Oscar-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins rarely gives extended interviews, which makes his recent conversation about the future of filmmaking technology all the more valuable. Speaking at a masterclass event attended by aspiring filmmakers and industry professionals, the legendary camera artist shared candid thoughts about how emerging tools are reshaping his craft.
On Digital vs. Film
“The debate is over, and honestly, it was over years ago,” Deakins says with characteristic directness. “The question was never film versus digital. It was always about what serves the story. I have shot on film, I have shot digitally, and the audience cannot tell the difference when the work is done well. What matters is the eye behind the camera, not the mechanism inside it.”
This pragmatism has defined Deakins’ approach throughout a career spanning more than four decades. While some of his contemporaries have turned the format debate into a philosophical stand, Deakins has consistently chosen his tools based on practical considerations: the demands of the project, the conditions of the shoot, the needs of the director.
Artificial Intelligence in Post-Production
When the conversation turns to AI-assisted tools in post-production, Deakins is characteristically nuanced. He acknowledges the efficiency gains that machine learning provides in areas like color grading and visual effects compositing, while expressing concern about the potential for these tools to homogenize visual styles.
“There is a danger that AI color grading tools will push everything toward a mean, a kind of averaged-out version of what cinematography should look like based on what has come before,” he explains. “The most interesting images in cinema history were created by people who saw the world differently. I worry about anything that discourages that kind of individual vision.”
Advice for Young Cinematographers
Deakins reserves his most passionate comments for the emerging generation of camera artists. He urges young cinematographers to study painting and photography before studying cinema, to develop their visual vocabulary through observation of the real world rather than through imitation of other films.
“Look at light. Really look at it,” he says. “Watch how it falls across a face at different times of day. Notice how a room changes when clouds pass over the sun. The best cinematographers are not people who know how to operate cameras. They are people who understand light at an almost instinctive level.”
The Future of the Craft
As the masterclass draws to a close, Deakins strikes an optimistic note about the state of cinematography. He points to the work of several younger colleagues whose visual imagination he finds genuinely exciting, suggesting that the art form is in good hands even as the tools continue to evolve.
“Cinematography will survive any technological change because it is fundamentally about human perception,” he concludes. “As long as we have eyes and emotions, we will need people who can translate the world into images that move us.”
