Some of what I consider my best work, and some of the best films that I've ever worked on, kind of disappear without a trace. There's no accounting for it. Something connects, or something doesn't.
Roger DeakinsRead
There's so many films from around the world, I emphasize, that are so beautifully photographed, but they don't get the recognition.
Interpretation
Many beautifully made films go unnoticed despite their artistic value.
Roger Deakins points out the unfortunate reality that numerous films from different cultures and regions are crafted with exceptional artistry, yet they often fail to receive the acknowledgment they deserve in the film industry. This highlights the subjective nature of recognition in art and the need for broader appreciation of diverse cinematic expressions.
In practice
Using this quote in a film festival speech to emphasize the importance of recognizing diverse talents.
Some of what I consider my best work, and some of the best films that I've ever worked on, kind of disappear without a trace. There's no accounting for it. Something connects, or something doesn't.
You can’t learn your craft by copying me or anyone else. I hope what I do can do is in some way inspire others but I would be appalled if I thought my work was being studied as ‘the right way to do the job’. My way is just one of an infinite number of ways to do the job.
Am I nostalgic for film? … I mean, it’s had a good run, hasn’t it? You know, I’m not nostalgic for a technology. I’m nostalgic for the kind of films that used to be made that aren’t being made now.
If you shoot with a billion cameras, then there's no perspective. You want to use one shot at a time, so it's better to discover what that is before you shoot, rather than trying to make something in the cutting room, and then it just becomes generic.
Someone said to me, early on in film school... if you can photograph the human face you can photograph anything, because that is the most difficult and most interesting thing to photograph.
There's nothing worse than an ostentatious shot or some lighting that draws attention to itself, and you might go, 'Oh, wow, that's spectacular.' Or that spectacular shot, a big crane move, or something. But it's not necessarily right for the film — you jump out, you think about the surface, and you don't stay in there with the characters and the story.
Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason.
Film should be looked at straight on; it is not the art of scholars but of illiterates.
Then I thought, Whoa. If there are no photographs, then there is no history. I'm going to get in there. I'm going to make these pictures. We need a record.
An interior is the natural projection of the soul.
The kind of writing that matters most to me is something you don't learn about. It's constantly coming out of what I don't know rather than what I do know.
Perfume is like a parenthesis, a moment of freedom, peace, love and sensuality in between the disturbances of modern living.
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