never thought you\u2019d use in a million years. The other one was when I took typing in high school. I said, \u201cI\u2019m never going to use this,\u201d and I spent hours on the computer every day. When I was in seventh grade, I won a medal for playing the oboe. And I would bounce around in the band from oboe to saxophone to some of the horns, to some of the drums. It was a very fluid and fascinating thing for me, and we had pianos in the house, and I can kind of poke on those.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a kid, I was pretty lucky that I could pick up almost any instrument and get some sort of musical sound out of it. I still have some instruments and things, and I dabble in it still but I mean, I mainly concentrate on being a director of photography. But again, that sort of upbringing, when you\u2019re young, that rewires your brain to think in different ways and then just the normal, regimented ways of thought. It connects different synapses in your brain because when you\u2019re a youngster, like three, four, or five years old, two years old, one year old, your brain is a recorder, and it\u2019s just sucking in everything it can get. And that\u2019s why you don\u2019t use too much profanity around little kids because they remember that. It\u2019s every kind of input you can get. Your brain is programming itself. And then when you get to be our age now, you got a lot of stuff in there. So every once in a while, you forget something. I was talking to one of my friends, and I said, \u201cIt\u2019s not as easy to learn as when you\u2019re a little kid,\u201d and he said, \u201cWell, your brain is full. You filled your brain full of stuff.\u201d A lot of times now, though, if you get into situations where you\u2019re working really, really hard over and over many hours, your brain goes on sort of automatic, and you don\u2019t even have to think a thought through. It comes automatically out of your head that you need to do this and this and this. And it becomes like an automated function in a way. But you have to be careful not to override it because you don\u2019t want to be doing the same thing over and over and over. Because you want to keep creating things. And I tell people, a lot of times, if you have a creative mind, you have to keep it busy. Because like in between jobs, if you\u2019re not working, your mind is still going to be creative. It\u2019ll start creating negative things instead of positive things. You always have to keep it occupied and keep good things going through your head because you don\u2019t want it to turn on you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yeah. So how long did you live in this small town before you left?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Until I was about 17 or 18 years old, and I went to the University of South Carolina. I come from a family of doctors for hundreds of years. My grandfather was a doctor, and my father was a doctor, my little brother is a doctor, my mother was a pharmacist. I didn\u2019t want to be a doctor, and I was the one who had to go wash the blood off the front porch with a water hose when people came to the house after hours. And it wasn\u2019t really the blood, and it was just my mind clicking away. And it still does. Every once in a while, I\u2019ll start thinking about something creative, I\u2019ll go to sleep, and in the middle of the night, I\u2019ll pop open, and it will still be going. It\u2019s like it\u2019s doing its own thing. Your mind is a computer, and it\u2019s a biological computer. It\u2019s going to run programs. When you sleep, there are dreams, and doing this maintenance is setting itself up for the next day. And whether you have things that you have to do the next day, whether you have trauma that you have to wash out of there, whatever you got going on, your brain is going to deal with that in the way that it knows how to do. That\u2019s why you need sleep because your brain needs time to do maintenance. It\u2019s like defragmenting your hard drive in your sleep.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yeah, I agree. Sometimes when I\u2019m stuck, I\u2019ll just stop, and then when I wake up, the answers there. Creativity, I don\u2019t know that we can control the muse. She\u2019s there when we need her, when we don\u2019t want her, she\u2019s there when we do want her sometimes she\u2019s there. Like she just comes at the craziest times. Were you into still photography at all when you were in high school? You were studying music?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No, I did a lot of still photography, we had these things called&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Polaroid_Corporation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Polaroid<\/a>&nbsp;cameras, which I don\u2019t think people have anymore, but that was like fun. Take a picture with that, and then watch it appear before your eyes. And the first ones, when the picture would come out of the camera, you had to peel it apart. And then you had another little thing with a wiper on it, you had to wipe on the Polaroid image to fix it, or it wouldn\u2019t stop developing. But then we had a lot of film cameras. When I was in college, I took hundreds of still pictures. But what really got me in the movie direction was when I was 13 years old, my mother bought a Super 8 camera, and I started filming everything. I learned immediately what worked and what didn\u2019t with that camera because it didn\u2019t have a reflex viewfinder. It had a parallax viewfinder. So I wasn\u2019t actually looking through the taking lens. So the first few films when I got close-ups, they were not framed properly because you weren\u2019t looking through the lens. And so I kind of figured that out and that was back when film was cheap, you could get a roll of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Super_8_film_camera\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Super 8<\/a>&nbsp;with processing included for $3. Which nowadays $3 back then was like $30 now, so it wasn\u2019t that cheap. But it was still something that you could do and you got like two and a half minutes worth of film on a cartridge. So if you planned your things out right you could do pretty interesting things and you could do film or animations. Some of the first things I started doing, I became fascinated with animation. And I started doing a lot of animated things. And then it was chasing the animals around the house or the family or putting a little boat in the swimming pool and pretending I was in the middle of world war II or some kind of silly things you did when you were young. Especially in a small town, you\u2019re trying to amuse yourself because otherwise you\u2019re going to be really bored because there\u2019s nothing going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do you have those films? Do you still have them?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think they may be in the house in South Carolina somewhere, some of that stuff. I probably should go try to save them before everything gets destroyed and transfer them over to another medium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Also the film deteriorates after a while. I know I\u2019ve worked on some retrospective kind of things for clients, and some of the older film is so fragile, you can\u2019t even put it through the projector because it\u2019s deteriorating. You need to save the films<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I gotta save them. But what I used to do, too, was when I was in school, I\u2019d get Super 8 cartridges and leave them on the dash of the car and throw them up into the seat, ride around all summer, and then take them out and shoot them. And they got really interesting because the radiation from the sun or the heat, or it would make you get like really giant-sized grains or big globs of stuff on the film when you develop it, and so it wouldn\u2019t look like they wanted it to look. But I thought that was interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sometimes those mistakes are some of the best things, aren\u2019t they?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah, they are. I mean, you get happy accidents that happen. I would go out and shoot things. I remember one time we had an assignment to go out in a junkyard and shoot different things. And I shot this bolt that was sticking out of a piece of metal somewhere. And somehow didn\u2019t set the camera right. It was like five stops underexposed on slide film, which is like the kiss of death. But then the guy had to develop, and it was really interesting looking, because it looked like this sort of dark monster coming out of the blackness. And that started to give me some ideas. And I tend to embrace those ideas and think outside differently than other people think when I do things sometimes because to meet in the ordinary is kind of boring, and I want to do something different.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Feshop.macsales.com%2Fowc-radio%2Fdan-kneece-renowned-cinematographer%2F&amp;text=Sometimes%20mistakes%20are%20the%20best%20things.%20I%20like%20to%20call%20them%20happy%20accidents.%20It%E2%80%99s%20why%20it%E2%80%99s%20so%20important%20to%20keep%20an%20open%20mind%20while%20in%20the%20middle%20of%20a%20shoot.&amp;via=OWCRadio&amp;related=OWCRadio\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sometimes mistakes are the best things. I like to call them happy accidents. It\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to keep an open mind while in the middle of a shoot.<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Feshop.macsales.com%2Fowc-radio%2Fdan-kneece-renowned-cinematographer%2F&amp;text=Sometimes%20mistakes%20are%20the%20best%20things.%20I%20like%20to%20call%20them%20happy%20accidents.%20It%E2%80%99s%20why%20it%E2%80%99s%20so%20important%20to%20keep%20an%20open%20mind%20while%20in%20the%20middle%20of%20a%20shoot.&amp;via=OWCRadio&amp;related=OWCRadio\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK TO TWEET<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do people ever say to you, \u201cYou need to look at this person\u2019s work and that person\u2019s work and that person\u2019s work before you start directing or producing or filming or being a DP?