JOHN SEALE ACS/ASC

Born: 5 October 1942, Warwick, Queensland, Australia, as John Clement Seale.

Education: High School, Sydney.

Career: John Seale started work in 1963 at the ABC-tv at Gore Hill, New South Wales [the location of the ABC's Sydney television studios which were established in 1956 and which operated until 2002] - in the stationary department, dispensing biros and pestering Chief Cameraman Bert Nicholas for a 'driver assistant' position. Nicholas got Seale off his back by giving him the job, and by good fortune cameraman Bill Grimmond took him under his wing. In the early 1960s ABC-tv produced some of Australia's first drama series with Grimmond and Bob Feeney as doph's and Seale assisting. In 1965 Grimmond persuaded the reluctant ABC heavies to give Seale a chance as camera operator. Seale and Grimmond then worked on the children's series 'Wandjina!' [1965] and they continued working together on drama productions, mostly in 35mm. In 1970 Seale moved to Fauna Productions as operator on the 'Barrier Reef' series and when Fauna produced the film 'Nickel Queen', Seale operated on his first feature with doph John Williams. From there on he was working regularly as camera operator with Australia's leading cinematographers. Seale recalls that at first he hadn't paid a great deal of attention to lighting and after his first attempt in the role of doph on 'Deathcheaters' [1976], was happy to return to operating. Director Maurice Murphy lured him into being doph on the low budget feature 'Fatty Finn' [1980] and Seale gained confidence. He then took the position of operator on 'Gallipoli' with ph Russell Boyd. After 'Gallipoli' he established himself as a doph and in 1983 was awarded the ACS 'Milli' Award as 'Cinematographer of the Year' for 'Goodbye Paradise'. In 1985 Peter Weir invited him to go to the USA to shoot 'Witness'. This was the beginning of his international career.

Directed the feature 'Till There Was You' [1989; ph: Robert Primes & Geoffrey Simpson].

Member of the ASC since January 1997. In 1998 he received an Honorary Doctorate at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia.

His son Derin is a dir and his daughter Brianna is a former set dresser.

Appeared in the doc's 'Run Nickel Run/The Nickel Queen: The Making of a Movie' [1970, Syd Donovan; ph: Bill Meacham], 'Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography' [1991], an ep of the doc series 'ACS Video Series', 'The Hitcher - How Do These Movies Get Made?' [2002, Jörg Bauer; ph: Robert Jaye; 38m], 'Climbing 'Cold Mountain'' [2003, Tim Bricknell & Laura Luccetti; 74m] & 'Cinematographer Style' [2005, Jon Fauer; ph: J. Fauer, Jeff Laszlo, Brian Heller & David Morgan].

Awards [selection]: AFI [Aus] Award nom [1981] for 'The Survivor'; AFI [Aus] Award [1983] for 'Careful, He Might Hear You'; ACS 'Milli' Award 'Australian Cinematographer of the Year' [1983] for 'Goodbye Paradise'; AFI [Aus] Award nom [1984] for 'Silver City'; ACS 'Milli' Award 'Australian Cinematographer of the Year' [1985]; 'Oscar' AA nom [1986] & BAFTA Film Award nom [1986] for 'Witness'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1989] & ASC Award nom [1989] for 'Rain Man'; BAFTA Film Award nom [1990; shared] for 'Gorillas in the Mist'; BSFC Award [1996], ASC Film Award [1996], 'Oscar' AA [1997], BAFTA Film Award [1997], BSC Award nom [1997], CFCA Award [1997] & European Film Award [1997] for 'The English Patient'; ACS 'Hall of Fame' Award [1997]; Kodak Vision Award [1997]; BAFTA Film Award nom [2000] & CFCA Award nom [2000] for 'The Talented Mr. Ripley'; Australia Day Honour [2002] for 'Service to the arts as an Australian and internationally acclaimed cinematographer'; 'Oscar' AA nom [2003], ASC Film Award nom [2003] & BAFTA Film Award nom [2004] for 'Cold Mountain'; ASC International Achievement Award [2010]; Plus Camerimage 'Lifetime Achievement Award' [2011].

