Pavlos Sifakis

I disagree. I saw the movie again on DVD and I'm totally convinced this a first rate direction. The close-ups are not the problem. They're the big advantage. Having seen LOTR and Golden Compas' great self-admiring wide masters that just show us the hard work of production designers, the Order of the Phoenix stays close to the characters, while keeping the composition always interesting. I've also seen Sex Traffic and although it's a TV miniseries the directional style is perfectly cinematical. Suddenly handheld camera and Steadycam moves are Tv'stylish? Why? And the framing is claustrophobic, but that's part of the feeling of the film. It's how the main character is feeling. Try look again some of the scenes: 1) Harry yelling LOOK AT ME! at Dumbledore. Excellent movement. Nice close ups. 2) Harry alone in Hogwarts bedroom. The camera Dollies back, revealling HArry and his reflection in the mirror. 3) Harry trying to reach Dumbledore after Trelawny's sucking. He's left alone in an empty space in the center of the frame and we dolly close to him from a high angle. 4) And the scene after the 3rd! I could go on for hours, but my point is Yates did a very good job, away from Cuaron's melacholic lyrisism but close to Newell's intensive and wild style. Close to the characters but also good at the action scenes (mostly handhelded) he kept my attention to the screen all the time. And a final notion. I am usually not a big fan of handheld camera (it's a bit cliche nowadays) but i here it worked preety well. When you use wild movement in a perfectly lit-blockbuster-beautifull world, it makes quite a contradiction. It creates a sense that something is wrong. And I think that was Yate's goal. I found the lighting very good with intense colors, a great use of green and a very atmospheric and dark(yet preety colorful) look. Seresin did a better job, but this one is nice as well. P.S.And just to avoid misunderstadings talking about self-admiring wide shots (did you ever count how many of them were when we first saw that Mina Tirith city at LOTR) I don't include the excellent job by Alfonso Cuaron in Azkaban. His wide slowly-moving long shots flow with the action, (they are not just a waste of time that interfers in the action) and they create great atmosphere keeping again the characters in focus and not the settings or th CGs. Sorry for the spelling mistekes!

Well, I live in Greece and clouds is a luxury I don't really have. Of course I intend shooting on cloudy-moody-wintery days (if that's what you mean), but most of the times even when it's really cold it's still sunny. Propably Novedmber is the best month for the job, but I cannot really rely on the weather, it might be a long waiting!

Hi there. I'm going to shot a movie with HDV or miniDV and I want a realistic approach with cold wintery atmosphere and cool desaturated colors (green-gray-blue) which will make contrast with vibrant reds (clothing) I am just a student and I have always trouble controlling the color while shooting and not in the post. If you have any suggestions on how to achieve this look on a digital camera and not on a PC please help...