\u201d What do you say to them when they tell you that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019d say, \u201cGo away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I am so glad you said that. Because I really believe that creative people need to have confidence in their own muse, in their own creativity, you need to listen to that voice. And I think that\u2019s why your work is so good. Because you have that combination of being able to listen to your own voice, but then working with other people and keeping them happy. It\u2019s difficult to do, it\u2019s really difficult to do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>it\u2019s very difficult. You have to balance a lot of personalities when you\u2019re working on the set. And you have to do things in a way that you make every person on the set happy and still get done what you need to get done to satisfy the needs of the script. Because everything comes down to the script. I\u2019ve read so many scripts and when I read a script, I watch the movie in my head as I read the script. I already know what the movie, at least in my mind, is formulating to be. And then when I finally meet with the director, after I read the script, I\u2019m like, \u201cWell I don\u2019t know how you see this. But when I read the script, I saw this, and I saw these images here and this here, and this here, and this here.\u201d And this is what the script told me it needed to be or the movie needed to be. And sometimes we\u2019ll agree and sometimes we\u2019ll disagree. But it\u2019s a starting point for us to have the conversation about where we\u2019re going to go with the film, and what the film is going to eventually become. And that\u2019s incredibly important. Because what you have to realize is, when you start making a film, everybody has to be making the same movie, you can\u2019t have somebody be making one movie over here and a movie over there. I mean, they all have to be coming together for a common purpose with a common vision, so that you accomplish what the director wants to see out of that script. Because essentially, it\u2019s the director\u2019s movie, and you\u2019re there to help him or her bring that to fruition to the best of your ability.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Feshop.macsales.com%2Fowc-radio%2Fdan-kneece-renowned-cinematographer%2F&amp;text=Creative%20people%20need%20to%20have%20confidence%20in%20their%20own%20talents.%20You%20need%20to%20listen%20to%20your%20own%20voice%20and%20create%20something%20that%20is%20authentically%20you.&amp;via=OWCRadio&amp;related=OWCRadio\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Creative people need to have confidence in their own talents. You need to listen to your own voice and create something that is authentically you.<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Feshop.macsales.com%2Fowc-radio%2Fdan-kneece-renowned-cinematographer%2F&amp;text=Creative%20people%20need%20to%20have%20confidence%20in%20their%20own%20talents.%20You%20need%20to%20listen%20to%20your%20own%20voice%20and%20create%20something%20that%20is%20authentically%20you.&amp;via=OWCRadio&amp;related=OWCRadio\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK TO TWEET<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>So let\u2019s go back in the late 70s. You\u2019re working on your master\u2019s in media arts, right? You\u2019re at University of South Carolina. And then when did you start shooting news because see, I think news is a great training ground for several reasons. But when did you start working in news in Columbia?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I was in graduate school at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wistv.com\/\">WIS<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wistv.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&#8211;<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wistv.com\/\">TV<\/a>&nbsp;in Columbia, South Carolina. The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbc.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NBC<\/a>&nbsp;affiliate. And I was what they called a news trainee. In the morning, I go to my classes. In the afternoon, I was a graduate teaching assistant in charge of animation. And in the evening, about six o\u2019clock, I would go to the news station, get my little van with a dish on top, and go with the reporters out until about midnight or one in the morning and come home and get back up about six and go back, get ready for class. And so it was a pretty full schedule. It was back when Iran had the hostages. So we went to a lot of hostage rallies, I got to shoot interviews with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Count_Basie\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Count<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Count_Basie\"> Basie<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_Connelly\">John <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_Connelly\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Connelly<\/a>&nbsp;who was in the car with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_F._Kennedy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">JFK<\/a>, John actually got shot as well sitting beside him. And so it was a pretty fascinating time for me. And that was back when you had a separate tape recorder, or what we call a porter pack, that used three-quarter-inch tape. We had two cameras if you pointed it at anything bright too long, it would burn the tube, so you had to be really careful with those. And so you\u2019d carry each one of those things for about 40 pounds. Then you had two battery bricks, you had a sun gun and you had an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/products.electrovoice.com\/na\/en\/635a\/\">Electro<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/products.electrovoice.com\/na\/en\/635a\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&#8211;<\/a>Voice 635A mic. We all know a fairly long cable from the porter and you\u2019re carrying all that around. It was as heavy as carrying a Steadicam. And we\u2019d be running around carrying all this stuff and we would go into school board meetings or protests or whatever needed to be done. So if I had a microwave dish on top of the van they told us every time we turned it on we lost a kid because of the microwave transmitters. It wasn\u2019t a very clean transmission back then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>It was dangerous. We\u2019ll talk offline about 5G.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Oh my goodness. Yeah, I carried those battery bricks around. It actually took me many years to throw them away because there were so many memories with that equipment, right? What did you learn doing news that you think you carried into the next phase?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You got to get it the first time. You\u2019d see really horrific things. I go out in the van whoever was with me before or whoever had the van previously the tube lights would burn out and I only have one light left. And you do with what you got. And in the news business, if you could see it, it was good, it didn\u2019t have to be artistic. It just had to be documented. But it is some of the best training you can ever have for the film business because you learn that you can\u2019t fool around and you don\u2019t have time to get second chances you better get it right the first time. Or you may not get another chance and a lot of times that\u2019s true in the film business too. There may only be one good take and you better get it. I did two TV movies with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anne_Bancroft\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Anne <\/a>Bancroft, she wasn\u2019t a big woman, whenever she turned it on you just prayed you were in the right spot to catch it because it was going to come out of nowhere whether you\u2019re ready or not. She was a very strong actress.&nbsp;Marcia Gay Harden&nbsp;is the same way; she emotes very strongly too. So. I\u2019ve seen a lot of great performances through my lens. It\u2019s like having the best seat in the house of a wonderful play in everyday life. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Feshop.macsales.com%2Fowc-radio%2Fdan-kneece-renowned-cinematographer%2F&amp;text=There%20are%20times%20when%20you%20don%E2%80%99t%20get%20another%20chance%20in%20show%20business.%20There%20may%20be%20only%20one%20good%20take%20and%20you%20better%20get%20it%20whether%20you%27re%20ready%20or%20not.&amp;via=OWCRadio&amp;related=OWCRadio\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">There are times when you don\u2019t get another chance in show business. There may be only one good take and you better get it whether you&#8217;re ready or not.CLICK TO TWEET<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do you feel like you look at life through your lens even when you\u2019re not shooting? I know I do. When I\u2019m not working, I always have a camera. Do you do that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, I carry my iPhone around with me because I saw a quote from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Annie_Leibovitz\">Annie<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Annie_Leibovitz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Annie_Leibovitz\">Leibowitz<\/a>&nbsp;one time and somebody asked her what\u2019s the best camera available now for a beginning photographer and she said an iPhone. The best camera that you can have is the one you have with you the time you see the shot. So whether you have an iPhone or an SLR, or a Super Panavision 70 you can just see the images in your head, you capture that image and that\u2019s the image that you have. I\u2019ve been to Italy in France a few times over the last few years. And I\u2019d send back pictures and people say, \u201cThese pictures are beautiful. What do you take them with?\u201d and when I tell them it was an iPhone they can\u2019t believe it. Sometimes people put like little teary faces and stuff and I\u2019m like, you didn\u2019t feel that way before I told you. If I never told them it was with an iPhone, they never would have realized what I took it with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Absolutely.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s not the size of the wrench, it\u2019s the person behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Absolutely.