Behind the Scenes on the Stunning Cinematography of Sundance Winner ‘The Birth of a Nation' [PODCAST]
At the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, actor-writer-director Nate Parker's The Birth of a Nation won both the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award and sold for a record $17.5 million. Listen to our 40-minute in-depth podcast with cinematographer Elliot Davis (The Iron Lady, Twilight, Out of Sight) right here:

The Birth of a Nation cinematography
Cinematographer: Elliot Davis
Technical specs: 2.40:1, Arri Alexa XT, Red Dragon

"Nate explained to me, 'this is a dark period in history. The film should not be afraid to be dark."

"Nate had lived with this project for seven years... he already knew every frame of the movie."

"The sooner [the director] sees what you want it to look like, the better, because that's the only look they know."

"My best tool is the Digital Intermediate. If I had to make a film with only one thing, that's what I would make it with. I would give up all of my lights, of course you can't give up the camera, but I would just have the camera and the DI."

"Develop yourself as a person. To me, the way you do that is you study anything but cinematography. You want to develop a way of looking at the world, a worldview that becomes your own."
For more podcasts, please subscribe in iTunes, Soundcloud, the podcasting app of your choice, or listen to more episodes from Sundance right here:
No Film School's podcasts from the 2016 Sundance Film Festival are sponsored by Canon and Rode Microphones.
For more from Sundance, see our complete coverage of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.











