Steven Barry Poster, A.S.C, I.C.G. (born 1 March 1944) is an American cinematographer [1] and photographer [2] who is the former President of the International Cinematographers Guild. [3] [4] [5] He is best known for his collaborations with Richard Kelly, including the director's 2001 cult classic Donnie Darko.
Poster began his career as a creative assistant at 'The Film Group,' a commercial film production company based in Chicago, Illinois. After being promoted to director of photography due to his skill at lighting, he met Herschell Gordon Lewis and worked with him in various crew positions on a total of three films. [1] Poster founded a production company with director Michael Mann and served as the cinematographer on numerous industrial and education films. [1] He served as the second-unit director of photography on Close Encounters of the Third Kind . Poster joined the American Society of Cinematographers in 1987, relocating to Hollywood in the process. He shot the iconic music video to Madonna's "Like a Prayer", as well as commercials directed by Ridley Scott and Kinka Usher. In 1988, he was nominated for the ASC Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatrical Releases for his work on Someone to Watch Over Me. Poster served as the President of the ASC between 2002-2003. In 2006, he received an Emmy nomination for Mrs. Harris . [6] That same year, he was elected as the National President of the International Cinematographers Guild, a position he held until 2019. [3]
Year | Title | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1973 | Another Saturday Night | Himself Mik Derks | |
1994 | Nunzio's Second Cousin | Tom DeCerchio | Segment of Boys Life 2 |
1995 | Celluloid Heroes | Gary A. Beaird Tony Dow | With Billy Beaird |
2004 | Tap Heat | Dean Hargrove | |
2011 | Xelerate | Bill Duke | |
2018 | The Boor | Jeannie Berlin |
Year | Title | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1980 | Blood Beach | Jeffrey Bloom | |
1981 | Dead & Buried | Gary Sherman | |
1983 | Spring Break | Sean S. Cunningham | |
Strange Brew | Rick Moranis Dave Thomas | ||
Testament | Lynne Littman | ||
1985 | The New Kids | Sean S. Cunningham | |
The Heavenly Kid | Cary Medoway | ||
1986 | Blue City | Michelle Manning | |
The Boy Who Could Fly | Nick Castle | With Adam Holender | |
1987 | Someone to Watch Over Me | Ridley Scott | |
1988 | Aloha Summer | Tommy Lee Wallace | |
Big Top Pee-wee | Randal Kleiser | ||
1989 | Next of Kin | John Irvin | |
1990 | Rocky V | John G. Avildsen | |
1991 | Life Stinks | Mel Brooks | |
1993 | The Cemetery Club | Bill Duke | |
1997 | RocketMan | Stuart Gillard | |
1998 | Une chance sur deux | Patrice Leconte | |
2001 | Donnie Darko | Richard Kelly | |
2002 | Stuart Little 2 | Rob Minkoff | |
2003 | Daddy Day Care | Steve Carr | |
2006 | Southland Tales | Richard Kelly | |
2009 | Spread | David Mackenzie | |
The Box | Richard Kelly | ||
2010 | Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore | Brad Peyton | |
2011 | Flypaper | Rob Minkoff | |
2017 | Amityville: The Awakening | Franck Khalfoun | |
TBA | Scared to Death | Paul Boyd |
Year | Title | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1978 | What Really Happened to the Class of '65? | James Sheldon | Episode "Mr. Potential" |
1987 | I'll Take Manhattan | Richard Michaels Douglas Hickox | 2 episodes; With Larry Pizer |
1998 | American Experience | Richard P. Rogers | Episode "A Midwife's Tale" |
2006 | The Loop | Betty Thomas | Episode "Pilot" |
2007-2012 | Craft in America | Carol Sauvion Daniel Seeger Nigel Noble Hilary Birmingham | 8 episodes |
2008 | Raising the Bar | Jesse Bochco | Episode "Pilot" |
2013 | Hemlock Grove | Eli Roth | Episode "Jellyfish in the Sky" |
2020 | Cine Chalom | Yossi Benavraham | Episode "EXTRAIT DU FILM "INCASSABLE" DE M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN... 2000" |
TV movies
Year | Title | Director |
---|---|---|
1978 | The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank | Robert Day |
1979 | The Night Rider | Hy Averback |
Beggarman, Thief | Lawrence Doheny | |
1981 | Coward of the County | Dick Lowry |
1982 | Mysterious Two | Gary Sherman |
1983 | The Cradle Will Fall | John Llewellyn Moxey |
1986 | Courage | Jeremy Kagan |
1992 | The Bat, the Cat and the Penguin | Michael Meadows John Pattyson |
1994 | Roswell | Jeremy Kagan |
1995 | Present Tense, Past Perfect | Richard Dreyfuss |
