Joe Dunton ? A life in Pictures

Next time you see an astonishing piece of camera work while watching a film, stop and ask yourself ?How do they do that?' Onemanwhowill knowthe answer is JoeDuntonMBE, one of Britain?s leading engineering cinematographers and aTotteridge resident ? with his wife Pat ? for nearly 40 years. Joe, who has been in the industry since the mid-1960s and is currently vicepresident of the British Society of Cinematographers, has supplied cameras and equipment to around 700 films and worked with most leading actors and directors. The late Stanley Kubrick became a personal friend. "He was a fascinating man, a nice man, but he would not stand fools," says Joe "He knew exactly what he wanted." Midnight Express, The Shawshank Redemption, The Mission, Gladiator and three Harry Potter films are among Joe?s long list of credits. "I have had an incredible time working in the film industry, and the future with digital cinema is very exciting," he says. From the beginning of his career, Joe has relished the challenge of finding innovative solutions to thorny cinematographic problems. On his first major film, the musical Oliver!, released in 1968, he came up with a device that allowed the director to see on a monitor exactly what the cameraman saw through his lens. This ensured that the director got precisely the effect he wanted and maximised the impact made by the 400 dancers and seven choreographers on the film. If one of the dancers made a mistake, the director could order another take immediately. His device laid the foundations for 'video assist' technology, which has been used by the film industry ever since.

More recently, Joe Dunton Cameras has been working on the Harry Potter films. Contrary to popular myth, computer generated graphics (CGI) have not made clever camera work redundant. "The trick is balancing CGI with cinematography," Joe explains. "In the opening sequence of one of the Harry Potter films, the camera looked as if it was right on top of the head of a huge snake. The snake was computer generated, but the camera angle wasn?t.

"We often have to make pieces of equipment for a particular film. For example, for the latest Harry Potter film (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, due for release at the end of this year) they wanted the camera to look through rippling water. We built a filter with water in it that went above the lens." Another scene required a flaming torch to be thrown into an encampment, for which special fire-proof camera housings had to be built.

Although Joe Dunton Cameras ? one of only two companies in the world supplying cinematographic equipment to films ? is at the forefront of new technology, its owner acknowledges his debt to the past. Joe, who has been joined in the business by his son Lester, mourns the passing of the old cinematic values.

"In the old days, the story was built up slowly. You might change the camera angle on one scene dozens of times to keep people interested. Because of television, people switch off much more quickly and something has been lost. There is nothing like watching a film on a big screen in darkness. Seeing a film on television is just not the same."

Joe is sad and angry at the closure of the Museum of the Moving Image, which inspired a love of film in children during its brief sojourn on the South Bank. "We hardly have a film industry in Britain now and we are not really looking after our heritage properly. Film is an art form and we should treasure it."