I'm Thomas Shawcroft, a Director of Photography. I recently climbed up Mount Kilimanjaro to shoot a documentary called ‘Equal Playing Fields’ about the world's highest football match played by 22 women. I have shot using 35mm on a short film called ‘Transmission’ - the film has been accepted into prestigious film festivals Fantasia and L’étrange. I grew up in Southampton, and watching my father work as a photographer for Yatching World magazine was my first initial discovery of capturing images. I studied film production at the Arts University in Bournemouth. This helped me develop a precise creative vision and an awareness of the importance of being selective when capturing images.
After university, I worked for DOPs such as Chris Seager BSC, John Pardue BSC and Gavin Finney BSC. This ignited a passion for crafting images, and gave me a practical understanding of the qualities it takes to be a DOP on large drama productions. Working my way up as a camera trainee then loader for 6 years, I also ventured into focus pulling, until given the chance to work as a 2nd Unit DOP on the Dark Mile. I love creating a truly individual look for each film I work on, collaborating with directors and other heads of department to create a united vision.
My influences range from artists and photographer such as Gregory Crewdson and Steve McCurry, to DOPs like Bradford Young and Roger Deakins. I saw a talk a few years ago with Bradford Young - he spoke about why he works on a project, and the importance of finding the heart in the story. If you can connect with the piece when first reading it then you should be the DOP. If you don't, maybe it's not the right script for you. That really resonated with me.
I'm an experience camera operator and 2nd Unit DOP across features, documentaries and commercials. I have a good eye for detail, am dedicated to quality work and am able to shoot well under pressure. I have a knowledge of high-end digital cameras such as the Red and Arri Alexa, and a good insight into the post work flow, which really helps in the process of achieving the ideal look for a piece.
I've recently been working on a period drama called THR3E, shooting in the New Forest using a MOVI Pro and RED Dragon with Cooke S4 as well as a medium format camera, which will create an interesting look for the final film, after scanning the negative and using a colour chart to create LUT and adding it onto the Red Raw footage.