Dan Kneece is a Director of Photography based in Los Angeles, California who is originally from Blackville, South Carolina where his father, James Frank Kneece, MD, was the doctor from 1930 to 1976. When Dan was about four years old his mother, Emaleen Corley, noticed he had the ability to think in abstract thoughts and nurtured his abilities in this direction. Instead of turning on the television Emaleen played classical music on the record player as young Danny sat in his play pen. As a result the fine young man developed exceptional musical abilities that resulted in him winning a medal at Edisto Conference for playing Overture Eroica on the Oboe when he was in the 7th grade. When Danny was 13 years old his Mother bought a Super 8 camera and the direction of his life changed. The young man became obsessed with filming everything in sight and learned much. He learned the joys of creating the moving image and the difficulties in doing it well. Still he soldiered on to become very good at it. Still he had great interest in music as well and won the John Phillip Sousa Award for best senior musician at Blackville High School before going on to attend the University of South Carolina where the was awarded Associate of Arts (19760, Bachelor of Media Arts (1978) and Master of Media Arts (1980) degrees. Dan also received a Certificate in Cinema from the University of Southern California (1976)
While at the University of South Carolina, Dan discovered a love of animation and learned their new Oxberry animation stand with instructor John Coles. With this Oxberry Dan created two films, "El Gato" about a cat that could just not be pleased and "Cera" an abstract film using the encaustic technique used by South Carolina native, Jasper Johns. The soundtrack was created on the Arp 2600 synthesizer using a tape loop created from 1/4 inch tape with Dan's name on it, chopped into half inch pieces on the Edit-All bar and spliced back together with half inch pieces of leader in between causing a variable popping sound when played back on a reel to reel tape recorder. These sounds were fed into the Arp 2600 and recorded on to track one of a Teac 3340 multi track recorder. That track and the loop were sent back through the Arp and recorded on track two. Those two tracks and the loop were sent back through the Arp and recorded on track 3 and those three tracks and the loop were sent back through the Arp and recorded on track 4. These 4 tracks were then mixed together to make a 5.2 minute electronic composition that was transferred to magnetic film and read frame by frame resulting in 15 pages of numbers which were used as a guide to manipulate the encaustic paintings made on glass plates for perfect sync. Dan had used the Arp 2600 to create the sound track for "El Gato" as well. In particular the cat's meow which was of a quality to rattle the walls. "Cera" received quite a lot of attention opening the first International Animation Celebration in Los Angeles and getting a regional nomination for a Student Academy Award. "Cera" was presented by the University of South Carolina to Shanxi University in China as part of their permanent collection.
In 1979, while working on his masters degree and as the graduate teaching assistant in charge of the Oxberry at the University of South Carolina, Dan began his professional career as a camera operator by getting a night job shooting news for WIS-TV in Columbia, SC. It was invaluable training for an up and coming cameraman. This job, the one at the university and being a full time student meant Dan didn't get much sleep. Little did he know this was perfect training for the film business and their 18 hours days. Still he soldiered on and did his best to excel. Three years later, in December of 1982, an event happened that would change his life forever.
Dan learned Garrett Brown, the inventor of the Steadicam, was having a Steadicam workshop in Miami, Florida and Dan knew he had to go learn the Steadicam. The technology was new at that point having just been given the technical Academy Award in 1976. In 1982 you could count the number of people that could operate the Steadicam on two hands so after the workshop Dan became one of the pioneer Steadicam operators and did his best to master the device. Dan shot every film he could until in 1985 he got his big break. The chance to operate the Steadicam for David Lynch on a film called "Blue Velvet". That moment was a game changer for Dan and launched him into the big time. Dan went on to do "Wild at Heart", "Twin Peaks", "Fire Walk With Me", "Lost Highway" and "Mulholland Drive" with David as well as "Jackie Brown" and the "Death Proof" segment of "Grind House" with Quentin Tarantino. Many other films followed and Dan was one of the top Steadicam operators in the business for 28 years. In addition, Dan was a Steadicam instructor too teaching several hundred others how to use this wonderful device, first as an assistant instructor to Ted Churchill and then as the lead factory Steadicam instructor for Cinema Products for five years in the United States and abroad. His students have worked across the globe and many have excelled. One in particular operated for Steven Spielberg on several films.
In addition or in concert with Steadicam jobs Dan was also one of the few that could also operate "A" Camera. This is a very different job and is considered the hot seat of the film set. On two films for director Joel Schumacher, "Phone Booth" and "The Number 23" Dan not only operated Steadicam, but also conventional cameras. On "The Number 23" Dan made good use of 15, 30 and 50 foot Technocranes and found operating them to be very similar to operating Steadicam except they were much larger and required communication with a crew instead of doing everything on your own. Dan fell in love with Technocranes and still uses them to this day when the project requires them.
In 2010, when his mother Emaleen died, Dan decided it was time for another challenge and became a full time Director of Photography starting with a trip with Bob Primes, ASC and Yousef Linjawi to the Serengeti plain of Tanzania, West Africa to film wild animals in their natural habitat. Dan and his cameras came within 2 -3 feet of wild lions and filmed two ostriches mating at 300 frames per second with the Weisscam, an amazing experience that incorporated his loves from childhood, animals and motion picture photography. He thought of watching Jacques Cousteau and Wild Kingdom as a child and now he was here amongst the animals. It was stunning.
Today Dan continues to excel as a Director of Photography filming, just as he did as a child, anything and everything that happens in front of his lens. He still loves photography now as much as he did then and will do so until the day he dies.