The son of "Mutiny on the Bounty" co-author James Norman Hall, American cinematographer Conrad Hall initially intended to follow in his father's footsteps as a writer, but a bad grade in a journalism class at the University of Southern California turned him in the direction of filmmaking instead. Forming a small production company with two fellow USC classmates, he entered the business when they sold their prize-winning class project "Sea Theme" to television. They shot a little bit of everything (i.e., industrials, commercials), including footage for Disney's acclaimed feature documentary
Formed Canyon Films, a small production company with two USC classmates (Marvin R Weinstein and Jack C Couffer); made industrials, commercials, etc; entered industry by selling prize-winning class project, "Sea Theme", to television
Shot footage for feature films including Disney's "The Living Desert" (1953)
1956
First film as director of photography, "My Brother Down There/Running Target"; also shared screenplay credit with director Weinstein and producer Couffer
1958
Shared cinematography credit on "Edge of Fury" with Weinstein and Couffer
