American Cinematographer - October/November 2020 - 34

Stranger Things still courtesy of Netflix.

Otherworldly Talent

ASC member Tim Ives, director of photography on the Netflix series Stranger Things, cites the
cinematography in E.T. as a primary influence on the show.
"Allen Daviau's career choices have inspired me more than any
other cinematographer (no disrespect, Nestor). There are the big
films everyone knows, and then there is Barry Levinson's Avalon
and Peter Weir's Fearless, two films that one would assume were
shot by different DPs - one glossy, one raw, yet both capturing
that heightened reality that Allen always did so well. His light and
camera served these stories exceptionally, while being innovative

you just did not get in. It took Andy
Davis, me, and a handful of other cinematographers, including [future ASC
members] Caleb Deschanel and Tak
Fujimoto, a decade to gain entrance
into the International Photographers
Guild, and we finally had to file suit to

The Color Purple image courtesy of Warner Bros.

to one interviewer, ''After Amblin',
Steven tried to bring me along with
him, and Universal even tried to sign
me some sort of deal, but the union
said, 'Forget it.' Back then, the union
was nepotistic, and if you didn't have
a close personal contact [in the guild],

and grounded at the same time. Allen could not be pigeonholed.
These two visually different films continue to inspire me in my own
approach today. Then there's the magically eternal E.T. It's safe
to say there [would be] no Stranger Things without that one. The
Duffer Brothers have said that Stranger Things is a love le er to
Spielberg. For me, it was also one to Allen."
- Tim Ives, ASC

Daviau and director Steven Spielberg work out an angle with actor Danny Glover,
portraying "Mister" in the 1985 drama The Color Purple.

34 October/November 2020

American Cinematographer // 100 Years

do it. But before that, I shot thousands
of commercials, as well as documentaries, industrials and educationals -
anything to keep myself working and
expanding my knowledge of film. It
was very difficult."
When Spielberg learned that
Daviau had joined the union, he called
upon his friend and collaborator to
shoot additional photography on the
1980 special edition of Close Encounters
of the Third Kind, photographed by
Zsigmond.
Following Raiders of the Lost Ark,
another huge success for the young
director, Spielberg was looking for
a cinematographer to shoot his next
picture, about a young boy enduring
his parents' divorce and befriending
an extraterrestrial. "I didn't want to
work with a high-profile cinematographer on [E.T.]," the director told
AC. "I wanted to work with someone
who was a little hungry, hadn't done
a theatrical feature before, was going
to make an audacious first impression,
and was going to help bring this picture in for 10-and-a-half million dollars
and no more than 58 shooting days."
Daviau's agent asked him what

American Cinematographer - October/November 2020

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