Wall*E

[Jason Reimer]

Thanks guys, that was classy. :D

[Tom Lowe]

Karl, Thanks.

 

Nate, I'm glad you enjoyed it. It was the silent film aspect of the picture that I loved most about Wall-E. Well that and Wall-E himself. He's got to be one of the most likable movie characters ever.

[Hal Smith]

Throughout I kept telling myself "This looks like anamorphic or cinemascope." Then, as the credits rolled, I turned around and looked up at the projector.... and right into a clear 2:1 cinemascope lens with the logo still across the bottom. I stood for a full two minutes processing that, then turned my wife around and showed her. I got the usual "smile and nod" from her as I usually get when I talk camera.............

 

Some may not classify the DoP on a CGI movie as a cinematographer, but I would never dare to after seeing this. Weither you see through an eyepiece, ground glass, parralex, monitor, or a computer pre-render, the same eye and skill is required. To deny the talent, the eye, is to deny our own skill. What matter is it if we visualize onto a piece of cellulose, a CCD/CMOS, or into a computers memory bank, what matters truely is, what does the audience see?

 

And here, in Wall-E, they see the beauty and art, and the touching story of a rolling trash compactor.

 

The sure giveaway on scope projection is the reel changeover symbols. They're circular on the print itself so if they look elliptical on the screen they've been stretched horizontally by a scope lens.

 

Has anyone else noticed how the entire "silent" portion looks like it was heavily flashed? Another sure sign of a Cinematographer hanging around somewhere - teaching the CGI troops about "looks".