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, if in your mind\u2019s eye, you see something, and whatever tool you have with you allows you to capture that and you\u2019ve done well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>That\u2019s awesome. You are doing what you\u2019re supposed to do. Does it feel like that? Does it feel like life has brought you to where you want to be?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, I mean, I lived in that little small town, and I thought making movies was impossible. So I would try it. So I could fail and come home and get a real job like raising pigs but it worked. And I\u2019m still here, and I\u2019m living in Los Angeles and I\u2019m doing what I want to do and I\u2019m really pretty happy with that. I pinch myself every day because it\u2019s like, I\u2019m really getting to do this. This is amazing to me. It\u2019s fascinating and amazing and I still love it and love to do it whenever I get the chance. I\u2019ve heard several people say this quote, \u201cbut if you do what you love you never work a day in your life,\u201d and that\u2019s kind of the way I look at it. I just want to keep on doing it as long as I am allowed to do it. And I think they\u2019ll put me in the coffin and I\u2019ll be hanging out with one arm with a camera sticking out. That\u2019ll be the hardest thing for the undertaker to get that last arm in the box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You\u2019ll be lying there going, \u201cWait a minute. I can\u2019t shoot, it\u2019s totally dark in here.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah. \u201cMove the light a little bit this way!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yeah, \u201cI need to crack through the coffin so I can shoot the crowd.\u201d Oh my goodness. Talk to me about when you went into learning Steadicam because&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Garrett_Brown\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Garrett<\/a><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Garrett_Brown\"><strong> Brown<\/strong><\/a><strong>&nbsp;is a wonderful person. What was it like studying under him?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Garrett is still one of my dearest friends to this day. And we met in December 17th 1982 in Miami and that\u2019s where I went to the to the to the Steadicam class that Garrett and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0680845\/\">Toby <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0680845\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Phillips<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0634418\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Randy<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0634418\/\"> Nolan<\/a>&nbsp;taught me how to do Steadicam. And I was in there with my other two fellow students that really did well were a guy from Paris named&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0598007\/\">Jacques <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0598007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Monge<\/a>, and a guy from Florida named Robert Olin. And both of them, sadly, are passed away now. But they both did some amazing work. Jacques went back to Paris and became the Steadicam guy in Paris for many, many years. And Bob always lived in Florida, but he traveled all around and did a lot of major movies. And so it\u2019s been a great run. Garrett is like, undeniably a genius. And not only with a Steadicam but he invented the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Skycam\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SkyCam<\/a>. You know, whenever you watch the Olympics, and you see the people dive off of the high dive, and the camera follows him down and goes into the water, that\u2019s one of Garrett\u2019s cameras. And then there\u2019s one like when they run obstacles, and do races the cameras that fly along with the runners as they\u2019re going along that\u2019s one of Garrett\u2019s cameras. And then the SkyCam where the camera comes from above on cables, that\u2019s one of Garrett\u2019s cameras. And the other thing that Garrett\u2019s done that I\u2019m not sure how many people know this, but he\u2019s also the voice of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.beeradvocate.com\/beer\/profile\/433\/1313\/\">Molson <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beeradvocate.com\/beer\/profile\/433\/1313\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Golden<\/a>, and all the beer commercials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I did not know that. Oh, my goodness.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s Garrett Brown. He started out as a folk singer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>So do you guys ever play music together?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No, we haven\u2019t. But he had an album out and I think you can find it if you dig around. I forgot the name of the group. But if you look for Garrett Brown, you should be able to find it. He lives now and has always lived in Philadelphia, he never left Philadelphia and still went around and did movies all over the world. So he\u2019s a dear friend, a brilliant man, somebody you\u2019re very happy to know and love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>So you were learning about the Steadicam. Do you remember the first thing you shot using the Steadicam?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I did. Well, I went through the school. And that was in 1982. I got a call from&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.earlowensbystudios.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Owensby\u2019s<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.earlowensbystudios.com\/\"> Studios<\/a>&nbsp;in Shelby, North Carolina. And because of an equipment dealer, I knew that I bought a few cameras and stuff from, and had gotten a Steadicam from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/secure.johnbarry.com.au\/\">John Barry Group<\/a>&nbsp;out in Australia. And they got it down to Myrtle Beach. And they were doing a movie called&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0181358\/?ref_=nm_flmg_cam_182\">Chain <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0181358\/?ref_=nm_flmg_cam_182\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gang<\/a>&nbsp;and it was in 3D. And they didn\u2019t know how to work with Steadicam and didn\u2019t know how to adjust it. And so my friend said, \u201cI know this guy who just came out of the school. We should bring him down here.\u201d So I went down there. And the Steadicam; they had a 51-pound arm that had been modified with super long screws and they had a little light&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arri.com\/en\/camera-systems\/cameras\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Arriflex<\/a>&nbsp;camera on it. But the arm has cranked up so high that the arm is standing straight up in there. And so it had way too much spring tension on it for the camera that was on the Steadicam. But at the time, the factory didn\u2019t make adjustable arms. So I looked at it, and I saw it was a 51-pound arm, which is for the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Arriflex_35BL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Arri 35BL<\/a>&nbsp;which is much heavier. And I started taking the arm apart because I\u2019ve always liked to take things apart. And my mother would come in and she\u2019d give me a radio and I\u2019d take the radio apart and put it back together and it would still work. I have a handful of parts left over, but it still works. So that\u2019s how you learn, you know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You\u2019d have parts leftover and it still worked. I remember my parents walked in on me when I lived in France and I was on the hardwood floor and I had taken apart the telephone. And I had parts everywhere because back then the telephones were really interesting. They were horrified. Anyway, so you started taking this arm apart. Was the production horrified? Were they scared?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No, they were out doing other things. They didn\u2019t even know I was doing it. But I was bound and determined to get to the base of what was going on. So I pulled the covers off the springs on the arm. And I noticed that the Australians put really long screws in the arm for the spring adjustments. And so I took those screws, and I dialed them down, and dialed them down, and dialed them down until I got the arm where it should rest for the particular camera that we had. And so I got that going. And then the other thing I had to do was I had to make a plate for the camera top because the 3D lens was so big and heavy that it made the Steadicam front heavy and I didn\u2019t have enough adjustment to get it further back or actually maybe I just taped a battery on there. I taped an extra battery on the back of the Steadicam to balance them. Anyway, I got it balanced out to where it works like it should. And then all of a sudden I was like the guy. And I did about six movies with Earl Studio. And then after that&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dino_De_Laurentiis\">Dino De <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dino_De_Laurentiis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Laurentiis<\/a>&nbsp;opened a studio in Wilmington, North Carolina. And so I started hitting them up and I had put together a reel which is basically me chasing my little brother around the house in Columbia, South Carolina, around the yard and crawling over a fence and the camera just following me wherever you went. And I sent that reel up to Dino De Laurentiis. And they watched it and they started telling everybody about it. There was this movie called Blue Velvet and they called me, they said, \u201cDo you want to do this movie called&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0090756\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Blue Velvet<\/a>?\u201d And I said, \u201cSure.\u201d And I was in one of the Owensby movies at the time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I had a travel day going between Shelby and Hilton Head Island where we were going to shoot and they were shooting Blue Velvet in Wilmington. And so I just swung through Wilmington on the travel day, spent the night there and I said, \u201cWell, Who\u2019s shooting this thing?