A Brief Guide to Roger Deakins’ Cinematography

Discover the work of the Oscar-winning cinematographer, known for films such as Blade Runner 2049, Fargo and 1917

Roger Deakins is a living legend. At 71, not only is the British DP still active, he is arguably at the top of his game (and given that cameras keep getting lighter and lighter, he has no plans to retire any time soon).

Best known for his collaborations with directors such as the Coen brothers, Sam Mendes, Michael Radford, Ron Howard, and Denis Villeneuve, Deakins has worked on a myriad of films shot on wide-ranging budgets, exploring completely different genres. Each one has a unique look.

He is the recipient of five BAFTA Awards for Best Cinematography and has been nominated fifteen times for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, winning twice with the films Blade Runner 2049 and 1917, with the latter being filmed to look like one continuous shot.

While Deakins often favors certain equipment (usually shooting on a sharp medium or wide-angle prime spherical lens) or a particular way of framing a scene, his success comes down to his expertise in building one-of-a-kind alternate realities from scratch for every film he works on. “I don’t think I have a style. I hope I have a style that suits the project that I’m on,” he says.

His approach comes down to intense planning and preparation to work out what is right for a film, as opposed to using the same heavily stylized tricks across his entire oeuvre.

“I like to be involved in location scouting and the discussions about the sets; there’s nothing worse than getting on a set and looking at the blocking and thinking, ‘Well, that window is too high, or, how do I do a pan because there’s a wall here?’ I’ve never been in that situation because I always insist on having a lot of prep time and being involved very early on.” - Roger Deakins

Deakins repeatedly insists in interviews that there is good cinematography and there is bad cinematography, and then there is cinematography that works for the film. According to him, if the cinematography is right, it should almost go unnoticed, immersing the audience in the story. If the audience is thinking about how spectacular the visuals are while watching the film, then you haven’t done your job properly. Deakins’ focus is on where he is placing the audience and the emotional connection that creates, meticulously analyzing how every element in the frame will affect the viewer.

Born in Devon, England, in 1949, he studied painting and graphic design before developing a love for photography. When he first applied to the National Film and Television School, his application was turned down because his photography wasn’t considered "filmic" enough. He spent the following year wandering the countryside photographing rural life in North Devon, before finally being accepted to the NFTS in 1972. William Eggleston is one of the photographers he has referred to as having made an impact on him.

After graduating, Deakins found work as a camera operator on various documentary projects around the world. In the early 70s and 80s, he was involved in various music projects and made videos for Herbie Hancock, Eric Clapton, and Marvin Gaye.

He first began working on feature films in the early 1980s and soon teamed up with his former NFTS classmate, director Michael Radford, to shoot 1984, starring John Hurt and Richard Burton, which Deakins still considers one of his favorite projects he has worked on to this day. To create the film’s washed-out palette to convey Orwell’s bleak vision, Deakins pioneered a process known as bleach bypass, which retains the silver in the print.

His long-term collaboration with the Coen brothers began in 1991 with Barton Fink, which picked up the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival.

In 1994, Deakins shot what is often voted one of the best films of all time, The Shawshank Redemption, for which he received his first Academy Award nomination.

Deakins first teamed up with British director Sam Mendes for Jarhead (2005), and they went on to work together on Revolutionary Road (2008), Skyfall (2012), and 1917 (2019).

They will soon join forces again for Empire of Light (TBC), a love story set in and around a beautiful old cinema on the South Coast of England in the 1980s, starring Oscar winner Oliva Coleman.

In his films, you will often notice his use of a frame, such as doorways and windows, and other scenic elements, to break up the wide frame. The camera will often move through these frames as it approaches the character or the main action in the scene.

Deakins has always preferred to operate the camera himself so that he can naturally respond to what’s happening in the scene, having complete control of the final result. This is also why he prefers to use a single camera set-up and avoid using multiple cameras unless he absolutely has to.

If you would like to learn about different cinematography techniques and equipment, check out our cinematography courses.

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