FILMOGRAPHY
2006] Miami Vice
2005] Memoirs Of A Geisha
2004]
Collateral
2004] I'm Only Looking: The Best of INXS (V)
2003] In the Cut
2002] Chicago
2002] Equilibrium
2001] Charlotte Gray
2000] The Goddess of 1967
2000] Forever Lulu
1999] Holy Smoke
1998] My Own Country (TV)
1998] Praise
1997] Memory & Desire
1997] 40,000 Years of Dreaming
1996] Down Rusty Down
1996] Floating Life
1995] Vacant Possession
1995] What I Have Written
1994] Eternity
1992] Crush
LINKS
Dion Beebe [Cinematographer]
Born in Brisbane, he relocated to Cape Town in South Africa with his family at the age of 5.
Dion has four brothers. His father Dr Grantley Beebe runs a dental practice in Cape Town. His South African mother, Dulcie, is a make-up artist.
Dion's wife is director Unjoo Moon
Dion studied film first in Pretoria [he studied at Technikon Pretoria’s Motion Picture Academy in the eighties] and then graduated from AFTRS in 1990. It was at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School where he first shone, shooting some memorable short movies. The Space Between the Door and the Floor, directed by Pauline Chan, won Beebe an Australian Film Institute award.
Immediately on graduating from film school, Beebe was employed on his first feature, a New Zealand film called Crush.
In 2003 Dion was nominated for both a BAFTA & an oscar for his work in Chicago.
Dion got the call inviting him to shoot the film version of Chicago while he was driving to a West End production of Chicago.
Dion was shooting a commercial in Connecticut when he found out about his oscar nomiantion for Chicago. During a break in filming, Beebe said he found out the news on the internet. "We started jumpin' around the room. Then I had to go to work, which was a bit strange."
Dion Beebe shot a commercial for Panasonic - the week-long shoot in Sydney included hiring helicopters for a scene on top of two of Sydney's tallest buildings, getting a Lexus sports car for a car chase and then blowing it up, and exploding a skyscraper.
Twice nominated for an AFI award for Best Achievement in Cinematography on Praise (1999) & What I Have Written (1996).
Jane Campion talking about Dion:
"When the chips are down, the light is failing, you've got to get the shot, he will never yell but you will just see Dion moving very fast and grabbing the camera, shooting it, doing it. I do think he is going to be one of the remarkable cinematographers of our time. I can't help comparing him to all the great people and I think Dion is of that calibre because he chooses projects that resonate with him."
Dion on film-making:
"It's like you are carving something out of chaos quite often ... My analogy has often been you are heading out to sea on a boat, you pull this crew in and head out and whatever happens, whatever storms you come across, you have to get through it ... it's easy to get adrift. There are so many elements you are managing, so many people you are dealing with. And I certainly respond to that aspect of film-making where you have to be inventive, anticipate things and find solutions."
Dion on Chicago:
“Because all the musical numbers reflect Roxie’s imagination, we had a means to overlap these two worlds. We tried to make them as seamless as possible. The turn of a head or a lighting cue will take you into this other world. Roxie’s imagination is a bit like a dreamscape. She provided a unique opportunity to translate the director’s vision in a very free way.”
Dion on his oscar nomination:
"It's taken a while to sink in and the phone has not stopped ringing since Tuesday. I've lived in LA for five years and every year there's always an Oscar buzz but to be caught up in the middle of it is a strange feeling,"
Dion on lighting Chicago:
“We talked about differentiating between reality and the musical numbers through stock changes or some sort of bleach bypass or other lab trick. But I thought we needed to have a continuity, to make the transitions seamless. We use theatrical techniques, like fading through scrim walls. Visually, they are different — the real world is faded and slightly gray, and the color scheme on the stage is more vibrant, with deep violets, reds, and purples. And each time, the theatre is stylized. -- It's a fantastic medium. Working to the beat of a song is such a pleasure. This has been a wonderful marriage between theatrical lighting and film lighting.”
Dion on shooting Chicago:
“It's a film that works essentially through the transitions between reality and the musical numbers. The emphasis was on making those transitions interesting and original, yet also from Roxie's point of view.”
Dion talking about a scene in Chicago where after Roxie commits her own murder:
“She's being interviewed by the DA; he shoves a flashlight in her face, the flashlight turns into a spotlight from behind. As we move around, we realize she's escaped from this burning light in her face; and she's in this beautiful pink color; the lighting increases, and the theatre starts to reveal itself.”
Rose Byrne (the lead in The Goddess of 1967) talking about Dion:
"I felt really safe with Dion. I had to expose myself physically and emotionally and I felt in his hands very protected, and kind of beautiful."
Gillian Armstrong on convincing producers to hire Dion to shoot Charlotte Gray:
"My English producers said that was an additional expense, they hadn't heard of him. Holy Smoke hadn't opened in Britain and at the end of the film they said, 'That boy is a genius, he is incredible'."
Dion on his name in America:
"In Los Angeles now I'm the guy who shot Chicago. No-one knows anything else I have done, practically. In Australia, it's a little easier because people know these small art-house Australian films that I've done but over there it's, 'Oh yeah, you're Dion Beebe, the guy who shot Chicago' and that's it."
Production designer Sarah Stollman talks about the relationship with the cinematographer:
"With Dion, on 'What I Have Written', the relationship was so successful. He used the set to help him decide what he was doing. He didn't mind 'difficult' material like white on white or mirrors or glass. In one of the sets, there was a picture I had in a glass frame. I wanted to keep it, keep it as a reality but I asked him if he wanted it taken out. [It is a common request of DOP's to remove glass from framed pictures]. He declined and decided to shoot the whole scene in the reflection of the glass. Instead of seeing problems in the set he used them."
Dion on South Africa:
"I grew up and spent my formative years there and I still visit my family each year. Growing up in Cape Town, I couldn't imagine the opportunities I've had so far in my career and the people I've worked with. My loyalties, though, will be split and I will be holding the flag for both countries come Oscar night."