MELINDA SUE GORDON - Still Photographer

Team Deakins

James Ellis Deakins

Tv & Film, Filmlighting, Deakins, Movies, Filmmaking, Production, Film, Cinematography, Film Interviews

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 20 November 2024

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

SEASON 2 - EPISODE 116 - Melinda Sue Gordon - Still Photographer

On this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, still photographer Melinda Sue Gordon (OPPENHEIMER, KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, LICORICE PIZZA) joins us to discuss the ins and outs of on-set still photography. We learn how Melinda Sue fulfills studio requests while navigating the many personalities of a cast and crew just trying to make the day, and she shares her approach to capturing images that faithfully represent the characters and tone of a film’s story. We later learn why Melinda Sue pivoted to still photography after studying cinematography at AFI, and she reveals how she cold-called her way onto RAISING ARIZONA early in her career. We also discuss how she successfully adapted to the advent of digital photography, and we learn how most of her images are only ever used internally at a studio to develop a marketing campaign—and (in a major scoop) Melinda Sue reveals which widely-distributed still from KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON was actually a composite. At the end of the conversation, Melinda Sue shares her advice to aspiring on-set still photographers listening in, and we reflect on the pleasure of staring at one static photograph amidst today’s glut of imagery.

This episode is sponsored by Aputure

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi and welcome to Season 2 of the Team Deacons podcast,
0:07.0	a collection of informal conversations between Roger and James Deacons and a guest.
0:13.0	We never know where the conversation will take us, so listen in and see where it goes.
0:19.0	This episode is sponsored by Aperture. listen in and see where it goes.
0:28.8	This episode is sponsored by Aperture, a premier manufacturer of LED lighting with the industry's greatest variety of fixtures for your complete lighting needs.
0:33.8	Aperture recently announced the new storm family of lights.
0:38.0	With LED white light quality that matches natural daylight and classic tungsten bulbs,
0:43.7	plus extreme low-end dimming while maintaining color quality.
0:48.4	Discover more about the new storm lights and the complete Aperture lighting ecosystem at Aperture.com.
0:58.7	Today we're speaking with a set stills photographer.
1:02.5	Her credit list is vast and includes interstellar,
1:06.7	Liquorish Pizza, Oppenheimer, and Killers of the Flower Moon.
1:10.5	We're pleased to welcome Melinda Sue Gordon.
1:13.5	Melinda Sue, thank you for doing this.
1:15.6	This is great.
1:16.6	Oh, thank you for thinking of it.
1:19.1	We'd like to start with our normal question,
1:23.0	which is, how did you get to where you are today?
1:25.3	As a child, were you always thinking in frames of photographs, or did you find this later? Did you go down another path? What's your story?
1:36.2	Well, I always was looking for patterns in things and framing them in my mind.
1:46.1	So to begin, I used to draw a lot.
1:50.5	And then in high school, I had a friend whose father had a super eight camera.
	...

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