Painting as a reference

Juan Esparza · February 13

Hi, Im working in the look for a shortfilm. The director told me that he wants to recreate the feeling of a specific painting. Besides the obvious things like the quality and direction of light, optics, contrast, colors, and elements of set design, I would like to know what other elements I should consider. Is there a way to reproduce the same colors and feeling of a painting in a cinematographic scene?

I understand that the approach to visual design in film varies between cinematographers, and there isn't a correct way to do it. However, I would like to know your perspective on the subject.

Thanks.

David Mullen ASC · February 14

Movies that recreate paintings have always interested me.

Besides the obvious things like the lighting, static framing, etc. I think it helps to somewhat "flatten" the image to create a 2D feeling, whether that means a surface texture like noise/grain or lifted & tinted blacks. Haze can help. Longer lenses for a flatter perspective.

David Mullen ASC · February 14

Juan Esparza · February 14

Thank you David, for the quick response. I hadn't consider using a longer lens to create a 2D feel for the image before. i

Based on the director's visual references, I noticed that the shadows are tinted in a reddish-warm tone, which also affects the mid-tones and the highlights to a lesser extent. How do you think this could be achieved in camera? I was thinking of using a black satin filter to lift the blacks and add some subtle warmth to the image (or another tinted diffusion filter). Additionally, I would like to use the Cooke Speed Panchros, to have an organic warm and softness to the image.

David Mullen ASC · February 14

Sure, that all sounds good. You can further lift and tint the blacks in post.

Nick Morr · March 14

@Juan Esparza I make my cinematography students do this as an exercise. All that was mentioned above I think is the best way to replicate the feeling of paintings. Focus on composition, perspective (where you're placing the camera in terms of height and angle as well as lens choice are huge), mise-en-scène, light quality/directionality, contrast, and color.

There are many examples of this being done in cinema and some mimic the source material better than others, the rest are far more interpretive but no less interesting. This slideshow doesn't make a lot of sense with out me lecturing along with the slides (my notes are not included), but if you scroll down to slide 18 you can see a bunch of side-by-sides I've compiled that compare paintings with their filmic analogues for inspiration:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1cFvjVR3EqRwRVFU-kygak4QlBc2vfxWPlW6rbXh7100/edit?usp=sharing

Personally, I really love Akira Kurosawa's copy of Van Gogh's "Wheatfields with Crows" in Dreams and the snap from Andrey Zvyaginstev's The Return (which is a fine film if you haven't seen it) after Andrea Mantegna's "Lamentation of Christ". Please post your recreations when you're finished!

Nick

Phil Rhodes · March 14

There's always the old faithful.

pearlearring2.jpg.99eb7da8916d29d318f3cf2306184817.jpg

James Drake · March 18

On 3/13/2023 at 10:58 PM, Nick Morr said:

This slideshow doesn't make a lot of sense with out me lecturing along with the slides (my notes are not included), but if you scroll down to slide 18 you can see a bunch of side-by-sides I've compiled that compare paintings with their filmic analogues for inspiration:

These were great! Thanks for sharing @Nick Morr

Made me think of this scene from Kendrick Lamar's video:

Nick Morr · March 18

@James Drake Good find! Which video is this? This is possibly the most mimicked tableau from art history by cinematographers. Storaro is apparently so obsessed with this composition that its frame dimensions influenced his 2:1 Univisium format.