Growing up in a small commuter town in rural Bedfordshire, Ben Oliver loved team sports, music and art. The visual arts in every form were essential to him, and he became hooked on how it all intertwined in music videos, commercials and films. He was finally inspired to pursue a career in filmmaking after watching The Killing of a Chinese Bookie during a John Cassavetes season at the BFI. There was a raw energy in Cassavetes’ characters and aesthetic that resonated with a punk spirit—that nothing was impossible.
Twenty-five years later, Ben has worked as a clapper loader and focus puller on all sorts of projects, from student short films to Hollywood blockbusters and everything in between. The beauty he finds in the camera department is that nothing stays the same, whether that’s new digital sensors or revisiting old formats or lenses from years ago. This, along with working as part of a team, meeting new people, working in new spaces and locations, and experiencing new cultures, is what excites him about the industry as a whole.
Highlights have been filming in Professor Stephen Hawking’s office; shooting close-ups and stunts with Tom Cruise; listening to the stories of the men who were firefighters tasked with saving St Paul’s Cathedral during the Blitz; shooting fashion in Marfa, Texas; walking the streets of Tokyo on days off; spending Eid and feasting with his second AC and his family in Casablanca on a feature film in Morocco; and, of course, the next job.
