ASC News Artice: Conrad Hall 1926

Conrad L. Hall, ASC: Enduring Memories

By Bob Fisher

Conrad L. Hall, ASC died on January 4 at a hospital in Santa Monica, California, with his family at his side. He was 76.

Hall earned nine Academy Award nominations during a career that spanned 50 years. He won the Oscar twice, in 1969 for Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, and in 2000 for American Beauty. Hall earned his first Oscar nomination in 1966 for Morituri. He was subsequently nominated for The Professionals, In Cold Blood, The Day of the Locust, Tequila Sunrise, Searching for Bobby Fischer and A Civil Action.

Conrad Hall received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the ASC in 1994 Hall earned the American Society of Cinematographers’ highest honor, the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award, in 1994. The following year, he was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Camerimage International Festival of the Art of Cinematography, the only film festival in the world that’s devoted to cinematography. Hall recently won a 2002 Camerimage Golden Frog for his final film, Road to Perdition.

In a 1995 Camerimage publication, fellow cinematographer Owen Roizman, ASC, summed up Hall’s influence on him: “Conrad Hall was one of the earliest influences on my career. I love his work. The nuances that he puts into [it] are wonderful. He has brilliant sensibilities for cinematography and a passion for the work. He is the boldest and most outspoken cinematographer I have ever met. When he doesn’t like something, he’ll say, ‘You shouldn’t work with that director. He’s not helping you.’ That’s because of his passion for this art and his respect for his colleagues.”

Hall’s influence stretched around the world. “When I was a film student in Holland, he was my idol,” said Theo Van de Sande, ASC, in the same publication. “He is tremendously innovative and never wastes a frame. He finds the best images for every story…. [Cinematography] is not like a language that everyone knows. You have to invent a new language every time you shoot. That’s what he does every time.”

Hall was born in Papete, Tahiti, in 1926. His father, James Norman Hall, was a volunteer pilot in the American expeditionary force that supported the French army during World War I. He and another American pilot, Charles B. Nordorf, went to Tahiti in search of a quiet place to write about their unit’s experiences during the war. They subsequently collaborated on the novels Mutiny on the Bounty, Men Against the Sea, The Hurricane and Botany Bay. James Norman Hall also married a Tahitian princess.

Conrad Hall was raised on the island in a cloistered literary environment. During his teens, his parents sent him to a private prep school in Santa Barbara, California. After graduation, Hall enrolled at the University of Southern California with instructions from his father to find a career. He decided to major in journalism but was discouraged by a low grade in a creative-writing class. “I noticed that the school had a cinema course, and that was very interesting to me for all of the wrong reasons,” he said. “I thought it was an easy way of getting through school. The problem was that once I shot a film and saw it on the screen, I was deeply affected. I realized that there was great power in telling stories through pictures…. It was a heady, profound concept for a young, idealistic person.”

His timing couldn’t have been better. Slavko Vorkapitch became head of USC’s film program in 1945, the year that Hall enrolled. Vorkapitch was a filmmaker who had migrated from Yugoslavia to Hollywood in 1922. He disdained Hollywood photoplay mentality and was noted for the power of the visual montages that characterized his films. “He had the spirit and soul of an artist,” said Hall. “He taught us the principles and said it was up to us to apply them.”

Hall was barely 21 when he graduated. Because it was difficult for an outsider to enter the Hollywood studio system in those days, he teamed up with classmates Maury Weinstein and Jack Couffer and organized Canyon Films. They collaborated on the production of industrial films, documentaries and TV commercials. In 1956, the three friends wrote a script for an independent feature and drew straws for production jobs. Hall drew cinematographer. When the union organized the film crew, Hall finally gained entry into the heart of the industry.

Conrad Hall - May he rest in peace. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Hall worked on camera crews with veteran cinematographers such as Burnie Guffey, ASC; Ernie Haller, ASC, and Ted McCord, ASC. He was promoted to director of photography on Stoney Brook, an episodic TV series. The following year he shot episodes of another series, The Outer Limits.

