In Conversation with Nigel Walters bsc

In Conversation with

Nigel Walters bsc

By GUIDO KONDRUSS

Credit: John Narvali

Nigel Waters bsc (left) with Joan Hutton csc at the 2015 CSC Awards in Toronto.

For the past six years, Nigel Walters BSC has been the president of IMAGO, an international umbrella organization for cinematography societies around the world. Originally, IMAGO was a European federation that allowed non-European societies to belong as non-voting associate members. Last year, after changing its statutes, non-European societies could now become full members of IMAGO with all rights and privileges. One of the first to be admitted was Canada, making the CSC the first society to join from North America. Walters, who is also vice-president of the British Society of Cinematographers, was in Toronto for the 58th Annual CSC Awards Gala, where he presented the society’s past President Joan Hutton csc with an IMAGO Tribute award for her years supporting IMAGO’s aspirations of becoming a global organization and bringing the CSC into its fold. Canadian Cinematographer spoke with Walters about IMAGO and its two major initiatives, authorship rights and working conditions for cinematographers.

Canadian Cinematographer: Can you tell us a little bit about the history of IMAGO?

Nigel Walters BSC: IMAGO came about through the inspiration of Italian cinematographer Luciano Tovoli. With the fall of communism and the opening of the Eastern Bloc, Europe was being inundated with new cinematographers, and it was felt that standards needed to be developed for cinematography and to keep those standards as high as possible for everyone’s benefit. There was also a need for establishing authors’ rights. So Luciano pushed for societies of Europe to band together to establish some sort of order. That was in 1992, when four societies – the Italians, the Germans, the British and the French – came together, forming a nucleus and called it IMAGO. Today there are 47 societies worldwide, and when it gets to 50 societies, I’m calling it a day and going home.

CC: How did the name IMAGO come about?

NW: Nobody seems to know. However, in Latin imago means “image” or “reflection,” and since we’re all cinematographers, it’s a good bet that the name probably originated there.

CC: You mentioned earlier authorship rights for cinematographers. Can you elaborate on that?

NW: Authors’ rights is one of the fundamental reasons for the existence of IMAGO. Right now, through the European Union we’re working towards changing regulations in Europe regarding residual payments to cinematographers for their work as image creators. There are many European countries that are paying cinematographer residuals on one level or another. But it’s uneven.

CC: Is there any hope at all that author rights will become standardized throughout all countries?

NW: Well, this is exactly what IMAGO is about. We’re trying to standardize it, and we are succeeding. But it’s a slow business and it doesn’t happen overnight. The situation regarding authors’ rights across the board (all areas of copyright) is at this moment under very serious review (by the EU) for urgent attention. Author rights are going to change in Europe, and we cinematographers want to have a part in that change.

CC: How sympathetic is the EU towards cinematographer authorship rights in specific?

NW: Are they sympathetic? They want to do what is right, but we have to persuade them, and I think they are listening. We’ve got very positive responses to our approaches. We’ll know hopefully this summer whether or not this new legislation comes in and encompasses the word “cinematographer” as a recognized co-author of the image. We have a lawyer, a German lady, she works out of Barcelona, her name is Cristina Busch, and she represents us voluntarily, putting forth our case at EU meetings in Brussels. We’re hopeful. We already made a big breakthrough in the last two years with the EU recognizing IMAGO for the first time as a representative cinematographers’ organization, a federation. So they are listening to us.

CC: Where are you finding the most resistance to authorship rights?

NW: There’s resistance obviously from the people who will be affected. At the moment, directors are getting 100 per cent

By Professionals, For Professionals

LIGHTING FOR TABLE TOP

June 6 & 7, 2015 Participant fee: $395 CSC Members $550 non-members • Lunch provided

In spite of the term “table top” this type of cinematography can be employed for areas that require a much larger work area than a table. However, the term is universally accepted and during this workshop we will confine our exercises to an area that will be both practical as well as manageable … a “tabletop”.

In this workshop the participants will be instructed in the following:

w The psychological approach to advertising of products either stationary or while being used. w Understanding the approach to specifics products and how best to photograph them. w Learn about the various lighting instruments required for this kind of application. w How to evaluate the special requirements, both aesthetically as well as technically to achieve the intended results. w How to apply special techniques and the methods for lighting a variety of products, surfaces and textures.

As this is not classified as a “basic workshop” an important perquisite for this course is that the participants have a good understanding as well as working knowledge of the following:

w Working knowledge of lighting instruments such as: fresnel’s, open face, kinos, HMI’s etc. w Working knowledge of grip equipment such as: grip stands, grip arms, sky highs, frames, etc. w Understand the basics of modifying light sources using flags, nets, fingers, styrofoam, foam core, show card, etc. w Knowledge and understanding of the differences between hard and soft light as well as the basic terminologies regarding it.

For an application please visit the CSC website: www.csc.ca telephone 416-266-0591 *CSC reserves the right to postpone workshop date(s) Day One (morning) Will consist of exploring and the evaluation of product photography using a psychological approach. Different techniques for lighting products will also be introduced and accompanied by samples of real advertising scenarios.

Day One (afternoon) Group selection will take place and participant numbers will dictate the number of tabletop set-ups to be used. Each set-up will be in a specified area and each working group will have the attention of a dedicated instructor for the duration of that exercise. Each set-up will have also have a camera and monitor to record the images, which will be played back at the end of the workshop for evaluation. After the completion of each exercise, the set-up will be dismantled and the groups will rotate so that each team has an opportunity to experience different scenarios.

