Derek Vanlint

[Coyote]

Does anyone know anything about the career of the cinematographer Derek Vanlint? He shot Alien and Dragonslayer back to back, then more or less dropped off the radar until a couple of years ago, when he directed a feature with Dennis Hopper (as per the IMDB). Why on earth doesn't such a good DP work more?

[Mitch Gross]

Shooting/directing very high paid commercials.

[Guest fstop]

VanLint came from commercials so that's really his domain (although ironically he is also one of the world's most influential feature DPs after only 2 films!)

 

Great showreels here:

 

http://www.seslercompany.com/roster/15_derek.html

 

To date, Vanlints feature work has been:

 

Alien

Dragonslayer

Conan The Barbarian (FX tests of the snake)

Xmen (1 shot of the miniature trainstation, as he resides in Toronto where the shoot was happening and they needed an animorphic model cameraman)

[Ignacio Aguilar]

I saw today Dragonslayer for the second time in my life and I was even more impressed than the first time. The production design and cinematography are just gorgeus. The cave scenes are very well lit (though some ambient fill light is a little obvious), but what surprised me the most was how natural looking are the day exteriors (considering Vanlint's background), the ammount of smoke used on the forest scenes and specially the how well the anamorphic frame is used in the classical way.

 

I would have loved The Lord of the Rings to look this way.

 

Derek Vanlint, what a great cinematographer we lost to commercials...

Edited May 21, 2005 by Ignacio Aguilar

[Tony Brown]

I was the 2nd AC on Dragonslayer. Shortly after the film Dereks marriage went tits up and he subsequesntly moved from the UK to Canada where I believe he directed commercials.

 

Peter MacDonald also shot some nice stuff on Dragonslayer 2nd unit by the way.

 

Did Dragonslayer ever make DVD? I remember him getting slaughtered because there wasn't enough on the neg to lift for the VHS market. how times have changed.

 

And did you ever see a leading pair give worse performances than in that film? How we laughed........ i'll never forget the accents..... :D

[Tony Brown]

I seem to remember shooting stuff at weekends for a shot film called The Bed (I think) that he directed / lit.... and may have written. can't remember. it was shot at his house in Berkshire.

[Phil Rhodes]

Hi,

 

I'm somewhat surprised he didn't end up working with La Scott a bit more - considering most of what Scott's done since has been from a similar visual area as Alien.

 

Phil

[Guest fstop]

You have to remember that Scott and Vanlint worked for many years together at the former's Scott Associates commericals firm shooting dozens and dozens and dozens of ads.

 

I too love Dragonslayer, particularly the oversmoked exteriors. pretty obvious to see from this that Ridley Scott wasn't the complete brains behind the photographic visuals of Alien (contrary to what theorists and biographers would have you believe). I also think the travelling matte work, for a film Tony describes as having had a very thin negative, was some of the best from the optical era. I know the late Roy Field and Dennis Bartlett got involved with the big flo lit bluescreen stage at Pinewood for it, but the quality of the bluescreen photography is certainly some of the crispest and consistent with the main unit ever seen. That whole magic sequence with Sir Ralph Richardson going crazy with the rolling clouds overhead doesn't have a matteline or grain in sight! The shot actually outdoes alot of really quality larger format originated process work from the time too! All of the plates for the ILM stuff also look so easy, yet most of them were shot on badly overcast days or barely getting an exposure for those animorphic lenses- just compare them to similar shots taken on muddy days for travelling mattes for Harryhausen's Clash of The Titans from the same year.

 

I wonder if Mr. Vanlint is reading this thread? :blink:

Edited June 9, 2005 by fstop