Hall earned his first feature-film credits in 1965, for Morituri, Incubus and The Bad Seed. His crew included future ASC members William Fraker, Jordan Cronenweth and Bobby Byrne.

Many milestones marked his path to stardom as a cinematographer, but Hall said that perhaps the most important was In Cold Blood, a 1967 film based on Truman Capote’s novel. In an unforgettable scene, a chillingly unemotional killer speaks to the prison chaplain, who is reading the Bible aloud in the dim glow of a desk lamp. The light coming through the window creates a moody ambience. When the crew used a wind machine to put movement into the rain, the water condensed and ran down the window like a veil of tears. During a rehearsal, Hall noticed that the light and streaks of water on the window cast shadows on the killer’s face that looked like tears. He and director Richard Brooks subsequently incorporated the “happy accident” into the film. It captured the sense of pathos in a way that words couldn’t, and it was a major departure from the classical Hollywood style.

From 1965 to 1977, Hall worked steadily, photographing such diverse features as Fat City, Hell in the Pacific, The Day of the Locust, Cool Hand Luke and Marathon Man. He then took an 11-year hiatus, during which time he and Haskell Wexler, ASC, ran a commercial-production company. Hall directed and shot hundreds of commercials, and he also concentrated on writing two scripts. One was an original story, and the other was based on William Faulkner’s novel The Wild Palms.

Hall returned to feature filmmaking in 1987 with Black Widow. The following year, he earned an Oscar nomination and the ASC Outstanding Achievement Award for Tequila Sunrise. Connie Hall in contrast! “Contrast is what makes cinematography interesting,” he observed, “and there is more than one way to create it. You can flat-light someone and keep the background dark. You can crosslight the cast and keep strong shadows on their faces. You can backlight the cast and use more somber, gentler light to bring out their skin tones. I used all of those techniques on Tequila Sunrise.”

Hall earned a second ASC Award in 1994 for the drama Searching for Bobby Fischer. When first-time film director Sam Mendes approached him in the late 1990s with the script for American Beauty, Hall responded with his unique brand of enthusiasm. “The first thing I noticed when we met was the twinkling, mischievous gleam in his eyes,” Mendes said. “I could see that he was extremely intelligent and artistic, and he was also very opinionated. We hit it off instantly. I was reluctant to show Conrad my storyboards because he is such a great cinematographer, but he was anxious to see how I saw the story in my mind, and he took it further than I had imagined.”

Road to Perdition. Hall and Mendes reteamed a few years later for Road to Perdition. “Like any movie, Perdition’s visual language was complex,” Hall said. “Each scene required its own palette. There was a lot of darkness, and a lot of things that I chose not to light. Sometimes we just have an image of a face against blackness, where you don’t see the background at all. The film’s stark sensibility is almost shocking. You have to be on top of your game and play it right by deciding what to do on every shot.”

Wally Pfister, ASC, a cinematographer at the dawn of his own career, observed, “Though I only met him briefly, I had more respect for Conrad Hall than any cameraman I’ve met. His body of work represents the highest level of artistry that can be achieved in our profession. How wonderful to have left behind a photographic masterpiece like Road to Perdition as his final work.”

Hall is survived by his wife, Susan; a son, cinematographer Conrad W. Hall; two daughters , Kate Hall-Feist and Naia Hall-West, and a sister, Nancy Rutgers.

American Cinematographer will pay tribute to Hall in the May 2003 issue.