\u201d and I pull the call sheet out. And it was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0000186\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">David<\/a> Lynch. And I was like, \u201cWe\u2019d all seen Dune in South Carolina,\u201d and we said, \u201cIf there\u2019s anybody we could work with in this business, it would be David Lynch, and he\u2019d be the guy. And so I didn\u2019t sleep at all at night and I stood in front of the mirror looking at myself and you can do this, you can do this. So then, we get there and it\u2019s a big 35mm Vl camera with about a seven-pound anamorphic lens on it, and I get it all set up. I bought the Steadicam that we\u2019d used on Chain Gang earlier and so I had enough arms to hold it all. But I only had two shots in the movie. One was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0001492\/\">Kyle<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0001492\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0001492\/\">McLaughlin<\/a>&nbsp;waking up with the bug sprayer, up to the apartment. And then the other one was busting out of the doorway, and he ran back down the stairs talking about the key that he\u2019s stolen so you can get back into Dorothy\u2019s apartment later. And those are my two shots and Blue Velvet. Well, I go down there and shoot those. And then they call me to track me down in Hilton Head, and they said you got to come back. And I said, \u201cWhat?\u201d and they said, \u201cWe had some kind of lens problem. You got to come back. We got to shoot everything all over again.\u201d I just have to be on the travel lane and I was going back up to Shelby for a night shoot. So I drove to Wilmington and reshot all those shots, through the stuff in the car, drove from one side of North Carolina to the other landed in Shelby and then did a whole night shoot and stayed up all night. So that was a long day.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>No kidding. Oh my goodness.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it led to an ongoing relationship with David Lynch to this day. And because we did Blue Velvet and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0100935\/\">Wild <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0100935\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">at<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0100935\/\"> Heart<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0098936\/\">Twin <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0098936\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Peaks<\/a>, then last time, and the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0166924\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mulholland Drive<\/a>, plus some music, video and commercial work. And so all of that just happened because of a travel day in a few shots. Actually the new&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.criterion.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Criterion<\/a>&nbsp;in Blue Velvet disc that just came out, David found the underexposed footage in a warehouse in Seattle. How did it got up there? We don\u2019t know. But it\u2019s got those last shots in it. And then it\u2019s also got a documentary of us making Blue Velvet which is really strange to see myself from 1985 with my little Steadicam. And then there\u2019s an interview that we did several years ago. That is a series of interviews, it\u2019s by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm1755263\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Benedict<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm1755263\/\"> Fancy<\/a>, a filmmaker up in Wilmington, where we went back to the locations where we did Blue Velvet. And got on that stairwell and actually walked through and talked about how we did it, and this is where we did this and that, and it\u2019s pretty fascinating. So if you get that Criterion disk, you can have all this. So that was kind of fun. The first movies in Shelby, we blew everything up. And we\u2019d shoot somebody with a machine gun. We wouldn\u2019t shoot them once we put 100 bullet hits on them in a slow motion for like five minutes, and blood would go everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Oh, come on blowing things up is so much fun.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oh, yeah it is. We have a tractor trailer full of bombs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Oh my goodness. So you went from blowing things up to the very introspective, psychological thriller kind of stuff that David Lynch was doing at the time. It\u2019s kind of a little shift, wasn\u2019t it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes. It was fascinating. And David and I\u2019ve gotten along really well for years because we just clicked. It got to the point where there was like at Wild at Heart, there\u2019s a scene where&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nicolas_Cage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nicolas Cage<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Laura_Dern\">Laura <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Laura_Dern\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dern<\/a>&nbsp;go dancing in an old&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Palomino_Club_(North_Hollywood)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Palomino<\/a> nightclub, which used to be out in the valley. And we were filming there and it\u2019s where Nicolas Cage and the punk comes up and tries to dance Laura Dern and Nicolas Cage. And he says, \u201cYou got a stupid-looking jacket.\u201d Nicolas Cage says, \u201cThis is a snakeskin jacket, it assembles my individuality and personal freedom.\u201d And then they have a little bit of a fight. And then Nicolas Cage and Laura danced. But it\u2019s like that scene, the direction I got was to go out there and get it. And so I went and shot, and then I came back after I ran out of film and David said, \u201cWhat did you get?\u201d I said, \u201cWell, I did this, and this, I got these parts of the scene.\u201d \u201cOkay, go out and get what you didn\u2019t get before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Oh, nice.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And he just trusted me and I knew we developed a rapport where we sort of knew what he wanted and not just would do it. Well, I mean, it was basically I shot one side of the scene which would be Laura\u2019s side with this speed metal band in the background, and then I turned around and did Nicholas\u2019s side. And it would be like floating and doing water shots and moving around the camera, I\u2019d constantly just move in from a close up to wide shot to other things. I mean, the whole thing is basically a couple of Steadicam shots with maybe a high angle and low angle from stationary cameras later on. But that was pretty much it and we really developed a rapport. And then let\u2019s see, so we did that, and then we did Twin Peaks and that was on 90 and 91 and I was on every episode of that except for the pilot I think. And then we did&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0105665\/\">Fire <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0105665\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Walk<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0105665\/\"> With Me<\/a>, we actually went up to Seattle and shot the whole film up there. And then after that it was Lost Highway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I don\u2019t know how to keep track of everything you have so many credits.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have to look at IMDb to see what I\u2019ve done because I can\u2019t remember.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yeah. Well, so what is David doing now? Are you guys still working on things together now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I didn\u2019t work on the new Twin Peaks, they had a whole new crew. But David has gotten the David Lynch foundation now, which is originally formed to help kids learn through meditation. And then it evolved into military veterans to help them overcome PTSD. And it\u2019s kind of developing this massive worldwide organization. And so he\u2019s pretty busy with that. And then the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.davidlynchfoundation.org\/\">David<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.davidlynchfoundation.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.davidlynchfoundation.org\/\">Foundation<\/a>&nbsp;is what he started out with was being a painter. And so he paints a lot as well. So he\u2019s a pretty prolific individual. His paintings are massive and they\u2019re very interesting. You can immediately look at one and tell it\u2019s David\u2019s painting as nobody else does paintings like David. So I love going to his shows when he has openings, because I always see interesting new things. Then he makes furniture and does other things, too. But I mean, in addition to being a master filmmaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>So in the days when you were using the Steadicam, And you did that for many years. I think it was just recently that you sort of dialed that down a little bit, right? But you were there in the heyday. I mean, the Steadicam was still fairly new.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You could count everybody on two hands who was doing it when I started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What was your style back then that gave you some notoriety? What caused people to notice your work looking back?