Constantine's conversion to Christianity at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, where he defeated his rival Maxentius, led to the Holy Roman Empire and the end of the persecution of Christians.
Rob and his family have lived in the US for the past thirty years where he has made a career as a Cinematographer in feature films and television movies. Rob started in television as a news cameraman at RVN 2 Wagga Wagga (now Prime TV) in southern New South Wales, Australia.
After leaving RVN and making the move to the US, Wesley Film Productions, a newly set-up division of Wesley Mission, Sydney, contracted Rob to act as Director of Photography on the 'Discovering' series. Produced and directed by Martin Johnson, the 'Discovering' series looked at the life of Jesus and then the growth of the early Christian church. 'Discovering Jesus', 'Discovering Paul' and 'Discovering the Young Church' were based on three books by Gordon Moyes, who hosted the series on camera. The series was filmed throughout Israel, Turkey, Greece, Malta and Rome on the actual historic sites mentioned in the New Testament.
"The story of 'Nicaea' hasn't actually been told before," said Rob. There have been films that covered either side of Constantine's reign but this is the first time the story about how he came to power, has been told on film," he said.
Rob was initially invited to be Cinematographer on Nicaea. "I shot a film in 1996 called 'The Spitfire Grill" which was partially funded by the Catholic Church," said Rob. "I kept in touch with the producers and they asked me to come on board as Cinematographer for this new project on Constantine," he said.
"At that stage they didn't have a director and I suggested to them that they had it the wrong way round – usually feature film projects commission a director who then selects a Cinematographer or Director of Photography (DOP)", said Rob.
"They approached a number of directors but by that time I had read the script and started to do some background research and so they offered me the position," he said.
Rob has brought Vilmos Zsigmond on board as his Director of Photography. Vilmos was DOP on such films as 'Deer Hunter' and 'Close Encounters'.
"I went to the US in 1983 to study under Vilmos," said Rob. "Now I've got him on board as DOP for 'Nicaea' which is great," he said.
Nicaea is one of a number of religious and Christian films currently in pre-production or production. "We start shooting in Rome in September but they're about to start filming 'Christ the Lord; Out of Egypt', a film based on the book of the same name by Anne Rice," said Rob.
The producers of Nicaea see a lot of parallels between what happened in 305 – 325 AD and today. "They wanted to produce a film that wasn't about 'blow them up, shoot them up and crash them up', but rather had a positive message that despite the problems we're facing today, we can pull ourselves out of them," Rob said.
"I think the fact that people want films to make them think (as well as be entertaining) is shown by the success of Les Miserables," Rob said. "It's a great film and deserves the Academy Award nominations it's received," he said.
This is the first time since the 'Discovering' series in 1985 that Rob has been back to make a film in Rome. "I've been looking at the various locations for Nicaea and as we walked through the Roman Forum and past the Arch of Constantine, I could remember where we filmed Gordon Moyes for Discovering Paul," Rob said. "It brought back great memories."
Nicaea is planned for a mid-2014 release.
A full on-line interview with Rob about his career and 'Nicaea' can be seen at: martinjohnsoncommunications.com.au/nicaea