In Memoriam: Conrad Hall
1926 - 2003

Conrad L. Hall, ASC: Enduring Memories

Filmography

In Memoriam: Conrad Hall 1926 - 2003
Conrad L. Hall, ASC: Enduring Memories By Bob Fisher Conrad L. Hall, ASC died on January 4 at a hospital in Santa Monica, California, with his family at his side. He was 76. Hall earned nine Academy Award nominations during a career that spanned 50 years. He won the Oscar twice, in 1969 for Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, and in 2000 for American Beauty. Hall earned his first Oscar nomination in 1966 for Morituri. He was subsequently nominated for The Professionals, In Cold Blood, The Day of the Locust, Tequila Sunrise, Searching for Bobby Fischer and A Civil Action. Hall earned the American Society of Cinematographers’ highest honor, the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award, in 1994. The following year, he was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Camerimage International Festival of the Art of Cinematography, the only film festival in the world that’s devoted to cinematography. Hall recently won a 2002 Camerimage Golden Frog for his final film, Road to Perdition. In a 1995 Camerimage publication, fellow cinematographer Owen Roizman, ASC, summed up Hall’s influence on him: “Conrad Hall was one of the earliest influences on my career. I love his work. The nuances that he puts into [it] are wonderful. He has brilliant sensibilities for cinematography and a passion for the work. He is the boldest and most outspoken cinematographer I have ever met. When he doesn’t like something, he’ll say, ‘You shouldn’t work with that director. He’s not helping you.’ That’s because of his passion for this art and his respect for his colleagues.” Hall’s influence stretched around the world. “When I was a film student in Holland, he was my idol,” said Theo Van de Sande, ASC, in the same publication. “He is tremendously innovative and never wastes a frame. He finds the best images for every story…. [Cinematography] is not like a language that everyone knows. You have to invent a new language every time you shoot. That’s what he does every time.” Hall was born in Papete, Tahiti, in 1926. His father, James Norman Hall, was a volunteer pilot in the American expeditionary force that supported the French army during World War I. He and another American pilot, Charles B. Nordorf, went to Tahiti in search of a quiet place to write about their unit’s experiences during the war. They subsequently collaborated on the novels Mutiny on the Bounty, Men Against the Sea, The Hurricane and Botany Bay. James Norman Hall also married a Tahitian princess. Conrad Hall was raised on the island in a cloistered literary environment. During his teens, his parents sent him to a private prep school in Santa Barbara, California. After graduation, Hall enrolled at the University of Southern California with instructions from his father to find a career. He decided to major in journalism but was discouraged by a low grade in a creative-writing class. “I noticed that the school had a cinema course, and that was very interesting to me for all of the wrong reasons,” he said. “I thought it was an easy way of getting through school. The problem was that once I shot a film and saw it on the screen, I was deeply affected. I realized that there was great power in telling stories through pictures…. It was a heady, profound concept for a young, idealistic person.” His timing couldn’t have been better. Slavko Vorkapitch became head of USC’s film program in 1945, the year that Hall enrolled. Vorkapitch was a filmmaker who had migrated from Yugoslavia to Hollywood in 1922. He disdained Hollywood photoplay mentality and was noted for the power of the visual montages that characterized his films. “He had the spirit and soul of an artist,” said Hall. “He taught us the principles and said it was up to us to apply them.” Hall was barely 21 when he graduated. Because it was difficult for an outsider to enter the Hollywood studio system in those days, he teamed up with classmates Maury Weinstein and Jack Couffer and organized Canyon Films. They collaborated on the production of industrial films, documentaries and TV commercials. In 1956, the three friends wrote a script for an independent feature and drew straws for production jobs. Hall drew cinematographer. When the union organized the film crew, Hall finally gained entry into the heart of the industry. