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John (Ferno) Fernhout
John (Ferno) Fernhout
Filming
His daily contact with the cinematographer Joris Ivens inspires Fernhout, and he envisions a future for himself in film. Ivens teaches the 15-year-old Fernhout the basic principles of film technique, undeniably leaving his mark on John's later cinematographic activities.
Joris Ivens
As the son of Kees Ivens, who sells photographic equipment, Joris has been familiar with photographic material since childhood. He studies photography in Berlin, Dresden and Jena. He has a relationship with the German photographer Germaine Krull, who brings him into contact with the Berlin avant-garde. On his return in the Netherlands, he is put in charge of the Amsterdam branch of C.A.P. Ivens, later shortened to Capi.
Joris Ivens is one of the founders of the Film League in 1927. His film De Brug (The Bridge, 1928) receives international attention and instantly makes him the pioneer of Dutch film art.
John (Ferno) Fernhout
From Jack-of-all-trades to Cameraman
At first Fernhout is a jack-of-all-trades, assisting Ivens with his experimental films De Brug (The Bridge) and Regen (Rain, 1929), in which he also appears as an extra. During the shooting, Fernhout stands next to the camera, learning from Ivens how to handle the device and how to edit film. In 1929, he is allowed to operate the camera by himself for the first time, during the filming of Heien (Pile Driving). After that he assists Ivens mainly as a cameraman, shooting segments of the film Zuiderzeewerken (Southern Sea Works, 1930) about closing off the Zuiderzee.
Heien and Zuiderzeewerken eventually become part of the film Wij Bouwen (We Are Building), the final version of which is named Nieuwe Gronden (New Land).
Studio Ivens
Joris Ivens’s intensive film activities lead to the creation of the so-called ‘Studio Ivens’,
John (Ferno) Fernhout
a group of young people around him. They teach courses in film
technique, leaving room for filmic and technical experiments. Together
with Mark Kolthoff, Fernhout shoots material for Philips-Radio (1931),
Joris Ivens’s first film with synchronized sound.
Berlin
In the autumn of 1931, Fernhout leaves for Berlin to study
photography at the Agfa Schule. Ivens, himself a former student of the
school, had persuaded him to take technical training there. A specific
study programme for film did not yet exist.
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