1996 | Once You Meet a Stranger | Tommy Lee Wallace |
1997 | Color of Justice | Jeremy Kagan |
2005 | Mrs. Harris | Phyllis Nagy |
2006 | The Danny Comden Project | Robert Duncan McNeill |
2013 | Gutsy Frog | Mark A.Z. Dippé |
Film
Year | Title | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2001 | The Oscar Legacy | David Haugland | |
2020 | For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close | Heather Ross | With Simon Fanthorpe |
Short film
Year | Title | Director |
---|---|---|
2013 | Canon USA Commercial: Rhythm of Life | Dean Hargrove |
Television
Year | Title | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1990 | Disneyland's 35th Anniversary Special | John Landis | TV special |
2021 | The Miles Davis Documentary | Christopher Wilkinson | TV movie |
Year | Award | Category | Title | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1973 | Cannes Film Festival | Short Film Palme d'Or | Another Saturday Night (Shared with Mik Derks) | Nominated |
1987 | American Society of Cinematographers | Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography | Someone to Watch Over Me | Nominated |
1994 | CableACE Award | Best Cinematography | Roswell | Nominated |
2005 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Cinematography | Mrs. Harris | Nominated |
The cinematographer or director of photography is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera and light crews working on such projects. They would normally be responsible for making artistic and technical decisions related to the image and for selecting the camera, film stock, lenses, filters, etc. The study and practice of this field are referred to as cinematography.
Conrad Lafcadio Hall, ASC was a French Polynesian-born American cinematographer. Named after writers Joseph Conrad and Lafcadio Hearn, he became widely prominent as a cinematographer earning numerous accolades including three Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards and five American Society of Cinematographers Awards.
The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), founded in Hollywood in 1919, is a cultural, educational, and professional organization that is neither a labor union nor a guild. The society was organized to advance the science and art of cinematography and gather a wide range of cinematographers to discuss techniques and ideas and to advocate for motion pictures as a type of art form. Currently, the president of the ASC is Shelly Johnson.
Vittorio Storaro, A.S.C., A.I.C., is an Italian cinematographer widely recognized as one of the best and most influential in cinema history, for his work on numerous classic films including The Conformist (1970), Apocalypse Now (1979), and The Last Emperor (1987). In the course of over fifty years, he has collaborated with directors such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Francis Ford Coppola, Warren Beatty, Woody Allen and Carlos Saura.
László KovácsASC was a Hungarian-American cinematographer who was influential in the development of American New Wave films in the 1970s, collaborating with directors including Peter Bogdanovich, Richard Rush, Dennis Hopper, Norman Jewison, and Martin Scorsese. Known for his work on Easy Rider (1969) and Five Easy Pieces (1970), Kovács was the recipient of numerous awards, including three Lifetime Achievement Awards. He was an active member of the American Society of Cinematographers and was a member of the organization's board of directors.
Gordon Hugh Willis Jr., ASC was an American cinematographer and film director. He is best known for his photographic work on eight Woody Allen films, six Alan J. Pakula films, four James Bridges films, and all three films from Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather series.
Owen Roizman was an American cinematographer. He received five Academy Award nominations for Best Cinematography, for the films The French Connection (1971), The Exorcist (1973), Network (1976), Tootsie (1982), and Wyatt Earp (1994). He served on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was president of the American Society of Cinematographers.
Russell Paul Carpenter, ASC is an American cinematographer and photographer, known for collaborating with directors James Cameron, Robert Luketic and McG. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for the 1997 Best Picture-winning film Titanic.
