Cinematography Style: Barry Ackroyd

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Barry Ackroyd is a cinematographer who plays to his strengths. Over his career he’s developed an instantly recognisable style to his photography that is based around a vérité, documentary-esque search for truth and capturing realism. In this episode of Cinematography Style I’m going to take a look at the renowned work of Barry Ackroyd by going over his philosophical ideas on cinematography and outlining the gear that he uses to execute his vision.
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0:00 Introduction
0:54 Background
1:53 Philosophy
5:11 Sponsored Message
6:05 Gear
11:43 Conclusion
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[@gregrisley1050]

I was a DIT apprentice on 'Parkland' with Barry and had some great conversations with him about his lighting. Super nice guy.

[@jimfryer]

In the mid 80’s I was a film and tv lighting electrician and worked with Barry Ackroyd after he just left film school in Beaconsfield and was a documentary cameraman. I went to Poland and other eastern block countries with him as well as stuff in London. He was a nice and down to earth bloke who clearly has been very successful.

[@shreeshsawant9907]

Can you make a video essay on atmosphere in films? Like how taxi driver feels so sinister or how the lighthouse feels so mysterious. How do these films manage to trigger a certain emotion.

[@adrianrobertoruizmartinez9325]

That's a pretty good idea

[@macmaczee3485]

You got my vote

[@TwistVisuals]

I think all aspects of filmmaking have to come together to create a required atmosphere...

[@iliasberrada5021]

Agreed !

[@SnailHatan]

@@TwistVisuals not really. Just a still photograph can portray atmosphere quite well.

[@lazyeye2001]

Barry Ackroyd is one of my favourites thank you for making this please do a video on the style of Anthony Dob Mantle

[@RR-bd4bm]

Great video, many thanks. I like his concept of 'imperfection,' I think it brings a sense of reality to the screen. Keep up the great work!

[@1080TJ]

Would love to see videos on Dean Cundey and Robby Müller

[@ezracourse1133]

A Sven Nykvist episode would be really good

[@VisualArtistmedia]

I had the opportunity of meeting him he was very cool and down to earth and encouraged me to keep filming.

[@maxek46]

One of my favourite DPs, did my dissertation on him back in uni! I haven't checked if you've done one already, but would you consider doing one on Dan Mindel?

Thank you so much for putting more out ! Absolutely love this series ! merci

[@ruff1draft]

I like the fact that Barry Acroyd uses Zoom as much as he uses Primes.

[@LE672AJ]

This handheld news camera zoom look should be used more often. It would work nicely on some shows and movies.

[@etiennevogelproductions]

This was very inspiring , thank you !!

[@impatrickt]

love Barry's work. another great vid!

[@NIKONGUY1960]

Thanks for the breakdown. Very insightful.

[@DethronerX]

Very well curated essay, thank you!

[@NileStudios]

Very well told, his way is very similar to my shooting style. Love it

[@Mad1Lee]

Barry Ackroyd: Imma pull a documentary tv-brigade of cameras with me on all the fiction movies sets to make it look real - the true hipster cinematographer. (But he is awesome)

[@MichalKuzminski]

thank you for your content mate

[@midwestfilm8690]

I would love to see something on masanobu takayanagi

[@shaunla.1098]

Educational & comprehensive content. Thank you. Could you make a segment about Ernest Dickerson?

[@mytusak]

beautiful video

[@soyitiel]

the part about zooms reminded me a lot of cherdley's sketches, check his chanel out, he's hilarious, sometimes

[@markusfaerber2854]

More about the multicamera-setup pls ♥

[@LeonardoKlotz]

I also liked his work in OUTLAW KING

[@rhysscarabosio]

You should do a video on Sean Price Williams

[@lorcan545]

Trying to draw up a tier list of Hollywood cinematographers, criteria being reputation/currency/hotness as of spring 2022, what would it look like? 1. Roger Deakins, Emmanuel Lubezki. 2. Robert Richardson, Bruno Delbonnel. 3. Greig Fraser, Hoyte van Hoytema, Linus Sandgren. Would they be the consensus top 7? The latter three are indisputably the 'comers' of the last several years, hoovering up the jobs on respected blockbusters like Bond, Nolan films, Batman & Dune, as well as working for the more recently established super-hot directors like, Chazelle, McKay, O. Russell. They've effectively 'bumped' the prestige of, say, Robert Elswit and (perhaps) Rodrigo Prieto, who in the earlier half of the 2010's occupied the kind of position that they now do. And Barry Ackroyd was there with them at that time. I like his work with McKay and Bigelow. The cinematography of First Man also called to my mind that of Parkland, shot by Ackroyd. Ironically, The News of the World is the one Paul Greengrass film nominated for Best Cinematography, and it was shot, not by Ackroyd, but by Darius Wolski, in a very rare collaboration outside of his Ridley Scott partnership, a partnership in which he stands very little chance of awards recognition.

