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Photo by Louie Escobar |
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CHRIS MANLEY ASC |
Born: c. 1969, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania [PA], USA, as Christopher C. Manley. Grew up in Allentown, PA.
Education: Temple University, Philadelphia; American Film Institute [AFI], Los Angeles [1994-96].
Career: 'I enrolled at Temple University as a radio, television and film major. I was exposed to a lot of classic Hollywood movies during my freshman year and really fell in love with filmmaking. I worked on other students' films doing lighting, sound, camera assistant, grip work. I volunteered all my free time to work on graduate student films. One of them was David Jacobson, whom I later worked with in Los Angeles on 'Dahmer'. I always liked working on David's crews at Temple. I liked his aesthetics. After shooting a few graduate student films, I began trying to figure out if I could make a living as a cinematographer. [...] There was a nonprofit organization in Philadelphia called International House, which exhibited foreign films that were never released in the United States. I worked there as a projectionist. One year they did a tribute to Richard Brooks and Conrad Hall was a guest. When I saw him leaving, I chased him to the exit and asked a stupid question about how to light day interiors. He just said, "Keep it simple, kid. Keep it simple." [...] I did a little work around Philadelphia, but there weren't many opportunities. I knew I needed to get more training. The only program I was interested in was at AFI, because it was more of a conservatory style of learning. I was 25 years old and thought I knew a lot, but I learned more during the first three months than I did in five years in Philadelphia. When I started in 1994, they had a policy of rotating professors every six weeks. They taught classes, advised us on projects and conducted workshops. Our rotating teachers included Tom Denove, Stevan Larner, Bill Dill, James Chressanthis and Bob Primes. [After graduating from AFI] I'd walk to the newsstand, buy the trades, look at all the film start-ups and make calls, send resumes and reels. I must have sent 200 reels in those early days. I got jobs as a gaffer and electrician on very low budget films. Looking back, I knew a lot of talented people who got discouraged and gave up. [...] Right after school in 1996, I was referred by someone at AFI to shoot a no-budget feature called 'Irish Whiskey'. We shot 35mm short ends with a Panavision Gold camera and had print dailies which we watched every night at Deluxe. [...] Looking back, I think my experience working on Roger Corman films was a big help, because it taught me how to work quickly without compromising. At AFI, we were taught that cinematography is an art form and we're artists doing important work. When I was shooting for Corman, I learned that you're expendable if you don't make the schedule. I had to balance those two points of view, because the truth was somewhere in the middle.' [From interview with Bob Fisher on the KODAK OnFilm website.]
Ph commercials dir by Loni Peristere, a.o. Ph music videos.
Member of the ASC since 2007. Married to film editor Bipasha Shom.
Appeared in the doc 'Cinematographer Style' [2005, Jon Fauer; ph: J. Fauer, Jeff Laszlo, Brian Heller & David Morgan].
Awards: Eastman Kodak Scholarship [for 1995-96]; Taos Talking Picture Festival 'George Méliès Award' nom [1999] for 'My Mother Dreams the Satan's Disciples in New York'; Daytime 'Emmy' Award [2000] for 'The Phantom Eye'; ASC TV Award nom [2003] for 'Threat Matrix' [ep #3 'Dr. Germ']; ASC TV Award nom [2004] for 'C.S.I.: NY [ep #5 'A Man a Mile']; 'Emmy' Award nom [2009] for 'Mad Men' [ep #18 'The New Girl']; 'Emmy' Award nom [2010] for 'Mad Men' [ep #39 'Shut the Door. Have a Seat']; ASC TV Award nom [2010] for 'Mad Men' [ep #51 'Blowing Smoke'].