FILMS

1973	West Head [Chris Noonan] 16mm/c; doc/19m; cph: Bill Constable; prod AFTRS
1976	Deathcheaters/Death Cheaters [Brian Trenchard-Smith] 35bu/c
1978	Cries from a Cold Aquarium [Howard Rubie] c; short/45m
1979	Heart, Head & Hand [: Peter Rushford, Potter] [Peter Weir] 16mm/b&w-c; doc/25m
1978	Stunt Rock [Brian Trenchard-Smith] tao/c; co-2uc Australia; ph: Robert Primes & Bob Carras
1980	Fatty Finn [Maurice Murphy] c; 2uc: Tony Wilson
1980	The Dangerous Summer [Brian Trenchard-Smith] c; doc/23m
1980	The Survivor [David Hemmings] p/c; addph: David Foreman, Louis Irving, Kevan Lind, Paul Onorato, Peter Rogers & Geoffrey Simpson
1980	The Law [ep 'Lesley' (12m), 'Weedy Plot' (10m), 'Accident' (16m) & 'Buying Blues' (12m) dir by Keith Gow] 4-part educational series/16mm
1981	Goodbye Paradise [Carl Schultz] c
1981	Horror Movie/Goose Flesh [Maurice Murphy] unfinished because finance fell through
1981	Doctors and Nurses [Maurice Murphy] c
1982	The Year of Living Dangerously [Peter Weir] p/c; 2uc; ph: Russell Boyd
1982	Ginger Meggs [Jonathan Dawson] c
1982	Fighting Back/Death Vengeance/Fighting Free [Michael Caulfield] c
1983	Careful, He Might Hear You [Carl Schultz] p/c
1983	BMX Bandits/Short Wave [Brian Trenchard-Smith] p/c; addph: Louis Irving & Ross Berryman
1984	Silver City [Sophia Turkiewicz] p/c; 2nd ph: Judy Rymer
1984	The Empty Beach [Chris Thomson] c
1985	Witness [Peter Weir] c; 2uc: Chuck Clifton
1985	The Hitcher [Robert Harmon] p/c; 2uc: Charles Minsky; aph: Jack Cooperman
1986	The Mosquito Coast [Peter Weir] c; 2uc: David Burr
1986	Children of a Lesser God [Randa Haines] c; 2uc: Fred Guthe
1987	Stakeout [John Badham] c; 2uc: Peter McLennan

"Gorillas in the Mist"

1987	Gorillas in the Mist [: The Story of Dian Fossey] [Michael Apted] c; 2uc: Simon Trevor; sfx ph: Robin Browne; spph: Bob Campbell; special gorilla ph Zaire: Alan Root
1988	Rain Man [Barry Levinson] c
1988	Dead Poets Society [Peter Weir] c
1990	Flirting [John Duigan] scheduled as doph, but film was ph by Geoff Burton
1990	The Doctor [Randa Haines] c
1991	Lorenzo's Oil [George Miller] c
1992	The Firm [Sydney Pollack] c; uwph: Pete Romano
1993	The Paper [Ron Howard] c
1994	Beyond Rangoon [John Boorman] p/c; 2uc: David Burr
1995	The American President [Rob Reiner] p/c
1995	The English Patient [Anthony Minghella] c; 2uc: Remi Adefarasin
1996	Ghosts of Mississippi/Ghosts from the Past [Rob Reiner] c
1997	City of Angels [Brad Silberling] p/c; addph: Kenneth Zunder
1998	At First Sight [Irwin Winkler] c
1998	The Talented Mr. Ripley [Anthony Minghella] c; New York ph: Benoît Delhomme
1998	Static [Derin Seale] c; short/12m
1999	The Perfect Storm [Wolfgang Petersen] p/c; 2uc: Walt Lloyd; uwph: Gary Capo
2000	Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's [Philosopher's] Stone [Chris Columbus] s35/c; 2uc: Gavin Finney; model unit ph: Nigel Stone
2001	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets [Chris Columbus] scheduled as doph, but film was ph by Roger Pratt
2002	Dreamcatcher [Lawrence Kasdan] s35/c; 2uc: Roger Vernon; vfx ph: Patrick Sweeney

[Hat] with dir Anthony Minghella - "Cold Mountain"

2002	Cold Mountain [Anthony Minghella] s35/c; 2uc: Tim Wooster
2003	Spanglish [James L. Brooks] c; 2uc: Walt Lloyd; aph: Phil Pastuhov

[Right] with dir Wolfgang Petersen - "Poseidon"

