The Outlaws
The Outlaws follows a group of seven entirely disparate strangers who are thrust together when they have to undertake community service. Set in modern day Bristol, it explores and celebrates the city’s distinctive culture and people. Nick’s masterful cinematography played an integral role in establishing the show’s range in tone.
As Nick says, “The main highlight of working on The Outlaws was Stephen Merchant’s amazing scripts, with these offering me the canvas to bring cinematic visuals inspired by movie thrillers from the 80 and 90s. After extensive lens tests, I decided to shoot with a 2.39:1 cinemascope aspect ratio, but working with spherical lenses to maintain the flexibility and speed.
All too often we see British crime thrillers that have a bleak, gritty feel. Bristol is such a beautiful vibrant, colourful city, and I wanted to lean into this in the look of the show. With this in mind I opted to shoot with more lighting contrast and colour saturation and wherever possible and justified I’d add strong, bold lighting colours to the scene. I wanted the lighting on the sets to feel realistic, but with an enhanced theatrical feel to add to the drama.
This Country
After Nick's successful work on the feature film In the Loop and the tv series The Thick of It he was approached to DoP This County: a genre-breaking partly scripted, partly improvised “mockumentary” comedy show. As DoP Nick developed a 360 degree lighting set-up, allowing the actors full freedom of movement on set and selected appropriate lighting to create a natural look. Alongside the Director they selected a camera package that could accommodate old ENG lenses, giving the ability for huge zooms, but that still captured the full dynamic range of the scene. He succeeded in achieving a highly innovative and groundbreaking raw feel, entirely delivering the production brief.
Peep Show
Peep Show is a cult classic in British television that has captured the hearts of audiences worldwide, with its notable use of seeing all the action through the point-of-view of the characters. The camera therefore becomes a character in itself. Nick is the guy behind the camera! It’s a unique and enduring visual device that has contributed to the show’s appeal over the years. Nick's rapport with the cast has made him an irreplaceable feature of the production.