{"id":4831,"date":"2011-09-29T10:42:05","date_gmt":"2011-09-29T14:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/?p=4831"},"modified":"2011-09-29T10:34:48","modified_gmt":"2011-09-29T14:34:48","slug":"caught-on-film-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/2011\/09\/caught-on-film-3\/","title":{"rendered":"CAUGHT ON FILM"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>CINEMATOGRAPHER SPOTLIGHT: TIM ORR<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>by Margot C. Lester<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nLike a lot of folks, Tim Orr bounced around after college, looking for a career that would stick. <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153After working a series of really crappy jobs, I started to have an artistic awakening of sorts,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Orr, the Hendersonville-born cinematographer of several great indie films and some of your favorite Eastbound &#038; Down episodes. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I began to paint and write. Then I started to watch movies seriously. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when I thought that it was something that I wanted to do with my life.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4832\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4832\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/CaughtonFilm092911.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/CaughtonFilm092911.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"CaughtonFilm092911\" width=\"400\" height=\"262\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4832\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/CaughtonFilm092911.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/CaughtonFilm092911-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/CaughtonFilm092911-360x235.jpg 360w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/CaughtonFilm092911-120x78.jpg 120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4832\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cinematographer Tim Orr capturing images at Giant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Causeway in Northern Ireland in 2009.  Photo courtesy of Tim Orr<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nSo he decided on film school and was accepted at the N.C. School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. He was leaning toward writing\/directing, but NCSA is structured like a conservatory, exposing students to all aspects of making films, regardless of their primary interests. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When it came to camera and lighting, I discovered what I was most interested in, and I had a certain talent for it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Orr admits. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I had no formal training in photography at all \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I really didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand the technical side, but what I had was instinct and an eye for framing and camera placement. The technical side of things fell into place after a bit of obsessive study.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Inspirations and influences<\/strong><br \/>\nAs part of that study, Orr discovered the work of still photographer William Eggleston, who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s credited with elevating color photography to an art form. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He has the most amazing eye for telling a story with simple images,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Orr says.  \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I also appreciate and connect with his approach of finding beauty in ordinary subjects. He trusts his instincts, with beautiful, poetic results. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I strive for: simplistic honesty in photography.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Many of the same things appeal to him in moving pictures. Orr was inspired by films like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, shot by Conrad Hall.  <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a film where the camera is an evocative tool in the storytelling \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it seems to always be in the perfect place,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Orr explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Conrad Hall\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lighting is gutsy and naturalistic, and his day exterior work is exquisite. His use of the zoom, lens flares, widescreen composition \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and his use of overexposure to temper color \u00e2\u20ac\u201c played a very influential role in my development as a cinematographer.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Big screen<\/strong><br \/>\nOrr\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first professional film was <em>The Lesser Evil<\/em>, an independent film shot in Winston-Salem in 1996, when he still had two more years of school to go. He was a day-playing grip \u00e2\u20ac\u201c one of the people who maintain production equipment on the set. <\/p>\n<p>He has collaborated with writer\/director David Gordon Green on seven films, including 2000\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s George Washington, which received multiple Independent Spirit Awards; 2003\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <em>All the Real Girls<\/em>, which won two Special Jury Prizes at Sundance; and 2004\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Undertow, which took three awards on the festival circuit. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153David and I share a similar vision and taste in filmmaking,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d explains the Portland, Ore.-based cinematographer. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Early on, the first four movies especially, we found that it was a very easy partnership. I knew what he was going for in the performances and the tone of the film, and that allowed me to get into the skin of the movie in terms of the visual image. I would know where to put the camera and how to light the scene to underscore what was going on emotionally in the story. It has become a real shorthand, and an extremely rewarding collaboration.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Orr was also behind the camera for 2008\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <em>Choke<\/em>, an adaptation of the Chuck Palahniuk novel written and directed by former Chapel Hillian Clark Gregg (he and Gregg will team again on <em>Trust Me<\/em>, which begins shooting next month), and several comedies starring Seth Rogen, most recently 2009\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Observe &#038; Report. Orr\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s current project is called <em>Seeking a Friend For the End of the World<\/em> (with first-time director Lorene Scafaria), a film Orr describes as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a beautifully written love story set on the precipice of the end of the life as we know it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Small screen<\/strong><br \/>\nThough he loves the big screen, Orr relishes his work on Eastbound &#038; Down (on which he also collaborated with Green) because it gave him more leeway to try new or unconventional things.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We strayed from the conventional expectations of what a comedy should look like,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was approached much more as a drama than a comedy, with naturalistic lighting and a \u00e2\u20ac\u212270s-flavored \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcAltmanesque\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 style of camera movement. We exploited the use of the zoom lens and shot coverage in an unconventional manner, often with two moving cameras shooting an entire scene in one setup.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Like anyone who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s found his calling, Orr is as humble as he is happy. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Everyday, I feel blessed,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he allows. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I feel blessed and thankful for a wonderful family and an exciting and rewarding career as a cinematographer. When I go to work, it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like work, because it is something that I love doing.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CINEMATOGRAPHER SPOTLIGHT: TIM ORR by Margot C. Lester Like a lot of folks, Tim Orr bounced around after college, looking for a career that would stick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[319],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4831"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4866,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4831\/revisions\/4866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}