If 2014 ASC Award nominations are any indication, then DPs Ashley Rowe and David Luther for their work, respectively, on Dancing on the Edge (“Episode 1.1”) and The White Queen (the episode titled “War at First Hand”), both Starz miniseries, should figure prominently among select contenders for primetime Emmy consideration in the Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie category. Dancing on the Edge also scored a 2014 BAFTA TV Craft Award nomination for Cinematography.
Set in the early 1930s, Dancing on the Edge is a drama following a group of Black jazz musicians, the Louis Lester Band, performing at engagements hosted by progressive socialites in London. While they faced resistance from Britain’s aristocratic upper crust who didn’t like the idea of African-American musicians performing at high profile social galas, the Louis Lester Band was on the ascent to stardom–until band members became entangled in a murder conspiracy scandal. Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) received a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of band leader Lester while Jacqueline Bisset won a Supporting Actress Golden Globe for her performance as Lady Cremone. Additionally Dancing on the Edge was nominated for a Golden Globe as the Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for TV.
Rowe got the opportunity to shoot Dancing on the Edge (all six episodes) from its writer and director Stephen Poliakoff. Rowe has been a long-time fan of Poliakoff’s work, citing the BBC show The Lost Prince as an example. “His television work is cinematic,” said Rowe about Poliakoff. “He writes the scripts himself and the stories draw you in. The nature of his work is epic–in both features and TV. He has a real understanding of scope. He considers what’s in each frame and he doesn’t over cut. He will hold a shot if it’s right. I have always liked the look and feel of his work.”
What Rowe didn’t know until the chance to do Dancing on the Edge emerged is that he and Poliakoff were members of a mutual admiration society. “Quite a few years ago I had shot a film called The Governess set in the 1890s. Stephen told me he loved the framing. He also mentioned a movie I had shot directed by Charles Shyer and starring Hilary Swank that was set during the French Revolution [The Affair of the Necklace]. I mixed my lighting a lot for that film, played around with colors. Stephen liked my mixed lighting, the shafts of daylight coming in through windows. He showed me several clips from that film that he liked.”
As for the major creative challenge posed to him as a DP by Dancing on the Edge, Rowe assessed, “Stephen only likes to work on location. He doesn’t like to film in a studio. Every scene in Dancing on the Edge was shot at a real location. For a cinematographer, when you’re in a studio you can take walls down, get your lights exactly where you want them. A lot of the locations for Dancing on the Edge were part of National Trust [landmark] properties in the U.K.–stately homes, locations where you can’t affix anything to the building or surroundings. You’re restricted from a lighting point of view. The challenge to shoot 16 weeks on location, to often just light from the floor, to light through windows, took a lot of thought and planning–particularly when dealing with a TV schedule which is incredibly tight and which calls for shooting a lot of material in a single day. Some of these stately homes contained big masterpiece paintings–which again restricted my lighting and lighting levels. There was concern that lighting that was too strong could affect the paintings.”
Rowe noted that until Dancing on the Edge, director Poliakoff always shot on film. “But because of the restraints of the budget, the production told us we had to shoot the film digitally,” said Rowe. “Stephen was against it. However, I have used the [ARRI] Alexa digital camera and gotten good results. I shot some tests and showed them to Stephen. I showed him I could make the Alexa look like film. It converted him. He loved the way the images looked. I tried to light as I would for film.”
Rowe is slated for another collaboration with Poliakoff currently scheduled to begin production in January 2015. The untitled project is a period piece set around 1946 and will entail 21 weeks of shooting. Rowe thinks they will likely go with Alexa for this production as well.
Dancing on the Edge is the second career ASC Award nomination for Rowe, the first coming 10 years ago for the telefilm The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone starring Helen Mirren. That first time around, Rowe was shooting another project and not able to attend the ASC Awards ceremony. But this year, he and his wife came to L.A. from London to attend a nominees breakfast at the ASC Clubhouse, an ASC-sponsored dinner and then the awards show itself. “It was a fantastic week, particularly for the experience of meeting so many famous cinematographers. So many of the greats were there. It was a real honor just to be in their presence and talk to them all.”
David Luther
Meanwhile this year Luther earned his first ASC Award nomination; it came for Starz’s The White Queen which centers on three women–Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret Beaufort and Anne Neville–who vie for the throne in 15th century England. Like Dancing on the Edge, The White Queen garnered not only an ASC nomination but also Golden Globe noms–for Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made For TV; Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-series or Motion Picture for Television (Rebecca Ferguson); and Best Performance by a Supporting Actress (Janet McTeer).
Luther also went with Alexa for The White Queen. He shot three episodes of the miniseries which were directed by Jamie Payne, including the ASC-recognized “Episode 1.1.” This marked Luther’s return engagement with Payne for whom Luther earlier shot episodes of the espionage drama series The Hour.
Luther said he likes working with Alexa. “The nice thing about digital is the instant reference, which makes it not too much of a gamble to try to push things. Based on what you see, you immediately know how far you can underexpose and overexpose, how to best handle when actors travel from lightness to dark and back to lightness. You can use sharp natural light from a window. For The White Queen, you can work like a Baroque painter, using candlelight. Candles can provide the most natural feel.”
The White Queen entailed big locations, including shooting in major spaces like cathedrals. “Jamie [director Payne] is great at working with you to find solutions to problems. He can sense the challenges at hand and offered me a lot of support–which is important when working in television where schedules are much tighter and you have to work that much faster. Still, you want to light in an interesting way, create an interesting look. Having these huge spaces in a period piece with so many different actors is challenging. A costume drama takes much longer than a normal drama. This can reduce your lighting time and your work time. So you have to make the very most you can out of the time you have.”
Luther’s filmography includes lensing of assorted British TV series and miniseries, including Law & Order: UK, Hit & Miss, The Children, and The Town.
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This is the second installment in a 12-part series that will explore the field of Emmy contenders, nominees and winners encompassing such disciplines as directing, cinematography, editing, animation and VFX. The series will run right through the announcement of nominees, the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony and the following week’s primetime Emmy Awards live telecast. Part 7 of “The Road To Emmy” will also appear in SHOOT's July 25 print issue as well as the SHOOT>e.dition and SHOOTonline.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 12, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 11, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 10, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 9, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 8, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 7, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 6, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 5, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 4, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 3, click here.
To read The Road To Emmy, Part 1, click here.
To read Primetime Talent, Pre-Road To Emmy feature 2, click here.
To read Primetime Talent, Pre-Road To Emmy feature 1, click here.
