Dickerson, Ernest

Dickerson was born in Newark , New Jersey . He studied architecture at Howard University , ^[1] and also took film lessons with Haley Gerim, when he was already interested in cinema. ^[2] He later moved to New York to participate in a film program at New York University at the Tisch School of Art, where he met fellow student Spike Lee . His first full-length film as a cameraman was also Spike Lee's first film, Joe's Hair Salon in the Bed-School District: We Cut the Heads, which was shot while they were still students.

After graduating, Dickerson began his career as a cameraman in video clips for Bruce Springsteen , Anita Baker and Miles Davis , and began shooting John Sales’s “Brother from Another Planet” (1984), his first professional film as a cameraman.

While working on the first two seasons of the television series The Tales of the Dark Side, George Romero , Spike Lee later contacted Dickerson, ^[3] who found a budget to make the film She Needs to Cut Down (1986). Dickerson continued his collaboration with Lee for five more films, including “ Do it Right! (1989). Their last collaboration was in the movie “ Malcolm X ” in 1992, and in the same year Dickerson made his directorial debut with the crime drama “ Authority ”. He also worked as the second director of the film Lee "The Miracle of St. Anne " (2008).

For television, Dickerson shot several episodes of sensational shows, such as Once Upon a Time , Dexter , The Walking Dead , and Trime . As a long-term fan of horror films, he also worked with Mick Harris on the TV series “ Masters of Horror ” and “ Fear As It Is ” and filmed “ Tales from the Crypt: Demon of the Night ” and “ Bones ”.

"The Wire"

Dickerson joined the HBO drama series “The Wire ” as a director of the second season in 2003. ^[4] He filmed the Bad Dream episode. ^{[5] [6]} Reviewers made a comparison between Spike Lee's films and "The Audience" even before Dickerson joined the team. ^[7] “Bad Son” was nominated by the American Film Institute for consideration at their television program of the year award and the show subsequently received an award. ^[8] After this success, Dickerson returned as a director for the third season in 2004. ^[9] He shot the episode " Hamsters " ^{[10] [11]} and the season finale, " Mission Achieved ". ^{[12] [13]} In 2006, he contributed two more episodes for the fourth season of the show: ^[14] “ Fears ” ^{[15] [16]} and the season finale, “ Final Grades ”. ^{[17] [18] The} fourth season received a second AFI award and Dickerson attended the ceremony to pick up the award. ^[19] Showr David Simon said that Dickerson is the director's workhorse for the show, and that he knows the show, as well as the producers; Simon appreciated the direction of Dickerson, saying that he "delivers every time." ^[20]

Dickerson returned as the director of the fifth and final season of the series in 2008 and filmed the episode " Unconfirmed posts ". ^{[21] [22]}

Late works

He later worked again with David Simon, shooting several episodes of the drama series on New Orleans, Trimey , including the second season finale , Do What You Want, which earned him a NAACP Image Award for best direction of the drama series. ^[23]

Dickerson also worked with executive producer and screenwriter Eric Overmayer on both Prowler and Trime. Dickerson shot the episode "Tufta" for the Overmayer series "Bosch" in 2014.

Television

Director

Operator

Movies

Director

Operator

• Dickerson, Ernest (Eng.) On the Internet Movie Database
• Ernest Dickerson , an interview about "The Blues of a Better Life"