- the GBCT
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
John Attwell, Camera Operator and GBCT member for over 30 years will be celebrating on 16th January. He worked in the industry from 1981 until 2019, having started out as a studio hand and driver for Clearwater Features in Battersea. He soon realised that he preferred the camera department and was taken on as their inhouse Camera Assistant on Thomas and Friends, the iconic television series featuring Thomas the Tank Engine. It was shot on 35mm and the first camera he loaded was a Fries Mitchel– not the simplest piece of kit. He went freelance in 1986 and 1987 brought his first Clapper Loader credit for A Prayer for the Dying. In 1994, he moved up to 1st A.C. on the 2nd Unit of Doomsday Gun. He worked on Space Island One in 1998. It was a Sky series shot over 52 weeks on the Isle of Man. Half way through the job, Production sent a note to all crew asking if anyone had any good script ideas for future episodes. He progressed to Camera Operator in 2003 on Trinity. In 2009 he was B. Camera operator and 2nd Unit DoP on Exam. 2013 saw him on A camera for the 2nd Unit of A Good Day to Die Hard. It was a busy year, as he also worked on: Welcome to the Punch on B. camera; the second units of U Want Me 2 Kill Him? and Thor: The Dark World and then A. camera on Prisoners of the Sun, which was a low budget sci-fi shot in Morocco. It was shut down for a while, due to the Producer running off with a million euros. Filming eventually re-started and one of the more memorable scenes involved a line of “ancient Egyptian” dialogue - “The Gods are with us tonight”. John told the director that it sounded like “The Goats are with us tonight”. Dozens of takes followed and he had to lock the camera off, because he was trying not to shake with laughter. He noted “It’s funny how infectious humour is on set.” John’s last job was as 2nd Unit A camera on The Aeronauts 2019.
In his words “I always had a good time and enjoyed the friendship and camaraderie of the film crew. The lower budget films were usually the best and some of the shockingly bad films I worked on were hilarious. Especially memorable was the Chris Rhea biopic La Passione so much fun but slated critically as “truly dire Rhea”. My favourite job was loading on a Steven Soderberg feature called “Kafka” shot in Prague in 1990. It was great to work in Prague just a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Not a good film but very sociable
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I always enjoyed working with DPs Tim Wooster and John de Boorman. I did three films with the mighty J de B around the year 2000. They were some of the happiest of my career. The most enjoyable was Saving Grace, shot in Cornwall with a wonderful crew, including the brilliant Operator Al Rae. He proved, against all odds, that despite being hung over and barely able to walk, it was still possible to perform a flawless, long and difficult steadicam shot first thing in the morning. Great mentors and friends who’s humour, calm and good sense were an inspiration.
My best wishes to all friends and former colleagues. Thank you. It’s been a blast.”
written by Sarah Hayward, GBCT Board member