Jordan Scott Cronenweth, ASC was an American cinematographer based in Los Angeles, California. Considered to be one of the greatest and most influential cinematographers of all time, he is best remembered for his BAFTA Award-winning work on the groundbreaking science fiction film Blade Runner, which is credited as codifying the cyberpunk aesthetic. A contemporary of Conrad Hall, his style consisted of heavily textured, film noir-inspired photography, seen in numerous classic films, including Zandy's Bride, Gable and Lombard, Altered States, and Peggy Sue Got Married.
Wilmer Cable Butler was an American cinematographer who was known for his work on The Conversation (1974), Jaws (1975), and three Rocky sequels. Butler also completed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) after Haskell Wexler was fired from the production, and was subsequently nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
Matthew Frank Leonetti A.S.C. is an American cinematographer. Accomplished and highly prolific, he has worked on dozens of well-known and acclaimed films spanning numerous genres, including Poltergeist, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Weird Science, Jagged Edge, Strange Days, and Star Trek: First Contact. He has collaborated with directors such as Tobe Hooper, Walter Hill, John Hughes, Kenneth Branagh, Kathryn Bigelow, Zack Snyder, and The Farrelly Brothers.
Steven Bernstein, ASC, DGA, WGA is an American cinematographer, director, screenwriter and author. In 1992 he won the Best Artistic Contribution Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival for Like Water for Chocolate alongside Emmanuel Lubezki. He also won the Cannes Golden Lion for his work in commercials. His book Film Production has been translated into several languages and at one time was the bestselling textbook about film making. Bernstein was a 2014 ASC nominee for the Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in One-Hour Episodic Television Series Award for his work on Magic City. Bernstein is a regular contributor to SonyCine Magazine where he writes articles on various aspects of filmmaking. Bernstein is a regular subject matter expert for articles about screenwriting and filmmaking for Adobe creative hub.
Javier Aguirresarobe Zubía is a Basque Spanish cinematographer. After garnering several Goya Awards in his home country, he became widely known internationally for his work on The Others (2001), directed by Alejandro Amenábar. Among many others, he has worked on Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), Twilight film series (2009–2010), and Thor: Ragnarok (2017).
John Warwick Lindley is an American cinematographer. He has collaborated with Joseph Ruben, Phil Alden Robinson, and Nora Ephron. He is known for his work on such films as Field of Dreams, Bewitched, Pleasantville and You've Got Mail.
Reed Morano is an American film director and cinematographer. Morano was the first woman in history to win both the Emmy and Directors Guild Award for directing a drama series in the same year for the pilot episode of The Handmaid's Tale. Morano is known for her cinematography work on feature films such as Frozen River (2008), Kill Your Darlings (2013) and The Skeleton Twins (2014).
The Pierre Angénieux ExcelLens in Cinematography is an annual award that pays tribute to a prominent international director of photography at the Cannes Film Festival. The award originated in 2013.
Jonathan Freeman, ASC is a Canadian cinematographer. A multi-award-winning director of photography for motion pictures, television and commercials, he is known for his work on Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire. Freeman's motion picture credits include Remember Me, Fifty Dead Men Walking, The Edge of Love, Hollywoodland and The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio. He frequently collaborates with directors Allen Coulter, Ernest Dickerson, David Nutter, and Russell Mulcahy.
Luis Gabriel Beristáin, ASC, BSC, AMC is a Mexican cinematographer, producer, and television director known for his work on numerous well-known films including The Distinguished Gentleman, The Spanish Prisoner, Blade II, and Street Kings, and several entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe including the Agent Carter television series.
Raymond Charles Argall is best known as a cinematographer and director for both film and television. He has also worked as an editor. His multi-award-winning feature film Return Home (1990) is regarded by many critics as an Australian cinema classic. Argall served on the board of the Australian Directors Guild (ADG) for sixteen years, holding the position of president from 2006 to 2015 and secretary from 2015 to 2017. In 2016, Argall launched a business restoring archival films through his production company Piccolo Films. In 2018 the ADG presented him with its prestigious Cecil Holmes Award.
Judith Carol Irola was an American cinematographer, film producer, and director. The third woman accepted into the American Society of Cinematographers, she was head of the cinematography department at USC School of Cinematic Arts for 15 years and held the Conrad Hall Chair in Cinematography there. Irola co-founded a National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians branch in San Francisco in 1969, and was a founding member of the short-lived Cine Manifest film collective in 1972.