Robert Elswit
Camera
🎂 1950-04-22
Robert Christopher Elswit, ASC (born April 22, 1950) is an American cinematographer. He has collaborated with Paul Thomas Anderson on six of his films and won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for There Will Be Blood. Elswit has also collaborated with directors and screenwriters Tony and Dan Gilroy on the six films that either brother directed. Elswit was born in Los Angeles. An early short film he worked on was the 1982 television adaptation of Ray Bradbury's short story All Summer in a Day. Elswit worked as a visual effects camera operator at John Dykstra's Apogee Productions Inc. on each film, including Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Empire Strikes Back and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, before shooting made-for-television films and shows. Elswit has been a fierce defender of shooting on film and, whenever possible, avoids using digital cameras. Images shot digitally, he said, have "no texture, no grain." He started shooting digitally, starting with Nightcrawler. Elswit has worked with George Clooney several times. He shot his black and white, multiple-Oscar-nominated film Good Night and Good Luck. Elswit shot the film in colour and converted the film into black and white in post-production. According to Elswit, the technique preserved the subtlety of the colours (as complex shades of blacks and greys). It made the overall look much richer in the final film. Elswit was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Good Night and Good Luck but lost to Dion Beebe for Memoirs of a Geisha. Elswit won the award for There Will Be Blood in 2008. Elswit has cited early independent filmmaker John Cassavetes as a major influence. Elswit is a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and worked there as a teaching assistant. Elswit is the godfather of actor Jake Gyllenhaal. Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert Elswit, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Cast credits(4)
Camera (79)
Director of Photography
2024
Director of Photography
2016
Director of Photography
2011
Director of Photography
2015
Director of Photography
2007
Director of Photography
2014
Director of Photography
2010
Director of Photography
2012
Director of Photography
2010
Director of Photography
1997
Director of Photography
1992
Director of Photography
2021
Director of Photography
2024
Director of Photography
2003
Director of Photography
2018
Director of Photography
1997
Director of Photography
1999
Director of Photography
2002
Director of Photography
1999
Director of Photography
2014
Director of Photography
2005
Director of Photography
2005
Director of Photography
1994
Director of Photography
2017
Director of Photography
2016
Director of Photography
2020
Director of Photography
2017
Director of Photography
2007
Director of Photography
1990
Director of Photography
2001
Director of Photography
2009
Director of Photography
2003
Director of Photography
1988
Director of Photography
2009
Director of Photography
2019
Director of Photography
2000
Director of Photography
2001
Director of Photography
2006
Director of Photography
1985
Director of Photography
1985
Director of Photography
1996
Director of Photography
2008
Director of Photography
2008
Director of Photography
1986
Director of Photography
2003
Director of Photography
1989
Camera Operator
2008
Director of Photography
2008
Director of Photography
2025
Director of Photography
1985
Director of Photography
1996
Director of Photography
1993
Director of Photography
1989
Director of Photography
1990
Director of Photography
1996
Director of Photography
Director of Photography
1987
Director of Photography
1992
Director of Photography
1991
Director of Photography
1987
Director of Photography
2018
Director of Photography
1992
Director of Photography
1987
Director of Photography
1987
Director of Photography
1986
Director of Photography
1991
Director of Photography
Director of Photography
1989
Director of Photography
1991
Director of Photography
1984
Director of Photography
1982
Director of Photography
1982
Director of Photography
1998
Director of Photography
1983
Camera Operator
1977
Director of Photography
1990
Director of Photography
1988
Director of Photography
1981
Assistant Camera
1978
