8 minute read
SMOOTH OPERATOR•DANNY BISHOP ACO ASSOCIATE BSC SOC
THE LOVELY
TRIANGLE By Natasha Block Hicks
For a child growing-up in the eighties, the Christmas holidays held more than just the promise of Santa and stockings. It was also when the annual round of ‘family favourite’ films would come on TV. For Daniel Bishop ACO Associate BSC SOC, joining us from the offices of One Stop Films – the kit rental company he runs ‘on the side’ with DP Jonathan Iles – that meant only one thing.
“I was obsessed with Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981, dir. Steven Spielberg, DP Douglas Slocombe OBE BSC ASC),” relates Bishop enthusiastically, “I remember the excitement of waiting to watch it.”
Bishop credits that film as the origin of his journey into filmmaking, an ambition which was galvanised when he studied the films of Stanley Kubrick as an 18-year-old.
“It sounds a bit clichéd to say that you love Kubrick,” Bishop admits, “but studying one-point perspective and having an understanding of how Kubrick approached his films really made me want to be a cameraman.”
Bishop’s early career was busy, travelling the world on Jack Osbourne: Adrenaline Junkie (20052007), undertaking an apprenticeship with operator Joe McNally learning Jimmy Jib and Steadicam, and filling any free time with non-paying shorts. He counts himself very fortunate to have attended a Steadicam training workshop in 2004 with Garrett Brown and Larry McConkey SOC.
“There are things they taught me that I think about when I’m working, even now,” he says.
In 2008, tired of globetrotting and being absent from home, Bishop turned his attention to drama. His first movie operating A-camera was Reuniting The Rubins (2010, DP Miles Cook).
“Leading up to that job I was spending every moment studying a book Spielberg wrote about shooting drama, to try and get my head around things like the 180° rule, eyelines, et cetera,” recalls Bishop.
Around this time Bishop met British DP James Friend BSC ASC, also cutting his teeth on movies, and the pair worked together on a clutch of lowbudget features such as Dead Cert (2010) and Papadopoulos & Sons (2012).
“I’m very efficient with time as a product of working on those jobs,” divulges Bishop, “sometimes they were shot in four weeks. And I really learned from my mistakes.”
From there on Bishop had a rule-of-thumb that each job he took should be a step-up, career-wise.
Parting ways with Friend, Bishop took B-camera/ Steadicam on The Sweeney (2012, dir. Nick Love, DP Simon Dennis BSC), his first film that achieved cinema release.
“Nick was intimidating but he really pushed me,” Bishop recalls, “there were some long Steadicam one-takers on that project.”
The experience paved the way for a stint on Ripper Street (2013, dir. Kieron Hawkes, DP Simon Dennis BSC) where Bishop could further “push the envelope” as he says.
“I was starting to have real input with the director and the DP in that lovely triangle,” he comments, “and I devised some beautiful Steadicam shots that I uses on my showreel.”
In 2016 Bishop took an “out-of-the-blue” call from Suzie Lavelle ISC BSC inviting him to BAFTA to interview for a mystery job. Director Douglas Mackinnon, Lavelle and producer Sue Vertue were awaiting him in the meeting room.
“My mouth was so dry,” remembers Bishop, “even before I knew it was on the TV series Sherlock – The Abominable Bride (2016).”
Interviews were being conducted with camera operators specifically to find someone who would have a good connection with Benedict Cumberbatch, starring as Sherlock Homes, for the only feature-length Christmas special that was to be set in Victorian England. That someone was Bishop.
“Benedict is very professional and, from the moment he arrives on-set, he wants to be the best he can possibly be,” reveals Bishop. “Sherlock definitely felt like a benchmark for my operating; I had never worked with an actor so closely before.”
The production often utilised wide lenses, a matter of feet from the cast.
“It was very intense but a great experience,” remarks Bishop. “Benedict recognises the relationship between the actor and the camera operator, and he’s really respectful. He always knew what lens I was on and what that meant in terms of size on him and would often look at me to see if I was happy with a take. If I wasn’t, he would insist on another one.”
The time had come to work with Friend once again, and the two teamed up on Glasgow-based thriller Rillington Place (2016, dir. Craig Viveiros).
