Robert Primes, ASC |
An involvement with still photography led to his becoming a film-maker in San Francisco for eleven years. During that time his short films and documentaries won awards including a first prize at the Atlanta Film Festival and a Cine Golden Eagle. He has been a Hollywood-based Director of Photography since 1975. His feature credits include Life Lessons with Mario van Peebles, Bird on a Wire with Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn, The Hard Way with James Woods and Michael J. Fox, Money Talks with Charlie Sheen and Chris Tucker, A Murder of Crows with Cuba Gooding Jr. and Aspen Extreme. Episodic television work includes Felicity (Emmy for cinematography in 1999 and ASC award nomination in 2000), MDs (ASC award 2002 - 1st ASC award to a digital show), Young Americans, thrirtysomething and Quantum Leap. Pilots include M Street (w/Helen Mirren), Reasonable Doubts (ASC award nomination), Malibu Shores, The Pastor's Wife, Golden Gate, All Together Now, and Get Smart. His numerous television movies include My Antonia (Emmy for cinematography in 1995 and Cable Ace Nomination in 1995), Harrison: Cry of the City (Emmy nominee for cinematography in 1996), Sandy Bottom Orchestra and Sealed with a Kiss. Mr. Primes has done extensive work as a director/cinematographer and director of photography on television commercials and has done special effect photography on such features as Total Recall and Rumblefish. He was a director of photography on the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, directed the first short film, Theo Plays Chopin (1998) shot on progressive-scan digital television and won a Pixie award nomination for his cinematography for his cinematography of the first internet feature Quantum Project (2000). He is a pioneer in 24P High Def and won the 1st ASC nomination for a TV series shot in that medium. He has studied directing actors with Judith Weston since 2000 and directed Harold Pinter's Night with her company in 2002. He served as a vice president of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), has supervised the educational programs for their meeting since 1994, is chairman of their museum committee and is currently treasurer of that organization. He also serves on the national executive board of the International Cinematographers Guild, chaired their Election Study Committee, their Residency Committee and is vice-chair of their Scholarship Committee. He has also represented American cinematographers in Tokyo and twice in Madrid, where he judged international feature film cinematography Mr. Primes serves on the advisory boards of the National Film Preservation Board and The Wide Screen Film Festival. He also holds an honorary doctorate from Columbia College in Los Angeles. He has served on the faculty of the American Film Institute and has lectured at UCLA, California Institute for the Arts, the North Carolina School of the Arts, the University of Texas, the International Film Workshops and Rockport, Maine and gives an annual seminar on crew relations for the Directors Guild of America. He has also given shot creation demonstrations for the International Cinematographers Guild, the Society of Operating Cameramen and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. Mr. Primes has championed the rights of cinematographers and directors to have their work presented as is was originally created and has lobbied for Artists Rights issues with Martin Scorsese in Washington D.C. He served on the SMPTE committee on high definition TV formatting, has been a judge for the Motion Picture Academy technical awards and regularly participates in and moderates panels for the International Cinematographers Guild, SMPTE, Sho-Biz Expo, etc.
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