American Cinematographer - February 2019 - 26

p: David Procter.

recognition in documentary work with a
short he shot and directed called Red
Sands - a visceral look at Spain's running
of the bulls and bullfighting, which was
nominated for a British Independent Film
Award and the Camerimage International
Film Festival's Golden Frog, and screened
at festivals worldwide. The short documentaries The Corridor, which he shot in
the Kalahari Desert in Namibia, and Solace,
shot in London, landed him further
Golden Frog nominations. "The documentary work I did really helped shape me as
a cinematographer," he says, "because
you're often working in a language you
don't understand, trying to read situations,
environments and people, without knowing what's actually being said. You develop
intuition to read body language and react
quickly."
Of that period, he recalls, "I was
traveling to film festivals all over Europe to
meet as many directors and collaborators
as I could." At Camerimage, he met several
cinematographers who would make a lasting impression - particularly Phil
Méheux, BSC, who became something of
a mentor. "I could email, telephone or quiz
him over a lunch," Procter says. "He was
someone I could check in with as I was
moving into larger-scale lighting work and
much larger sets. Sometimes, I would have
hesitation that I was maybe going too big,
and he would be there with advice and
reassurance."
Among the many future collaborators/employers Procter met at film festivals, producer Samm Haillay was pivotal in
the cinematographer's expansion into
feature narrative. Indeed, Haillay produced
February 2019

p: Jordi Ruiz Masó, AEC.

the first two such features Procter shot -
the dramas Bypass, directed by Duane
Hopkins, and Blood Cells, from the directing
team of Joseph Bull and Luke Seomore -
both of which premiered at the 2014
Venice International Film Festival. Bypass
was nominated at Camerimage for Best
Cinematography Debut - an honor that
was, Procter recalls, "overwhelming."
The cinematographer recently
completed shooting the eight-part Netflix
original science-fiction drama The Innocents, starring Guy Pearce. The large-scale
series was shot in remote parts of
Norway, with additional locations and
studio work in the U.K.
Regarding his work on the Sam
Pilling-directed music video for "Nobody
Speak" - a track by DJ Shadow featuring
Run the Jewels - Procter attests, "I think
it transcends entertainment and moves
into the area of social commentary. It was
a controversial piece of work that became
viral almost immediately for its political,
provocative nature."
Procter notes that lessons from his
early documentary work still infuse his
approach today, regardless of genre. One
such lesson: "Just because you have two or
three trucks full of lights, that doesn't
mean you always have to use them."

Jordi Ruiz Masó, AEC
Jordi Ruiz Masó, AEC learned the
power of light as it relates to storytelling at
a very young age. "During my childhood, I
read fairytales under my blanket at night,"
he remembers. "Using my dad's flashlight
as a source, the gleam created an environment that captivated me, and allowed me
ASC 100th Anniversary

to feel and imagine the story. That's when
I began to notice that light affects the
narrative."
From there, Ruiz Masó credits
horror films like The Exorcist, Psycho,
Halloween, Poltergeist and Friday the 13th
with introducing him to the art of cinematography. Though he initially entered
college with the goal of becoming a still
photographer, he realized that he wanted
to focus on shooting the moving image. "I
decided to enroll in the Pompeu Fabra
University in Barcelona, where I received
my bachelor's in cinema and media arts,"
he says.
Ruiz Masó adds that he worked
throughout his studies. "I started as a
camera operator for major broadcast television networks," he says, "which allowed
me to learn a lot about lenses, camera
movement, framing, exposure and angles. I
also learned how to work in a fast-paced
environment. What I learned in that
period of my life now allows me to give
freedom to actors when they move during
the take."
After graduation, Ruiz Masó
worked as a camera assistant on various
feature productions, commercials and
music videos, and received an MFA in cinematography at the Cinema and Audiovisual School of Catalonia (ESCAC) in
Barcelona. Persistently honing his craft, he
continued to attend Eastman Kodak and
Arri workshops, while also immersing
himself in movies, books, paintings, and
magazines like American Cinematographer.
When he moved to Los Angeles in
2012, however, he found that he had to
start from scratch. "I got involved in

American Cinematographer - February 2019

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