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, I went to the school in Miami. And then I went back to South Carolina for five years by myself and developed my bad habits. But my style was always a little different than all other Steadicam operators. I mean, people notice it. Where some of them were more rock solid and dully-like, the camera always had a bit of a motion of float to it, it became a character. Which I mean, a lot of us when we would film things that the Steadicam could be either an observer or participant. And it can kind of float back and forth between those things. So my style was always a little more flowing. Although I could be precise, sometimes I wasn\u2019t precise on purpose, or I would put the camera where it needed to be another way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Would I be right in saying that in a lot of the scenes your camera was the POV of the character? Because it feels alive when I look at some of the clips you\u2019ve put up of your work, it breathes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah, well the opening of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0117571\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Scream<\/a>&nbsp;with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Drew_Barrymore\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Drew Barrymore<\/a>&nbsp;where I shot that. It\u2019s a fairly solid take but I did things like when I\u2019m pushing on her when she would get the weird phone calls and things I just twist the camera just ever so slightly when the guy started threatening her when it started getting strange. And then we chased around the house and out the front door and there were a lot of different things that went on.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0000127\/\">Wes <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0000127\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Craven<\/a>&nbsp;went the next day, saw the dailies and said it was the best first days dailies he ever had on any movie. Wes is a lovely man. I did two movies with him; the Scream and then&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0105121\/\">The <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0105121\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">People<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0105121\/\"> Under the Stairs<\/a>. I was constantly working on different movies. So sometimes I do three movies in three different towns in a week. And so I do part of Scream and then I go and do another movie in another town, and another movie in another town. I\u2019d wake up in a hotel room, I wouldn\u2019t know where I was, and I would look out the window and I still wouldn\u2019t know where I was. I just found in a phonebook what town I was in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Well, you must have been exhausted. I don\u2019t know how you did it all but you\u2019re still doing it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah, it was really pretty crazy. There were a lot of times where I spent my life in super shuttles and on airplanes and in hotel rooms. And it was not unusual for me to lose five pounds a day carrying this weight around. Because sometimes for 18 hours a day, I carry a hundred pounds around. And not all of it be walking, some of you running going up and downstairs, jumping on and off of cranes, mounted to vehicles. The opening of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0116922\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Last<\/a> Highway&nbsp;is the title sequence of me hanging off the front of a camera car in low mode with an Arri 3 with a&nbsp;Panavision&nbsp;anamorphic about two inches off the road. We\u2019re going 35 miles an hour and 24-degree weather and the cameras running six frames a second. So it\u2019s the equivalent of 140 miles an hour. I had to hang out there for 16 minutes in the windshield, so we\u2019d have the full roll of film to put the titles on because we needed the full four-minute roll, for the main title to the movie. And I had on two pairs of long johns, all my street clothes, a snowmobile suit, a ski mask, two pairs of gloves, and by the end of the run, I could only open one eye. I couldn\u2019t feel my fingers and I\u2019ve slobbered all over my face. But it was worth it because the camera looks very good. And David still tells the story about how cold it was and how long I hung out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You couldn\u2019t come back in, you were frozen.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was there. And I had to be very careful because if we hit a bump and I let the camera go down further than two inches above the pavement, it would hit the pavement, and then the whole camera would be sucked up onto the camera car and be destroyed. So it was quite an undertaking, you know?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>No pressure.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No, you just do what you gotta do is what\u2019s got to be done. It\u2019s like an opening at Wild at Heart, I\u2019m running up and down the stairs with Nicolas Cage. He has the fight with the black guy and beats into the floor and we\u2019re all over those carpeted stairs down at the Elks Lodge downtown. And I think they call it a Park Plaza Hotel now, but it was the Elks Lodge when we shot journey videos there and I worked on another movie there called Rock Star where we shot upstairs and we carried technic cranes up the stairs. And then we did another thing for I think it was the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lg.com\/us\">LG<\/a>, a 3D television and stuff where we did a bunch of stuff in there too. So it\u2019s a popular location down around MacArthur Park in Los Angeles. I did all those things for David then I did a couple of movies for&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Quentin_Tarantino_filmography\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Quentin<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Quentin_Tarantino_filmography\"> Tarantino<\/a>. I did two for&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0001708\/\">Joel <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0001708\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Schumacher<\/a>&nbsp;and two for Wes Craven. And then there\u2019s all kinds of other movies and television shows and stuff. It just all blends together in my mind people say, \u201cDid you do that?\u201d And I just found one on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">IMDb<\/a>&nbsp;yesterday that I\u2019d done and I forgot to put a credit on it. So I had to add a credit yesterday for one from 15 years ago because I\u2019ve done so many, and I said, \u201cOh yeah, I worked on that one. I better stick my name on that one too.\u201d But I mean, the whole open and dollies and stuff. Because I was a camera and Steadicam operator on that. And then I did the Steadicam on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0462322\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Grindhouse<\/a>, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt1028528\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Death<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt1028528\/\"> Proof<\/a>&nbsp;segment Grindhouse with Quentin too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Well, I saw you at NAB and you were leaving to go on a shoot. Were you going to Africa? Where were you going when I saw you at NAB in April?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In April I was going down to Tucson to scout a cowboy movie that I\u2019m supposed to do in November.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Okay. All right.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because I just came back from doing something else and then I\u2019ve got a movie I\u2019m supposed to shoot before November in a beach house&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Albert_Einstein\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Albert<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Albert_Einstein\"> Einstein<\/a>&nbsp;used to live in. And that\u2019s going to be sort of like a big chill with a haunted twist in sort of thing. So that\u2019ll be fun. It\u2019s not a dull life you know.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>It\u2019s a wonderful life. How does Twenty-four seven sound like with you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, it can be. It depends, like, the beginning of this year has been a little slow, but then things are starting to pick up now. And it\u2019s probably gonna be like a rat race all the way to the end but a happy rat race, though. Little happy rats running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>It\u2019s wonderful. So you made the switch from Steadicam to becoming a cinematographer DP. Do you like that? Tell me about that world for you.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I do like that. I\u2019m actually happier doing that. We just had a premiere of our movie about&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mary_Pickford\">Mary <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mary_Pickford\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pickford<\/a>&nbsp;called&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt2391089\/\">Why Not <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt2391089\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Choose<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt2391089\/\"> Love: A Mary Pickford Manifesto<\/a>, at the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theatre.acehotel.com\/about\/our-vision\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ace Hotel<\/a>&nbsp;downtown in the United orders theater that Mary designed. And we showed our Mary Pickford movie, and it\u2019s the 100th anniversary of United Artists this year, which Mary founded. So that show went really well. We had 800 people there. And it was fun for me because I got to make modern-day Arri Lexus look like 1909 film cameras. And so that was a bit of a challenge. And we had really great performers.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dnb.com\/business-directory\/company-profiles.jenny_dilia_del_carmen_espaillat_valdez.0cffac35f4444f0628809f09773ac516.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jennifer<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dnb.com\/business-directory\/company-profiles.jenny_dilia_del_carmen_espaillat_valdez.0cffac35f4444f0628809f09773ac516.html\"> DiLia<\/a>&nbsp;was the director.