#1: From interview [Camerimage, 2017]

 

   


DAN LAUSTSEN   DFF/ASC

 

Born: 15 June 1954, Aalborg, Denmark; grew up in Elsinore.

Education: Den Danske Filmskole/National Film School of Denmark [DDF] [1975-79; graduation film 'Skal vi danse først?'].

Career: Started as a photography apprentice with Schiller-Photography before attending Film School.

Ph commercials dir by Kristian Levring. Ph music videos by Rasmus Laumann.

Member of the DFF since 1979 and of the ASC since 2017.

Appeared in the doc's 'Le pacte des loups - les coulisses du tournage/The Making of 'Brotherhood of the Wolf'' [2000, Pascal Laugier] and 'The Making of 'Darkness Falls'' [2002].

Awards: Bodil Special Award [1982] for 'Gummi Tarzan'; Robert Award [1984] for 'Isfugle'; Robert Award [1989] for 'Skyggen af Emma'; Robert Award [1990] for 'Miraklet i Valby'; 'Filmfotograf Johan Ankerstjernes Ærespris' nom [2000] for 'Lysets hjerte'; Robert Award nom [2001] for 'Dykkerne'; Robert Award [2003] & Camerimage 'Golden Frog' nom [2003] for 'Jeg er Dina'.

Website: Dan Laustsen


Dan Laustsen: 'Light matters most. Naturally, camera angles are also important, but first and foremost it is with light that the cinematographer creates a mood and contributes to telling the story. Before you decide on your lighting, you must ask what do we want this scene to say? I have been criticized for shots that were too beautiful, but I think that's just the Danish mentality. After all, nobody would ever say that 'Lawrence of Arabia' or '1900' or 'The Tree of Wooden Clogs' were shot too beautifully. But it is a balancing act and I have made mistakes, with some scenes being too beautiful, but you might say that if you have that problem with a scene, it's not only the cinematography that's wrong. [...] Although 'Mimic' is shot very darkly, people were not unhappy with it in the USA. On the contrary, it earned me quite a bit of attention. The cinematographer enjoys greater freedom, because the younger directors take the visual language farther than ever before. The ideal of the past was that everyone should be able to see everything in a film - not much was left to the imagination.' [From article by Ebbe Iversen.]


 FILMS

1978

Det er et spørgsmål om stil/It's a Question of Style [Ernst Johansen & Kjeld Amundsen] ?; doc/?m

1979

Skal vi danse først?/Do We Start Off with a Dance? [Annette Olsen] c; prod DDF

1979

Lille Virgil og Orla Frøsnapper/Little Virgil and Freddy Frogface [Gert Fredholm] c; 2uc; ph: Jeppe Jeppesen

1980

M/S Mars af Ålborg [Carsten Sønder] b&w; doc/34m; cph: Lars Johansson

1981

Har du set Alice?/Have You Seen Alice? [Brita Wielopolska] c

1981

Gummi Tarzan/Rubber Tarzan [Søren Kragh-Jacobsen] c

1982

Den ubetænksomme elsker/The Thoughtless Lover [Claus Ploug] scope/c

1982

Otto er et næsehorn/Otto Is a Rhino [Rumle Hammerich] c; 2uc: Manuel Sellner

1982

Motivation - nærbilleder fra en ungdomsskole [Arne Bro] 16mm/c; doc/57m

1983

Isfugle/Thunderbirds/Kingfishers [Søren Kragh-Jacobsen] c

1983

Port nr. 3/Gate Number Three [Arne Bro] ?; doc/?m

1983

Dansk bladtegning - danske bladtegnere. En dokumentation 1983/Danish Newspaper Drawings [Kirsten Stenbæk] c; doc/25m

1984

Min farmors hus/My Grandmother's House [Frode Pedersen] c

1984

Ziggurat [?] ?; doc/?m

1984

I vækstens Vold/In the Grip of Growth [Bo Hovgaard] c; doc/35m; cph: Jens Schlosser

1985

Når bare han kan tælle køerne [Rumle Hammerich & Tim Cenius] c; short/32m

1985

Elise [Claus Ploug] c; addph: Gunnar Nilsson, Søren Berthelin & Simon Plum

1985

Johannes' hemmelighed/Johannes' Secret [Åke Sandgren] c; short/51m

1985

De tavse piger/The Quiet Girls [Anne Regitze Wivel & Arne Bro] 16mm/c; doc/82m

1987

Jeg ville først finde sandheden/I Wanted to Find the Truth First [Jon Bang Carlsen] c; doc/29m