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Hall worked on camera crews with veteran cinematographers such as Burnie Guffey, ASC; Ernie Haller, ASC, and Ted McCord, ASC. He was promoted to director of photography on Stoney Brook, an episodic TV series. The following year he shot episodes of another series, The Outer Limits. Hall earned his first feature-film credits in 1965, for Morituri, Incubus and The Bad Seed. His crew included future ASC members William Fraker, Jordan Cronenweth and Bobby Byrne. Many milestones marked his path to stardom as a cinematographer, but Hall said that perhaps the most important was In Cold Blood, a 1967 film based on Truman Capote’s novel. In an unforgettable scene, a chillingly unemotional killer speaks to the prison chaplain, who is reading the Bible aloud in the dim glow of a desk lamp. The light coming through the window creates a moody ambience. When the crew used a wind machine to put movement into the rain, the water condensed and ran down the window like a veil of tears. During a rehearsal, Hall noticed that the light and streaks of water on the window cast shadows on the killer’s face that looked like tears. He and director Richard Brooks subsequently incorporated the “happy accident” into the film. It captured the sense of pathos in a way that words couldn’t, and it was a major departure from the classical Hollywood style. From 1965 to 1977, Hall worked steadily, photographing such diverse features as Fat City, Hell in the Pacific, The Day of the Locust, Cool Hand Luke and Marathon Man. He then took an 11-year hiatus, during which time he and Haskell Wexler, ASC, ran a commercial-production company. Hall directed and shot hundreds of commercials, and he also concentrated on writing two scripts. One was an original story, and the other was based on William Faulkner’s novel The Wild Palms. Hall returned to feature filmmaking in 1987 with Black Widow. The following year, he earned an Oscar nomination and the ASC Outstanding Achievement Award for Tequila Sunrise. “Contrast is what makes cinematography interesting,” he observed, “and there is more than one way to create it. You can flat-light someone and keep the background dark. You can crosslight the cast and keep strong shadows on their faces. You can backlight the cast and use more somber, gentler light to bring out their skin tones. I used all of those techniques on Tequila Sunrise.” Hall earned a second ASC Award in 1994 for the drama Searching for Bobby Fischer. When first-time film director Sam Mendes approached him in the late 1990s with the script for American Beauty, Hall responded with his unique brand of enthusiasm. “The first thing I noticed when we met was the twinkling, mischievous gleam in his eyes,” Mendes said. “I could see that he was extremely intelligent and artistic, and he was also very opinionated. We hit it off instantly. I was reluctant to show Conrad my storyboards because he is such a great cinematographer, but he was anxious to see how I saw the story in my mind, and he took it further than I had imagined.” Hall and Mendes reteamed a few years later for Road to Perdition. “Like any movie, Perdition’s visual language was complex,” Hall said. “Each scene required its own palette. There was a lot of darkness, and a lot of things that I chose not to light. Sometimes we just have an image of a face against blackness, where you don’t see the background at all. The film’s stark sensibility is almost shocking. You have to be on top of your game and play it right by deciding what to do on every shot.” Wally Pfister, ASC, a cinematographer at the dawn of his own career, observed, “Though I only met him briefly, I had more respect for Conrad Hall than any cameraman I’ve met. His body of work represents the highest level of artistry that can be achieved in our profession. How wonderful to have left behind a photographic masterpiece like Road to Perdition as his final work.” Hall is survived by his wife, Susan; a son, cinematographer Conrad W. Hall; two daughters , Kate Hall-Feist and Naia Hall-West, and a sister, Nancy Rutgers. American Cinematographer will pay tribute to Hall in the May 2003 issue.	Filmography Conrad L. Hall has been nominated for nine Academy Award (indicated below with an * ), and won the Oscar twice for American Beauty and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Road to Perdition (2002) American Beauty (1999)* Without Limits (1998) A Civil Action (1998)* Love Affair (1994) Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)* Jennifer Eight (1992) Class Action (1991) Tequila Sunrise (1988)* Black Widow (1987) It Happened One Christmas (1977) Marathon Man (1976) The Day of the Locust (1975)* Smile (1975) Catch My Soul (1974) Electra Glide in Blue (1973) Fat City (1972) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)* The Happy Ending (1969) Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969) Truman Capote's Trilogy (1969) Hell in the Pacific (1968) Rogue's Gallery (1968) Cool Hand Luke (1967) In Cold Blood (1967)* Divorce American Style (1967) Harper (1966) The Professionals (1966)* Incubus (1965) Morituri (1965)* Wild Seed (1965) The Ghost of Sierra de Cobra (1964) The Outer Limits, TV Series (1963) Stoney Burke, TV Series (1962) Edge of Fury (1958) Running Target (1956)

In Memoriam: Conrad Hall 1926 - 2003

Conrad L. Hall, ASC: Enduring Memories

Filmography

In Memoriam: Conrad Hall
1926 - 2003