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Harris Savides

Harris Savides (; Greek: Χάρης Σαββίδης; September 28, 1957 – October 9, 2012) was an American cinematographer. Nominated for a BAFTA Award and five Independent Spirit Award, he is most known for his collaborations with director Gus Van Sant including Finding Forrester (2000), Gerry (2002), Elephant (2003), Last Days (2005), Milk (2008), and Restless (2011).

He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography for the Ridley Scott crime film American Gangster (2007). He also served as the cinematographer for David Fincher's The Game (1997), and Zodiac (2007); Woody Allen's Whatever Works (2009); Jonathan Glazer's Birth (2004); Sofia Coppola's Somewhere (2010) and The Bling Ring (2013); Noah Baumbach's Margot at the Wedding (2007), and Greenberg (2009). For his work on the Martin Scorsese short film The Key to Reserva (2007) he won the Clio Award.

Career

Feature films

Savides first solo job as a cinematographer was on the thriller Heaven's Prisoners (1996), directed by Phil Joanou and starring Alec Baldwin. Before that film, he served as a cinematographer on a TV short film entitled The Investigator (1994) directed by Matthew Tabak and a TV movie Lake Consequence (1993) directed by Rafael Eisenman. One of his earliest jobs was being the director of photography on a workout video from Cindy Crawford.

Savides was the cinematographer for a total of six films directed by Gus Van Sant: Gerry, Elephant, Last Days, Milk, Finding Forrester, and Restless. Savides also shot two films for David Fincher: The Game and the mostly digital Zodiac, and the footage that was used in the opening title sequence of Fincher's Seven. With Noah Baumbach Savides was director of photography on Greenberg and Margot at the Wedding. He was also the director of photography for Ridley Scott's American Gangster and Woody Allen's Whatever Works. He was additionally the director of photography on a film directed by John Turturro, Illuminata.

Savides was also the cinematographer on two films directed by Sofia Coppola, The Bling Ring and Somewhere, a departure from Coppola's regular DP Lance Acord. For the visual style of Somewhere, she discussed Bruce Weber's Hollywood portraits and Helmut Newton's of models at the Chateau Marmont, and Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975), the film by Chantal Akerman about the routine of a Belgian housewife, with Savides. Savides said, "The main thing was to tell the story really simply and let it play out in long beats and have the audience discover the moment." Coppola used the lenses that her father had filmed Rumble Fish (1983) with in an effort to give the film a more period look, although it is set in the present. The Bling Ring was Savides' last film.

Besides his frequent collaborations with Gus Van Sant, David Fincher, Noah Baumbach and Sofia Coppola, Savides was known for the very delicate images that he created for The Yards (directed by James Gray) and Birth (directed by Jonathan Glazer). In both instances he underexposed the filmstock by several stops in order to break up the colors and give the blacks a purplish and brownish tint. This non-conventional approach leads to a look that resembles the paintings of Georges de La Tour and Caravaggio.

Music videos and short films

Savides was the cinematographer on a number of well-known music videos directed by Mark Romanek including Michael Jackson's Scream, Madonna's Rain and Bedtime Story, Fiona Apple's Criminal, and Nine Inch Nails' Closer. He has also served as cinematographer on the music videos for The Rolling Stones' "Like A Rolling Stone" (directed by Michel Gondry), Chris Isaak's Blue Spanish Sky (directed by Bruce Weber) and R.E.M.'s Everybody Hurts (directed by Jake Scott, son of Ridley Scott). Savides is the only person to date that has won three MTV Video Music Awards for Best Cinematography in a Music Video (for Madonna's "Rain", Fiona Apple's "Criminal" and R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts") and the only person to win two in a row (for "Rain" by Madonna and "Everybody Hurts" by R.E.M.) Savides was also the cinematographer for the Tom Waits music video, "Goin' Out West" (directed by Jesse Dylan).

Savides was also the director of photography on a short film directed by Wong Kar Wai for BMW's "The Hire" film series entitled The Follow. The film starred Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke and Adriana Lima. Savides was also the director of photography on a short film directed by Martin Scorsese as a homage to Alfred Hitchcock (and also sponsored by Freixenet Cava champagne) entitled The Key to Reserva.

Savides has also collaborated as a director of photography with director John Hillcoat (Lawless, The Proposition, The Road) in a series of Levi's commercials for their "To Work" advertising campaign.

Personal life

Savides was born in New York City, New York, to parents of Greek Cypriot origin, Eleni, a clerical worker, and Savas Savides, a short-order cook. He graduated with a degree in photography and film from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Savides lived in Manhattan with his wife Medine, and daughter Sophie. He died from brain cancer, at age 55.