Mathew Knight is a New Zealand Director of Photography based in Wellington. He has worked all over the world shooting documentaries, TV commercials and feature films.
Based in Beijing, China for four years Mathew shot a wide range of documentaries for BBC World and National Geographic shooting in Russia, Mongolia, China, Tibet and Vietnam.
Delivering a keen artistic eye and strong understanding of story to his shooting techniques he also brings considerable experience in operating Digital camera systems – making him one of the most experienced DOP's with digital cinematic formats.
In recent years Mathew's work has expanded to include feature films. Working at Weta Digital as Lead Motion Capture camera operator Mathew has worked with Director Steven Spielberg on the The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, Hollywood feature Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Peter Jackson's The Hobbit. Mathew recently travelled to the US to work on The Avengers with Robert Downey Junior and Scarlett Johansson. Mathew also continues to be one of the busiest TV commercial DOP's in New Zealand.
'I grew up watching Cowboy Movies as a kid so the idea of doing a genuine cowboy movie shot in New Zealand was incredibly attractive to me. You always think of them being quintessentially American but Sergio Leone made fantastic movies in Italy and Spain which started off very small and quite rough and they progressed amazingly and have become incredible classics of cinema.
I was also interested to shoot this movie because of the world-class quality locations we were able to capture. There are reasons people fly halfway around the world to shoot here. I brought my experience with shooting nature and scenery and Mike brought the tripod, literally!
It is testament to Mike's directing that this whole movie is more than just the sum of all its incredible parts. He has cracked the storytelling, the music, the acting and cinematography which sweeps you away.'
Good for Nothing is Mathew's debut feature film as the Director of Photography.