FILMS |
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1995 |
Bontoc Eulogy [Marlon Fuentes & Bridget Yearian] 16mm/b&w; doc/57m; cph: MF, BY, Rubén Domingo & Tommy Hafalla |
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1995 |
California Convertible [Michael Keusch] c; 2uc; ph: ? |
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1996 |
Irish Whiskey [Jon Stevens] c; cph: Patrick Kelly |
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1996 |
Butterflies [Kevin Leicinger] b&w; short/9m |
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1998 |
Running Woman [Rachel Samuels] c/V |
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1998 |
My Mother Dreams the Satan's Disciples in New York [Barbara Schock] c; short/30m; prod AFI |
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1998 |
Enemy Action [Brian Katkin] c/V; addph; ph: Laurence Manly |
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1999 |
The Puzzle [Ian Kessner] c; short/17m; 2uc; ph: François Dagenais |
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1999 |
12x12 [Maja Zimmermann] c; short/16m; prod Pasadena Art Center College of Design |
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1999 |
[Robert Louis Stevenson's] The Suicide Club/[The] Game of Death/The Death Club [Rachel Samuels] c |
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1999 |
Hollywood Horror [Bernt Amadeus Capra] c; 2uc: Drew Thomas |
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1999 |
To Protect and Serve [Joseph Perez] c |
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2000 |
Tapped Out [Georgio Allentini] c; cph: Kirk Douglas |
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2001 |
The Stickup [Rowdy Herrington] c; 2uc: Richard Walden |
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2001 |
Shut Yer Dirty Little Mouth! [Robert Taicher] v/c |
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2001 |
Under the Influence [Eric Gardner] c |
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2001 |
Endangered Species/Earth Alien [Kevin Tenney] c/V; 2uc: Bo Randulff |
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2002 |
The Big Empty [Steve Anderson] c |
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2002 |
Dahmer [David Jacobson] c |
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2003 |
Neo Ned [Van Fischer] c |
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2005 |
Coachella [Drew Thomas] HD-to-35mm/c; doc/120m; cph: François Dagenais, Keith Smith, Greg Nash, a.o. |
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2006 |
Gracie [Davis Guggenheim] s35/c |
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2008 |
Interpretation [Lin Oeding] s35/c; short/7m |
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2010 |
Thor [Kenneth Branagh] p (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc; ph: Haris Zambarloukos |
TELEVISION |
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1998 |
The New Adventures of Robin Hood [8 ep dir by various] 52-part series, 1997-99; 3rd season, 1998; 2uc; ph: Jeffrey Weaver |
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1999 |
[Roger Corman's] The Phantom Eye [Gwyneth Gibby] special/60m/35 chapters; aired during breaks between classic monster movies |
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2000 |
[Roger Corman Present] Black Scorpion [ep #2 'Wave Goodbye' dir by Rob Spera, #3 'Blinded by the Light' dir by Stanley Yung & #17 'He Who Laughs Last' dir by Mike Mickens] 22-part series, 2001; 3uc; ph: Michael Mickens (#2 & #3) & Carlos González (#17) |
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2000 |
Wolf Girl/Blood Moon/Side Show [Thom Fitzgerald] tvm; 2uc: Gabriel Kosuth |
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2002 |
The Last Cowboy [Joyce Chopra] tvm; doph 'b' cam: Frank Q. Dobbs |
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2002 |
Thought Crimes/Thoughtcrimes/Clairvoyance [Breck Eisner] tvm |
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2003 |