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm4080531\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sophie<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm4080531\/\"> Kennedy Clark<\/a>&nbsp;played Mary Pickford,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cary_Elwes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cary<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cary_Elwes\"> Elwes<\/a>&nbsp;played D.W Griffith,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm2315197\/\">Luke<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm2315197\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm2315197\/\">Arnold<\/a>&nbsp;played Douglas Fairbanks, and we had&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0001267\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Balthazar<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0001267\/\"> Getty<\/a>&nbsp;who we already knew from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lost_Highway_(film)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lost<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lost_Highway_(film)\"> <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lost_Highway_(film)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Highway<\/a>. And it turned out to be a really interesting good little film that I got to pull out all the stops. It doesn\u2019t look like any movie you\u2019ve ever seen.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Can we see it? Is it out somewhere where we can see it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We still got to do a few little things to it before they\u2019re gonna release it, I think. And so what\u2019s going on is we still got to-do titles, I want to do one final color pass and things like that. But then it should be out, I\u2019m guessing in the next year or so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You were talking about how it didn\u2019t look like any other movie I\u2019ve ever seen. Can you keep going there because all of a sudden I\u2019m going, \u201cWell, I want to see it,\u201d and I interrupted you? My mouth moves too fast sometimes, I apologize. This is just so fascinating. So you were starting to tell us what was different about this film.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, the story is not unlike any other film you\u2019ve ever seen. It all takes place in Mary Pickford\u2019s head. And the premise of it, which is sort of the background material is Mary Pickford was offered&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0043014\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sunset<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0043014\/\"> Blvd.<\/a>&nbsp;by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Billy_Wilder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Billy Wilder<\/a>&nbsp;who wrote the script for her and she turned it down. But the part eventually went to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gloria_Swanson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gloria<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gloria_Swanson\"> Swanson<\/a>. But our film takes place in her mind from the time she gets the script. And when she turns it down as she looks back through her life, from 1909 to about 1949. And it\u2019s a very different film. It\u2019s a very beautiful film, the performances are amazing, the directions were very good, everything really kind of works with it, but it\u2019s not like your conventional movie. So I think it\u2019s worth seeing not only because it\u2019s a good film, but also because it\u2019s very different from anything you\u2019ve ever seen before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>That\u2019s awesome. So do you like directing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I directed a few little things. Earlier in my life, I didn\u2019t think I had anything to say, but I\u2019m thinking I\u2019m finally getting to the point where it could have something to convey to other people. I worked with a lot of first-time directors and I got to help guide them sometimes. My job is to serve the script and the director. That\u2019s a whole reason I\u2019m there. I\u2019m not there to take any glory for myself, I\u2019m just there to help them make the movie that\u2019s in their head and to serve the script. I lectured a lot of universities and taught at AFM and places like that, and at the University of South Carolina, where I went to school. My grandfather used to build houses on my mother\u2019s side, and I always looked at the script, like the foundation of the house. If you got a bad foundation, your house is gonna fall down. but if you got a good foundation or a good script, and you\u2019ve got something to build upon, to make that house and be a good sturdy house, it\u2019ll last forever. But you have to be faithful to it and not try to do too many modifications because the script itself tells you everything that the movie needs to be. It\u2019s right there on the pages, you just look at it, you read it, you know exactly what you need to be doing. And so if you follow that and are faithful to that, and you and the directors see eye to eye on what that should be, then you come out and you can make a very lovely film. If you and the director are not seeing eye to eye, buttin\u2019 heads, it\u2019s not going to be a very pleasant experience, and the film\u2019s not gonna be very good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>No, you\u2019re right. You\u2019re right.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it\u2019s I mean that that being said, sometimes you get a bad script and the right director or the right actress can save it. We have a saying in school, \u201cmaking chicken salad out of chicken sh*t.\u201d And so you take what you\u2019re given, and you do the absolute best you can with that, and you go forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How do you shoot that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, a perfect example is they gave me the script for Scream, which when they gave me the script, it was called Scary Movie that was the original name of the movie. And I read the script, and I thought, \u201cOh, man, this is awful. This is not a very good script.\u201d But other people disagreed. And in that group of actors they brought in and Wes Craven, it turned out to be an amazing film. It\u2019s like one of the classic horror films of all time. For 10 years, whenever they talked about horror films, they showed the opening shot of Drew Barrymore and it was like, for ten years. I\u2019m not kidding. Every time they talk about horror films there are those shots. And so the lesson to be learned from this is, you got to treat every movie you work on like an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/oscar.go.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Oscar<\/a>&nbsp;winner because you never know which one\u2019s going to do it. And you never know which one is going to strike it with the audience and with people. And the people involved, what they\u2019re going to do to make things actually a great film out of it. I mean, I\u2019ve had directors tell me to do things back when I was operating for them, I wouldn\u2019t understand, but I\u2019d watch and I\u2019d do it. And I do it with enthusiasm, of course, but then when I saw the film, I saw exactly why they wanted me to do that because they had something very specific in mind that I wasn\u2019t really grasping at that moment in time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every time I read a script and think about it and watch the movie that I see, I always think, \u201cWell, what would the director think about this?\u201d Then we start the dialogue. When we did the Mary Pickford film, Jen DiLia and I started meeting eight months before we shot the movie. We met and we started talking, we met for lunch, and we talked and then we looked at pictures of Mary. And we\u2019d go and discuss and discuss for months. And then we brought in the production designers and the costumers, and we sit down and say, \u201cWell, if we did this, if we did this, if we did this, we can have this effect,\u201d and, \u2018How do we want this scene to sell?\u201d and all these things. And it\u2019s a luxury to be able to do that because then you can have time to really hone in on what you\u2019re trying to do. Because some films you come in, like a week or two days before they want to roll cameras, and they\u2019re like, \u201cOkay, we\u2019re gonna shoot\u201d and I\u2019m like, \u201cOkay, we\u2019re gonna shoot? Sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You know it\u2019s hard to be creative when you don\u2019t have any time to let your mind wander. Your mind has to wander, you have to allow that.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Absolutely. So you need time for those ideas to gel in things. From the news days, I have been landing on my feet and shooting. And the films that I\u2019ve shot that way, they still look good, they still work. All these things are important, though. It just becomes a different movie, if you do that approach to it and if you have time to really set it up. And Mary needed time for us to think it through and gel it. Because it\u2019s a very different approach with the art direction, the costumes are amazing, the performances are amazing. We got some really incredible images that we wouldn\u2019t have done if we just jumped into it and just said, \u201cOkay, shoot it.\u201d I think if you have a movie where you want a frantic feel to it., and having a short prep time on it, it may give you that. You won\u2019t be able to think long-term results on it. But some movies don\u2019t have that, some just shoot it. Be done with it, move on to the next one. So I tend to want to do interesting things, though. So having a little time to think it over is a bonus to me.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dan, you\u2019re an eternal optimist. I love the way you take any situation and try to turn it into something positive. I think that\u2019s wonderful. What is the one thing you think the younger generation needs to hear from you that that you would want to say to them, there\u2019s a lot of kids out there with iPhones with DSLRs. They can\u2019t afford or even don\u2019t want some of the larger cameras that we grew up with. What do you tell them about what\u2019s important to take with them so that they can have their story come to life?