Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Fore.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Matt. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
Ever since I was a wee lad, I had always dreamt of “making movies,” whatever that meant. Growing up in Ventura, CA only an hour away from Hollywood, allowed me to subconsciously validate these hopes and believe I could actually do such a thing. In the early 90s when I was a second-grade public school kid, I pooled my friends together to make not only a fourth installment to the beloved “Alien” franchise but also “Terminator” and “Jurassic Park” follow-up pieces.
I collected props, began customizing wardrobe (crafted from my own clothes at the time, much to my mom’s chagrin), and even built set walls out of cardboard (never mind if they could stand upright on their own). While none of these elementary school projects ever came to the fruition of principal photography, my family eventually bought a Sony 8mm video camera (yes, you read that right — not even Hi8 or Digital8, but 8mm video) in the mid-nineties.
That allowed me to make my short film debut in the summer of 1996 before starting 6th grade with “Psycho Kid,” a 6-minute “horror” piece about a new kid who moves to town who harbored secret motives to kill his peers, all crafted “on screen” with wonderful plastic Halloween weapon props and masks. I, of course, cast my best friend Owen Thayer and my pal from up the street Chris Adam, along with, of course, my baby sister Laurin, five years my junior. Having no editing system at the time, everything was shot in sequence, and camera roll cuts were surprisingly well-crafted and timed to afford close-up coverage and inserts (never mind the accidental line flub or prop-drop, which thus made their way into the non-edited final cut).
Over the years as I moved into middle school and high school, I began to make more and more short films with my group of friends that grew and evolved. In high school, I managed to scoop up quite a few awards from local film festivals, and eventually found myself accepted to the prestigious Brooks Institute of Photography film program, which lo and behold, had just opened up their film campus in the summer of 2002 right after I had finished high school, in my hometown of Ventura — how perfect was this?
I attended Brooks Institute of Photography and received my Bachelor’s Degree in three years before zipping right down to Los Angeles in late summer of 2005 with a few film school pals to take on Hollywood in earnest. I dove into the industry at the cusp of the film vs. digital collision, having the luck to experiment with some of the first 24p HD cinema camera systems available in the early-to-mid 2000s. This dual-format background still provides me with a rich technical knowledge from which to draw upon to create robust storytelling images for every unique project, no matter the budget. Ever since I was that 90s kid with my Sony 8mm video camera, I’ve always believed story and mood are the top priorities when making visual decisions, not just aesthetics, and as such, always try to make it a habit of finding that visual balance.
I’m now known for shooting independent features like the sci-fi horror festival favorite “The Human Race,” the action thriller “Bus Driver” and many more including period pieces, comedies and dramas, as well as shooting a bevy of commercials and music videos, I’ve also worked as a Camera Operator in the action/stunt units for some of today’s larger Hollywood films, including “Limitless,” “Real Steel,” “Little Fockers,” and “Godzilla.” In addition to my narrative work, I’ve also shot two feature documentaries, “Harvard Park,” and “The Spirit of the Pony Express” as well as numerous docu-series, TV spots, and promos for corporate clients such as DirecTV, AT&T, Nvidia, Honest Tea, ESPN and more.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s interesting and delightful to look back on 14 years of freelance cinematography and to be able to see the overall upward-arcing trend of projects and the ability for me to make a living at what I dreamed of doing as a child. While I wouldn’t say this journey has been a completely smooth road (more like a drivable road with a few potholes and hazards along the way, as well as a few traffic delays), I feel fortunate to have worked as much as I have, even in those early days of making $100/day for 16 hours on a short film that would never see the light of day.
I gained experience, and as Conrad Hall once said even in his eighties, “I never stop learning — I learn something new on every set.” I wouldn’t trade those hard days of lost sleep and awful coffee for anything, While I managed to book cinematographer jobs including two feature films back-to-back in the first year in LA, I also took on other film set roles to fill the financial gaps to keep myself afloat. I’d play the role of Gaffer and design and implement lighting, as well as camera, operate a 2nd or third camera on a multi-camera gig.
Turnarounds were another hurdle — if one job ended at 3 am, and I had booked a job at 6 am the next day, the only choice was to grin, bear it, and jump right in. Deep diving fully into being a cinematographer right out of film school with no side job was financially difficult the first few years (I might suggest getting three-four roommates to share the financial burden), but the persistence has decidedly paid off.
As a friend of mine recently said, “I’m not wondering IF the phone will ring with a job, but just waiting for WHEN.” There is a certain intangible feeling that’s arisen over the past few years of some sort of a sense of job security (which should be considered somewhat bonkers in this unpredictable freelance world I inhabit), where I’ll never know what’s next on the horizon, but always know that something will, in fact, be there.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Director of Photography – what should we know?
In addition to working as a Director of Photography for the past 14 years across the entire spectrum of types of shows and projects, I also co-own a production company called Abhorrent Behavior with my wife and filmmaking partner Kathryne Isabelle Easton.
We’ve produced a slew of short films over the years, as well as commercials, music videos, and spec projects. We are currently in pre-production on our first feature film, a socially relevant thriller, which we hope to start principal photography on early next year.
Kathryne handles the writing and directing, while I handle the cinematography, and we produce together. Our two sides of technical craft and artistry blend together serendipitously to encompass the entire process of filmmaking. It’s also an added benefit to have your better half working alongside you.
While I hope and plan to continue working as a DP for the foreseeable future as my main passion, Kathryne and I’s partnership and creativeness together for our own projects really adds a sense of overall satisfaction to everyday life.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Looking back, it did honestly me take a good decade to get where I am today. Some people may take longer or in fact even much less time to get to that same spot for themselves, but for me, persistence was always key.
I stayed the course in striving for what I wanted ever since I was nine years old — to make movies. Different aspects of “making movies” have of course blossomed and curved off on to related tangents, but they are all encompassed under the same umbrella — working behind the camera.
It doesn’t matter to me now if I’m shooting a feature film, television show, music video, commercial or corporate promo, because I’m telling a story visually behind that camera, and that is all I’ve ever wanted.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mattfore-dp.com
- Phone: 310-614-5248
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattfore/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mattforedp
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1864437
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