Goodbye, Dear Friend
It is an aspect of Zen philosophy that the answer to the questions before you lie inside of you, and that you can see them if you clear your mind of distracting thoughts. There is a theory of writing that says "write what you know." I have approached these articles with those things in mind; mindful, too, of the fact that if I truly can relate what I have experienced, that you will read this and bring to it your own insight.
It is with this in mind that I take a second opportunity to pay tribute to a comrade who has influenced my work, and, in turn, my life.
May twentieth would have been John Rosnell's birthday. John was a talented director of photography, and, later, editor and director of industrials. It was as a director of photography that I knew "JR", as we affectionately called him. John gave way to a long bout with cancer in December of 2000, but in a manner totally in keeping with his spirit - he went while preparing to edit a feature film on which we were both involved. He did this after shooting a film while fighting the disease, a profile in courage that I will never forget.
I met John when I took over as First Assistant Director on a feature called "Walls and Bridges." JR told me the first day how the previous AD had spent all her time seemingly doing paperwork. As I watched him work, I realized that if I weren't there, he would run the set himself. This wasn't a sign of arrogance. He didn't want to run the set. In a pattern I was to see later, DPs who grew accustomed to working on low budget features with ineffective or inexperienced ADs got used to taking control of the set. I have had issues with other DPs who have done this. With John, there was an immediate connection.
We had a very talented script supervisor named Christine, and it was on that shoot that I realized that a good script supervisor, DP , and AD can serve as a core team that can be invaluable to a first time director.
John had been down this path before. As a cinematographer, he was largely responsible for keeping together the award-winning first feature by Matty Rich, "Straight Out of Brooklyn".
John's sense of humor, technical skill and loyalty are the things I remember most. I got to see all three on our first film together.
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