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t try to start at the top. Get into the camera department or whatever department you want to be with, work with people that are better than you are, and learn. Because if you start at the top, you\u2019re robbing yourself of a foundation of really great knowledge that you can learn from others. I mean, I started out in South Carolina and we might do a job as a loader or an operator or a DP or whatever. But I\u2019ve done all the jobs in the camera department. But the other thing is, I\u2019ve worked under some amazing directors and amazing camera people. And I have a theory that I call; eyes open mouth shut. What that is, is if you see somebody doing something, watch them and try to figure out what they\u2019re doing, rather than asking them what they\u2019re doing. Because if you watch them and figure out what they\u2019re doing, and say, \u201cOh, that\u2019s why they\u2019re doing that,\u201d you\u2019ll remember that forever. But if you ask them a question, and they say, Oh, I just do this, because of that,\u201d you\u2019ll forget it. And it\u2019s not ingrained in your brain. And one of the things in this business is you want to take the knowledge that you learn in the things that you see to follow. So when you go and do another film, you won\u2019t have the exact same situations, but you\u2019ll be able to say, \u201cWell, in this film, we did this and this work that way. If I modify that here, I should get a result similar to this.\u201d And you can draw upon all that knowledge that you\u2019ve saved up over the years.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I just realized since the news days, I\u2019ve been doing this for 40 years. And there\u2019s a lot of knowledge in that. I mean, I worked with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0005679\/\">Alan <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0005679\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Daviau<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0004287\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Alex<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0004287\/\"> Thomson<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0825336\/\">Ueli Steiger<\/a>, all these wonderful cameramen. And&nbsp;Roy Wagner,&nbsp;Bob Primes&nbsp;just amazing, amazing amounts of knowledge, just to work with these people. And have them say well if you did it this way, it might be better. And this would be better. And this would help you. And if you do this way, you will run into trouble with this. And these are things that you fall away, rather than having to learn it all over again, and start at square one. It\u2019s always good to listen to your elders and to learn from them because they\u2019ve been through the wars. And that\u2019s really always very important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I\u2019m sure there are times when you give a commitment, and then somebody that you care about very much calls you and you can\u2019t do it. That\u2019s really hard isn\u2019t it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, yeah.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Spike_Jonze\">Spike <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Spike_Jonze\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jonze<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0000881\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Michael Bay<\/a>, and all these guys, when I was really busy, they were like, \u201cOh, can you come to do this?\u201d and then they\u2019d have their people call me and I\u2019m like, \u201cI can\u2019t.\u201d Which I can\u2019t fit in there, I was so busy that I just couldn\u2019t work at everybody I wanted to. In a way, it pains you, but I think you get the jobs you\u2019re meant to have. And that other people are getting the jobs they\u2019re supposed to have. And if you get a job where they really wanted somebody else, and they hired you, it is never a comfortable situation. My thoughts on that are you should hire who you want, don\u2019t hire me because of whatever reason, go hire the people that you want to hire and use them. And then you\u2019ll be happy, and I\u2019ll be happy, and I\u2019ll go work with other people that thought of me and rather than, like, just fill in a hole or void. Because I get along with everybody but it\u2019s like, some people are determined not to get along with anybody.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>There are a lot of interesting characters in our business. I want to take a slight detour, but I want to talk to you, I can\u2019t talk to someone like you without bringing up the subject of light. Obviously, we have a story, and we\u2019ll talk about technology in a minute, but light, isn\u2019t it all about light?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, we\u2019re as&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_Alton\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">John<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_Alton\"> Alton<\/a>&nbsp;said in his book, we\u2019re painting with light. Making a movie is very simple. If you put the camera in the right place with the right lens on it, you put the lights in the right place, you put the mark in the right place, you put the actor on the mark, and you roll the camera and you got a movie. But it\u2019s taken me 40 years to figure out what the right place is. I watched so many student films and films by people that are trying to start out, a lot of times the cameras are in the wrong place. But I\u2019ve had it pounded into my head, how to do an over, how to do a single, how to do a wide shot, and these are the stuff you learn with experience and by working with people that are better than you are. And I mean to this day, my hiring practices to find people that are better than I am is to let them do their jobs when they\u2019re on my crew. I don\u2019t try to be a micromanager. And because I\u2019ve been through micromanagement I know what it feels like. And other people might have a better idea than you do. Definitely, one of the biggest mistakes, if you\u2019re a leader is to think that you have all the ideas and nobody else has any. So that\u2019s a really, really important thing to remember.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>So when you\u2019re working as a DP, you have to find camera and people that you really trust to, it\u2019s the same thing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve had the same focus puller for 30 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Wow, that\u2019s awesome.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He\u2019s been my focus puller when they won the Oscar. And since I\u2019ve been in Los Angeles has been my main focus puller to all my Steadicam work, except for some of the David Lynch stuff which&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0720397\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Scott Ressler<\/a>&nbsp;who\u2019s now a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Arts. He teaches cinematography there. He was a focus puller for me many times and then on Mary Pickford, I had Steve on focus and Scott came in and operated some of the extra camera stuff. My main two camera operators were&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0325402\/\">Dan <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0325402\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Golden<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0239307\/\">Mitch <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0239307\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dubin<\/a>. And Dan did all the Spider-Man and unknown movies and Mitch did tons of Spielberg movies. So it\u2019s like, if I have talent like that around me, and my gaffers,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0132421\/\">Dwight <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0132421\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Campbell<\/a>, who gaffed always and far and away in the abyss, and you surround yourself with these talented people, and you let them do what they know how to do. That\u2019s very important. I\u2019ve gone into jobs and movies where I had to do everything because I had crews that were put upon me. And it\u2019s not saying that they were bad, but it\u2019s like, I\u2019d have to, like, tell them everything, and watch them and things. But when you have a great group of people surrounding you, you just let them do their jobs. And then I make suggestions, and I\u2019ll watch everything on monitors. I\u2019ll be just adjusting filtration, I\u2019ll be adjusting lenses, I\u2019ll be saying stops and in focal links and camera positions and everything else. I\u2019ll control that via radios and stuff through monitors. But a lot of times, you should let people do what they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>And that\u2019s why you\u2019ve won so many awards, too, because people love what you do. And you\u2019ve had an amazing career. How has technology challenged you because things have really changed since that first Super 8 camera that your mom had to now, where you could be shooting on just about any kind of camera, but the analog to digital was a huge jump and everything in between. You seem like the kind of person that adapts easily or was it hard for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I try to stay on top of all the latest stuff, or a lot of it. No, it\u2019s coming through like an astronomical rate. So it\u2019s almost overwhelming in a way. But you have to still learn a little bit about each one of these things and what might be the best way to do it. But again, it comes back to it\u2019s not the size of the wrenches the person behind the wrench. You can make a great movie and as they told us when I went to the University of Southern California and studied cinema there as well. And when they told us they said you can make an absolutely great movie in Super 8 or a home movie and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ultra_Panavision_70\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Super Panavision 70<\/a>. It\u2019s not the thing that you capture it with. It\u2019s the story, it\u2019s the script, it\u2019s the actors. Now, there are a lot of people that would argue that fact. But then there\u2019s a movie called The Celebration that was shot on a palm quarter and it got distributed. And David Lynch shot in an empire on a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ebay.com\/p\/100089378\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">PD 150<\/a>&nbsp;because he could let Laura Dern act for an hour and he had a one-hour set and she didn\u2019t have to cut her and you could just let her run. And he\u2019d love to be