Day two

Will consist of the same procedure and it is expected that as many set-ups as possible will be undertaken so that the learning curve may be as expanded.

Nigel Walters bsc

of the cake in some countries. In other countries they get a percentage depending on the type of film that’s being produced. There’s a big push underway, reaching out to FERA (Federation of European Film Directors). We’re trying to work closely with them, because if cinematographers are ever going to get authors’ rights, it has to be in agreement with people who are already getting these rights.

CC: Are the directors open to this? Are they agreeable to it in any form?

NW: Factions of them are. It’s a question of persuasion. Views change all the time, but authors’ rights is quite an important decision for everyone involved. We’re working on it all the time.

CC: Outside of Europe, authorship is a very foreign notion and virtually non-existent, unless a cinematographer is also the producer. How do you see author rights gaining ground with your non-European members such as Canada?

NW: At the moment, we’re having enough trouble trying to get our own people in Europe sorted out. I mean, you’ve got to understand, we can’t go along that path at the moment. Until last year, IMAGO was just a European federation with little influence outside of its sphere. But little by little, by becoming a strong global federation, we can hopefully influence things worldwide. The Japanese and Australians, for example, are very interested in what’s happening in Europe with authors’ rights. They know that this is the key for the rest of the world. Once progress is made in the EU, other societies in the world can use that as leverage for their countries. The eventual goal would be for the Canadians to say, “This is what we need and we need to push for it!” The advantage then is belonging to a global federation like IMAGO that will stand behind you.

CC: All this still sounds very theoretical and a work in progress.

NW: Yes, it’s very much a work in progress at this time.

CC: So IMAGO is a political organization willing to exert pressure?

NW: No. Direct politics does not enter into our thinking at all, but when we’re asked, we do lend our voice. For instance, some of our European societies had problems with their governments, who were trying to take away established cinematographer rights in their countries. The Bulgarians asked us to help when they were facing potential changes in legislation from their parliament, much to the detriment of cinematographers. We wrote a strongly worded note, which was read out in the Bulgarian Parliament, and I would like to think that as a result of that the proposed legislation change was withdrawn. This also happened in two other countries since I’ve been president. One of them was Estonia last year, and four years ago in Latvia, who were facing exactly the same problem. So we can help persuade.

CC: IMAGO also extensively champions the improvement of working conditions for cinematographers, do you not?

NW: Yes, we do. We have in Europe probably one or two countries who have what I would call “model working conditions.” One of those is Denmark.

CC: What is a model working condition?

NW: A model working condition is a reasonable working week for cinematographers with very little overtime, and when it is needed, proper notice is given with no duress for refusal. Also, that productions allot a reasonable amount of preparation time to cinematographers. Simply put, we want cinematographers treated like human beings. This actually works in Denmark because it is properly planned. I know that the Danish situation cannot be everywhere, but we can strive to make it better. The big problem in Europe is the selfemployed worker chasing too few jobs, and working conditions break down without a system.

CC: How is that?

NW: In Portugal, for example, the self-employed individual has no legal standing whatsoever. They cannot belong to a union because there are simply no unions for having, and that is a pretty vulnerable position for people to be in and is open to abuse. CC: So how is IMAGO working to make things better? NW: We in IMAGO believe in working in communication with everybody – from directors, producers and unions – to

promote a better understanding of working conditions so we can effect change. But here again, we’re not a political force and all we can do for the moment is exert influence through a country’s respective organizations.

CC: What do you think IMAGO can do for the CSC?

NW: I think IMAGO can do a tremendous amount for the CSC. But you must remember it’s not a one-way business. IMAGO is whatever a society puts into it and makes it. You know, IMAGO really doesn’t exist. The societies exist and they are a loose federation which calls itself IMAGO. We are the sum of their ideas, their needs and their drive all rolled into what we hope will be one strong global voice for cinematography and cinematographers. I think bringing Canadians like any other cinematographer group into IMAGO is bringing them into the larger discussion, whether it be author rights, technology or working conditions, you will have a say and input. We offer friendship and the opportunity of being part of a much larger community with similar goals. I’m sure Canada has much to contribute to IMAGO. I’m waiting to hear.

CC: So what is it you would like to hear from the CSC? What are your expectations?

NW: Every society in IMAGO finds its own way to contribute. In the Bible it says, “In my Father’s house, there are many mansions,” and in IMAGO there are many rooms. For instance, the Israeli room, it’s about working conditions. They are very efficient in this regard with good standards. They are teaching us a lot and leading the way for us to better organize working conditions in Europe. The Australians, besides having great enthusiasm for anything IMAGO does, have become involved with helping organize our master classes. We don’t know enough about Canadayet. You’re still all too new as a full member of IMAGO. But if Joan Hutton is any indication, the CSC will be a staunch member. Her presence at our meetings (Annual General Assembly) before the CSC became a full member showed that Canada was behind us in our efforts to become a global organization. She was of great moral support to me and what I was trying to accomplish.

CC: One last question. Where do you see IMAGO going in the future?

NW: Well, I think it’s going to continue to evolve. I see the Americans coming in and the organization becoming then much stronger and much better organized. I want the next president to be a woman. I’ve got somebody in mind, not going to tell you who, but I want that to happen. IMAGO will continue to advocate for author rights and better working conditions, hopefully making the world a fairer place for cinematographers. I don’t know, maybe I’m living in cloud cuckoo land, but I truly believe that by becoming a global organization, IMAGO can make it better for everyone. For more on IMAGO: www.imago.org