HOW does a director of photography deal with a commercial market he says has declined 50% in the last 12 months?

‘You make sure you haven’t spent all your money from last year and be of good cheer,’ responds Vancouver cinematographer Rocket Ron Williams.

Williams, repped by Toronto’s Vertigo, most recently shot the spot ‘Work/Play’ with director Kerry Brown out of Sezwho for agency Young & Rubicam, Calgary and client Alberta Ford Dealers.

One might expect a B.C. shooter to excel in the kind of commercials particular to that region – outdoorsy, mountain-based spots – but Williams says he works in a host of different genres.

‘I’ve shot food, toys, big Compaq computer spots – everything,’ he says. ‘I think you need to be flexible, because if [you’re seen as doing one thing and that style] goes out of favor, then what do you do?’

Williams began his career as a lighting tech at the ‘mother plant,’ CBC Vancouver, and later joined IATSE and did gaffer work on features, MOWs, series and spots in a lean B.C. industry. Job security anxiety, combined with Williams’ caffeine consumption and a penchant for loud music had him ‘rocking’ by the time he arrived to set, leading to his nickname.

The Compaq commercials, for Draft Worldwide New York, were done with Circle Productions director/co-owner Robert Turner, who gave Williams his first spot DOP work six years ago. One of the pair’s most memorable experiences was a 12-day shoot for agency Margeotes, Fertitta & Partners and client US West MediaOne. The 1998 Los Angeles shoot, which involved motion-control work and promoted US West’s laying of broadband cable for high-speed Internet access, just happened to coincide with a nasty bout of El Nino.

‘You would think with all the rain we get in Vancouver that I’d get rained out more here, but the only times I’ve been rained out, which is twice, have been in Los Angeles,’ Williams jokes.

The spot led to two years’ worth of Compaq ads for Turner and Williams.

The pair’s collaborations have also fared well on the awards circuit. In 1998 their ‘New Age Guy’ spot for Palmer Jarvis DDB and the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia won a Bronze Lion for cinema commercial at Cannes, and the following year another ICBC collaboration, ‘Walking,’ beat out hot shot Tony Kaye for winner in the insurance category at the London Advertising Awards.

24P concerns

Among the stylistic trends the cinematographer has noticed in the past couple of years is the use of swing-and-tilt lenses, which give the impressionistic effect of having part of a shot in focus, and part soft.

‘I used to shoot a lot of [that],’ says Willimas. ‘Now you find it more in the mainstream. All of a sudden you’ve got Wal-Mart spots that have a hint of it. Whereas before you were really making a point with them, now they’re kind of subtle.’

Williams has recently extended his lensing into drama, doing second unit on the Universal Pictures feature Josie and the Pussycats and shooting the short dramas The Rememberer, directed by Coreen Mayrs, and Lift, directed by Scott Weber. The DOP’s work on those two films garnered him Leo Awards nominations in each of the past two years. Lift was originated in the DV format, prepping Williams for digital video work in commercials, with four of his last six spots shot in high-definition 24P.

The cinematographer says economic concerns as well as curiosity have led to some agencies insisting on HD, although in some ways Williams believes the format isn’t ideal for spots.

‘When I’m operating with film cameras, I do a lot of judging through the eye-piece,’ he explains. ‘You really can’t do that with HD because the [eye-pieces] are flickering black-and-white LEDs. It’s a very harsh image to judge.’

Williams feels shooting in HD can also necessitate more lighting than 35mm.

‘[The HD camera] has a shorter exposure range of only seven stops,’ he says. ‘If you’re outside and you don’t bring the fill light up to bring everything into that range, things that burn out burn out forever. You get a white clip in the sky and it’s gone forever.’

Nonetheless, Williams is happy with the results he got in two 24P spots he shot three weeks ago with Circle director Red Grange for agency Cossette Communication Group, Vancouver and the British Columbia Lottery Corporation. The spots, which benefited from the presence of Toronto HD engineering/ consultant Robert Brunelle, had a doc-like feel with a hand-held camera following an announcer and a couple through a house, preparing them for their potential windfall. The DOP believes a big advantage of HD is that it allows greater control in the studio, and foresees it remaining an attractive alternative for the episodic community in particular.

Williams’ own favorite is the ARRI 435 film camera, for, among other features, its ability to shoot up to 150 frames per second. This kind of functionality is one reason many spot producers have been reluctant to adopt the 24P HD format – no off-speed capability, until Panasonic recently addressed that with its AJ-HDC27V HD Cinema camera.

Despite the shortcomings of HD, Williams advises DOPs to familiarize themselves with the format.

‘You have to be able to [work with it],’ he says. ‘You can’t just throw it away and say, ‘I’m never going to shoot HD.’ You may not be working too much longer.’