The Reassuring Presence of the Camera Operator
by Jacqueline Bisset

From the Spring 1995 issue of the Operating Cameraman

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Having been asked to come and give these awards, I've been thinking about the contributions of so many different people who don't usually get the credit and attention they deserve, and who are now being shown some respect, a small word but a big issue.

From the point of view as an actress, the people behind the camera are the most intimately tied in to me when I'm performing, apart from the actors of course. The operator is really the person who sees a performance in the most detail, especially nowadays when the director is frequently off in a corner watching a video screen, with less than a perfect image.

The operator's eye and quiet presence is the audience that most performers need. The personality of the operator, watching through the lens, guarding his frame, can be the most encouraging, accepting and somehow a sensual presence. Hawk-like and alert, and yet kind and unjudgmental. When the actor ties in to the personality behind the camera, knowing that he or she is inside your head, there is a tremendous mutual trust. It is like love. Everything in this process of film making, in my mind, is about love.

Acting is about love, even when scenes are angry or bitter, full of hatred, they should be about love. Lighting is definitely about love. Camera operating is being in touch with the generosity and truth of the moments that we all try to show the audience.

This requires patience, a sharp eye, a sturdy, delicate hand, an organized mind, an unflappable, unobtrusive manner and lots of practice. I think also a willingness to redirect one's own ego for the sake of the piece. For the love of life and all it's untidy maneuverings. This is a great contribution.

The great contribution that I have just talked about would probably hold true for the still photographer as well, though the position of the unit photographer has become harder and harder each film I do. I'm shocked to see how little time they are given to do what is an absolutely essential part of a film's life span, and its depiction in the media.

I made a film some years ago with the French director, Francois Truffaut. No one has impressed me more with the respect he gave to each contributor in his crew. After each setup, he stopped the noise and bustle to give the photographer time to take wonderful story-telling photographs, in a minimum of time and I add: Photographs that would later grace the pages of magazines and film books.

I find myself referring to him and wishing that crews could experience what is rarely given to them. Still photographers are bullied and rushed by assistant directors and production on the set. Then bullied and criticized when they don't have the shots to sell the moments that make the magic. That is surely what we are all doing here, hoping to make magic.