PETER COLLISTER

#1: "Hop" [2010] - photo by Jaimie Trueblood

PETER COLLISTER ASC

Born: 9 March 1956, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. A.k.a.: Peter Lyons Collister.

Education: USC School of Cinema.

Career: 'When I was 7, my grandfather gave me an old twin-lens Rolleiflex. I carried that around for a year without film, just pretending. I wanted to be a 'National Geographic' photographer, and I got my first SLR when I was 13. I built darkrooms in every house we moved into. My mother was a docent at the Cleveland Art Museum and also an architect. She introduced me to all forms of art, and she bought me my first Nikon. While I was at USC, one of the professors got me a PA job with director Randal Kleiser on an 'ABC Afterschool Special' for $75 a week. Randal got me an internship with Bill Butler on 'Grease', and I went on to shoot second unit on Randal's next three features. I owe him a lot.' [From the ASC website.]

Ph music videos with a: Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Chaka Kahn, Jermaine Jackson, a.o. Ph commercials dir by John Singleton, a.o.

Appeared in the doc 'Cinematographer Style' [2006, Jon Fauer; ph: Jeff Laszlo, Brian Heller, J. Fauer & David Morgan; 86m].

Website: Peter Lyons Collister

'Furry Vengeance' [2009]: 'The financiers were nervous it was going to cost a fortune shooting on film, since we were working with non-trainable animals,' [director Roger] Kumble relates. 'Summit Entertainment [the studio] had made 'Knowing' with director Alex Proyas on the RED, so they were comfortable shooting digital.' As to placing Collister behind the lens, Kumble says the DP's experience with both the RED system and animals, made him a perfect fit. 'We were working with raccoons, squirrels, and other untrained animals, all on a 36-day schedule,' Kumble adds. 'So I needed somebody with a great disposition and morale, and Peter is one to lean on.'

The Ohio-born DP's experience with the RED, in fact, came through a fortunate series of events. As a member of the Directors Guild of America's Digital Committee, Collister worked with Randal Kleiser assembling show reels for the DGA's annual Digital Day event, and it was then he realized he needed to know more about HD acquisition. Right around the same time, his agent began receiving commercial job offers for a cinematographer who not only had RED experience, but also owned one.

'It began as a sort of a lark,' Collister recalls. 'I wanted to learn more about digital cinema, and run it through my Mac and Final Cut, so I bought a RED camera. Then I did a number of commercials, and the Tracy Ullman show, 'State of the Union', on the RED. 'Furry Vengeance' is the first feature I've done on the RED.'

Collister says shooting the animal comedy convinced him of the rig's value. 'I still believe there are digital cameras that are on a par, if not better than the RED,' he's quick to add. 'The Genesis is a beautiful camera, the Sony F35 is a phenomenal camera - but as with film, it comes down to what is the story, the sets, the desires of the director, the studio and the cinematographer. And [on 'Furry Vengeance'] we were shooting with real raccoons, otters, crows, which all move very fast, so we really needed high-speed [48 fps] digital capture to slow down their movements.'

Collister says he likes to think of the RED One body as a 'data system with very good improvements from the different Firmware builds. We shot on Firmware 17, and a little bit at the end with Firmware 20. Now they are on Firmware 21. If you were to ask me about shortfalls on the present RED system, it would be the sensitivity - I'm not upset about the dynamic range. I'd done a number of tests and discovered that the quality image I could get for something that would be [projected] as a film was rating the camera at about 160 ASA and shoot as much in a blue light balance as possible, as opposed to a Tungsten balance.' [From the ICG Magazine, April 7, 2010.]

