FEATURE | BLACKKKLANSMAN
There was one caveat: spike said he shoots two cameras all the time, and that was new for me
ABOVE Adam Driver as police officer Flip Zimmerman and John David Washington as Ron Stallworth.
Not having seen a film that blasted me out of my seat like this one did for a very long time, I hastily contacted cinematographer Chayse Irvin to ask him for 15 minutes to talk about his work. Reserved and somewhat private, he agreed to come up from Marseille to meet on a rooftop terrace overlooking the Croisette where I filmed the discussion that began at 13:14 and finished at 18:07. My assistant ran off with the camera to film the tapis rouge, and we ran off to Café Roma to cool our parched throats with Hoegaardens. Chayse Irvin was born in Vancouver to an American mathematician father and a Canadian jazz singer and teacher mother. As a kid, Chayse and his ‘gifted’ brother made small films with their mom operating camera, and spent summers on a lakeside near Vancouver with their photographer/ jazz musician uncle, absorbing movies from his eclectic collection. “These were defining moments,” he says. Their mother made sure they studied art, music, philosophy, painting, piano and harmonica, but Chayse admits he was more into basketball, while his brother built huge Lego sculptures, got into animation, and studied computer software. “I think there are two types of people in the world: ‘crickle’ people who are logical thinkers who can examine the
minutiae, and ‘goo’ people who are abstract, spontaneous, free flowing. “My parents are exact opposites, me and my brother are too,” he adds. At 16, Chayse entered a film program in high school that fast tracked him into Capilano University’s Film School, while he got set experience working on films with a Production Designer/Producer who mentored him. After graduating, Irvin worked as a grip before lighting and directing music videos. “I realised I learned a lot in Vancouver,” he says, but it was time to meet other directors, so Chayse left for L.A. and slept on couches for several years struggling to find work. Those early experiences were horrible, but with the arrival of Vimeo, young aspiring cinematographers finally had a platform where they could share their work, join a community and start making films together. Chayse photographed many low budget films before finally shooting commercials; reluctantly, because ‘Advertising is telling
EDITOR
Oscar nominee and longtime collaborator with Spike Lee, starting with She’s Gotta Have It . The split screen sequences from BlacKkKlansman which culminate in a horrific racially-motivated act of violence show Barry’s eye is working like a DOP’s. He did a great job working with Spike to keep the story on track (there’s a lot of moving parts) and also it’s one of those true stories so you know the ending but you’re still on the edge of your seat as to whether or not the cops and their ruse will be found out – by the KKK no less.
72 DEF I N I T ION | SEPTEMBER 20 1 8
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