| Charlotte Bruus Christensen | |
| Birth Place: | Denmark |
| Alma Mater: | National Film and Television School |
| Occupation: | Cinematographer |
Charlotte Bruus Christensen (born 20 March 1978) is a Danish cinematographer.
Born in Denmark, Christensen earned a master's degree in cinematography from the National Film and Television School in the UK, in 2004. After film school she returned to Denmark[1] where she wrote, directed and shot the 2004 short film Between Us. She worked with director Thomas Vinterberg on his 2010 drama film Submarino. She was cinematographer for the Marc Evans' 2011 film Hunky Dory. She continued to work with Vinterberg in the 2012 film The Hunt. Her cinematography, shot on Arri Alexa,[2] won her a Vulcan Award and the Bodil Award for Best Cinematographer. Chistensen and Vinterberg teamed up a third time for the 2015 film Far from the Madding Crowd.[3] She is known for ability to bring out the female gaze, highlighting the female leads in her films.[4]
A lot of Christensen's work is inspired from the Dogme 95 movement, where the focus is back on the traditional aspects of filmmaking such as stories, characters, and thematic elements. Christensen has spoken on her cinematography work on A Quiet Place through numerous interviews. A lot of the visual and tonal inspiration for the film came from other films like Jaws, No Country for Old Men, and There Will Be Blood. The film was shot on 35 mm, like the aforementioned movies. She has talked about how they had to capture images with sound in mind. The closer you are to something, the more little sounds are involved. It was more than just having the camera zoomed in on the subject and more about having the camera physically next to an object or person to catch all the sounds involved. Both Christensen and John Krasinski, the director, agreed that the film is warm and that those tones should be seen in various pockets- through the season (summer), clothing items, in nature, and elsewhere. She also had the challenge of working with the color red. Since the color is used to signal a warning, its thematic use isn't present until it needs to be; it's in that moment where it holds the most power.[5] Her main goal was to highlight the unheard and unseen through her camera work. In other films like Fences and The Girl on the Train, you can clearly see how her cinematography impacts the suspense and intensity of the film. She knows how to highlight the emotions of the characters within the scene, especially lead females where she ensures they're highlighted in the right way.
| Year | Title | Director | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Looking for Al Bowlly | Toby Haynes | ||
| 2004 | London Kebabs | Pierre Tatarka | ||
| Between Us | Herself Stefan Mørk | Also writer | ||
| Alacranes | Pierre Tatarka | |||
| Chasing Sheep | ||||
| One Minute Silence | Clare Harvey Rob Sanders | |||
| 2007 | Cake | Rosanna Negrotti | ||
| 2008 | Shammasian Brothers | |||
| The Chef's Letter | Sybil H. Mair | |||
| 2011 | Chalk | Martina Amati | ||
| Svinehund | Jonas Elmer | |||
| The House Inside Her | Pernille Rose Grønkjær Astrid Kruse Jensen | |||
| In Tune | Philippa James | With Stephan Pehrsson | ||
| 2012 | Evigt Unga | Annika Appelin | ||
| 2015 | The Briny | Lucy Kirkwood |
| Year | Title | Director | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | The Englishman | Ian Sellar | |
| 2010 | Submarino | Thomas Vinterberg | |
| Min Bedste Fjende | Oliver Ussing | ||
| 2011 | Hunky Dory | Marc Evans | |
| 2012 | The Hunt | Thomas Vinterberg | |
| 2015 | Life | Anton Corbijn | |
| Far from the Madding Crowd | Thomas Vinterberg | ||
| 2016 | The Girl on the Train | Tate Taylor | |
| Fences | Denzel Washington | ||
| 2017 | Molly's Game | Aaron Sorkin | |
| 2018 | A Quiet Place | John Krasinski | |
| 2020 | The Banker | George Nolfi | |
| 2022 | All the Old Knives | Janus Metz Pedersen | |
| 2023 | Sharper | Benjamin Caron |
TV movie
Miniseries
| Year | Title | Director | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Black Narcissus | Herself | |
| 2023 | A Murder at the End of the World | Brit Marling Zal Batmanglij |