FILMS
1979	The Blue Lagoon [Randal Kleiser] c; 2uc (+ insert ph); ph: Nestor Almendros
1981	Summer Lovers [Randal Kleiser] p/c; 2uc (+ aph); ph: Timothy Galfas & (Greek doph) Dimitris Papakonstadis (as Dimitri Papaconstandis)
1982	Triumphs of a Man Called Horse/El triunfo de un hombre llamado caballo [John Hough] c; co-spph; ph: John Alcott & John Cabrera
1983	Blame It on Rio [Stanley Donen] c; 2uc; ph: Reynaldo Villalobos
1984	Avenging Angel [Robert Vincent O'Neil] c; addph: Bryan England
1984	KGB: The Secret War/Lethal [Dwight H. Little] c; + co-exec prod
1984	The Supernaturals [Armand Mastroianni] c; 2uc: Bryan England
1984	Odd Jobs/Summer Jobs/This End Up [Mark Story] c; addph; ph: Arthur Albert
1985	Getting Even/Hostage: Dallas [Dwight H. Little] c; addph: Jon Kranhouse; 2uc: Allen Facemire
1986	Flight of the Navigator [Randal Kleiser] c; 2uc Norway; ph: James Glennon
1986	Trick or Treat [Charles Martin Smith] c; addph; ph: Robert Elswit
1986	Eye of the Tiger [Richard C. Sarafian] c
1986	Prettykill/Pretty Kill/Tomorrow's a Killer [George Kaczender] c; addph; ph: João Fernandes
1986	He's My Girl [Gabrielle Beaumont] c
1987	Can't Buy Me Love/Boy Rents Girl [Steve Rash] c
1987	Pulse [Paul Golding] c; 2uc: Gary Wagner
1987	You Can't Hurry Love/Greetings from L.A./Lovestruck [Richard Martini] c; cph: John Schwartzman
1987	All's Fair/Skirmish [Rocky Lane] c
1988	Halloween 4 - The Return of Michael Myers [Dwight H. Little] c
1988	Limit Up [Richard Martini] c
1989	The Phantom of the Opera/Phantom of the Opera: The Motion Picture [Dwight H. Little] c; cph: Elemér Ragályi; 2uc: Tibor Klöpfler
1989	Problem Child [Dennis Dugan] c; 2uc: Don Reddy
1990	Iron Maze [Hiroaki Yoshida] c; 2uc; ph: Morio Saegusa
1990	Hard Promises [Martin Davidson] c; 2uc; ph: Andrzej Bartkowiak
1990	Livin' Large!/The Tapes of Dexter Jackson [Michael Schultz] c
1990	Wild Orchid II: Two Shades of Blue/Wild Orchid 2: Blue Movie Blue [Zalman King] c; co-addph; ph: Marc Reshovsky
1992	Poetic Justice [John Singleton] c
1993	Ground Zero Texas [Dwight H. Little] vg for SEGA (full motion video game; the game relies heavily on video footage, with which the player interacts; it contains 110 minutes of interactive footage from four different cameras); 'b' cam op: Peter Mercurio
1993	Higher Learning [John Singleton] c
1994	Bad Boys [Michael Bay] c; 2uc; ph: Howard Atherton
1995	Dunston Checks In [Ken Kwapis] c; 2uc: Michael Delahoussaye
1995	The Rock [Michael Bay] s35/c; 2uc (Alcatraz); ph: John Schwartzman
1996	The Beautician and the Beast [Ken Kwapis] c

[Left] with actor Chow Yun-Fat - "The Replacement Killers"