2005	Poseidon [Wolfgang Petersen] s35 (+ IMAX-70bu)/c; 2uc: Mark Vargo; model unit ph: Martin Rosenberg & Patrick Sweeney
2008	Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time [Mike Newell] s35 (+ IMAX-70bu & D-Cinema)/c; 2uc: Alexander Witt; aph: Adam Dale; vfx ph: Peter Talbot & James D. Kelly; elements ph (add efx unit UK): Nigel Stone
2009	The Rum Diary [Bruce Robinson] s16-35bu (+ D-Cinema)/c; addph; ph: Dariusz Wolski
2010	The Tourist [Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck] p (+ D-Cinema)/c; aph: John Marzano; vfx ph: Mark Weingartner
2010	Trevi [Christian Keller] in development; status unknown (2011)

TELEVISION

"Boney"

1972	Boney/Bonaparte [ep #12 'Boney Buys a Woman' dir by Peter Maxwell & #14 'Boney Tells a Fortune' dir by Ron Way] 26-part series/16mm, 1972-73; other ph: John J. Williams
1979	New South Wales Images [Russell Boyd] doc/55m/16mm; cph: Russell Boyd
1985	Winners [ep (48m) 'Top Kid' dir by Carl Schultz] 8-part series/16mm, 1986

FILMS & TELEVISION AS CAMERA OPERATOR

1965	Wandjina! [Ken Hannam] 7-part tv-series/b&w, 1966 (ABC-tv); ph: ?
1967	Contrabandits [Eric Taylor, a.o.] 30-part tv-series/video+film/b&w, 1967-68 (ABC-tv); ph: ?
1969	Delta [David Goddard, a.o.] 23-part tv-series/b&w, 1969-70 (ABC-tv); ph: ?
1969	Pastures of the Blue Crane [Tom Jeffrey] 6-part tv-series/b&w (ABC-tv); ph: ?; first Australian drama series to be shot entirely on film
1969	Barrier Reef/Minus Five [Peter Maxwell, a.o.] 39-part tv-series (Network 10); ph: John J. Williams
1970	Nickel Queen [John McCallum] ph: John J. Williams
1972	The Hands of Cormac Joyce [Fielder Cook; tvm] ?; ph: John McLean
1973	Alvin Purple [Tim Burstall] ph: Robin Copping
1974	Shannon's Mob [various; tv-series] ?; ph: John J. Williams
1974	Sunday Too Far Away [Ken Hannam] ?; ph: Geoff Burton
1974	The Man from Hong Kong/The Dragon Flies [Brian Trenchard-Smith] c.asst; ph: Russell Boyd
1975	Picnic at Hanging Rock [Peter Weir] ph: Russell Boyd
1975	Born to Run/Harness Fever [Don Chaffey; tvm] ph: Geoffrey Burton
1975	Caddie [Donald Crombie] ph: Peter James
1975	Mad Dog Morgan [Philippe Mora] ph: Mike Molloy
1976	Break of Day [Ken Hannam] ph: Russell Boyd
1977	The Last Wave/Black Rain [Peter Weir] ph: Russell Boyd
1977	The Irishman [Donald Crombie] ph: Peter James
1977	Weekend of Shadows [Tom Jeffrey] ph: Richard Wallace
1977	Dawn! [Ken Hannam] ph: Russell Boyd
1978	Money Movers [Bruce Beresford] ph: Don McAlpine
1978	Blue Fin [Carl Schultz] ph: Geoffrey Burton
1978	The Odd Angry Shot [Tom Jeffrey] ph: Don McAlpine
1979	The Earthling [Peter Collinson] ph: Don McAlpine
1980	Gallipoli [Peter Weir] ph: Russell Boyd

Note: Some [Canadian] productions are photographed by a John Seale. That's John William Seale [1918-2006], a cinematographer who worked for CBC-tv from 1954-79, and went freelance after that.

Films [selection]:

1977	Dreamspeaker [Claude Jutra] tvm
1980	By Design/Sur mesure [Claude Jutra] c; 2uc; ph: Jean Boffety
1983	The Mind of a Murderer [Michael Barnes] 2-part ('The Case of the Hillside Strangler' [60m] & 'The Mask of Madness' [65m]) doc; cph: Peter Chapman, Rick Robertson, David Myers, a.o.; ep BBC2-tv doc series 'Horizon' (1984); in USA 2-part ep PBS-tv series 'Frontline' (1984)
1986	A Sense of Sound/J'entends tout [Don White] c; exp anim/6m; for NFB
1986	Speaking Object-ly/Le langage des choses [Don White] c; exp anim/6m; for NFB