STEPHEN BURUM

STEPHEN BURUM ASC

Born: 25 November 1939, Visalia, Calif., USA, as Stephen Henry Burum. Was raised in Dinuba, a rural town in central California.

Education: Reedly College, Calif.; University of California, Los Angeles [UCLA; Theatre Arts Department; BA & MFA; graduated in 1963]. His teachers were Henry Koster, Charles Clarke, Dorothy Arzner, Stanley Kramer, a.o.

Career: 'Burum is a third generation Californian who was raised in the rural community of Dinuba near Fresno. One of his grandfathers was the postmaster of Dinuba and the other one owned and edited the local newspaper. Burum took the first step on his career path during his early teens when he purchased a Kodak Brownie 8mm camera with the money he earned by watering lawns and doing other summer chores. After seeing a picture in Life Magazine of a soundstage at the UCLA School of Theater Arts [now the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television], and reading the accompanying article about the school, Burum enrolled. Burum earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at UCLA, where he also shot 72 b&w films for other students who wanted to be directors. After graduation, Burum spent about six months with the nature film unit at Disney Studio [ph 16mm footage for the series 'My Family Is a Menagerie']. He was drafted by the Army in 1965. After completing basic training, Burum was assigned to the Army Pictorial Center in New York. He was a cinematographer on numerous training films, including the chief of staff film report to Congress. After completing his military obligation, Burum returned to California, determined to break into the film industry as a cinematographer. For a while, he assisted other cinematographers who were shooting commercials and non-union, low-budget 'biker' films. Ron Dexter, whom Burum met at UCLA, hooked him up with a producer who needed a cinematographer to travel to Sweden to shoot an Ann-Margret television special [1969]. That led to opportunities to shoot film for other TV specials. By the early 1970s, Burum was also shooting non-union ultra-low budget slasher and horror films, such as 'Scream Bloody Murder'.

"The Lost Saucer" - Director of Photography [E(lectronic)]

Another chance encounter led to opportunities for Burum to work as a lighting director for live and videotaped late-night television programs. That got him into the union in the special category of director of photography [E]. He lit Johnny Mann's musical variety show 'Stand Up and Cheer', Dinah Shore and Andy Williams specials, and the Sid and Marty Krofft Saturday-morning kid show 'The Lost Saucer'. In 1976, his former UCLA classmate Francis Ford Coppola brought him to the Philippines as second unit director and cameraman on 'Apocalypse Now'. Burum did more second unit work on 'The Black Stallion' with cinematographer Caleb Deschanel. When Deschanel directed 'The Escape Artist' the following year, he gave Burum his first opportunity to earn a cinematography credit on a mainstream film.' [From the ASC website, 2007.]

Member of the ASC since June 1974.

Re-visited his roots when he was the Kodak Cinematographer in Residence at UCLA in 2007.

Edited the 9th edition of the 'American Cinematographer Manual' [2004].

Appeared in the doc's 'Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography' [1991] & 'Cinematographer Style' [2005, Jon Fauer; ph: J. Fauer, Jeff Laszlo, Brian Heller & David Morgan].

Awards: 'Emmy' Award [1981; shared] for 'Cosmos' [ep 'The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean']; ASC Film Award nom [1988] for 'The Untouchables'; ASC Film Award nom [1990] for 'The War of the Roses'; ASC Film Award [1992] & 'Oscar' AA nom [1993] for 'Hoffa'; ASC Lifetime Achievement Award [2007].

FILMS
1968	Rodeo [Carroll Ballard] c; doc/20m; cph: Caleb Deschanel & Joe Ravetz; restored in 2011
1969	Wild Gypsies [Marc B. Ray] c
1971	Scream Bloody Murder/The Captive Female/Claw of Terror [Marc B. Ray] c
1973	The House That Cried Murder/The Bride/No Way Out [Jean-Marie Pélissié] c; cph: Geoffrey Stephenson
1976	Apocalypse Now [Francis Ford Coppola] tvi/c; 153m; 2uc (+ 2ud); ph: Vittorio Storaro; see 2001
1977	The Black Stallion [Carroll Ballard] c; 2uc (+ 2ud); ph: Caleb Deschanel
1979	Pacific High [Michael Ahnemann] 16mm-35bu/c; doc/83m

With Caleb Deschanel [left] and Griffin O'Neal - "The Escape Artist"

1980	The Escape Artist [Caleb Deschanel] c
1980	Death Valley [Dick Richards] c
1981	The Entity [Sidney Furie] p/c
1981	Something Wicked This Way Comes [Jack Clayton] c; addph: Jan Kiesser
1982	The Outsiders [Francis Coppola] p/c; vfx unit ph: Dave Stewart
1982	Rumble Fish [Francis Coppola] b&w; efx ph: Robert Primes
1983	Uncommon Valor [Ted Kotcheff] c; addph: Ric Waite; 2uc: Frank Holgate
1984	Body Double [Brian De Palma] c; addph: Daniel Pearl; process ph: Bill Hansard
1984	St. Elmo's Fire [Joel Schumacher] p/c; ph Washington D.C.: Jim Hovey
1984	The Bride [Franc Roddam] c
1985	8 Million Ways to Die [Hal Ashby] c
1986	Nutcracker - The Motion Picture [Carroll Ballard] c; addph: Hiro Narita