Photo by Frank Masi

1997	The Replacement Killers [Antoine Fuqua] s35/c; 2uc: Lloyd Ahern II; aph: John Trapman
1997	U.S. Marshals [Stuart Baird] c; vfx ph; ph: Andrzej Bartkowiak
1999	Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo [Mike Mitchell] c; 2uc: Chuck Cohen; uwph: Jordan Klein Sr.; + 2ud
1999	Bait/Piégé [Antoine Fuqua] s35/c; 2uc (+ 2ud); ph: Tobias A. Schliessler
2000	The Animal [Luke Greenfield] c
2001	Mr. Deeds [Steven Brill] c; uncred 2uc New York: Tom Houghton; remake of 'Mr. Deeds Goes to Town' (1935-36, Frank Capra; ph: Joseph Walker)
2001	The Master of Disguise [Perry Andelin Blake] c
2002	The Rundown/Welcome to the Jungle [Peter Berg] s35/c; 2uc; ph: Tobias A. Schliessler
2003	Surviving Christmas [Mike Mitchell] c; cph: Tom Priestley Jr.; 2uc: Flemming Olsen
2003	Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! [Robert Luketic] s35/c; 2uc: Daryn Okada; aph: Kurt Soderling
2004	The Amityville Horror [Andrew Douglas] s35/c; aph: Kurt Soderling; remake of film (1978, Stuart Rosenberg; ph: Fred Koenekamp)
2004	Red Eye [Wes Craven] p/c; addph; ph: Robert Yeoman
2005	Charlotte's Web [Gary Winick] c; Los Angeles crow shoot ph; ph: Seamus McGarvey
2005	Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties [Tim Hill] c; ph U.K.: John Marzano; 2uc: Dean Cundey
2006	Bill/Meet Bill [Bernie Goldmann & Melissa Wallack] c
2006	Rush Hour 3 [Brett Ratner] p/c; 2uc Paris; ph: J. Michael Muro
2007	Alvin and the Chipmunks [Tim Hill] c; 2uc (+ 2ud): Thomas Ackerman
2007	Hotel for Dogs [Thor Freudenthal] c; co-2uc; ph: Michael Grady
2009	Furry Vengeance [Roger Kumble] RED-to-35mm (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc: Mark Vargo; addph 2u: Thomas Ackerman; see above
2009	The Green Hornet [Michel Gondry (replaced Stephen Chow)] p+RED (3-D reshoots)+HD (Phantom HD)+35mm-to-35mm scope (+ 70bu & D-Cinema [also 3-D version])/c; 2uc; ph: John Schwartzman; filmed 2009-10
2010	Hop [Tim Hill] s35-to-35mm (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc (+ 2ud): Thomas Ackerman; aph: Kurt Soderling
2010	Big Miracle/Everybody Loves Whales [Ken Kwapis] s35 (+ D-Cinema)/c; 2uc (+ 2ud); ph: John Bailey
2010	The Amazing Spider-Man/Spider-Man 4 [Marc Webb] RED Epic-to-35mm scope (+ IMAX-70bu [also 3-D version] & D-Cinema [also 3-D version])/c; plate unit ph 2u (+ d); ph: John Schwartzman; filmed 2010-11
2011	Underworld: Awakening [Mårlind & Stein] RED Epic-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema [also 3-D version])/c; addph; ph: Scott Kevan
2013	Transformers: Age of Extinction/Transformers 4 [Michael Bay] p+RED Epic Dragon/p+HD (Phantom 65 Gold/IMAX 3-D)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema [also 3-D version])/c; co-2uc; ph: Amir Mokri
2013	Barely Lethal [Kyle Newman] RED Epic-to-D-Cinema/c; released in 2015
2014	Point Break [Ericson Core] HD (ARRI ALEXA XT + Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera)+RED Epic Dragon-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema [also 3-D version])/c; 2uc (Austria/Venezuela/Mexico/Switzerland/France); ph: E. Core
2015	Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip [Walt Becker] RED Epic Dragon/c; 2uc (+ 2ud): Thomas Ackerman
2015	Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates [Jake Szymanski] HD (ARRI ALEXA XT)+RED Epic Dragon/c; 2uc; ph: Matthew Clark
2015	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 [Dave Green] HD (ARRI ALEXA XT/p)-to-35mm scope (+ D-Cinema [ also 3-D version])/c; uncred 2uc; ph: Lula Carvalho
2016	Office Christmas Party [Will Speck & Josh Gordon] c; 2uc; ph: Jeff Cutter
2016	Transformers: The Last Knight/Transformers 5 [Michael Bay] RED Epic Dragon/p & Weapon Dragon/p & Weapon Helium/p+HD (Phantom 65 Gold/IMAX 3-D)-to-D-Cinema (scope [also 3-D version])/c; 2uc; ph: Jonathan Sela
2017	Bumblebee/Transformers Universe: Bumblebee [Travis Knight] HD/c; 2uc; ph: Enrique Chediak
2018	Sonic the Hedgehog [Jeff Fowler] HD (ARRI ALEXA SXT & Mini)/c; 2uc; ph: Stephen Windon

TELEVISION & INTERNET
1989	Jury Duty: The Comedy/The Great American Sex Scandal [Michael Schultz] tvm
1990	Between Cars [Risa Bramon Garcia] special/30m; for HA! TV Comedy Network
1992	Route 66 [pilot dir by Ken Kwapis] 4-part series, 1993
1997	R.L. Stine's 'Ghosts of Fear Street' [Ken Kwapis] pilot/30m; for ABC-tv
2002	Home of the Brave [Steve Miner] pilot; for The WB Television Network
2004	Harry Green + Eugene [Simon West] unaired pilot; 2uc (+ 2ud); ph: ?; for ABC-tv
2005	Pepper Dennis [pilot dir by Shawn Levy] 13-part series, 2006; other ph: Joe Pennella & Bruce Pasternack
2006	The Weekend [Steven Brill] tvm
2008	Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! [Troy Miller] pilot/HD; for Disney Channel
2008	Paul Rodriguez & Friends: Comedy Rehab [Gabriela Tagliavini] comedy special/85m
2008	[Tracy Ullman's] State of the Union [ep #6 dir by Troy Miller] 19-part series/RED, 2008-10; 2nd season, 2009 (7 ep)
2012	Arrested Development [15 ep dir by Mitchell Hurwitz & Troy Miller] 68-part series, 2003-06 (53 ep for FOX-tv) + 2013; 4th season/RED Epic, 2013 (15 ep); the 4th season was released on Netflix in May 2013
2015	The True Memoirs of an International Assassin [Jeff Wadlow] HD/c; for Netflix; filmed 2015-16

FILMS & TELEVISION AS CAMERA OPERATOR
1977	Grease [Randal Kleiser] uncred cam intern; ph: Bill Butler
1981	Art Pepper: Notes from a Jazz Survivor [Don McGlynn; mus doc/49m/16mm] co-c.op (night club seq); ph: Mark Salvaterra
1986	The Last Fling [Corey Allen; tvm] ph: Peter Stein
1987	Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure [Stephen Herek] c.op Los Angeles; ph: Timothy Suhrstedt
1988	Rockula [Luca Bercovici] co-add c.op; ph: John Schwartzman
1989	Heart and Soul/It Will Stand [Stan Lathan; pilot] ph: Hal Trussell