Daniel Mindel A.S.C.

American Society of Cinematographers

The American Society of Cinematographers is an educational, cultural, and professional organization. It is not a labor union, and it is not a guild. Membership is by invitation and is extended only to directors of photography and special effects experts with distinguished credits in the film...

 is a South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n-American cinematographer

Cinematographer

A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...

. He is known for his frequent work with film director

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

s Ridley

Ridley Scott

Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. His most famous films include The Duellists , Alien , Blade Runner , Legend , Thelma & Louise , G. I...

 and Tony Scott

Tony Scott

Anthony D. L. "Tony" Scott is an English film director. His films include Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II, The Last Boy Scout, True Romance, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State, Spy Game, Man on Fire, Déjà Vu, The Taking of Pelham 123, and Unstoppable...

.

Mindel received education in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and in Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. He began his career as a camera loader before becoming a clapper loader

Clapper loader

A clapper loader, or second assistant camera is part of a film crew, whose main functions are that of loading the raw film stock into camera magazines, operating the clapperboard at the beginning of each take, marking the actors as necessary, and maintaining all records and paperwork for the...

 and assistant cameraman on John Boorman

John Boorman

John Boorman is a British filmmaker who is a long time resident of Ireland and is best known for his feature films such as Point Blank, Deliverance, Zardoz, Excalibur, The Emerald Forest, Hope and Glory, The General and The Tailor of Panama.-Early life:Boorman was born in Shepperton, Surrey,...

's 1985 film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

, The Emerald Forest, under French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 cinematographer Philippe Rousselot

Philippe Rousselot

Philippe Rousselot is a French director of photography.Rousselot was born in Briey, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France. After having studied cinema at l'École Louis Lumière, he graduated in 1966 with, among others, François About, Eduardo Serra, Noël Very, and Jean-François Robin...

. He soon after moved to the United States and began working on commercials

Television advertisement

A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...

 for Ridley and Tony Scott, among several other directors.

Throughout the 1990s, Mindel worked as a camera operator or photographer on feature films directed by either Tony Scott or Ridley Scott, including Thelma & Louise and Crimson Tide

Crimson Tide (film)

The film has uncredited additional writing by Quentin Tarantino, much of it being the pop-culture reference-laden dialogue.The U.S. Navy objected to many of the elements in the script — particularly the aspect of mutiny on board a U.S. naval vessel — and as such, the film was produced...

. In 1997, Mindel was assigned as second unit

Second unit

In film, the second unit is a team that shoots subsidiary footage for a motion picture. Its work is distinct from that of the first unit, which shoots all scenes involving principal actors...

 director of photography on Ridley Scott's G.I. Jane

G.I. Jane

G.I. Jane is a 1997 American action film directed by Ridley Scott, produced by Largo Entertainment, Scott Free Productions and Caravan Pictures, distributed by Hollywood Pictures and starring Demi Moore and Viggo Mortensen. The film tells the fictional story of the first woman to undergo training...

. This opened the door for Mindel to become director of photography on Tony Scott's 1998 action

Action film

Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...

-thriller, Enemy of the State.

Mindel went on to serve as director of photography for films such as Shanghai Noon

Shanghai Noon

Shanghai Noon is a 2000 American martial arts action comedy western film starring Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson. The film, marking the directorial debut of Tom Dey, was written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar....

, Stuck on You, The Skeleton Key

The Skeleton Key

The Skeleton Key is a 2005 American supernatural horror film starring Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, John Hurt, Peter Sarsgaard, and Joy Bryant. The film focuses on a young hospice nurse who acquires a job at a Terrebonne Parish plantation home, and becomes entangled in a mystery involving the house,...

, and Tony Scott's Spy Game

Spy Game

Spy Game is a 2001 American spy film directed by Tony Scott and starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. The film grossed $62,362,785 in the United States and $143,049,560 worldwide.-Plot:...

and Domino

Domino (film)

Domino is a 2005 American action film directed by Tony Scott and written by Richard Kelly. It is inspired by the story of Domino Harvey, the English daughter of stage and screen actor Laurence Harvey, who became a bounty hunter working in Los Angeles. The film stars Keira Knightley as Domino and...

. He has also done additional photography for the films The Bourne Identity

The Bourne Identity (2002 film)

The Bourne Identity is a 2002 American spy film loosely based on Robert Ludlum's novel of the same name. It stars Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, an amnesiac attempting to discover his true identity amidst a clandestine conspiracy within the Central Intelligence Agency . The film also stars Franka...

and Lions for Lambs

Lions for Lambs

Lions for Lambs is a 2007 American drama film about the connection between a platoon of United States soldiers in Afghanistan, a U.S. senator, a reporter, and a California college professor. It stars Tom Cruise, Robert Redford and Meryl Streep...

.

Director J.J. Abrams selected Mindel to be director of photography on 2006's Mission: Impossible III

Mission: Impossible III

Mission: Impossible III is a 2006 spy film, the third based on the spy-themed television series Mission: Impossible starring Tom Cruise who reprises his role of IMF agent Ethan Hunt....

. Mindel worked with Abrams again as the cinematographer of 2009's Star Trek.

External links