On set with Richard Blanshard

Award Winner Richard Blanshard Takes Advantage of OConnor for "The Man Who Knew Infinity"

In our industry, we know that OConnor is the industry standard. There were three cameras for The Man who Knew Infinity and we were all on OConnor and that says everything. It delivers what you want – plain and simple. Whatever you want to achieve, OConnor enables you to do it. You just can’t beat that amount of flexibility.

Interactive


Award Winner Richard Blanshard Takes Advantage of OConnor for The Man Who Knew Infinity

Between capturing stills on the set of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and working on films including American Werewolf in London and Braveheart, director, producer, and special/still photographer Richard Blanshard has over 20 years of experience in the industry collaborating with some of the greats.

Now, with The Man Who Knew Infinity, Blanshard worked alongside Director of Photography Larry Smith to get the perfect footage for an exclusive Behind the Scenes video for the film’s DVD release. While Smith shot the film itself on an Alexa using an OConnor 2575, Blanshard paired the 1030D head with his RED Dragon on set.

“For The Man who Knew Infinity, there were a lot of documents and manuscripts, so precision is important to capture all that detail and using the 1030D gave me the ability to be really accurate in the movements that I wanted to get for the film’s atmosphere,” said Blanshard. “I was able to make the moves smooth and slow – almost like motion control but using the friction of the head to give me that nice feel. The 1030D head was just remarkable in giving me those very subtle moves.”

Set during World War I, The Man Who Knew Infinity unravels the story behind a poverty-stricken and self-taught Indian mathematician – played by Dev Patel from Slumdog Millionaire – who ultimately becomes a pioneer in the field of mathematics with the help of Cambridge mathematician G.H. Hardy, a role performed by Jeremy Irons.

“Sensitivity is the thing, and I was really impressed by how accurately you can shoot with OConnor. You can actually adjust it to the sensitivity of movement that you want, and the 1030D gave me everything I wanted from shooting fast moves to slow pans. I love that about it.”

BIOGRAPHY

Between capturing stills on the set of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and working on films including American Werewolf in London and Braveheart, director, producer, and special/still photographer Richard Blanshard has over 20 years of experience in the industry collaborating with some of the greats.