“It was the first job where I started to think about
Opposite: (top) Danny (l) working on Patrick Melrose, with director Edward Berger (middle), DP James Friend BSC ASC (below) and actor Benedict Cumberbatch. This page: working on Jack Osbourne: Adrenaline Junkie; pictured with Jack Osbourne in New Zealand; Danny on his first operating job in Slovenia; and as a veteran on All Quiet On The Western Front. Centre image: shooting Timothy Spall on Reuniting The Rubins.
precision framing,” relates Bishop. “I’d ask myself what my frame was, why was it important, what was in the back of frame and why certain details were there. James got the
BAFTA for his project, so the hard work paid-off.”
Bishop’s next three operating jobs alongside Friend were as part of a trio with director Edward Berger: the Showtime drama series Patrick Melrose (2018) and Your Honor (2020-2021), and the Netflix feature film All Quiet on the Western Front/ Im Westen Nichts Neues (2022), which was filmed entirely in the Czech Republic.
“Ed really pushed me to think beyond what I thought I knew,” recalls Bishop of his work on Patrick Melrose, his second project with Cumberbatch. “He likes stories with strong central characters and uses lots of centre framing. There are so many scenes in Patrick Melrose that I wouldn’t have conventionally framed in the way we did, with high head room for instance, but we had a plan and a formula, which created a unique style that I’m very proud of.”
Friend was keen to bring Bishop on to Your Honor, despite it being filmed in New Orleans. Before shooting commenced, Bishop, Berger and Friend spent two weeks surgically analysing the shot list, scene-by-scene, often working late into the night.
“It was exhausting,” remembers Bishop, “but when we started turning-over, we knew exactly what we were doing.”
Bishop found the photographer Gregory Crewdson in his mind when composing some of the frames.
“I love those kind of influences,” he says enthusiastically. “There’s one particular shot that we did of the crash scene. It’s a beautiful high static of the intersection with the car and smoke. It could be a Crewdson photograph.”
Bishop was subsequently recognised with the 2021 BSC Operator’s Award for his operating on Your Honor S1:E1.
“It’s humbling to have my name included alongside some of those other names on the award, people I really admire,” says Bishop, “but I don’t think of that award as being just mine, it came from a partnership.
“I can’t imagine never being behind the camera,” Bishop confides, “having conversations with the actors, working out the framing, problem solving… And the really nice thing about the operators in the UK is that they are so lovely and friendly.”
Alone with the wheels in a tent on All Quiet On The Western Front, steeling himself for a very complicated stunt scene that required an hour’s reset each take, Bishop texted Peter Robertson ACO SOC Associate BSC, the serving president of the ACO.
“I had this overwhelming pressure,” admits Bishop, “I asked Peter if he ever felt like that. He sent me a really reassuring message back saying he always feels like that.”
All Quiet On The Western Front was shot whilst lockdowns were still recurring sporadically throughout Europe. Coming out of isolation with his wife and children, Bishop then didn’t see them for five months during the shoot.
“It was incredibly lonely,” admits Bishop, “but what it meant was I put my heart and soul into the job.”
On arrival in Prague, he was handed with a comprehensive ‘bible’ of shots and storyboards, which, thanks to the first lockdown, Berger and Friend had had plenty of time to prepare.
“I’ve never been so prepped for a job before,” says Bishop, “I was thinking like a chess player, two or three days ahead.”
Nonetheless, a packed shooting schedule, freezing temperatures, thick mud, explosions, stunts and long resets tested Bishop’s mettle.
“I operated on three takes of that shot from inside the tent,” relates Bishop, “and the last two takes were usable. Ed came over and I literally burst into tears in his arms on the battlefield.”
In a stark juxtaposition, Bishop’s next role, the long-awaited Todd Field movie Tár (2022, DP Florian Hoffmeister BSC), required him largely to “create beautiful static frames.”
“That’s another thing I love about operating,” he elaborates, “how different each job can be.”
As the festive season of 2022 begins to roll around, Bishop is looking forward to sharing his his excitement for old family favourites with the next generation.
“I have this deep-rooted affection for Raiders Of The Lost Ark that’s never waived,” he admits. With any luck, time can be found in his busy schedule to enjoy it once again this coming Christmas, in the company of his son… Indy.
