Isidore Mankofsky

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Isidore Mankofsky (born September 22, 1931 in New York City , New York ) is an American cameraman .

Life

Life and first steps as a cameraman

Isidore Mankofsky was born in New York City , the son of Harry and Dora Mankofsky, emigrants of the Russian minority from Odessa , Ukraine , who emigrated to the USA in 1923 . With a total of 11 siblings, only seven of whom survived childhood, Mankofsky grew up in Brooklyn , Bronx and, from 1941, in Chicago . He had contact with the cinema from an early age. This was involuntary, however, because his mother was so poor that she could not afford childcare, so she took her children, bought cinema tickets and ordered the usher not to let the children out of the hall until the oldest left school be. Mankofsky also initially took a different career path, because at a young age he helped out in vegetable stores, bakeries and other commercial businesses. It wasn't until he was in high school that he suddenly realized that he would like to become a photographer. However, he couldn't afford a camera.

It wasn't until he was doing his military service overseas with the United States Air Force that he first had an Argus C3 , a 35mm camera. Curiously, his name was only officially confirmed when he was called up, because previously his birth certificate consisted only of his surname, as you simply forgot to note your first name. During his four years of service he occupied himself more and more intensively in photography and edited his works in the photo laboratory of the military post, which, according to his own statements, were rather pathetic attempts. But he was not discouraged by this and learned more and more of the craft. After his release, he attended the Ray Vogue School of Photography in Chicago, after which he turned to the medium of film and especially camera work, so that he then attended the Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara , California . There he learned the subtleties of a cameraman with nine other students and two lecturers, including Rex Fleming, the founder of the Brooks Institute, so that shortly before graduation he was given the opportunity to work as a cameraman at KOLO, the local television station in Reno , Nevada . Since he was poor, he could hardly afford the trip and had to sell his car before he could successfully complete the interview. During his time at KOLO, Mankofsky frequently worked on documentaries that were shown nationwide. However, he lost that job again in 1958 and returned to Chicago with his Volkswagen after four to five months of unemployment.

Encyclopædia Britannica and the first feature films

But he did not stay long, because shortly afterwards he received several job offers from California, so that he worked for Stewart Warner Electronics as an industrial photographer and later for a medical film company. Because he was playing handball at the YMCA at the same time , he met Jim McGuinn. He was an educational film producer for the Encyclopædia Britannica . Because they were looking for a cameraman with whom they wanted to shoot a series of films about chemistry in Florida , Mankofsky was hired. However, on the recommendation of the producer, he had to change his name to "Bill Mann" , as there was a certain anti-Semitic attitude in Florida at the time . But that did not prevent him from making 161 half-hour chemistry educational films within the following 13 months. He stayed with the company for nine more years and made hundreds of educational films on a wide variety of topics. By his own account, he learned to shoot many scenes quickly. He was the only cameraman and had to do without an assistant. And although the work was extensive, there was no pressure whatsoever. The only order was that certain films had to be shot on specific topics for $ 1,000 a minute, while the rest was up to both the director and the film crew themselves.

During this time, Mankofsky also worked frequently with Larry Yust . When he left Encyclopædia Britannica, he offered Mankofsky a job as a cameraman during his attempts to make feature films. And so the Secret Sharer (1967) followed with The Lottery (1969), an adaptation of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery , one of the most successful educational films of all time. In the years that followed, Mankofsky remained loyal to Yust and was involved in each of his projects, wherever he was needed as a cameraman. But the early days of his career did not always look so rosy, after all, he was not a member of the American Society of Cinematographers . And because he was not in the union, he was denied many job offers. It was only after he made The Scream of Death , a horror film about a black Dracula, that he was given the opportunity to join the union with the help of ASC members Howard Schwartz and Harry L. Wolf .

Member of the ASC and final breakthrough

It was only through this membership that Mankofsky received the actually interesting offers. Films like A Deadly Dream , The Jazz Singer and Muppet Movie followed . The latter was also one of the reasons why Mankofsky later shot 3-D for the 3D film Muppet Vision for Walt Disney World Resort . Another reason was that one of the producers, Thomas G. Smith, knew him from their Encyclopædia Britannica days together. He was eligible for A Deadly Dream because he worked relatively often for Universal Studios and had worked with French director Jeannot Szwarc several times .

More films were to follow, but Isidore Mankofsky made his real name as a television cameraman for "Movie-Of-The-Week" films, especially television films produced for television. His agent put him in several projects in the late 1970s . He quickly made a name for himself through his reliable work and received countless other offers. In total, he worked for these special films for almost 15 years and sometimes shot up to seven films per year.

Personal

According to his own admission, films like Uprising in Sidi Hakim , Four Feathers , Three Foreign Legionaries , Under Pirate Flag and Robin Hood, King of the Vagabonds made a particularly big impression on him in his childhood. The work of the Russian cameraman Sergei Pawlowitsch Urusewski has left a lasting impression on him to this day.

Mankofsky had two specific goals in his career as a feature film cameraman. He really wanted to be nominated for the ASC and at least once for an Oscar . However, it wasn't so bad for him never to be considered for an Oscar nomination, since he became a member of the union, after all it was incredibly difficult or almost impossible to get accepted in his time. Because only if you worked on an official film approved by the union, you could become a member of the union. However, you could only work on one if you were already in the union. And for many this vicious circle could not be broken. Therefore, according to Mankofsky, this has been his greatest professional success.

Mankofsky has been married to the photographer Christine Ludwig since November 3, 1972.

Filmography (selection)

Awards

Emmy
  • 1989: Best Cinematography in a Miniseries or Special - Polly (nominated)
  • 1991: Best Cinematography in a Miniseries or Special - Labyrinth of Lies (nominated)
  • 1992: Best individual camera performance in a miniseries or special - Starfighter of Death (nominated)
ASC Award
  • 1989: Best camera in a "Movie-of-the-Week" - Disneyland (nominated)
  • 1992: Best Camera in a Mini-Series - Labyrinth of Lies
  • 1994: Best Cinematography in a Miniseries - Trade Winds (nominated)

literature

  • Ray Zone: Isidore Mankofsky. in: 3-D filmmakers: Conversations with creators of stereoscopic motion pictures. 2005, pp. 61-70.
  • Geoff Alexander, Rick Prelinger: Isidore Mankofsky. in: Academic Films for the Classroom: A History. Mcfarland & Co Inc., 2010, pp. 172-173.
  • John Fauer: Cinematographer Style - The Complete Interviews. Vol. II, American Cinematographer, 2009.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Isidore Mankofsky on filmreference.com , accessed June 4, 2011
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g A Conversation with Isidore Mankofsky ( Memento of the original from January 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on theasc.com on October 13, 2008, accessed June 4, 2011  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.theasc.com
  3. ↑ a b c d e Isidore Mankofsky, ASC on theasc.com from April 2005 (English), accessed on June 4, 2011
  4. ↑ a b Isidore Mankofsky at afana.org (English), accessed on June 4, 2011
  5. ^ Ray Zone: Isidore Mankofsky. in: 3-D filmmakers: Conversations with creators of stereoscopic motion pictures. 2005, p. 62.
personal data
SURNAME Mankofsky, Isidore
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American cameraman
DATE OF BIRTH September 22, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , New York, United States