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DAVID HIGGS BSC

Born: ?, as David S. Higgs.

Career: Started as film asst for BBC-tv news series 'Newsnight'.

Ph music videos with a: Bloc Party. Ph commercials for Nike [d: Guy Ritchie], Adidas, Ford, etc.

Member of the BSC since November 2008.

Awards: RTS 'Lighting, Photography & Camera - Photography Drama' Award nom [1999-2000] for 'Nature Boy'; RTS 'Lighting, Photography & Camera - Photography Drama' Award nom [2000-01] for 'The Russian Bride'; BAFTA TV Award nom [2003] for 'Cambridge Spies'; Raindance FF 'Canon Best Cinematography Award' nom [2007] for 'The Stronger'.

'Night Flight' [2001], a drama set in 1943 and the present day, looks at the terrifying wartime flying experiences of bomber crews. Christopher Plummer plays pensioner Harry, a Lancaster bomber pilot during World War II, whose life changes when his former flying comrade Vic returns from the past with old memories and secrets.

David Higgs, Director of Photography on 'Night Flight', shot the full-scale Lancaster interior stage scenes with an Aaton A-Minima camera. "The beauty of the Minima is that you can tuck it into your body. I was jammed inside the stage plane and a real Lancaster, fighting for every half inch of space, but I was able to get shots that would have been impossible with a conventional camera. I could balance the Minima on my hand and tilt and rock it." The Lancaster replica was attached to a huge hydraulic gimbal, which vibrated and shook violently for the flying scenes. "I expected to have the bucking and diving motion coming from the camera, but with the Minima I could balance more and take a lot of the vibration out. It's a very fluid way of working and very liberating in general drama terms," he remarks.

An Aaton Prod and an Aaton XTR were used for the exterior scenes with a set of Zeiss ARRI Ultra Primes [16-35mm]. Higgs admits to being extremely pleased with the versatility of the stock and the way it inter-cut - Kodak Vision 320T [7277] film was chosen for the stage plane shots and Kodak Vision 250D [7246] film for the day interiors and exteriors.

"Too much lighting would not have been legitimate, but at the same time I had to ensure the lighting level was acceptable to the audience. The perspex hood on the canopy was old and scratched and too much light would have made it look ropey, so I used very small liner lights and bulbs that I could hide, but I had to be careful where they were placed because of internal reflections at every level."

iThe storyline of 'Night Flight' is so complex and layered that Higgs kept his technique as simple as possible. "It's not an inherently visual script, but an incredibly strong personal story. At the end of the day, there's always artifice involved, but I've focused on the characters' emotional journey and tried to find ways to encapsulate the fear that was experienced by Lancaster bomber crews." [From the KODAK website.]

FILMS

1992	The Moment [Terence Gross] s16-35bu/c; short/30m
1993	James Herriot's Yorkshire: The Film [Joy Perino] s16/c; doc/80m; cph: Nathan Mann
1996	Faith [Pete Travis] s16-35bu/c; short/15m
1998	Wonderland [Michael Winterbottom] s16/c; co-2uc; ph: Sean Bobbitt
2004	The Heat of the Story [Rehana Rose] dv-to-35mm/c; short/13m
2007	The Stronger [Lia Williams] HD/b&w; short/10m
2007	RocknRolla [Guy Ritchie] HD (ARRI D-20)-to-35mm scope/c
2008	Imagine! United Kingdom Sings Argentina [Minivegas] c; mus short/1m13sec; for Pangea Day
2008	Tony [Gerard Johnson] s16-35bu/c; addph: Dale McCready (finished film); 2uc: Peter Talbot; based on the short film 'Tony' (2006)
2008	Lesbian Vampire Killers [Phil Claydon] RED-to-35mm scope/c; 2uc: Nic Lawson
2009	St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold [Oliver Parker & Barnaby Thompson] c; 2uc: Nic Lawson
2010	Rafta Rafta/All in Good Time [Nigel Cole] RED/c
2010	Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows [Guy Ritchie] s35+HD-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c; co-2uc; ph: Philippe Rousselot

