American Cinematographer - November 1991 - 85

achieved almost

legendary status.
Routinely praised as one of the
industry's top cameramen, he has

the

pocket pal™

^

....

with unique

computer software
designed to assist

days he

professional
cinematographers,
the pocket pal™

would rather direct than shoot.
"Tve about had it with

programs are now
available for the

shooting unless there

SHARP WIZARD.

some 50 documenta¬
ries, two features, and hundreds of

also directed

TV commercials. These

was some

fantastic story or some

director I
really liked," he maintains. "It takes
too much time. Right now I want to
be able to express more of myself
on

Twenty routines
cover all framing,
depth of
field,

film." He has resolved not to

exposure,

accept any more shooting assign¬
ments, at least for the present. He
admits, however, that his identity

timecode, diopter
PREDICTIONS.

is very much tied up with shooting
and that after a certain time away
he finds he wants to get back to it.
"Even

^ SOLAR

and

Documented in
100 page

a

manual.

though I complain bitterly

while on pictures, I like the expe¬
rience of doing them," he admits.
Wexler is known as much
for his political and social convic¬
tions as for his superb filmmaking.
A two-time Academy Award
winner (he also shot two Oscar-

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winning documentaries) he be¬
lieves that all subjects are political;
what is not addressed in a film is as

as what is. "Art has a
social function and I'm concerned
with what we say with our movies

significant

and TV," he says. "Name any pic¬
ture and I'll give you a dissertation
on what its
politics are." He points
to the level of violence on the screen

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today: "Most interpersonal dis¬
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compromise - those
ways of dealing with human
problems are not presented."
Wexler would like to use his own
skill and art to be socially produc¬
tive: to be less violent and more in
tune with human needs.
Wexler strongly believes
that movies should reflect - and,

fact, should play an important
role in helping to foster - funda¬
in

mental societal changes. The fea¬
ture films he has chosen to direct

(he also wrote and financed them)
have both been overtly political:
Medium Cool, set against the back-

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American Cinematographer - November 1991

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - November 1991
