Language of the Image: Robbie Ryan

Robbie Ryan has been shooting since he was fourteen. He's now forty-eight. That’s thirty-four years behind the camera! His career is not the easiest to summarize, but this video focuses on three key aspects of Ryan’s strength as a cinematographer:
First, there’s his adaptability. The truth is that shooting a film directed by Ken Loach is not the same as shooting one by Andrea Arnold! And that’s to say nothing of his recent, soon-to-be-released collaboration with Yorgos Lanthimos, another director with a very recognizable visual style.
Also remarkable is Ryan’s desire to shoot on actual celluloid film whenever possible - something he continues to do, especially in his collaborations with Loach. They have already made three movies together, and all three are in 35mm.
But his longest-running collaboration by far is the one he has with Andrea Arnold. This relationship deserves to be analyzed in detail. It began with the short film Wasp, released in 2003, and to date their partnership has also given us the feature films Red Road, Fish Tank, Wuthering Heights, and American Honey.
Thirty-four years of a career means around eighty film projects in total! Fortunately, Ryan has a lot of work to do in the coming years, both with directors he’s used to, like Andrea Arnold, Sally Potter, and Ken Loach, and ones he hasn’t worked with before, like the aforementioned Yorgos Lanthimos. Needless to say, we’re happy to hear it!
Watch Now: Wuthering Heights, a recent collaboration between Ryan and Andrea Arnold that breathes new life into the classic story by Emily Brontë, is available for streaming on Fandor!
Learn to speak the language of the image, with videos on some of our favorite cinematographers - like Michael Ballhaus, Maryse Alberti, Yves Bélanger, Bruno Delbonnel, Emmanuel Lubezki, and Wally Pfister - and their distinct ways of working behind the camera for some of the world’s most beloved directors and their award-winning films.

[@debapriyoghosh5017]

Fandor continues to surprise, and push the boundaries with every video they put out. One can learn so much about films, filmmaking, director's vision, etc. This kind of intimate, insightful, enlightening, and worldly-wise video essays is rare on other channels.

[@archisachrekaryoutub]

you guys rock ! thank you for making this. There is not much out here about ryans work in video format

[@Nostalgia_Addict]

Thank you very much for making this video. I just discovered your channel and i am learning things from your videos. Being a passive movie viewer i had little to no idea about all these intricacies & subtleties of cinema and film making. Your editing is very nice, purposeful and i loved the soft soundtrack you used in this video. Please do not let the number of views/likes dissuade you from making more videos such as this.

[@navigator1313]

Robbie Ryan's work in Wuthering Heights is one of the best I've ever seen in cinema, it's even more... 3D than actual 3D.

[@titusdiodoros1876]

Thank you! I loved his work on American Honey and Wuthering Heights, not to metion "The Favorite"! As someone trying to learn about cinematic styles, this was helpful!

[@juanpaolosawit]

Brilliant video essay about Robbie Ryan's cinematography, but what about his amazing collaboration with Noah Baumbach in The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)? The film's visual aesthetic is uniquely different from Baumbach's previous films.

[@mononym785]

Amazing channel man keep up the good work

[@RT-qi7rn]

I wish you had mentioned the shot on 16mm I Am Not a Serial Killer, it's Ryan's best work behind his collaborations with Andrea Arnold.

[@fuzzylumpkin49]

Wonderful video.

[@uphillracer]

Thanks so much.

[@Luneland]

I love this channel! ❤

[@jackbarron8880]

What camera did he use for Red Road??

[@bluefilmsltd]

Any idea what camera he used for Red Road? He shot that one digitally.

[@tianyangli685]

@Fandor - Love the break down, but i would dispute the claim his style is wholly unique... the follow-the-character style of camera work can be found in the films of (but not exclusive to) The Dardenne Brothers (Rosetta for example), Asghar Farhadi, Romanian New Wave Cinema..just to name a few.

[@JWH_Films]

Is there a source for Ryan mentioning John Cassavetes as an influence?

[@JWH_Films]

Found it! :) lwlies.com/articles/robbie-ryan-interview-andrea-arnold-ken-loach/

[@Padraic-uq3sh]

I hope The Meyerowitz Stories was not included only due to copyright issues.

[@StereoChimps]

american honey is so beautiful !!

[@Hakubi]

No love for the 16MM - I Am Not A Serial Killer? Shame.