American Cinematographer - October 2006 - 14

Revisiting Familiar Faces in 49 Up
by John Pavlus
yielding Seven Plus Seven, 21 Up, 28
Up, 35 Up and 42 Up. The series itself
has also matured, evolving from a tele¬
vision segment into an internationally

Top (from left):
Jackie, Sue and

Lynn, three
subjects of "The
Up Series," pose
with shots of

admired series of theatrical features.

their younger
selves in a scene

The

Up.
Bottom: In Spain,
cinematographer
George Jesse

a

video capture,

London

purchased

an

apartment in a
warmer

clime.

Over the course of his 33 years on
Granada

Television's

World

in

Action (the British

equivalent to 60
cinematographer George
Jesse Turner has been "punched in the
Minutes),

face, threatened with knives, and had

grabbed off me - all the
antics you'd expect when you're shoot¬
ing a current-affairs program." But it is
his participation in an assiduously
cameras

unsensational collection of films known
as

"The

his place

12 October 2006

Up

but it wasn't until 2005
Apted and Turner finally made the
switch from 16mm film to a digital
format, DigiBeta. "The first time I saw
video cameras in America, they were
great big things that must have
weighed 80 pounds," recalls Turner.
"We didn't even consider shooting on
tape, even though World in Action
changed over to tape in '91 or '92. At
that time, I was still shooting film of the
that

taxi driver who
has

49 Up,

films, which comprise lengthier inter¬
views, would seem tailor-made for

Turner gets wet
in order to film

Tony,

latest iteration,

marks another milestone. The later

from 49

Up Series" that has secured
in the annals of documentary

filmmaking.
Inspired by the Jesuit maxim,
"Give

give

me a

child until he is 7 and I will

you the
taries began

man," the Up documen¬
in 1964 as an episode of
World in Action called "7 Up," which
offered verite portraits of a dozen British
youngsters from various social classes.
Every seven years since then, the film¬
makers, led by director Michael Apted
since 1970 and cinematographer Turner
since 1977, have revisited the subjects
to record the changes in their lives,

oil fires of Kuwait, and film was better.
I think starting the Up senes on film was

advantage, because
discipline to yourself and
an

you
your

bring a
collabo¬

rators."

Still, Turner
accommodate

a

was

quite willing to

new

format when

budget concerns compelled the produc¬
tion to shoot 49 Up digitally, with Sony's
DVW-790 camera. "I just said I didn't
want it to look like news footage, and I
then set about making certain I'd have
the best 790 around," he says. Apted
mainly relished the ability to do longer
takes with the 35-minute tapes, while
Turner was impressed by the camera's
ability to create a slightly different look
while still intercutting reasonably well
with the older film footage. "We were
shooting in the summer for the first
time, and we wanted to capture that
richness, whether it was the golden
light in [Bruce Baldens] cricket match,
or Tony [Walker's] family trip in Spain,"
he says. "When I saw it projected
onscreen in London, I was gobsmacked

IFGRFeTraaoiuntruVsrdnfts.

courtesy

Phot s
American Cinematographer - October 2006

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