Sir Roger Alexander Deakins or can be called Roger Deakins is a world-class cinematographer who is very experienced. He was born on 24 May 1949 in England. His partner is Isabella James Purefoy Ellis and is usually fondly called James Deakins. Roger Deakins started his professional career in 1982 and is still active now. In his career as a cinematographer, he received many awards such as the Academy Award for Best Cinematography in the films Blade Runner 2049, and 1917. In addition to OSCARS, he also received an award at the BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography for the film The Man Who Wasn't There, No. Country for Old Men, True Grit, Blade Runner 2049, and 1917.
As a child, Roger Deakins attended Torquay Boys' Grammar School. There he learned to paint from a young age. From that school, Deakins enrolled at the Bath Academy of Art. In Bath, he studied photography which eventually became his hobby and passion. He idolized Roger Mayne, who was a guest lecturer at his school as a very influential inspiration at that time.
After Roger finished college, he tried to apply to a film school which at that time was still relatively new, namely the National Film and Television School (NFTS). But his application was rejected because the photos did not have the aesthetic film feel that the school wanted. After being rejected, he did not give up and the following year he spent more time exploring the countryside in North Devon and photographing everything there. In 1972, he was finally accepted into the NFTS, and uniquely Michael Radford (director) was one of his friends at school.
After Roger Deakins graduated, he got a job as a cameraman and worked in that field for 7 years. His early career project was to make a film called Around the World with Ridgway. The manufacturing process took 9 months on a cruise ship. Deakins also contributed to making 2 documentaries in Africa. His first work in Zimbabwe was the secret documentation of the Rhodesian Bush War, and his second was in Eritrea entitled Behind Enemy Lines. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was involved in making music-related projects such as Blue Suede Shoes, then music documentaries about British rockabilly, Van Morrison's Irish concert film, and Ray Davies' musical Return to air.
Deakins made a breakthrough in his career in the film Wolcott, a miniseries that tells the story of black detectives in England. Because of this film, he was asked by his former schoolmate and Michael Radford to collaborate for the first time on the film Another Time, Another Place (1983). The film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival and was well-received by the people. Deakins and Radford worked together again in the film Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984). In this film, he gets a lot of praise for having an unusual color palette because Deakins uses a bleach bypass process.
This is also because Deakins became the first western cinematographer to use the technique. Due to bleach bypass, his work became influential for the development of the film industry. Several films that use the same technique are Seven (1995) and Saving Private Ryan (1998).
In 1991, Roger Deakins began a long-term collaboration with the Coen Brothers. Their first film was Barton Fink. The Coen brothers were very impressed with the way Deakins works and works. Deakins' career took off in 1994 when he was accepted into the highly prestigious American Society of Cinematographers. Then he worked with the film The Shawshank Redemption which earned him his first Academy Award nomination in the cinematography category. He also received his first ASC award through the film.
Over time, Roger Deakins rose to fame and was widely recognized as one of the best cinematographers in the world. He received other nominations for Fargo (1996), Kundun (1997), The Assassination of Jesse James by Coward Robert Ford (2007), and No Country for Old Men (2007). He has also been a cinematographic consultant on the animated films Rango (2011), WALL-E (2008), Puss in Boots (2011), Rise of the Guardians (2012), The Croods (2013), How to Train Your Dragon (2010, 2014 and 2019) and most recently Vivo (2021).
After failing in more than 10 Academy Award (OSCARS) nominations, he finally got his trophy thanks to Blade Runner 2049 in 2018, and 1917 in 2020. This means that effort will not betray the results. Roger Deakins teaches us that achieving success requires a long process and also for the work itself.
Not only that, persistence with what we love generates endless curiosity. Because of that taste, we want to know what we want and when we want to know it, our knowledge and experience will surely increase.
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