Roger Horrocks: My Octopus Teacher's cinematographer on shaping story and cultivating patience

Design Better

Over the years, Eli spent a lot of time diving and doing photography—from designing underwater photography equipment, to running an underwater photography magazine in the early 2000’s, to doing research work using towed underwater camera systems. And both he and Aarron have a huge amount of respect and admiration for folks that are at the top of their craft. After watching the Academy-award winning documentary My Octopus Teacher, both of us knew that we needed to learn more about the cinematographer Roger Horrocks

Visit our Susbtack for the full episode, transcript, and other bonus content: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/roger-horrocks

Roger is an award-winning wildlife cinematographer with over 15 years of experience filming behavioral sequences for the BBC, Netflix, Disney and National Geographic, in addition to his work on My Octopus Teacher. There’s a lot of overlap between photographic work and what it takes to be a good designer, and we talk with Roger about how he shapes the story and collaborates with the directors and editors, cultivating patience, and how generative AI fits into his creative workflow. Plus we also ask what it was like to swim with 🦈 great white sharks and 🐊 Nile crocodiles!

Bio

Roger Horrocks has worked from the frozen poles to the tropical equator and is experienced in documenting both open-water and benthic-based stories and behaviors.

During this period he narrated and co-directed three documentaries with Craig and Damon Foster. The first of these "Into the Dragon's Lair", was nominated for an Emmy for best Cinematography in 2010, and the sequel, 'Touching the Dragon" was selected as one of the feature shows for National Geographic's 125th centenary year celebrations. Roger was also nominated for Best Narration at Jackson Hole.

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