Eben Bolter
"I grew up on a small island on the south coast of England called ‘Hayling Island’, and I then moved to Bournemouth for University. My mum was a contemporary dance teacher and my dad a technical author, so I’ve always had an artistic and technical influence in my life, and what better job to combine the two than with what I’ve ended up doing. My sister Helen also inspired me in a big way as she’s had great success in the costume department of many big features and TV series."
"When it came to choosing a degree at university, I vaguely had dreams of getting into the business of film, perhaps getting into sales and distribution or owning a cinema business one day for example. So I decided on a business degree, to learn about all sides of business in as non-specific a way as possible to keep my options open."
"I ended up in the marketing department of a media company on my degree placement year (Viacom) and one day they asked if I wanted to go on a camera and editing course so I could start making corporate videos for the department. It seemed like a fun and interesting way to get out of the office and try something new so I went for it, then spent the next year shooting and editing roughly one video a week."
"Still at this point I didn’t honestly recognise any relationship between these videos I was making and the art of cinema, so it was several years before an opportunity came up to shoot a short film for a friend, and I realised I almost inadvertently had the skills to do this. I helped out and enjoyed it and the short got into the Raindance Film Festival."
"This minor success opened my eyes to the revelation that I could combine my film-buff self-education of film, with the technical skills I’d almost involuntarily learned in my office job, into this magical dream sounding job of a ‘cinematographer’."
"I then consumed every book, behind the scenes video, or instructional video I could, whilst shooting short film after short film. Over that first year I ended up shooting over 50 short films, which led to my first feature.”
"Over the next couple of years I shot plenty more shorts and I think 5 more features, before being signed to my agent Kate at Wizzo Features, who represents DP Erik Wilson who was definitely an inspiration of mine so this was quite an honour."
"After Viacom, I worked for a film locations company called The Location Guide who were a great help at the start of my career as I learned more about the inner workings of the industry, whilst shooting short films on my days off and on weekends."
"Having a day job with The Location Guide meant that any money I earned as a DP, I could reinvest. So for example if a short film paid me a couple hundred pounds, I’d use that money to buy a new tripod. As my kit and experience grew I was able to slowly ask for more which of course I continued to re-invest. The job that made me leave my day job was a wonderful short film called ‘A Thousand Empty Glasses’, which was a 1920s period film shooting in the south of France with a great group of film-makers at ‘Take Cover Films’ who I still regularly collaborate with today."
"I try to draw influence from all walks of life in my work. Sometimes its films, film-makers, DPs, artists, photographers, sometimes even authors of books can paint a picture of a scene with such a unique tone that I’m inspired to draw from that."
"That being said, my favourite cinematographer of all time is ‘Conrad Hall’ and I really do constantly think to myself on set; “what would Connie do?”. It’s such a cliché to say that, but I guess it’s just my way of reminding myself that it’s such a rare privilege to do what I do, and it demands respect and the constant pursuit of brilliance. I don’t think Connie ever mis-judged a film, a scene, a shot. It all mattered, and it all worked to service the story. That really inspires me to be the best I can be."
"I’m currently on location shooting Mum’s List. It’s based on a non-fiction best-seller which is the heart-breaking but ultimately life-affirming story of a family dealing with a death, starring Rafe Spall and Emilia Fox, and directed by Niall Johnson."
"I would just love to keep working and learning as a cinematographer – I look up to the modern greats like Deakins and dream of being able to work on the stories they do in the manor that they do – constantly evolving and improving, whilst paying respect to the fundamental and classic principles of filmmaking."
"In the short term I’d love to shoot a feature on 35mm as soon as possible, and do a western. Hopefully knock those two off together."