First Thoughts

28^th September:

First Thoughts

Having just read the assignment I’m pretty excited to start work as cinematography is something I’ve always been interested in yet have limited knowledge on.  To begin with I’ll post my first blog, which I’ll regularly update with further developments to my Cinematography module.

For now I’ll post particular scenes from movies that I think encompass the entire atmosphere and meaning of the film in one shot thanks to the efforts of the cinematographer. 

EDIT: The first few blogs were written on the dates I've specified on Microsoft Word, I'd never used a blog before and have been looking for one since the course started.

Owen Roizman’s

The recipient of the 1997’s lifetime achievement award from the American Society of Cinematographers, Roizman is a 4 time Oscar nominee that includes the “The French Connection”.

The reason I researched Roizman is quite simply because of his superb work on “The Exorcist” (1973).  What’s interesting to note is how ‘The French Connection’ is an action thriller whereas ‘The Exorcist’ is a horror, illustrating his diversity of style.

Across is an iconic scene many will know for its extensive use of lighting to create a daunting atmosphere.

What I especially like about this is how Roizman managed to adapt from the novel’s words a visual interpretation which reflects the terrifying feeling a reader must have whilst reading that scene. 

To make Merrin silhouetted, Chapman clearly used a number of techniques. The main source light from the window is shining directly at the front of Merrin, with no light being used for his back. His costume is that of a black hate, jacket, trousers and briefcase. None of this is reflective and only adds to creating his figure. 

Though the damp street reflects part of the light, Merrin is positioned away from it so as not to not reveal any distinguishable features. The gate's shadows would have also helped prevent any reflection coming from the street. 

The lighting was so powerful that it actually convinced the producer to be the selling point of the movie, using it as the main poster.

Not sure about the purple though….

Michael Chapman

One of my all time favourite films by one of my all time favourite director’s is Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull. The opening shot of the film has no dialogue, no cuts yet all the information needed for the film is shown through just the visuals.

With this assignment I naturally looked the cinematographer up to see it was Michael Chapman who also collaborated with Scorsese on ‘Taxi Driver’, another great film.

What stands out to me in Raging Bull’s opening is everything. The camera is positioned behind the ropes in such a way that it becomes the frame for the shot, all the action takes place inside the ring. The wide lens allows us to see all of Jake’s movements without having to cut whilst also showing how big the ring and how isolated Jake is. His costume is a leopard-skin robe. There are flashes of lights from camera’s. The rings rope is oversized All of this gives the impression that Jake is a caged animal trapped inside the ring. Simply put, all the films themes are presented here through the cinematography.

The red font would have been created in post production and is perfectly framed to the viewer's eye level whilst not detracting from De Niro's performance. This colour of red is the only colour used in the film, something which is undoubtedly associated with violence, a common occurrence in the film. Similar to 'The Exorcist', this piece of cinematography was powerful enough to be used for marketing purposes.

 Larry Smith

An extremely underrated masterpiece is “Eyes Wide Shut” which Larry Smith provided the cinematography for. Unlike Michael Chapman and Owen Roizman there is no particular scene which sticks out to me simply because many of the scenes are set similarly.

Here the bathroom background is set to blue most probably using a blue filter on a light. An interesting observation is there are different shades of blue. The shower curtain is the lightest part, which is likely a result of the thin reflective material. The left side is much darker and would therefore imply that the source light is angled on the right side.  The fact that Kidman has no blue light on her makes it evident that the light shining in the opposite direction.

Later in the same room, a very light shade of blue is cast on Tom Cruise as oppose to a darker shade used on Nicole Kidman. The bright background light would have helped softened the blue light  for this effect. 

The black and white costume worn not only makes the light stand out but also his figure.

Both shots cleverly use lenses that obscure where the source light would be coming from so that the audience never questions why there is such a colour.