Threat Matrix [ep #2 'Veterans' Day' dir by Fred Gerber (FG), #3 'Dr. Germ' dir by Guy Bee (GB), #4 'Natural Borne Killers' dir by Perry Lang, #5 'Patriot Acts' dir by Rick Kolbe, #6 'In Plane Sight' dir by Larry Shaw, #7 'Alpha-126' dir by FG, #8 'Under the Gun' dir by GB, #10 'Flipping' dir by David Grossman, #12 'PPX' dir by Deran Sarafian, #14 'Extremist Makeover' dir by FG & #16 'Cambodia' dir by FG] 16-part (2 unaired) series, 2003-04; other ph: David Boyd (pilot) & Walt Fraser (3 ep) |
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2004 |
Gramercy Park [Jeff Bleckner] pilot/60m (second version; original version shot in 2003) |
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2004 |
C.S.I.: NY/C.S.I.: New York [ep #2 'Creatures of the Night' dir by Tim Hunter, #4 'Grand Master' dir by Kevin Bray, #5 'A Man a Mile' dir by David Grossman (DG), #6 'Outside Man' dir by Rob Bailey (RB), #7 'Rain' dir by DG, #8 'Three Generations Are Enough' dir by Alexander Zakrzewski, #11 'Tri-Borough' dir by Greg Yaitanes, #13 'Tanglewood' dir by Karen Gaviola, #15 ''Til Death Do We Part' dir by Nelson McCormick, #17 'The Fall' dir by Norberto Barba, #19 'Crime and Misdemeanor' dir by RB, #21 'On the Job' dir by David Von Ancken & #23 'What You See Is What You See' dir by Duane Clark] series, 2004-present; 1st season, 2004-05; other ph: Dermott Downs (+ cph #7) & Frank Byers; 2uc: Cary Fisher |
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2005 |
The Curse of King Tut's Tomb [Russell Mulcahy] 2-part tvm; cph: Ranjeev Mulchandani |
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2005 |
Prison Break [: Manhunt] [ep #4 'Cute Poison' dir by Matt Earl Beesley, #5 'English, Fitz or Percy' dir by Randall Zisk, #6 'Riots, Drills and the Devil' dir by Robert Mandel, #8 'The Old Head' dir by Jace Alexander (JA), #10 'Sleight of Hand' dir by Dwight Little, #12 'Odd Man Out' dir by Bobby Roth (BR), #14 'The Rat' dir by Kevin Hooks (KH), #16 'Brother's Keeper' dir by Greg Yaitanes, #18 'Bluff' dir by JA, #20 'Tonight' dir by BR & #22 'Flight' dir by KH] 81-part series, 2005-09; 1st season, 2005-06; other ph: Dante Spinotti (pilot, 2004), Robbie Greenberg & Robert LaBonge |
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2006 |
Drive [various] 6-part (2 unaired) series, 2007 |
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2008 |
Mad Men [13 ep dir by various] series/35mm-to-HD, 2007-present; 2nd season |
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2009 |
Mad Men [13 ep dir by various] 3rd season; see 2008 |
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2009 |
State of Romance [Peter Sollett] pilot |
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2009 |
Tough Trade [Gavin Hood] pilot |
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2010 |
Mad Men [13 ep dir by various] 4th season; see 2008 |
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2010 |
Homeland [ep #1 dir by Michael Cuesta] series/HD (ARRI ALEXA); 2uc: Frank Godwin |
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2011 |
Revenge [Phillip Noyce] pilot/HD |
MISCELLANEOUS |
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1995 |
The Taming Power of the Small [Wayne Powers; short] loader; ph: Robert Harmon |
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1996 |
Nineball [Victor Bevine] gaffer; ph: John Burnett |
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1997 |
Rough Draft/Diary of a Serial Killer [Joshua Wallace] c.op 'b' cam; ph: Keith L. Smith |
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1997 |
Fix [Richard Zelniker] gaffer; ph: Dimitri Djanbani |
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1997 |
Too Good to Be True [Geoffrey Edwards] best boy electric; ph: Mark Parry |
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1997 |
My Body [Joel Moffett; short] co-best boy electric; ph: Andrew Thomas; also seg of 'Boys in Love 2', 1998 |
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1997 |
Psycho Sushi [Lisa Haisha] gaffer addph; ph: Kurt Brabbee |
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1998 |
pURe kILLjoy [Aaron Downing] gaffer; ph: Keith L. Smith |
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1999 |
Luck of the Draw [Luca Bercovici] co-c.op 'b' cam; ph: Keith L. Smith |