John Alcott
John Alcott (* 1931 in London, † July 28, 1986 in Cannes, France ) was an English cinematographer. He was known primarily for his longstanding collaboration with Stanley Kubrick.
Life
For the film, he came across his father Arthur Alcott, who worked in the 1940s at the Gainsborough Studios. Alcott learned the camera craft from the ground up, first as a camera assistant, then as the person responsible for the depth of field. The team of Geoffrey Unsworth he got on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey to the gaffer, as Unsworth commitments to other projects had to be dealt. With his approach, to use as much natural light while lighting his work corresponded exactly to the desired style of Kubrick. Alcott photographed the next three feature films of Kubrick, especially notable are various interior shots on the set of Barry Lyndon, where the set was only partially illuminated by candles. For this was the Planar f0, 7/ 50 mm, a particularly fast lens from Zeiss used, which was originally developed for NASA. For his work on Barry Lyndon John Alcott in 1976 was awarded the Oscar for Best Cinematography.
After finishing the filming of The Shining Alcott went in 1980 in the USA, where he photographed five films in the next three years. This was followed by the political drama Under Fire and Tarzan remake Greystoke - The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. The filming of Full Metal Jacket Alcott had to cancel due to scheduling reasons, but switched his longtime assistant Douglas Milsome to Kubrick. The political thriller No Way Out - There's no turning back from Roger Donaldson with Kevin Costner in the lead role was the last film directed by John Alcott, a dedication in the closing credits will remind him of the Cannes succumbed to a heart attack in 1986.