1987

Ansigt til ansigt/Face to Face [Anne Regitze Wivel] c; doc/166m; cph: Claus Baadsgaard

1987

Skyggen af Emma/Emma's Shadow [Søren Kragh-Jacobsen] c

1988

Guldregn/A Shower of Rain/Gold Rain ... or Laburnum/Shower of Gold [Søren Kragh-Jacobsen] c; edited from tv-series (1986)

1988

Himmel og helvede/Heaven and Hell [Morten Arnfred] c; 2uc; ph: Dirk Brüel

1988

David eller Goliath/David or Goliath [Anne Regitze Wivel] c; doc/110m; cph: Eigil Jacobsen

1988

Miraklet i Valby/Miracle in Valby [Åke Sandgren] c

1988

De udenforstående/The Outsiders [Arne Bro] 16mm/c; doc/42m

1988

Vand [Baby-svømning]/Water [Babyswimming] [Anne Regitze Wivel] s16/b&w; doc/12m

1989

Lykken er en underlig fisk/Happiness Is a Strange Fish [Linda Wendel] c; 2uc; ph: Bjørn Blixt

1990

Giselle [Anne Regitze Wivel] c; ballet doc/96m

1991

Drengene fra Sankt Petri/The Boys From St. Petri [Søren Kragh-Jacobsen] c

1992

Søren Kierkegaard [Anne Regitze Wivel] b&w-c; doc/165m; 5 seg

1993

Nattevagten/Nightwatch [Ole Bornedal] c

1993

Det personlige arbejde - en film om mennesker i udvikling på virksomheder i udvikling/Det udviklende arbejde [Arne Bro] ?; doc/38m; cph: Eric Kress

1994

Carmen og Babyface/Carmen & Babyface [Jon Bang Carlsen] c; addph: Søren Berthelin

1996

Nightwatch [Ole Bornedal] s35/c; American remake of film (1993)

1996

Mimic [Guillermo del Toro] c; efx unit ph: Tom Turnbull

1997

Lysets hjerte/Heart of Light/Qaamarngup uummataa [Jacob Grønlykke] c

1998

Running Free [Sergei Bodrov] s35/c; 2uc (+ aph/vfx ph): Kurt E. Soderling; wildlife ph: Roger Vernon

1999

Dykkerne/The Divers/Beyond [Åke Sandgren] c; 2uc: Jens Schlosser

 

[Left/gray turtleneck] - "Le pacte des loups"

 

2000

Le pacte des loups/Brotherhood of the Wolf [Christophe Gans] s35/c; 2uc: Shaun O'Dell

2001

Jeg er Dina/Jag är Dina/I Am Dina [Ole Bornedal] s35/c

2001

Darkness Falls/Don't Peek [Jonathan Liebesman] s35/c; 2uc: Martin Turner; addph: Stephen Windon; prologue & end titles ph: Juan Ruiz-Anchía

2002

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen [Stephen Norrington] p/b&w-c; vfx ph: Miro Gábor

2003

The Adventurer/L'aventurier [Christophe Gans] scheduled to start in China in June 2003, but cancelled because of SARS epidemic; status unknown

2004

Sex, hopp och kärlek [Lisa Ohlin] scope/c

2004

Nomad [Ivan Passer (1st shooting period) & Sergei Bodrov (2nd shooting period)] scope/c; ph 2nd shooting period; ph 1st shooting period (2003): Ueli Steiger; vfx ph: Robert Grasmere

2004

Rahan [Christophe Gans] project; status unknown

 

With dir Christophe Gans [left] - "Silent Hill"

 

2005

Silent Hill [Christophe Gans] HD (Sony F900 & F950)+s35-to-35mm scope/c; 2uc: Peter Benison; based on the vg dir by Keiichiro Toyama (1999)

