Cinematographer Killed in Florida Crash

Neal Fredericks Dies While Working on His Latest Film

Guild member Neal Fredericks was killed in a plane crash while working on a film in Florida on Aug. 14. The cinematographer, who achieved prominence for his work on The Blair Witch Project, was 35.

A funeral was held for Neal on Friday, Aug. 20 at 12 pm at Westminster Memorial Park (14801 Beach Blvd., Westminster, CA). A bulletin board has been posted online for family, friends and well wishers at: www.haxan.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=neal. Please send cards to: Carl and Judy Fredericks, 12333 Shadetree Lane, Laurel, MD 20708.

According to the Coast Guard, the single-engine Cessna crashed about 70 miles west of Key West. The pilot and three other members of the film crew escaped and were rescued. "He was an immensely talented, low key, unassuming, kind and gentle person," Charles Lenhoff, Fredericks' agent, said. "He was right on the threshold of a creative breakthrough in terms of his career."

On his Web site, collaborator Eduardo Sanchez wrote about how Fredericks handled the challenge of working on a project as unique as Blair Witch.

"Blair Witch didn't need to be lit, so he didn't light it," Sanchez wrote. "It didn't need a camera operator, so he didn't operate. What he did do was make sure those actors knew everything they could and had everything they needed to keep shooting, to keep getting those images into the camera."

Fredericks was born in Newport Beach, Calif., and lived in Los Angeles.

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