Montreal cinematographer Alexis Durand-Brault says he is ‘probably the youngest DOP in town.’ The cinematographer, who also directs some spots, has been represented by Montreal spot shop La Fabrique d’Images since 1998. He signed his first deal with La Fabrique at the age of 23.

How did such a youthful shooter get representation with one of Quebec’s most powerful production houses? The answer, as always, is hard work. Durand-Brault, after completing a degree in film studies at Concordia, went on to direct ‘something like 40 music videos.’ It was these early attempts at directing that turned the young filmmaker into a cinematographer.

‘At that time, I wanted to direct,’ Durand-Brault says. ‘But unfortunately, we didn’t have the budget to hire a good DOP – so I did it myself.’

Around that time, Durand-Brault met Jean-Francois Potier, then a director with La Fabrique. ‘He saw my reel and said maybe we can work together. Two weeks later he called me up and said, ‘I would like you to shoot a commercial for me in Puerto Rico for the supermarket Metro.’ I was 21, 22 years old – so I was freaking out a little bit.’

Durand-Brault’s Puerto Rican foray was a success and La Fabrique offered him a one-year representation deal as both a DOP and director. The rest is Montreal spot biz history.

Now, as Durand-Brault says, ‘here in Montreal I’m famous for two things: I’m famous for cars and I’m famous for women. They always call me when it’s a commercial for beautiful women.’ Durand-Brault, who also shoots long-form projects, says he ‘loves to light women – to put light on women and make them beautiful.’

On more than half of Durand-Brault’s jobs, he is hired as a DOP. However, the cinematographer always enjoys directing spots that are based in visual storytelling or that have action or stunt sequences. ‘I’m not a comedy director,’ he says.

Durand-Brault’s style of cinematography has earned him the name ‘Prince of Darkness’ among his friends and colleagues. He explains: ‘I love really contrasting images. I love to try and play with big shadows and deep blacks and stuff like that. I don’t mean it’s underexposed, but I love to contrast my images. A lot of black and white also. I just finished a Pharmaprix commercial all in black and white.

‘I play a lot with color also. I’ve shot a lot of car commercials like GM, Suzuki and stuff like that.’ The director, who is also constantly experimenting with post-production equipment and techniques, ‘knows quite a bit about special effects and 3D,’ as well. He is even an experienced Flame operator.

As for his tools, Durand-Brault says he ‘always shoots everything with Cooke lenses.’ He likes the fact the lenses are ‘really sharp and you can put a little bit of diffusion in and it’s not out of focus on TV. And it’s a little bit more contrasty.’

In the future, Durand-Brault hopes to ‘expand his field of work’ and to ‘work outside of Montreal, if possible.’ As for whether he will ever choose to drop directing in favor of solely doing cinematography, the young shooter says he ‘cannot choose.’

‘It’s bizarre. It’s like my mother and father. You cannot choose. But for the next couple of years I’m going to continue to shoot commercials.’

On a roll with the similes, Durand-Brault explains the commercial business is ‘like a Ferrari. It’s going so fast – it’s cool – but it’s costing a lot of my energy.’ *

-www.fabimages.com