Inspirational Cinematographers.

[David Sweetman]

I've just seen "In Cold Blood" (Conrad Hall) and it's an amazing film all-around. Check out the dvd "Visions of Light," Hall explains a little about the film in that doc. After watching "Visions of Light," by online rental queue literally doubled because of all the films referenced in it.

[chuck colburn]

Hmm...he's quite good, I heard he's a bit ratty, though.

 

Happy frigging new year! Whoppe! Commeeer Baby! Oh wait it's ony 9:00 o'c;olock.

 

Matthew,

 

What means this "ratty" ?

 

Chuck

 

p.s.

David,

 

Thanks for the heads up on the B&W ASA. I must have been thinking still camera, Panatomic X and such.

 

Happy New Year to all.

 

Chuck

[Patrick Cooper]

I was born in the early 1970s and one thing my family and I did a lot of in the late 70s and early 80s was go to the cinema. Among the movies I saw on the big screen as a child was 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind', 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', 'The Black Stallion', 'Flash Gordon', 'The Black Hole', 'The Deep' and the original Star Wars movies. All of those movies had beautiful imagery in them. With 'The Black Stallion', I remember the close up of the child's hand holding the carved statuette of the horse with the real horse galloping along in the distant background.

 

It's hard to describe but those movies have some kind of magic about them that I don't see in modern movies. I am not saying that modern movies are no good but they are just not the same as the films that I saw at the cinema as a kid. Though I would say that the whole movie going experience back then was a little more special due to the short films they used to play before the main feature - something that is rarely done nowadays.

 

I'll never forget what happened when we went to see the original 'Alien' movie at the drive-in. Just before the beginning of the film, there was an announcement that there was a problem with the projector and there would be a long delay before the film would start. There some boos from the audience in their cars and a few drink cans were thrown in protest. In the meantime they would show another film (perhaps they were using a different projector for this particular film.) The film they screened was about cowboys and cattle but I fell asleep during this movie. I remained asleep when 'Alien' started and slept through the whole film. I remember awakening just as I arrived in the driveway of our home. I was really shocked and asked my parents why on earth didn?t they try and wake me. They said they tried but I was fast asleep. I was a quite angry over the next few days over missing that film. Of course I later saw the film many times on video and television (what an effective combination of science fiction and suspense) but it would have been great to see it on the big screen.

[David Mullen ASC]

Dark movies like "Alien" never looked very good at a drive-in due to the dim projection. I saw Clint Eastwood's "Firefox" at a drive-in and I swear the whole movie was shot in silhouette it was so dim...

 

I think the movies we see as a teenager are seminal to how we develop as a filmmaker; it seems to be the time when we are most receptive to the magic they weave. As a teenager, I saw "Star Wars", "Close Encounters", "Superman", Alien", "Empire Strikes Back", etc. well over twenty times in the theater in the original year of release. I must have been going back twice a week or something. I can't imagine being able to do that anymore for any film -- it would start to be torture, even for a fun movie.

 

But as a result of seeing movies like that so many times, they are burned into my memory. Even now, when I hear the truck chase music from "Raiders of the Lost Ark", I not only remember every camera angle and edit in that sequence, I can tell where the music was re-edited for the movie compared to the original recording.

 

The fact that almost everyone cherishes the movies they saw as a teenager or early in college, no matter what age that person is, means that it's the age that matters more than the particular movies. For a person several years older than myself, it was probably seeing "How the West Was Won" in Cinerama or "2001" in its original 70mm release. For a person just a few years younger than me, it was probably some 80's movie.

 

I don't think we ever get back that feeling of joy watching a movie, so the modern movies start to seem less enthralling and we start complaining and waxing nostalgiac. It's been years since I've seen a movie in a theater that I felt compelled to see more than twice at the most in its initial run (of course, now we have the DVD to look forward to -- in the 1970's, you figured you'd never get to see the movie again until it was on network TV.)

[Kevin Masuda]

I grew up in the eighties and nineties but the movies that most influenced me were Star Wars, Raiders, and the Sergio Leone westerns. I also grew up on a lot of Asian cinema: Zatoichi, Kurosawa, Bruce Lee, occasional Shaw Bros flick. It was mostly due to the fact that my dad watched most of this so I'd watch it too. I don't know didn't watch too many films that were made in my time because all we watched in our household were classic films.

 

 

Kev

[Patrick Cooper]

You are so right, David. I think as a teenager, or as a child in my case, we gaze at the world, and movies, with wide eyed wonder. We are so easily influenced at that young age. Likewise, it's a similar case with certain low budget films and some TV shows that seemed great as a kid but when viewed 10 or 15 years later, seem quite corny and embarrassing to watch and certainly nothing like my memory of them. Of course the quality movies and TV shows stand the test of time.

 

Actually, I would say that 'Empire of the Sun' (which I saw at the cinema in the late 1980s) had a similar impact on me to those other great films I saw years earlier. That movie was certainly a visual feast - there were so many striking images within it.

 

"As a teenager, I saw "Star Wars", "Close Encounters", "Superman", Alien", "Empire Strikes Back", etc."

 

Good choices! That reminds me...'Superman' was another film I saw at the drive-in - I think we won a competition to see that. And we also watched 'Conan the Barbarian' at the drive-in too...that was certainly a dark film.