able to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This isn\u2019t really an interview about gear but I would like to ask you about perhaps your favorite lenses or some of your favorite tools that given the chance you like to work with. Do you want to talk about that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yeah, the lenses and cameras and different tools that I like to work with. I mean my favorite camera now, and it has been for a while is the Arriflex Alexa, and I usually put either&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zeiss.com\/corporate\/int\/about-zeiss.html\">Zeiss<\/a>&nbsp;super speeds on it, or in the case of Mary Pickford, we use Panavision Ultra speeds. Right now there\u2019s a renaissance in glass coming out when the digital cameras first came out there weren\u2019t that many lenses around. And so we\u2019re having like a flood of new lenses from all different sources come in now, which is really great for us because we have a lot of different things to choose from. But I still like the older glass now, because some of the new stuff is just too friggin sharp. And when it is sharp, it\u2019s razor-sharp in one plane and then they\u2019re not very forgiving, they fall out really quick. And it\u2019s not like the depth of field. It\u2019s like razor sharpness and then not so sharp. Whereas the other lenses that the older lenses I use, they tend to they slowly roll into focus and they slowly roll out and they\u2019re more forgiving. What happens with older lenses is they\u2019re more forgiving focus-wise, they don\u2019t have just one plane that\u2019s super sharp and everything else has fallen off. They roll into an area of focus, and they roll back out. They never quite get as sharp as some of the new lenses, they\u2019re a little bit softer. But on digital cameras, I find that that is more interesting to me because the digital sensors tend to get clinical sometimes and get very sterile. And so I want things to work with them to kind of take that digital edge of. Whereas film kind of did it on its own. And with a digital camera the sensors in one place; it doesn\u2019t move, all the color pixels are on the same plane. And with film you had three layers, and the film was always moving in the gate, flopping around. So that took out a lot of a lot of eels with film because the lenses would shoot further into the motion for different wavelengths of light. And the film itself was moving back and forth in the gate, so that gave you a little extra leeway.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When digital first came out, for focus pullers, we always kind of looked at it like it was a widowmaker because it was really difficult until people got used to it to pull focus on digital cameras because the film is forgiving in a way. And so the cameras I like right now are the Arri Alexa and the little Canons. Pretty much those are the ones, like the C-200 is really a nice&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.canon.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Canon<\/a>&nbsp;camera. And I\u2019m hearing really good things about the Sony Venice that seems to be nice. I just haven\u2019t shot anything with it yet. The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/pro-av.panasonic.net\/en\/cinema_camera_varicam_eva\/products\/varicam_lt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Panasonic<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/pro-av.panasonic.net\/en\/cinema_camera_varicam_eva\/products\/varicam_lt\/\"> VariCam LT<\/a>, I liked a lot. There are a lot of different cameras out there. Now a lot of people can make a decent sensor now but it\u2019s just the way that the lens combination in the color science behind that sensor really makes them whether they work well or not. And so that\u2019s kind of tricky stuff. Again, if you need a way to capture that image, you need a way with the sensor and with the lenses. And then with digital cameras, a lot of times you don\u2019t find yourself using color correcting filters but you find diffusions are kind of important. And then what kind of type of diffusion you use, and where you put it and other things like that. And then the other thing to remember is that once the cameras stop rolling, the director of photography&#8217;s job is only halfway done. The other half of the job we got to do is the color correction. So you go in and do a DI after the fact and that\u2019s where you do the other half of your direct photography work or your DP work. Because you go in and you take all this footage you\u2019ve captured and then you finally hone in the color and what you see and if there\u2019s anything that\u2019s been overexposed that you couldn\u2019t handle on the set.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These things are all very important too. So in the theater in the DI\u2019s suite, usually the best way to do it is you go into a place that has a big screen, like a 25-foot screen with a with a calibrated projector, usually a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barco.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Barco<\/a>&nbsp;or some other really high end $100,000 projector that has been calibrated to be color accurate. And you sit there with a colorist and you go through the movie shot by shot and you say okay, \u201cThis shot is a little too green, this shot is a little too red. This one we could sharpen it up a little bit if we needed to or not, there\u2019s a big overexposure. What can we do with that?\u201d Or \u201cCan we crush the blacks here?\u201d Whatever you want to do for the image that you\u2019re trying to get. And then you finally do your output and then make your DCP for projection or your progress or how are you going to output the movie. But that\u2019s the other half of your job. And a lot of times people don\u2019t realize this and they try to walk you out of the color suite, which is really a disadvantage.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Oh, that would be tragic.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, it happens. The thing that we\u2019ve tried to avoid right now as director of photographies that we\u2019ve looked at is data gatherers and not artists. And it kind of started with sound in Pro Tools. People recording in Pro Tools, and then they have a certain engineer that would record the main session, and then they\u2019d go to change it. And they said, \u201cWell, we don\u2019t need you anymore. We got your numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>That\u2019s sad.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, yeah, and it is sad, but there\u2019s certain ways that I shoot things, that I know that if I don\u2019t get to go in there and color, they\u2019re not gonna look good, because I\u2019ll take the camera down in the basement where it barely hangs on there. And so if you try to print it up too much, it\u2019s going to turn in noise and icky colors, and that kind of stuff. So there\u2019s a lot of things about design, that the way that you want things to look and the way the script needs, again, you come back to the script, the script requires this photography and it needs to be in this way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I think you\u2019re talking about the creative process, and taking it from start to finish and working with the team, for anyone on the creative side to be shut out of the final process is really difficult.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, I mean, I just hope to keep making great films. I go to Europe or go to museums or travel the world and see different environments. And that, to me, is wonderful, because you\u2019re always having constant input into your mind, as to what you could take, and how you can manipulate that into something that you can use on a film or just something to give you joy in life. That\u2019s really one of the main things for me, and to just have constant curiosity and constant joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I think you\u2019ll have it, I wish that for you. I hope that it continues well into the future. I can\u2019t thank you enough for the time today. And I think that what you\u2019re talking about is going to be very inspiring to both the young filmmakers starting out and the people who\u2019ve been around for a long time. We need more people like you in the business, Dan. So thanks for your time and your generosity. And I hope that we get to talk again soon. I\u2019d like to actually do another interview with you down the road, perhaps on camera about the technology and the cameras, and the lenses and sound and all of those aspects of the hardware side of what you do that might be fun. But in the meantime, thanks for sharing your big heart with us and I\u2019d like to say this is Cirina Catania and I\u2019m signing off from OWC Radio and thanking Dan Kneece. Do you want people to go to&nbsp;<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dankneece.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>DanKneece.com<\/strong><\/a><strong>? Where do you want them to go on the internet to learn more about you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, they can go to DanKneece.com or they can go put my name into IMDb and that\u2019ll have a lot of the different credits and things, I think there\u2019s a way to reach me there. But you can certainly do it through my website or on Facebook as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Awesome. Thank you so much, Dan. And thanks everyone for listening and remember what I always tell you get up off that chair and go do something wonderful today. Have a great day.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A personal note about Dan Kneece (RIP) from your OWC RADiO Host, Cirina Catania. &#8220;The world lost a wonderful person last week. Dan Kneece was loved by all of us in the entertainment industry. He worked tirelessly and with a great attitude. Ask Dan what is most important and he would say, &#8220;I work for&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[49,427,48,16,667,518,618,46,519],"tags":[418,239,14,61,681,682,71,29,39,683,680],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Cirina-Dan-Kneece-Patel-fr-Zeiss.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3572"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/owc-radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}