#Wally pfister series
#Wally pfister tv

There, he met Nolan, who had a film at Slamdance. It got into the competition at Sundance Film Festival. In 1998, Pfister shot The Hi-Line in Montana in the dead of winter on a $300,000 budget. In 1995, Papamichael asked Pfister to operate for him on Diane Keaton's Unstrung Heroes (1995). Many of these early films were directed by Gregory Dark. After that, he filmed an array of independent B-movies, typically on 15-day schedules.

Pfister shot The Unborn, his first feature, in 1991. After that, Pfister handled second unit for Papamichael on Body Chemistry and also on other Corman films. It was the first time he shot 35 mm film. Roger Corman gave Pfister an opportunity to shoot pickup shots and inserts for a Papamichael film. He saw Pfister's film and recruited him as a grip and electrician for various projects, including a few with Phedon Papamichael. Janusz Kamiński had just graduated from the AFI Conservatory and met Pfister that year. Pfister drew on his documentary experience, and lit it darkly and stark, using a single light so the actor could play in and out of that source. The film told the story of a man caught up in the apartheid struggle. During his second year, he collaborated with his classmates on a short film called 'Senzeni Na?', which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 1991. It was the first time he was exposed to acting and dramatic material.Īfter that experience, Pfister enrolled at the American Film Institute. When the producers saw his work, they brought Pfister on the show as the second unit cameraman. They hired Pfister and asked him to also shoot some B-roll. Altman was looking for a real news cameraman to play that role in his show. In 1988, Robert Altman came to Washington to direct a mini-series for HBO called Tanner '88 (1988).

#Wally pfister series

In 1985 Pfister began a freelance career shooting documentaries for the PBS series Frontline and industrial videos for various Washington production companies. He covered the United States Congress, the White House and breaking news from 1982 through 1985.

#Wally pfister tv

Within a few months, Pfister found a job as a cameraman for a Washington news service, which provided film for TV stations around the country. I shot very low budget PSAs for $125 a week'. 'I did these slow, little intricate moves around the architecture of the house', he recalls, 'cut it together with music, and showed it to the production manager. Within a couple of months, he borrowed a CP-16 news camera and began shooting films on weekends, including a visual essay about a Victorian house. Pfister also emulated his father by shooting slides on Kodachrome film and assembling them into shows for family and friends.Īfter high school, Pfister found a job as a production assistant at a television station, WMDT-TV, in Salisbury, Maryland. Soon afterwards, he began shooting 8 mm home movies and short films. The boy was fascinated by the crew setting up lights and cameras. When Pfister was about 11, a film company shot scenes for Shamus (1973), featuring Burt Reynolds, in his Irvington neighborhood. Later, as an executive at ABC News, the elder Pfister worked with David Brinkley and Peter Jennings, covering political conventions, space flights and the civil rights movement. His father, also known as Wally, was a TV news producer, who began his career with CBS-TV in Chicago in 1955. His grandfather was the city editor of a newspaper in Wisconsin. He is the son of Patricia Ann (née Conway) and Walter J. Pfister was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in the New York City suburb of Irvington-on-Hudson. 5.3 American Society of Cinematographers.