--- name: "Rodney Charters" canonical: "https://film.one/person/rodney-charters" roles: ["Cinematographer","Director"] born: "1 January 1948" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_over: 0 updated: "2026-09-18T10:27:37.219188+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Rodney Charters Cinematographer and director. Born 1 January 1948 in New Plymouth, New Zealand. ## Details - **Work:** Cinematographer, Director - **Born:** 1 January 1948, New Plymouth, New Zealand - **Also known as:** Rodney A. Charters - **Elsewhere:** https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q29480479, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0153552/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/25860 ## Streaming the US now - **Disney+:** [*24*](https://film.one/tv/24.md) (78) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Rodney Charters > A news cameraman who brought the news camera to drama. On *24* Rodney Charters shot handheld on long lenses, grain left in, so that a woman in a parked car looks watched. Television photography built for speed, and speed is what it gives you. A woman sits in a parked car on *24* and nothing happens to her, and she looks watched. That is Rodney Charters's doing. He and Jeffrey C. Mygatt shot the series handheld on long lenses, with a visible grain, so that even the dull daylight scenes carried the feel of a surveillance tape somebody would later have to explain. The camera snaps from face to face and whip pans across the CTU floor as if it has heard something before we have. We spent the first season slightly on edge in scenes where nobody was in danger, and that was the lens, not the writing. The style came from outside drama. Charters spent about fifteen years as a documentary and news cameraman in Canada and elsewhere before moving into scripted television in the mid-1980s, and it shows: the framing is the framing of someone who expects the subject to move without warning. He shot 57 episodes of *The Pretender* (1997–2000), then joined *24* in 2001 and stayed for 184 episodes across eight seasons and the telefilm *24: Redemption* (2008), directing three episodes along the way. Afterwards came *Shameless*, the *Dallas* revival and *Magnum P.I.*, and the odd feature, among them *Going in Style* (2017). But *24* is the work, and everything else sits in its shadow. What he did there was as much method as look. Scenes were shot whole, on two cameras from two directions, rather than broken into the usual coverage. That is why the actors on *24* seem to be listening; they had to be, because the take did not stop. It also suits a programme about a clock. Charters was early to LED lighting on drama and used it to keep the light natural and continuous, so Jonathan Lee's glass-walled office, blue and screen-lit, reads as a real room and not a set. David Latham's split screens then take that footage and set the lies running between the boxes. The cost is that a camera which never rests can tire the eye. The later days of *24* lean on the whip pan and the snap zoom when the plotting has gone slack, so the style keeps promising an urgency the script has stopped supplying. Frenetic is the word other people reach for, and on a bad episode it fits. But this is a cinematographer who solved a real problem, how to make television look as if it were happening now, and his solution is still in use on a hundred shows that do not credit him. Watch the first day of *24* and notice how often you feel someone is about to be seen. ## Biography Rodney Charters is a New Zealand cinematographer and director. He studied at the University of Auckland and the Royal College of Art in London, and began his career as a documentary cameraman before moving into scripted television and feature films. He is best known for his work on the series *24* (2001–2010), serving as director of photography on 184 episodes and directing three episodes. He received Emmy nominations for outstanding cinematography in 2005 and 2006, and was awarded the American Society of Cinematographers Career Achievement in Television Award in 2013. Other credits include *The Pretender* (1997–2000), *Roswell* (2000–2001), *Shameless*, the *Dallas* revival and the film *Going in Style* (2017). Charters died in Amsterdam in 2026. *Sources: hollywoodreporter.com, deadline.com, imdb.com, 24.fandom.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *24* (2001), Fi1m 78, Cinematography, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/24.md) ## Complete filmography (38) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *The Accused* (2025), Cinematography - *One Night Stay* (2024), Director of Photography - *Going in Style* (2017), Director of Photography - *They Die by Dawn* (2013), Director of Photography - *The Fosters* (2013), series, Director of Photography - *Alphas* (2011), series, Director of Photography - *Lovers in a Dangerous Time* (2009), Producer - *The Rookie* (2007), series, Director, Director of Photography - *Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front* (2006), Director of Photography - *A Very Married Christmas* (2004), Director of Photography - *Pixel Perfect* (2004), Director of Photography - *A Ring of Endless Light* (2002), Director of Photography - *24* (2001), series, Director, Director of Photography — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/tv/24.md) - *Kiss My Act* (2001), Director of Photography - *Intern* (2000), Director of Photography - *Horse Sense* (1999), Director of Photography - *Roswell* (1999), series, Director - *Blind Faith* (1998), Director of Photography - *Brink!* (1998), Director of Photography - *Indefensible: The Truth About Edward Brannigan* (1997), Director of Photography - *Kull the Conqueror* (1997), Director of Photography - *The Pretender* (1996), series, Director - *Conundrum* (1996), Cinematography - *Hercules: The Legendary Journeys* (1995), series, Director - *Deadly Vows* (1994), Director of Photography - *The Babymaker: The Dr. Cecil Jacobson Story* (1994), Director of Photography - *Car 54, Where Are You?* (1994), Director of Photography - *Bonds of Love* (1993), Director of Photography - *Shadow of a Stranger* (1992), Director of Photography - *Sleepwalkers* (1992), Director of Photography - *Sweet Poison* (1991), Cinematography - *Psycho IV: The Beginning* (1990), Director of Photography - *Friday the 13th: The Series* (1987), series, Director - *Heaven On Earth* (1987), Cinematography - *Autobiography of a Princess* (1975), Boom Operator - *Maze* (1969), Second Assistant Camera - *Film Exercise* (1966), Director, Director of Photography, Editor - *Legacy*, Director of Photography --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/rodney-charters