2005

Vikaren/The Substitute [Ole Bornedal] p/c; 2uc: Ian Hansen

2006

Wind Chill [Gregory Jacobs] s35/c

2006

Kærlighed på film/Just Another Love Story [Ole Bornedal] scope/c

2006

Silent Hill 2 [Christophe Gans] announced; status unknown

2008

Solomon Kane [Michael Bassett] s35/c; 2uc: Tim Wooster; aph: Adam Dale

2008

Fri os fra det onde/Deliver Us from Evil [Ole Bornedal] scope/c; 2uc: Søren Bay

2008

Onimusha [Christophe Gans] in development; status unknown; based on the vg dir by Jun Takeuchi (2001)

2008

Headhunter [Rumle Hammerich] scope/c; filmed 2008-09

2009

Please Help the World [Mikkel Blaabjerg Poulson] scope/c; short/4m; prod for the UN Climate Change Conference 2009 (COP 15, Copenhagen)

2010

Simon och ekarna/Simon and the Oaks [Lisa Ohlin] scope/c; 2uc: Nicklas Karpaty & Johan Heurgren

2010

Bag Blixens maske/Karen Blixen - Behind Her Mask [Morten Henriksen] b&w-c; doc/54m; cph: Jan Weincke, Jon Bang Carlsen & Morten Søborg

2011

The Possession/Dibbuk Box [Ole Bornedal] s35 (+ D-Cinema)/c; aph: Hans Bjerno

2011

First Allies [Kees van Oostrum] pre-production; scheduled to start filming in September; financed by the Oneida Indian Nation; status unknown

2011

Sover Dolly på ryggen? [Hella Joof] HD (ARRI ALEXA Plus) scope/c; filmed 2011-12

2012

Zaytoun/Le'hishaer ba'hayim [Eran Riklis] scope/c

2014

Crimson Peak/Haunted Peak [Guillermo del Toro] HD (ARRI ALEXA XT)-to-35mm (+ D-Cinema)/c

2015

Løvekvinnen/Das Löwenmädchen [Vibeke Idsøe] HD (ARRI ALEXA XT)/c; cph: Eric Kress

2015

John Wick: Chapter Two/John Wick 2 [Chad Stahelski] HD (ARRI ALEXA XT Plus/Master Scope)-to-D-Cinema (scope)/c; 2uc (+ main unit c.op 'a' cam): Duane Manwiller; ph Montreal: Fraser Taggart; 2uc Montreal: Robert Mattigetz

2016

The Shape of Water [Guillermo del Toro] HD (ARRI ALEXA XT Plus & Mini)-to-D-Cinema/c; 2uc (+ main unit c.op 'b' cam): J.P. Locherer

2017

Proud Mary [Babak Najafi] HD (Sony a7s & F55)-to-D-Cinema (scope)/c

2018

John Wick 3: Parabellum/John Wick: Chapter 3 [Chad Stahelski] HD/c; 2uc: Greg Baldi

 

 TELEVISION

1986

Guldregn/Gold Rain... or Laburnum/Shower of Gold [Søren Kragh Jacobsen] 6 (new version: 7)-part miniseries; edited into a theatrical film (1988)

1990

Strømerliv/A Cop's Life [Peter Ringgaard] 4-part doc series

1992

Den korsikanske biskopen/The Corsican Bishop [Søren Kragh-Jacobsen] 4-part miniseries

1996

Charlot og Charlotte/Charlot and Charlotte [Ole Bornedal] 4-part miniseries; aph: Henrik Jongdahl

1998

Dybt vand/Deep Water [Ole Bornedal] 2-part tvm/DigiBeta; addph: Jakob Bonfils, Knut Pedersen, a.o.

2013

Wallander [ep #32 'Sorgfågeln' dir by Lisa Ohlin] 32-part series/RED, 2005-06, 2009-10 & 2013 (some ep were released as a feature film); 3rd season, 2013 (6 ep); 2uc (#32): Jon Rudberg

2013

1864 [Ole Bornedal] 8-part miniseries, 2014; also edited into a feature film (2015)

 

 FILMS AS CAMERA ASSISTANT

1977

Kloden rokker [- Roskilde Festival]/This Rockin' Globe [John Menzer; mus doc] co-c.asst; ph: Simon Plum, Henrik Herbert, Dirk Brüel, a.o.

1980

Danmark er lukket/Denmark Closed Down [Dan Tschernia] ph: Claus Loof