STEVE YEDLIN

Born: ?, as Steven Yedlin.

Education: University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television [USC].

Career: Was gaffer on features, commercials and music videos.

Ph commercials for Levi's, Timex, a.o. Ph tv-promos and music videos.

Inventor and co-engineer of the 'Soft-O-Matic', a special-application 12.000 watt soft-light.

Steve Yedlin: 'My background is in lighting. I worked as a gaffer for years. This experience, along with careful study of favorite movies for lighting, composition and coverage, has made for an indispensable education in cinematography. Each job I did as a gaffer was a learning experience, whether or not the DP's affinities in aesthetics and tactics aligned with my own. Probably more important than learning what one must do, I learned what one doesn't necessarily have to do. I became comfortable, for example, with actors going into silhouette or eyes being dark at times. Framing should be approached in the same way: the main character can be small in the frame or have his back to the camera while speaking or have an unusually large amount of head-room. These are all fine, and it's part of a cameraman's job to protect a director from talking himself out of his own fine ideas for shot design because of convention.

What I've learned by working as a gaffer cannot be quantified, but, perhaps, my most cherished learning method in understanding photography for storytelling, a method that is always evolving, is the process of working with directors whom I respect. A thoughtful and talented director, whatever his methods, influences and tastes, is a vital conductor of the over-determined lexicon of visual language. He can serve to focus, magnify, intuit and convey the apparently manifold and unmanageably disparate aspects of filmmaking into a unity which is the final movie.' [From interview by An Tran on the cinematographer.com website, 2003.]

FILMS & TELEVISION

1990	The Short Life and Tragic Death of Josh Arce [Rian Johnson] 16mm/?; short/?m
1996	Sugared Peas [Isabella V. Chan] 16mm/c; short/12m; cph: Marius Balchunas; prod USC; also part of DVD comp 'Girls' View' (5 shorts; 2007)
1996	Evil Demon Golfball from Hell!!! [Rian Johnson] 16mm/b&w; short/8m; + co-ed; prod USC
1996	America's Dumbest Criminals [?] drama/reality tv-series, 1996-2000; other ph: Alex Vendler, Joe Gill, a.o.
1998	The Room [Robert Beaucage] c
1998	Last Ditch [Rian Johnson] c; short/19m; 2nd c.op: Justin Akers; shot in one weekend
1998	Angst [Bryan C. Bishop] s16-35bu/b&w-c; short/26m; cph: Matthias Maaß
1999	Paul Thomas Anderson [Alex Vendler] tv-interview/30m; cph: Jaron Presant & Ilya Lyudmirsky; ep series 'Independent Focus' for the Independent Film Channel
1999	Fashionably L.A. [Tamara Olson] 16mm/b&w-c
2001	May [Lucky McKee] c; 2uc: Jaron Presant
2002	The Psychology of Dream Analysis [Rian Johnson] dv/c; short/10m
2003	Brick [Rian Johnson] c
2003	Toolbox Murders [Tobe Hooper] c; 2uc: Jaron Presant
2003	Dead Birds [Alex Turner] c
2004	Mortuary [Tobe Hooper] scheduled as doph, but film was ph by Jaron Presant
2004	Conversations with Other Women [Hans Canosa] HD+35mm-to-35mm (2.39:1/split screen)/c; addph: Alex Vendler (Los Angeles) & Jonathan Furmanski (New York)
2005	The Dead One/El Muerto [Brian Cox] c; 2uc: Bernd Heinl, Jaron Presant & Alex Vendler
2005	Unknown [Simon Brand] s35/c; 2uc + addph: Alex Vendler

[Right] with 1st c.asst Wade Whitley - "Altered"

2005	Altered [Eduardo Sánchez] c; 2uc: Stephen Campbell
2005	Chlorine [Jay Alaimo] announced for December start, but the money fell through; filmed in January 2010 with doph Paul Daley
200?	Greg Gorman - Explorer of Light [Lee Farber] dv/c; doc/?m
2006	Lovely by Surprise [Kirt Gunn] c; premiered on the internet as a series of short films (webisodes)
2007	The Brothers Bloom [Rian Johnson] s35/c; 2uc: Jaron Presant
2007	American Violet/American Inquisition [Tim Disney] scope/c; 2uc: Alex Vendler
2008	Tenure [Mike Million] scope/c
2008	The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306 [Adam Pertofsky] c; doc/32m; prod National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, TN
2008	The Other Woman/Love and Other Impossible Pursuits [Don Roos] p (+ D-Cinema)/c
2009	Father of Invention [Trent Cooper] HD (Sony F23)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema)/c
2011	Looper [Rian Johnson] p/c
2011	Imogene [Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman] c

MISCELLANEOUS

1996	Yellow [Chris Chan Lee] 1st c.asst; ph: Theodore Cohen
1997	976-WISH [David L. Bertman; short] 1st c.asst; ph: Dave Porfiri & James Sweeney
1997	Descent [Kevin Souls] c.asst; ph: Michael Kreuzriegler; prod USC
1997	Girl Cottage [Steve Morris] gaffer; ph: Alex Vendler
1998	From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money [Scott Spiegel] co-electrician addph; ph: Philip Lee
1998	Shafted! [Tom Putnam] gaffer; ph: Alex Vendler
1998	The Thin Pink Line [Joe Dietl & Michael Irpino] gaffer; ph: Alex Vendler
1998	10 Seconds [Christophe Joly; short] gaffer; ph: Alex Vendler
1998	Bad Money [John Hazlett] gaffer; ph: Alex Vendler
1999	Good Housekeeping/Better Housekeeping [Frank Novak] gaffer; ph: Alex Vendler
1999	Very Mean Men [Tony Vitale] gaffer; ph: Alex Vendler & Nathan Wilson
2000	Manic [Jordan Melamed] gaffer & co-c.op 'b' cam; ph: Nick Hay
2001	Sol Goode [Danny Comden] gaffer; ph: Christopher Walling
2002	Melvin Goes to Dinner [Bob Odenkirk] gaffer; ph: Alex Vendler
2005	Out at the Wedding [Lee Friedlander] swing gaffer; ph: Alex Vendler
2006	Derek & Simon: A Bee and a Cigarette [Bob Odenkirk; short] c.op; ph: Alex Vendler
2006	The Comedians of Comedy: Live at the El Rey [Michael Blieden; perf/58m] co-c.op; ph: Brandon Hickman
2007	The Hottie & the Nottie [Tom Putnam] co-c.op 'b' cam; ph: Alex Vendler
2010	Should've Been Romeo [Marc Bennett] co-add c.op; ph: Tom Richmond