Recently I have been watching some of the films I have
spoken about so far, looking more closely at the cinematography. The film I
have enjoyed the most is ‘Raging Bull’ which prompted me to look more closely at
Scorsese collaborations with Michael Chapman for ‘Taxi Driver’, Michael
Baullhaus for ‘Goodfellas’ and Robert Richardson for ‘Casino’. What already
stands out to me is how Scorsese's style is so distinct he can convey it
perfectly with numerous cinematographers.
Dolly-Zoom
An in-camera effect Scorsese uses is the dolly-zoom, which gives
the impression that the background is somehow changing in size. Scorsese uses
this in more than one of his films; most notably with Martin Chapman in ‘Raging
Bull’ during Jake and Robinson’s brutal final fight.
Here you can see that Robinson appears to stay the same size
whilst the background moves further away. This would have been achieved by
moving the camera away from Robinson whilst simultaneously zooming in on the
subject. The result gives a disorientated feel which puts the audience into the
headspace of the severely beaten LaMotta.
Additionally if you were to move the camera closer whilst
zooming, the subject would stay the same whilst the background would become more
dominant. Scorsese and Baullhaus used this method in ‘Goodfellas’ when Jimmy and
Henry are sat at the diner to help heighten the level of paranoia Henry is
going through.
Though this can be seen as a gimmick, I'll be using this technique in the same way Scorsese does, subtle.
One Shot
Scorsese is notorious for constantly moving the camera
around on tracks, gips, crane’s, steadicam’s etc, for several minutes before
cutting. The most famous of these is ‘Goodfellas’ however my personal favourite
was done before this film by Chapman in ‘Raging Bull’ when LaMotta walks from
his changing room to the ring.
The operator of this camera was steadicam inventor Garrett
Brown and what I particular love about this is the shot goes from close ups to
wide shots, in front of Jake to behind Jake and then finally craning over the
entire scene. Just on paper this sounds like a very challenging shot however
the payoff is amazing as the atmosphere is all captured on film. Though
difficult I aim to recreate a similar long shot.
Pull Focus
Pulling focus is one of my favourite camera techniques, as
it highlights the importance of what is being shown on screen. Similar to the a 'steadicam one shot' the more subtle
it is done the better, in my opinion. A great example is in ‘Casino’ when Nikki
brings in his crew.
No doubt a 1st assistant camera man would have
acted as a focus puller to achieve this shot. It is possible for a Canon 550d to
pull focus from one depth to another though I suspect to get the same shot
Richardson achieved here I will have to buy an extension. Definitely worth it though.
Bokeh
As many will know bokeh refers to the lighting in an image
which is out of focus. Ideally with the right aperture settings the light will appear blurred, creating a depth of field. Scorsese has been doing
this since the 70’s as illustrated at the beginning of ‘Taxi Driver’, again
with cinematographer Chapman.
The footage has been slow downed making the lights appear
even more blurred. He also uses bokeh in ‘Casino’ during its famous opening
sequence where different images are faded on top of each other.
What I especially like about the bokeh in these two films is that the
lights are moving which makes it more visually interesting. This is something I
will attempt to replicate in my assignment.
Conclusion
All of these examples are just some of the techniques I enjoy from Scorsese. My style will therefore be similar to Scorsese's.