1986	The Untouchables [Brian De Palma] p/c
1987	Arthur 2: On the Rocks [Bud Yorkin] c
1988	Casualties of War [Brian De Palma] p/c
1989	The War of the Roses [Danny De Vito] c; 2uc (Philadelphia): Robert Dalva
1989	I Love You to Death [Lawrence Kasdan] c; addph; ph: Owen Roizman
1990	He Said, She Said [Ken Kwapis & Marisa Silver] p/c
1991	Man Trouble [Bob Rafelson] c
1991	Raising Cain [Brian De Palma] c
1992	Hoffa [Danny De Vito] p/c
1993	Carlito's Way [Brian De Palma] p/c
1993	The Shadow [Russell Mulcahy] c
1995	Mission: Impossible [Brian De Palma] p/c; 2uc: Ernest Day; aph: Michael Kelem
1996	Fathers' Day [Ivan Reitman] p/c; 2uc: Kristin Glover; remake of 'Les compères' (1983, Francis Veber; ph: Claude Agostini)
1997	Snake Eyes [Brian De Palma] p/c; 2uc: Alex Funke; miniature ph: Patrick Turner
1998	Mystery Men [Kinka Usher] c
1999	Mission to Mars [Brian De Palma] p/c; 2uc: Steven B. Poster (Jordan) & Michael Lonzo (Vancouver)
2001	Life or Something Like It [Stephen Herek] p/c
2001	Apocalypse Now Redux [Francis Ford Coppola] re-edited & restored version/203m; see 1976

With Sara Sugarman - "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen"

2003

Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen [Sara Sugarman] c; 2uc New York: Larry McConkey

TELEVISION
Ph 10+ musical specials with Dinah Shore, Andy Williams, a.o.
1968	Once Upon a Wheel [David Winters] car racing special/b&w-c/60m/16mm; cph: John Stephens, Michael Lonzo, Michael Chevalier, a.o.; for ABC-tv; released (+ 30m add footage & 35bu) in theatres overseas (1972)
1969	Ann-Margret: From Hollywood with Love [David Winters] mus special/60m; for CBS-tv

With dir David Winters [left] - "Raquel!"

1970	Raquel! [David Winters] variety special/48m/16mm
1971	[Chevrolet Presents] Johnny Mann - Stand Up and Cheer [John Moffitt] mus variety series, 1971-73
1972	The Special London Bridge Special [David Winters] mus special/51m; for NBC-tv
1972	[Burt Sugarman's] The Midnight Special [?] special (1972; 90m) + mus variety series, 1973-81; for NBC-tv
1973	[Sid & Marty Krofft Present] Sigmund and the Sea Monsters [?] 29-part series/tape, 1973-75
1973	Ozzie's Girls [David & Ozzie Nelson] series; sequel to 'Ozzie and Harriet/The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'-series, 1952-66
1974	Little House on the Prairie [various] 203-part series, 1974-83; sfx ph
1974	[Sid & Marty Krofft Present] Land of the Lost [various] 43-part series/tape, 1974-76
1975	[Sid & Marty Krofft's] The Lost Saucer [e.g. ep #1 '894X2RY713, I Love You' dir by Jack Regas] 16-part series/tape, 1975-76
1977	Father Knows Best Reunion [Marc Daniels] tvm; based on the series, 1954-60
1977	Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas/Father Knows Best Christmas Reunion [Norman Abbott] tvm; based on the series, 1954-60
1978	Mork & Mindy [various] 95-part series, 1978-82; sfx ph

1978	Cosmos - A Personal Voyage [ep #1 'The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean', #11 'The Persistence of Memory' & #13 'Who Speaks for Earth?' dir by Adrian Malone] 13-part doc series, 1980; co-vfx ([#1] Alexandrian Library and Cosmic Calendar Visual Effects by Magicam, Inc.; [#11] 'Brain Library' Visual Effects by Magicam, Inc.; [#13] Alexandrian Library Visual Effects by Magicam, Inc.); prod in 1978-79 for KCET/PBS-tv
1979	The Golden Moment: An Olympic Love Story [Richard Sarafian] 2-part tvm
1979	The T.V. Show [Tom Trbovich] comedy/60m; for ABC-tv
1979	The Bee Gees Special [Louis J. Horvitz] mus special/90m; with footage from the 'Spirits Having Flown Tour'; for NBC-tv
1992	Big Al [Jerry Levine] tvm/24m

MISCELLANEOUS
1968	Scream Free!/Street Drugs/Free Grass [Bill Brame] c.asst; ph: Austin McKinney