Cinematographer: Ellen Kuras

The American Society of Cinematographers is an invitation admittance organization. Formed in 1919, it comprises the community of cinematographers that most often work on the commercially successful films of the Hollywood school.

Having such a broad description may seem irreconcilable with the fact that only 4% of members a women. It is with this rather dreary exposition out of the way that we come to our cinematographer in question; a member of this 4%:  Ellen Kuras.

Kuras’ career covers narrative films, documentaries, music videos and commercials and has become the most notable face of the slowly growing number of internationally regarded female cinematographers.

One of the most crucial relationships on a film set is that of the director and the cinematographer. It is dealt differently in each case, however Kuras describes her philosophy as one that endeavours to support the director’s vision rather than create a parallel direction of equal force. In an interview with Indiewire magazine in 2002, Kuras described that on set, she tries to get into the “director’s mind’s eye” in order to “enhance and execute” their vision.

Perhaps for this reason, the visual style of Ellen Kuras could only be described as eclectic. However, during her early career, Kuras undertook many documentary projects. Most notable of these was  the Bob Dylan documentary No Direction Home Directed by Martin Scorsese. It is perhaps her affinity with natural light that lead her to be selected by Michel Gondry to shoot his cult classic Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Gondry had expressly intended for the film to appear to be lit in a naturalistic way, and indeed this shows in the film itself. Relying heavily on the look of street lamps and cold winter sunlight, Gondry film may have indeed been a comfortable place for Kuras. Her affinity for a ‘natural look’ in film lighting again is foregrounded in an interview regarding her work on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In it, she describes lighting scenes far more artificially than Goudry directed, however, the end result was exactly what the director intended. It is this initiative and practicality that supports her earlier statement of only wishing to “enhance” the creative vision of a director, without actually altering their intention. Perhaps this entire realisation sums up the role of the cinematographer in general terms. From the example of Kuras, the cinematographer is not simply a robot carrying out set instructions from the director, but instead takes the directors intent, reconciles it with practical considerations, then executes that vision with a varying number of methods – most of which may never occur, or even be expressly forbidden by an un-privy director.

The approach of Kuras is one that most cinematographers share, and indeed, in the case of  Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and her other documentary work the success of this ethos shines through.