A refreshingly honest conversation with Cinematographer: Barbie Leung

I am so excited to catch up with Barbie Leung on zoom! After coming across her account on social media, I just had to interview her. I love her work and more specifically, I truly admire how authentic she has been able to remain to herself and her vision, in an industry which can so easily turn into a vacuum of integrity. 

Fran: Did you go to Film School?

Barbie: I did not go to film school. I was an indoor child and I think I realised that in high school, people would play sports or hang out with friends, and I was at home watching 90’s and 00’s independent films on DVDs that I’d borrow from the library, like Kimberly Peirce’s “Boys Don’t Cry” and Wong-Kar Wei's "In the Mood For Love”. I stumbled through higher education, not really knowing what I wanted to do, but ended up with a Bachelor’s Degree in Film Theory. I knew I didn’t want to be a film critic, but I also didn’t know that I wanted to be a filmmaker, much less working behind the camera. After much youthful wondering and feelings of wasting time, I was asking myself: What are the expectations of what I’m supposed to be doing? I wish I had the clarity back then, to have known what I wanted to do. 

Fran: And what happened after college? 

Barbie: I realised that the ‘cool action’ of making the film was behind the camera, so it made sense for me to become an Assistant Cameraperson. As I explored this role, I was becoming conscious of my physical limitations and skills. I knew that I was an indoor child, so I was not going to work in the grip department or as a gaffer. I chose the role of AC, but I ultimately was not a very good one! It’s that thing of, if this is not what you want and you cannot see a way through, then you just cannot perform. Therefore, I felt that in the New York independent film scene, I was always underemployed and I felt like I had already ‘plateaued’. 

Fran: What did you do? 

Barbie: I realised that I could not hold a 9-5 job and that I needed to have a frank conversation with myself. I started pitching myself as a Camera Operator and telling people that I would not be working as an AC anymore. In that way, I was able to transition to working as a Cinematographer. You have to be persistent. I always tell people, “I’m your Camera Operator, I’m here to work on your commercial and feature film requirements, but I’m ultimately a Cinematographer”.

Fran: What was your first project that gave you that breakthrough from Camera Operator to Cinematographer? 

Barbie: I don’t think I ever had that and I still don’t think there is that one defining project. It takes time and patience. Because I am still so much of an operator, I am doing both, I am still stepping up as both. I am not trying to be a career camera operator, but because that is how I make my living, I am always trying to improve my skills. As a Cinematographer, I am trying to find a suitable feature film to work on. There have been some that have come my way, but none of them have felt right. I don’t want to just take any project as my first feature, it has to be a calculated decision.

Fran: Do you think the industry is changing?
Barbie: That is a good question. I think the answer is yes and no. I often meet film students who want to start in the camera department, but some of the same things are still happening, which is very unfortunate. I also feel that we are not really providing young film students with that level of confidence, which would equip them for the usual gendered insecurities. In that, I don’t feel that we have moved on. 

However, now they have more people like me to talk to. This is good, because they can reach out to more industry professionals and see themselves represented in the industry. The crux of working during my 20s was filled with depression, where I could not figure out anything. Hopefully now more female cinematographers have others to look up to.

I am hoping that this mental journey will be easier for them. 

Fran: Do you think that online platforms that advocate for change and equality on set are helping reshape the industry and reaching out to young filmmakers? 

Barbie: Yes. My career working in the camera department grew with social media, and I think I wouldn't have been able to grow in my career, if there wasn’t the social media component and these online collectives. For me, being part of a collective can be so crucial and the alliance you have with it is akin to having a union. 

“The idea that you can do it”-BarbieLeung

Fran: Any obstacles you encountered in the industry?

Barbie: Sometimes the obstacle is the silence. It’s not a healthy thing to compare yourself to what you think your peers are doing or accomplishing. My peers include fifty percent of men in my same age category, who came from similar backgrounds, and when I compare myself to somebody who is the same age but has more credits, then it starts to become intense. I start to question all those conversations where producers told me that they liked the way I worked, but then that second call didn't come to hire me. Everything is so exponential. The obstacle is the silence. Additionally to that, a difficulty lies in starting to think that you will never be successful. I got rejected from film school and never got called back from jobs I applied to. It all starts to add up. 

It took a number of years to realise that I'm going to find a director to collaborate with, because none of the traditional paths were working. 

Fran: Lessons learned?

Barbie: If the status quo isn’t helping you, you have to bet on your own potential. For some reason, we are still raising girls and women and teaching them the same thing: all you need is to get somebody to trust you with their ideas and their budget. But it doesn’t always happen that way. You need to take control of your own future. 

Fran: What would you like to shoot more of?

Barbie: Narrative. I focus everything on narrative. 

Fran: Let’s talk about your project Zamboni. It has such a beautiful feeling...tell me more.

Barbie: From go, Jon, the director wanted a widescreen format. I chose to shoot with the Cooke Anamorphics because I love the texture it lends to the image. The entire film was shot at an active ice hockey rink and I knew we would not always have access to control the lighting in wides, but with the Cookes I knew I could rely on an image with that balance of anamorphic softness and beautiful color rendition no matter what our location threw at us. We were also able to prescout every shot and knew that although we had an ultra low budget, we could get away with carrying just a single 40mm lens and get everything from our superwide rink vista to our hero's close-up.

Fran: Are you happy with where you are at? 

Barbie: I’m happy with where I am at but I feel I had a late start and I wish I’d been able to arrive here sooner.

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Photo by Cecilia Chien

You can watch Barbie Leung’s work here

Check out Zamboni here

Follow Barbie on Instagram @barbieleungdp

This is a sponsored feature article by Cooke Optics as part of our ongoing support of female talent in the camera department.