TELEVISION

1990	Dunkirk: A Human Endeavour [Leela Creswell] doc (followed by studio discussion)/60m
1990	Painted Faces [Tom Hooper] tvm/15m/s16-35bu; ep Channel 4 series 'First Frame'
1992	The Tomorrow People [5-part ep 'The Origin Story' dir by Ron Oliver] 5-part children's series/s16; followed by 20-part series; the pilot, 'A Bad Dream Gets Real', was dir by Lorne Magory and ph by Mike Thomson
1993	The Tomorrow People [5-part ep 'The Culex Experiment' dir by Alan Horrox (ep #1, 3-5) & Vivianne Albertine (#2) & 5-part ep 'The Monsoon Man' dir by Niall Leonard] 20-part children's series/s16, 1994-95; see 1992
1994	The Tomorrow People [5-part ep 'The Rameses Connection' dir by Roger Gartland & 5-part ep 'The Living Stones' dir by Crispin Reece] see 1993
1994	Romeo & Juliet [Alan Horrox] tvm/s16
1994	Counter Culture [ep 'The Last Van from Golspie' dir by Emma Swain] 6-part doc series/s16
1995	The Merchant of Venice [Alan Horrox] tvm/s16; for Channel 4 series 'Middle English'
1995	Delta Wave [2-part ep 'A Twist of Lemming', 2-part ep 'A Glitch in Time', 2-part ep 'Dodgy Jammers', 2-part ep 'The Light Fantastic' & 2-part ep 'Something Fishy', all dir by Roger Gartland] 10-part children's series, 1996
1995	Alarm für Cobra 11 - Die Autobahnpolizei [pilot 'Bomben bei Kilometer 92' dir by Leo Zahn] series, 1996-present; 1st series, 1996
1996	The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: My First Adventure [Michael Schultz] comp of ep #1 (1st part of pilot) & #41 'Tangiers, 1908' (unaired; shot in February & May 1996 for video release) of series 'The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles'; co-2uc; ph: Ashley Rowe
1996	The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Tales of Innocence [Bille August (#19) & Michael Schultz (#42)] comp of ep #19 'Northern Italy, June 1918' (re-dated 1917) & #42 'Morocco, 1917' (unaired; filmed for video release) of series 'The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles'; 2uc; ph: Ashley Rowe & Jörgen Persson (#19)
1996	The Treasure Seekers [Juliet May] tvm/s16
1997	The Canterville Ghost [Crispin Reece] tvm/s16
1997	The Broker's Man [Roger Gartland, a.o.] 12-part series, 1997-98; 1st season
1998	In the Red [Marcus Mortimer] 3-part miniseries/s16
1998	The Broker's Man [Baz Taylor, a.o.] 2nd season; see 1997
1999	Dalziel and Pascoe [ep #15 'The British Grenadier' dir by Maurice Phillips] series, 1996-present; 4th season
1999	Nature Boy [Joe Wright] 4-part miniseries
1999	Summer in the Suburbs [David Attwood] tvm
1999	Hero of the Hour [Dave Richards] tvm
2000	The Innocents [Peter Kosminsky] tvm/s16; ep Channel 4 series 'Doctors on Trial'; in USA ep of PBS-tv series 'Masterpiece Theatre' (2002)
2000	A Christmas Carol [Catherine Morshead] tvm
2000	The Russian Bride [Nicholas Renton] 2-part tvm
2001	Night Flight [Nicholas Renton] 2-part tvm; 2uc: Gareth Hughes
2001	The Project [Peter Kosminsky] 2-part tvm ('Opposition' & 'Government')
2002	The Inspector Lynley Mysteries [ep #2 'Well-Schooled in Murder' dir by Robert Young, #3 'Payment in Blood' dir by Kim Flitcroft, #4 'For the Sake of Elena' dir by Richard Laxton (RL) & #5 'Missing Joseph' dir by RL] pilot (2001) + series, 2002-present; 1st season
2002	Cambridge Spies [Tim Fywell] 4-part miniseries
2003	Too Good to Be True [Sarah Harding] 2-part tvm
2003	Island at War [Thaddeus O'Sullivan (ep #1-3) & Peter Lydon (ep #4-6)] 6-part miniseries/s16; in USA ep of PBS-tv series 'Masterpiece Theatre'
2004	The Government Inspector [Peter Kosminsky] tvm
2005	Beneath the Skin [Sarah Harding] 2-part tvm
2005	Derailed [Kenny Glenaan] tvm; 2uc: Nic Lawson
2005	Agatha Christie: Poirot [ep #11 'After the Funeral' dir by Maurice Phillips] series of tvm's, 2000-present; followed the 46-part series (1989-93) + specials (1995-97)
2005	The Best Man [Alex Pillai] 2-part tvm; 2uc: Nic Lawson
2006	I Shouldn't Be Alive/Alive [ep 'Lost at Sea' dir by Jules Williamson] series
2007	Britz [Peter Kosminsky] 2-part tvm/16mm; 2uc: Nic Lawson
2007	Who Gets the Dog? [Nicholas Renton] tvm; 2uc: Nic Lawson
2008	Lost in Austen [Dan Zeff] 4-part miniseries; addph: Peter Butler
2008	Red Riding [ep #3 (RED-to-35mm scope) '[In the Year of Our Lord] 1983' dir by Anand Tucker] 3-part series, 2009; 2uc (#3): Nic Lawson; other ph: Rob Hardy (#1) & Igor Martinovic (#2); for Channel 4; also released theatrically
2010	The Promise/Homeland [Peter Kosminsky] 4-part miniseries/s16, 2011
2010	Case Sensitive [Charles Martin] 2-part tvm (2011); 2uc: Nic Lawson

MISCELLANEOUS

2009

Leap Year [Anand Tucker] p/c; 'b' cam (+ 2ud); ph: Newton Thomas Sigel