Greig Fraser

Greig Fraser (born October 3, 1975) is an Australian cinematographer. He received the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Dune (2021) and two other nominations for Lion (2016) and Dune: Part Two (2024). He is additionally known for his work on The Batman (2022), The Mandalorian (2020), Rogue One (2016), The Creator (2023) and Project Hail Mary (2026).

Early life and education

Greig Fraser graduated from Luther College in Croydon Hills in 1993. He studied at the RMIT University in Melbourne. Despite forming an interest in photography at an early age, Fraser discovered that videography was perhaps a medium he felt more passion for as he started harnessing his skills along with his first feature documentary as Cinematographer, P.I.N.S., which released in 2000.

Career

For his short film Cracker Bag he was nominated for Best Cinematography at the 2003 AFI Awards.

For his work on Lion, he won the American Society of Cinematographers Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases and AACTA Award for Best Cinematography and received Academy Award and BAFTA Award nominations.

Fraser shot Rogue One on the Arri Alexa 65 large format digital camera and Panavision lenses from the 1970s, making it the first feature film shot entirely with the Alexa 65. Fraser said of working with the Alexa 65, "The images are sharper and have more resolution, and those things are an advantage, but for me it is about the depth of the image -- there is a three-dimensionality to it. Often the beauty came from the texture; we found that the camera excelled when we were filming something with texture; it really enhanced the quality of picture."

Fraser returned to the Star Wars franchise with the 2019 television series The Mandalorian. In 2020, for his work on the series, Fraser won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (Half-Hour).[citation needed]

For his work on Dune he won his first Academy Award for Best Cinematography in 2022. Fraser said a feature of his work in that film was intentionally using simple compositions, "We tried to simplify the frames as much as we could. By doing that, we've been able to give the viewers that absorption of story and experience" and colour palette: "We tried quite hard to make sure that it all sat within a certain tone."

Style

Starting on Dune, Fraser has utilized variations of the film-out process, whereby digitally-shot footage is first transferred to film, then re-scanned back into a digital format. Speaking to Filmmaker in 2021, he explained, "What I found with this [film-out] process is that it allowed me to have a clear vision of something that should look more organic than digital, but less organic than film."

Critical reception

Film critic Glenn Kenny has praised Fraser's work in The Batman and Dune, saying they were a "sort of stunning magic trick".[citation needed] Writing for RogerEbert.com, Christy Lemire said of his cinematography in Dune: "There's both a gauziness and a heft to his imagery. His use of shadow and silhouette is masterful, and does so much to convey a sense of foreboding and tension." Fellow cinematographer and Academy Award winner Roger Deakins praised Fraser's work on The Batman as "extraordinary", and called Fraser's and the film's omission from being nominated in the category at the 95th Academy Awards due to the Academy's tendency to avoid superhero films "snobbery."

Critic Susan Wloszczyna praised his work on Lion, saying it was "visually poetic".

Personal life

Fraser met costume designer Jodie Fried in Sydney in 2004, while they were working on a short film. After moving to the United States in 2008, they were married in a helicopter above Las Vegas. They live in Los Angeles with their three children.

Filmography

Feature film

Short film

Television

Awards and nominations

Other awards

Notes

External links

• atIMDb
• atRotten Tomatoes