Showing an Old Doctor (Who) New Tricks

Reviving a legendary television series like Doctor Who is about more than merely casting hip young talent and snappy-ing up the dialogue: visual styles have changed dramatically since the series left regular production in 1989. The distinctive look of the new Whos comes courtesy of cinematographer Ernie Vincze, who used DigiBeta to shoot all 13 episodes in the first new season, starring Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor and now available on DVD, and about half of the second season, starring David Tennant and currently airing on the Sci Fi Channel. I spoke with Vincze – a native of Budapest who now lives in London and works almost exclusively in British television – before shooting began on the third season, for which Vincze again expected to shoot about half the episodes.

A. It wasn’t true 20 years ago, but now it is true, that you can actually be dim and light television as you would do light in a feature film. But you really have to be very, very fast. That’s the challenge. My goal with Doctor Who is to provide a filmic look in very little time.

A. There are certain things you have to do in camera, because the color correction is not quite so sophisticated yet, so I do my color palette while I’m shooting. My goal is that very little is left to the final grading. It can color-correct or darken, or decrease or increase the contrast, but it cannot actually pick up faces or palettes.

A. Russell is very, very detail oriented, and he has wonderful stage directions that include lighting cues, lighting ideas. For each episode, he has what we call a tone meeting, where we discuss and okay a general tonal quality of the picture. Not necessarily only lighting, but how the creatures should look, how different sets should look, how the mood should be, what the dominant color of the episode will be. That is attended by the producers, Russell, the writers – in fact, everybody on the creative side: makeup, prosthetics, production design, myself. We hammer out the individual look of each episode. Those meetings are very enjoyable because there’s no pressure and the creativity just flows around the room, ideas fly, and in one day we come to a general consensus on how that episode is going to look. And then everybody goes out and finishes their own way. The production designer comes up with wonderful color-scheme concepts, and prosthetics provides the ideas of the various monsters, and so on. The meeting is where the creative powers find the common denominator.

A. I shot one of the BBC’s first dramas on video, called The Curse of Healing, about an airplane pilot who was badly burned, and because the faces on that series were very conceptual, I tried to simulate film. But the subarray had no details, and there was no way of finding any decent quality picture via video. But the tape makers and the video camera makers are providing new technology every two years, and that enables us to do high-quality prime time drama on tape. At the moment, I’m using digital video, but I’m using very, very high-quality lenses. Combining the lighting, the use of filters, and Primo high-resolution lenses, we’re able to determine the quality of the filming.

A. It’s a matter of BBC policy [to use DigiBeta]. But eventually, I’m sure that most television drama will end up on high-def.

A. I hope that we will keep the current look of the series. I visualize that [Rory Taylor, the other cinematographer] and I will come to sort of common looks, so the episodes don’t look too different. We need to agree on a common style which will be a reflection on the both of us.

A. The subject matter and the enormity of the serials inspired me, and our wonderful production crew also inspired me. The makeup people, the prosthetics, the costume, especially the production design, it’s just so high quality that it inspired me to go for it, and work at not 100 percent of my capacity but to do 150 percent of my capacity. It’s really inspired me to do something which will last in television history.