Roger Deakins Pulls Back the Curtain on How He Actually Thinks About Shots

A cinematographer like Roger Deakins probably needs no introduction on our website, but quickly, I'll tell you that he's widely considered the GOAT.

The guy has shot moves over the last 40 years that stick out in your mind. From No Country for Old Men to Skyfall to The Big Lebowski, Dune, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford , the guy's eyes have influenced generations of filmmakers.

In his new book, Reflections: On Cinematography, legendary Oscar-winner Roger Deakins and his collaborator (and wife) James Ellis Deakins pull back the curtain on a craft that is often misunderstood as "just making things look pretty."

They talked about these difficulties with The Guardian in a recent interview.

Let's dive in.

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Roger Deakins on Being A Cinematographer

I can't wait to dig into Roger Deakins' book. It feels like there's a ton of insight on the process of being a cinematographer, as well as all the internal things he goes through in order to set up a great shot.

And it's not all answers. In The Guardian piece, Deakins admits to sometimes being lost. He says, “How can I tell the story visually in the frame?”

With that kind of approach, he then works intricately to figure out the emotion that needs to be conveyed, along with how the light and composition will affect it.

They know the weight of the cinematographer is massive; people won't give it credit, but it will be responsible for whether or not they feel sucked into the story.

Writing the book on cinematography opened him and James up to their process and caused them to reflect on the job in general.

Deakins said. “I think my career path has been unlikely. It certainly seems unlikely if I look back at myself at 16.”

But Deakins has come a long way since then. Still, when it comes ot the future of cinematography and the film industry, he's worried.

He says, “The film industry is in a bit of a decline at the moment”.

We're seeing Hollywood confront AI and even mandatory ways to light on platforms like Netflix. And lots of lights are now lit on volume stages or done with CGI. A lot of this takes the artistry and creativity out of the job.

Deakins is known for his painterly scenes.

How can we expect the legend to keep going if we take the brushes from him?

The solution for all of this is to go out and have an adventure. Deakins wants more directors and cinematographers to experience the world.

He says, “Life experience is something that is not talked about a lot,” and continued, “I think some of the directors that are raised in the bubble of the film world, they keep reinventing the same damn movies. They don’t really reach out outside of their movie world.”

Worldly experience will allow you to see scenes in new ways, understand the motions on the page better, and translate them into visuals. They give you a life to pull from and a way to connect to others.

But you have to seek it out to find it.

Summing It All Up

Deakins's book is full of these tidbits of useful information and a lot of other cool things. My library copy is almost due for return, but I think I'll go out to buy it in order to be able to dig through it more slowly and to gather all the wisdom.

Let me know what you think in the comments.