A Most Vibrant Year For Cinematographer Bradford Young
Just two months into 2015, cinematographer Bradford Young is already having a big year.
Two acclaimed movies, Selma and A Most Violent Year, bear his name as Director of Photography.
"It's an interesting time," he laughs.
He sat down for a chat with NPR's Arun Rath, who started by asking about the striking depictions of violence in Selma.
"You have to be very delicate," Young says, "because as much as film has the ability to raise humanity, it also has the ability to put us down."
Young remembered that Selma director Ava DuVernay wanted to show the "violence against the black body" that was common in the period the film takes place.
"We tried to use speed as a way of giving us a different rendition of the moment," Young says, explaining the use of slow motion in sequences like the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church that killed four young girls.
"It is violent, but at the same time, it is visual. These little girls were beautiful, but what was happening to them was not beautiful," he says. "And I think we had to straddle that dichotomy of making pretty pictures, but also reminding us that those moments in time were extremely, extremely violent and grotesque."
There's a moment in Selma when the protester Annie Lee Cooper (played by Oprah Winfrey) is tackled by a pair of troopers. Young's camera hugs her all the way to the ground; it was literally strapped to her body.
"We didn't want you to be able to let go. We didn't want you to be able to walk away, or turn your head away," he says. "We wanted to indict the audience. We wanted the audience to know that we all, in some way and somehow, have contributed to the social atmosphere.
"I think oftentimes with violence in movies, it's easy for us to turn our head because we've found a way to make them entertaining. But we didn't want them to be entertaining. We wanted them to be teaching tools. We wanted them to be the groundwork for us to feel something so that we don't repeat what was happening in the film."
The camera became a participant throughout the movie, hanging at face-level with Dr. King, often peering over shoulders or bouncing ever so slightly as its operator walks alongside the protesters.
"It was just about never retreating, always staying dangerously close to Martin Luther King," Young says. "And I think it's a perspective on King that most of us who eulogize him in a very particular way would want to have, which is to be in his face, to be there with him, to hear his words, to feel his breath on your neck, to see his soul in his eyes. Film allows us to be just that much closer."
With Hollywood's diversity issues in the news, Young says that it's a bittersweet time to be a black cinematographer.
"As much as this moment is interesting for me, in the sense that I'm able to go off and shoot bigger movies [and] work with directors I've only dreamed about working with," he says, "when I step on a set and I don't see myself [represented], that's something that I have to contend that I feel like other folks on the set don't have to contend with."
A recent report by the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA found that 82% of directors and 88% of writers in Hollywood were white in 2013.
"I'm just hoping in the 21st century, especially for black folk — with our presence in literature, with our presence in art, with our presence in music — that in film culture, we begin to see ourselves," Young says. "Our stories are important. ... If you're cutting image-makers of color out of the process, then I think you're missing a key experience in the American experience. How can we call ourselves fully realized, fully cultured Americans if we don't know where our next-door neighbor comes from?"
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Transcript
ARUN RATH, HOST:
If you're making a feature film about a major historical figure, most people would think big. Director Ava DuVernay wanted a different approach for her portrayal of Martin Luther King in "Selma." She turned to the gifted cinematographer Bradford Young who's renowned for his use of natural light to provide an intimate perspective on epic events. Bradford Young joined me at NPR West earlier this week. He said that in addition to creating a new way of looking at Dr. King, he and Ava DuVernay also struggled with how to portray the horrific violence that defines the story, like the bombing of an Alabama church that killed four girls.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SELMA")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: See, she parts in the middle, and then...
(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSION)
CINEMATOGRAPHER BRADFORD YOUNG: You have to be very delicate, because as much as film has the ability to raise humanity, it also has the ability to put us down.
And so with something like the four little girls bombing, Ava really wanted to sort of map violence against the black body during that period. And so what we ended up doing was that we tried to use speed as a way of giving us a different rendition of the moment so that it is violent, but at the same time, it is visual.
