Sitemap
Index
Print Page
Enlarge Text
Reduce Text
Member LoginRon Johanson ACS
In November 1965 at the ripe old age of 16 I applied for a position at Crawford Productions, in effect a message boy. I stayed with Crawfords until 1969 working on Homicide, Hunter as a camera assistant. I worked mostly with a wonderful cameraman, Dudley Robinson, who primarily shot documentaries. He had a profound influence on me, and I will be eternally grateful to him for his patience, tolerance and wisdom.
We all came under the influence of many fine filmmakers; pioneers in the industry. I remember vividly the first day I spent on a wet, cold, Melbourne winter’s day at a location in the Dandenongs working on Homicide with director Ian Jones who was just so inspiring for one so young. He, along with David Lee, were awesome in their capacity to do what they did – shoot with old ST Arri cameras andold old Bell & Howell 70DR, black and white stock, no lights, no nothing. They just got out and did it. It was such an eye opener. We shot in any conditions – rain, hail or shine. There were no caterers, no vans, you caught the train or tram to the nearest point to the location, and waited to be picked up by the then cameraman, Alan Arnold in his Rover. The gear was in an old kombi that just arrived as if by magic.
My first job as a freelancer was with Senior Films as a clapper/loader and the crew roster read like a who’s who of Melbourne film makers, DOPs Robin Copping, Len Heitman, Harold Koch, assistants Gert Kirchener, Chris Morgan and gaffer Stewart Sorby. Rob Copping was a great influence on me. He shot the most beautiful black and white I have ever seen and to this day I believe his cinematography to be truly outstanding,
I was offered a job as an assistant at the Film House and I remember with great fondness working with Fred Schepisi, Volk Mol, Ray Thomas, John Lord, Peter Norton, Rhonda Finlayson, Jill Stevenson and Ian Baker.Volk Mol in particular was one of those great teachers and Fred Schepisi always encouraged us to experiment and to follow our dreams.
I returned to Senior Films where I was operating and Mal Bryning, one of the directors, let me shoot a TVC for ACI Glass which gave me the start I needed. I moved from operating to shooting full time. It was awesome. I was still heavily influenced by many great Aussie DOPs including Graham Lind, Charlie Keys, Peter Menzies snr, Keith Wagstaff and of course Robin Copping. Ironically Senior Films was eventually bought out by Crawford Productions. I shot 37 episodes of the then new drama Ryan, and I also shot second unit of The Hands of Cormack Joyce directed by Fielder Cooke with John MacLean ACS as DOP. David Lewis and I crawled up and down cliffs shooting plates for the storm sequence. Sadly on one occasion we got a little too close to the action and lost the camera to a freak wave. We reclaimed it albeit a little worse for wear and were given a sound bollocking by one Geoff Pollock and then Tom Binns….it just wasn’t our day.
Eventually through my old mate Ron Way I was offered the operator’s position on Shannon’s Mob being produced in Sydney by Fauna Productions. John Seale was leaving to work on Sunday Too Far Away and I got the nod. We had a great team of people with directors Ron Way and Howard Rubie, Ian Bennett, DOP Johnny Williams ACS, focus puller David Williamson with Louise Irving as loader. Along with Betty Barnard, Louise Seale, Derek Jones and Merv McLaughlin this was a great experience.
I stayed on in Sydney after Shannon’s Mob and did some work on Luke’s Kingdom with George Lowe ACS. I returned to Melbourne and received a call from the Queensland company Martin Williams Films, offering me the role of Director/DOP, so with a young family, dog and cat in tow, we set off for sunny Queensland not knowing what to expect. I had never directed before but felt that it was an opportunity too good to miss.
Martin Williams Films was the leading Queensland production house and its founder Mike Williams had a reputation for fostering new talent. I shot and directed many commercials and documentaries and I DOPed a feature film Final Cut produced by Mike Williams, directed by Ross Dimsey. The first AD was Scott Hicks who gave me the honour of shooting his first feature Freedom for the SAFC. I later shot second unit on The Mango Tree and The Odd Angry Shot.
Mike Williams was a very charismatic character and incredibly supportive of those who worked for him. It was with great sadness that I left and formed my own production company ‘The Roly Poly Picture Company’ based in Brisbane and still going strong in a job that I absolutely love.
from Australian Cinematographer - Issue 19