Barnaby Roper began his career as a fashion photographer, shooting editorials for Dansk, GQ Style and Surface before directing music videos for Robyn, The Futureheads, The Subways, and OK-Go, among others. His recent forays into fashion film include the interactive musical masterpiece Eniko for SHOWstudio, and his latest, Iris, premiering today on NOWNESS. As well as a technical innovator, Roper is a thoughtful commentator on the future of his craft and an infectiously enthusiastic film buff. ("It's a nightmare going to a DVD store with me," he admits). Tapping his encyclopedic knowledge of all things celluloid, we asked him to recommend five films that have inspired his love of a gripping edit.
1. Das Boot (Wolfgang Peterson, 1981)
I love this film so much. You’re stuck in a submarine for four hours, and you don’t move from it. Imagine filming that and keeping the attention. And it all comes down to the tension— and the rhythm.
2. 12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 1957)
This is contained in one room again, like Das Boot. It’s all about the camera angles, it slowly builds so all the camera angles start from below and as the film progresses the film angles come up and up and up and towards the end of the movie they’re actually above the jurors in the room. It’s building tension without you knowing it.
3. Sexy Beast (Jonathan Glazer, 2000)
This is quite a phenomenal movie where you’re completely absorbed by the characters and actually at the end the heist becomes a formality rather than the whole film. It’s about the relationships between the characters but that comes purely from the edit.
4. Lifeboat (Alfred Hitchcock, 1944)
I’m fascinated with films that are confined. Alfred Hitchcock is the master of that sort of stuff. In Lifeboat, a boat goes over and then the rest of the film is about trying to survive. It’s all shot in the lifeboat. How amazing is that!
5. Time Code (Mike Figgis, 2000)
This is shot in four single shots. The screen is divided into four squares, so it’s real time but the sound changes so basically it’s the sound that’s editing the film. You only hear one square at once but you can see the others going along which is just phenomenal.
1. Das Boot (Wolfgang Peterson, 1981)
I love this film so much. You’re stuck in a submarine for four hours, and you don’t move from it. Imagine filming that and keeping the attention. And it all comes down to the tension— and the rhythm.
2. 12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 1957)
This is contained in one room again, like Das Boot. It’s all about the camera angles, it slowly builds so all the camera angles start from below and as the film progresses the film angles come up and up and up and towards the end of the movie they’re actually above the jurors in the room. It’s building tension without you knowing it.
3. Sexy Beast (Jonathan Glazer, 2000)
This is quite a phenomenal movie where you’re completely absorbed by the characters and actually at the end the heist becomes a formality rather than the whole film. It’s about the relationships between the characters but that comes purely from the edit.
4. Lifeboat (Alfred Hitchcock, 1944)
I’m fascinated with films that are confined. Alfred Hitchcock is the master of that sort of stuff. In Lifeboat, a boat goes over and then the rest of the film is about trying to survive. It’s all shot in the lifeboat. How amazing is that!
5. Time Code (Mike Figgis, 2000)
This is shot in four single shots. The screen is divided into four squares, so it’s real time but the sound changes so basically it’s the sound that’s editing the film. You only hear one square at once but you can see the others going along which is just phenomenal.