You know, these little girls were beautiful, but what was happening to them was not beautiful. And I think we had to sort of straddle that dichotomy of making pretty pictures, but also reminding us that those moments in time were extremely, extremely violent and grotesque.
RATH: There's a moment when a protester is taken down and visually, you go down with them.
YOUNG: Right, right, right. With that particular instance, we strapped - we literally strapped a camera to Oprah Winfrey's body and we threw her to the ground, because we didn't want you to be able to let go. We didn't want you to be able to walk away, or turn your head away. We wanted you to be - we wanted to indict the audience. We wanted the audience to know that we all, in some way and somehow, have contributed to the social atmosphere.
And so I think oftentimes, you know, with violence in movies, it's easy for us to turn our head because we've found a way to make them entertaining. But we didn't want them to be entertaining. We wanted them to be - we wanted them to be teaching tools, you know? We wanted them to be sort of the groundwork for us to feel something so that we don't repeat what was happening in the film.
RATH: So let's play clip. I'd like to have you like talk through a scene here. So this is where Martin Luther King is being interviewed just before the march. This is outside. It looks like it's that kind of natural lighting. And the camera is sort of at face level and sort of shaky.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SELMA")
DAN TRIANDIFLOU: (As ABC Reporter) Dr. King - good morning, doctor. Can we get a statement, please?
DAVID OYELOWO: (As Martin Luther King Jr.) While rageful violence continues toward the unarmed people of Selma, while they are assaulted with tear gas and batons like an enemy in a war...
YOUNG: The scene starts with an angle behind Dr. King's head, which is actually an angle that we use quite a bit in the film.
RATH: Yeah.
YOUNG: And then he sort of turns towards the camera. And the film-making process of the camera following subject actually turns into an active participant in the sort of interviewing process. And so those angles were chosen because we again wanted the camera to be an active participant in the moment, you know? We wanted the camera to be a history maker.
So literally, it was just about never retreating, always staying dangerously close to Martin Luther King. And I think it's a perspective on King that most of us who sort of eulogize him in a very particular way would want to have, which is to be in his face, to be there with him, to hear his words, to feel the breath - his breath on your neck, you know, to see this sort of - his soul in his eyes. And so film allows us to be just that much closer.
And that's really why I stayed - that's really why we stayed so tight with him. That's the reason why we walked with him and we rode in the car with him, because we just wanted to be with this man that we really believed and trusted and who was complicated and very interesting.
RATH: You know, I feel like I could just like talk about film with you for hours and geek out on stuff. I feel like we have to talk about race in 2015. Do we have to talk about race?
YOUNG: Of course.
RATH: You know, it's a noteworthy thing still in 2015 that you're an African-American man doing what you do. And obviously, the issue of diversity in Hollywood that's getting a lot of attention right now.
YOUNG: Sure.
RATH: I mean, as someone who has been in the trenches, what are your thoughts about how Hollywood gets to where it needs to be?
YOUNG: It's an interesting time. It's a bittersweet time because when I step on the set and I don't see myself, there's something that I have to contend with that I feel like other folks don't - on the set, don't have to contend with.
And so I'm just hoping that in the 21st century, especially for black folk - with our presence in literature, with our presence in art, with our presence in music - that in film culture, we begin to see ourselves. Our stories are important, you know? For us, a movie about slavery isn't just a movie about slavery isn't just a movie. It's about our healing process. It's about facing something in our own history that has - that we feel the effects of today.
And so I think, if you're cutting image-makers of color out of the process, then I think you're missing a key experience in the American experience. And so how can we call ourselves fully realized, fully cultured Americans if we don't know where our next-door neighbor comes from?
In the film community, I think we are part of the broad conversation around race in America. And I think we put a microscope on the film industry. We have a long, long way to go.
RATH: That's Bradford Young. He's a cinematographer for "Selma" and "A Most Violent Year." He was with me here in the studios at NPR West. Bradford, thanks very much - real pleasure speaking with you.
YOUNG: Oh, it's an honor. It's an honor. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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