[@Whoa802]

I'd personally add Christopher Doyle and Janusz Kaminski to the first-tier list myself, and if we're talking about greatest DPs of all-time, then I think Gordon Willis stands proudly next to Deakins and Lubezki for both technical skill and innovation. I'd also add Darius Khondji to the second-tier list and Rodrigo Prieto to the third-tier list.

[@lorcan545]

​@@Whoa802I came up with the list based on a pretty specific criterion favouring recent 'hotness' or whatever, as I said. Janusz Kaminski was of course just Oscar nominated, and is a really glaring omission. The issue is simply that there are several Spielberg films I haven't seen, along with all of his work outside of Spielberg. Even so, I know he is a brilliant cinematographer, and would have listed him, if I had also listed Rodrigo Prieto -- I think of them in similar terms; what the one is to Spielberg the other is to Scorsese atm -- and those two would have been the ones I named, had I named anyone else in the list. Darius Khondji is very intriguing. He's been regarded as a brilliant talent for a very long time and worked with a practically unparalleled variety of great directors and also great visual stylists (like Jeunet, Refn, Larrain). But this range of collaborations also makes it a bit hard for me to rate the quality of his work for itself, as opposed to seeing it relatively, as approximately as good as those directors' other camera people. That said, regardless, his is an omission worth calling out; surely he is as good as a few of the others named, and in terms of being hot right now, Bardo and Armegeddon Time are both intriguing films that he has shot. (I also must watch Okja.) I'm not thinking about an all-time list. The list I made was really just my strange point of entry to make a comment on Barry Ackroyd.

[@patrickcazer]

can you make a video on what is more useful and why? shoulder rigs, handheld or gimbals?

[@lucasduarte7332]

Pls In Depth Cine make one about Claire Mathon (Portrait of a lady on Fire & Spencer), Legend Gregg Toland the cinematographer of Citizen Kane, or John Alton Cinematography Style Pls, Thank You so Much.

[@adrianrobertoruizmartinez9325]

Hi. Could you make a video on bill pope?

[@alci720]

Please do a video on Matthew Libatique, A.S.C

[@theowlfromduolingo7982]

I would also like to see what you think of the DP Radium Cheung who also has a very interesting and beautiful cinematography style

[@lucy._.3547]

Can you make a video about Wong Kai Wai

[@skylinefilms123]

Could you do an episode on Robby Muller?

[@zebius4157]

Could you do a video on lars von trier's style?

[@Jakiechan005]

Multiple camera shooting practical please

[@BangNguyen-ux4ie]

I have a general question about cinematography that I never saw anybody asked. That is, why movies (almost) always have this cyan/green cast to them? Is it a color grading that filmmakers found pleasing to the eyes, or it it because of the nature of the media? I can't think that it is the nature of the media because I see it in both film and digital movies.

[@user-iq8nb3nc7u]

What about cinematography style of Yuri Illyenko or Danylo Demutskyi?

[@i_so_late]

can you do one on Linus Sandgren? No Time To Die was fucking gorgeous

[@xabisomtoba8480]

Can you make a video on cinematographer Dick Pope

[@Whoa802]

He doesn't seem to have much technique, to be honest. It sounds as though he has only minimal mastery of lighting and even less versatility of camerawork. Dude ain't lying when he said he's gotten by on just using his strengths (quick zooms, minimalist lighting, fast setups).

[@whoabuddyful]

I found his style far too distracting in the big short. Akroyd works well for the war films as it adds to the grit, aside from the overuse of shaky cam. The constant changing in zoom and focus was hard to watch for a film about men in offices

[@Whoa802]

I honestly don't think he has much technique, to be frank. His over-reliance on quick zooms and handheld camerawork is the stuff that newbies at film school do, and he doesn't seem to have any particular mastery of lighting either, preferring to do things simple and easy over gracefully and precisely. He's probably one of the least skilled cinematographers this series has covered.

[@maniveiszadeh8030]

If you love out of focus shots and poorly composed frames, I am your man :)