RICHARD CRUDO ASC

Born: 1957, Brooklyn, New York City, as Richard P. Crudo.

Education: St. John's University, New York City [History]; Columbia University, New York City [Film Arts Program; graduated in 1981].

Career: 'I studied at St. John's University, and one of my instructors was a commercial director. I latched onto to his crew as a P.A., which began to give me an idea of how things work. My plan was to go on to grad school at Columbia University and work as a P.A. and loader on non-union productions while I was waiting to get into the Guild. That was around 1979 or 1980. You almost had to be born into it at that stage. The local in New York at that time was very small. There were probably less than 400 members and only 75 to 80 of them actually made their living on camera crews. I was one of, I think, five people who got into the Guild [in New York] around that time. It was a lot different than today. You didn't qualify based on days of experience. First, you had to pay a fee to fill out an application. Then, you waited for maybe a year to see if you were going to be allowed to apply. When and if that happened, you filled out a much more detailed application, and if you got past that, you were interviewed by a panel. If you got through that process, you were allowed to apply for membership, which meant you gave them some more money and waited another couple of years until you were called for a test. You showed up at Panavision, in New York, on a Saturday at 8 a.m., and there were 15 stations with 15 different set-ups of cameras in cases. You had to work your way around the stations and assemble all 15 cameras by 5 p.m. All the while, there were people grading you and giving you a hard time. There was also a written test, which was quite easy. It just dealt with basic photography questions and procedures. After you got through the Saturday crucible, and assembled the 15 cameras, you waited anxiously for a couple of weeks, waiting to hear if you passed. I was very fortunate; I got in on my first try. Then I wrote a big check, and began looking for work. I had made some contacts with a few Guild cameramen who were doing newsmagazine and documentary work, including Greg Andracke and Chuck Levey. They were working for programs like '60 Minutes' and '20/20', which were still being shot on film. I spent a lot of time with Greg, in particular. I also did many jobs with Chuck Levey for '60 Minutes', and PBS-tv - a lot of documentaries, nature and medical films. All of those programs were produced on 16mm film, so I learned a lot about exposure, composition, working under pressure, and also using natural light sources.' [From interview with Bob Fisher on the International Cinematographers Guild website.] '20/20'

During the 1980s, he became c.asst working with doph Gordon Willis, Michael Chapman and Steadicam op Larry McConkey and Ted Churchill. During the late 1980s he ph student and promotional films, doc's and very low budget work.

President of the ASC [2003-05]. Member of the CSC. Associate member of the SOC.

KODAK Cinematographer-in-Residence [2011], School of Theater, Film and Television, UCLA.

Appeared in the doc 'Cinematographer Style' [2005, Jon Fauer; ph: J. Fauer, Jeff Laszlo, Brian Heller & David Morgan].

FILMS & TELEVISION

1989	? [Michael Corrente] ?; short/?m
1989	Title Shot [Bill Durkin] c
1991	Federal Hill [Michael Corrente] b&w; was 'colorized' for video release; + co-prod
1992	Joshua Tree/Army of One [Vic Armstrong] s35 & 70bu/c; co-2uc; ph: Dan Turrett
1993	Spree [Kevin Lynn] s35/c
1993	Rave Review [Jeff Seymour] c
1994	Between Mother and Daughter [Matthew Diamond] tvm/48m; a CBS-tv 'Schoolbreak Special'
1994	The Low Life [George Hickenlooper] c
1995	Tilt-A-Whirl [Tom Sullivan] c
1995	Critics and Other Freaks/Critic's Choice [Ernie Mirich] c
1995	American Buffalo [Michael Corrente] c
1996	Persons Unknown [George Hickenlooper] c
1996	Campfire Tales [Matt Cooper, Martin Kunert & David Semel] c; co-addph; ph: John Peters; 5 seg
1997	Music from Another Room [Charlie Peters] c
1997	Say You'll Be Mine [Brad Kane] c
1997	The First to Go [John L. Jacobs] c
1997	Bongwater [Richard Sears] c
1997	Outside Providence [Michael Corrente] c
1998	American Pie [Paul Weitz & (uncred) Chris Weitz] c
1999	In Pursuit [Peter Pistor] c/V
2000	Down to Earth/I Was Made to Love Her [Paul & Chris Weitz] c; addph N.Y.: Tom Houghton
2000	Out Cold [Brendan & Emmett Malloy] c; 2uc: John Clothier, Joel Ransom & Andy Wilson
2002	Bring It on Again [Damon Santostefano] c/V
2002	Grind [Casey LaScala] scope/c; 2uc: Matt Goodman
2003	Out of Reach/The Rescue/The Package [Po-Chih Leong] c/V; 2uc: Janusz Gauer
*2004*	Under My Skin [Michael Mayer] announced with actress Annette Bening; status unknown
2004	Brooklyn Rules/Nailed Right In [Michael Corrente] p/c
2005	Homie Spumoni/It's Under My Skin [Mike Cerrone] scope/c
2006	My Sexiest Year [Howard Himelstein] c
2007	Pistol Whipped/The Marker [Roel Reiné] s16-35bu/c/V; 2uc: Bill Trautvetter
2009	Justified [various] tv-series/HD (Sony F35 & Sony PMW-F3), 2010-present; 2uc; ph: Peter Levy & Francis Kenny

MISCELLANEOUS

1982	Broadway Danny Rose [Woody Allen] 2nd c.asst; ph: Gordon Willis
1983	The Purple Rose of Cairo [Woody Allen] 2nd c.asst; ph: Gordon Willis
1984	The Last Dragon [Michael Schultz] cam trainee; ph: James A. Contner
1985	The Money Pit [Richard Benjamin] 2nd c.asst; ph: Gordon Willis
1985	Ishtar [Elaine May] 2nd c.asst New York; ph: Vittorio Storaro
1986	Raising Arizona [Joel Coen] c.asst; ph: Barry Sonnenfeld
1986	Five Corners [Tony Bill] Steadicam asst; Steadicam op: Rick Raphael; ph: Fred Murphy
1988	Field of Dreams [Phil Alden Robinson] Boston 2u panaglide asst; ph: John Lindley
1988	Dead Poets Society [Peter Weir] ?; ph: John Seale
1988	Ghostbusters II [Ivan Reitman] Steadicam asst; Steadicam op: Larry McConkey; ph: Michael Chapman
1989	Presumed Innocent [Alan Pakula] c.asst; ph: Gordon Willis
1989	The Silence of the Lambs [Jonathan Demme] ?; ph: Tak Fujimoto
1990	Company Business [Nicholas Meyer] Steadicam asst; Steadicam op: Larry McConkey; ph: Gerry Fisher
1990	The Divine Garbo [Susan F. Walker; tv-doc] c.asst; ph: Bill Megalos
1990	Jungle Fever [Spike Lee] co-Steadicam asst; Steadicam op: Ted Churchill Larry McConkey & Kirk Gardner; ph: Ernest Dickerson
1991	Breaking the Silence/Some Kind of Love [Robert Iscove; tvm] 1st c.asst; ph: John Beymer
2000	Donnie Darko [Richard Kelly] co-c.op; ph: Steven Poster

FILMS AS DIRECTOR

1998	Conundrum [feature; + scrpl/co-prod] presented as film project at the Cannes IFF in 1999 by the Fries Film Group Inc.; scheduled to start shooting in June 1999; status unknown
2008	Against the Dark/Last Night [feature] ph: William Trautvetter; 2uc: Gabriel Kosuth