 

You saw those films at least twenty times? My gosh! I recall that I went to see ?The Empire Strikes Back? and ?Flash Gordon? twice. Most of the others I saw one time each.

 

Now I'm trying to remember two other films I saw on the big screen as a child but I only have vague memories. I think they both featured a sasquatch or yeti or similar sort of beast.

[John Holland]

My parents took me to see "How the West was One " in 3 strip Cinerama ,i must have been about 12, it was pretty impressive i must say , however i do remember the movie being spoilt by the very bad back projection in the rapids scenes ,i could tell at that age . A few years later went to the opening night of "2001"again shown in Cinerama, that was amazing , didnt understand it , but what visuals , watched it about 3 more times in Cinerama , then , shown flat screen Super Panavision 70 , and then 35mm scope. John Holland , London.

[Nadav Hekselman]

This is a realy intersting thread and brings up many memories...

 

Well im not that old , but i remember when i was realy young, like six or seven years old, i saw ET and it moved me so much i decided i want to be a director like spielberg.. i felt i was moved not only by the amazing story but also, or maybe mostly, by the cinematic moments and story telling techinques that cinema offers, which spielberg used so well. i was realy blown away and knew that i can do the same.. like i understand it deep inside...

 

since than i was practicing home-videos as a kid and took some film courses in highschool ,dreaming about becoming a director. my high school film teacher realy influenced me and taught me alot, i remmeber the first day i understood what film light was, when i showed him some material i shot and he said: " i realy like this light here falling on the actor", pointing at the kick-light. it then struck me.... oh my god... there is a totaly amazing dimension in all this which i was totaly unaware off and its beautiful.

 

it was only when i started film-school university that i was drawn to cinematography. i guess because i had more exprience with film-technique, many students wanted me to help them shoot their movies, and that how it started... and as i was shooting more and more it was as if my mind is chaning and growing and becoming aware of new and exciting things about the world... esspicaly in terms of light and colour.

 

i guess all of you guys here are preaty farmiliar with this change, i was amazed by it.. i fell inlove with the light and with cinema all over again. and since than i am a DP. but its a bumpy road for me because i always feel drawn to directing and it affects my approach as a cinematographer for better and worse..

 

*sorry about my english, its not my native language*

[Jim Feldspar]

*sorry about my english, its not my native language*

Where are you? Your English is better than a lot of the tortured writing on here.

 

I love the 1983 movie "Local Hero" shot by Chris Menges, seemingly with available light

at magic times. Beautiful! Real and romantic, believeable and magical simultaneously.

 

I've just seen "In Cold Blood" (Conrad Hall) and it's an amazing film all-around. Check out the dvd "Visions of Light," Hall explains a little about the film in that doc. After watching "Visions of Light," by online rental queue literally doubled because of all the films referenced in it.

David, does Mr. Hall say anything about the glinting eyelight in the otherwise dark face

of the hangman? Amazing.

 

Yes, Seamus Mc Garvey BSC is great, I loved the was Sahara was shot. I also particuarly admire the cinematographers who work on animations such as Wallace & Gromit, it must be hard lighting such a small set, a couple of Brickfilms I've watched have had some pretty impressive cinematography.

 

"Sahara" is great although I enjoyed it so much I didn't even notice the cinematography when

I saw it. Have to go back and check it out.

 

 

It's got to be Conrad L. Hall for me. Call my choice mainstream if you like but I don't care.

 

Through his cinematography he tells the story, creates beautiful shots, and manages to keep it looking realistic.

I've only seen one of Gregg Tolands films (Citizen Kane) but that guy was way ahead of his time.

And David Mullen's work on Northfork looked very interesting also. And he's always willing to lend a hand around here.

 

"Citizen Kane" absolutely! Gregg Toland was great and also helps us Mini-DV people

justify the validity of great depth of field to directors who want "that shallow DOF film

look" (I've also heard it called a "deep focus" film. Is great "depth of focus? more accurate?)

 

I've seen only one David Mullen, ASC, shot movie so far ("Akeelah and the Bee") and it's

great. Looking forward to seeing more but he's definitely on the list.

 

 

Dante Spinotti, i found out not a long ago that he comes from an italian village very close to the one i come from...and Seamus McGarvey, one of the nicest, humblest and kindest persons i have ever met.

Oh and how can i not mention David, who i consider somehow my "cinematography teacher" on the internet. i have learned more from him on this site than from my film course

 

How'd you end up in Scotland? Do you know what has become of Bill Forsyth? He wrote and

directed some good and one or two great (or at least greatly enjoyable) films but seems to

have disappeared.

[Ignacio Aguilar]

In my case, my biggest and early influence was Stanley Kubrick. I first saw "The Shining" on TV a Friday night my parents were not home, and as the movie went more and more scary I remember how my eyes couldn't look anywhere but at the TV screen. I got nightmares from the film for a while, but then I started to watch the film over and over again. And I realized how different was this film's visual style from every other movie from the 50's, 60's 70's and early 80's, with its cold light coming through the windows, the practicals and the use of the Steadicam. By the time I was 14 I had seen every Kubrick film, and the candlelit interiors from "Barry Lyndon" blew my interest on cinematography. For me, it was a real pleasure to be able to watch another Kubrick ("EWS") at the time of its original release. It was grainy as hell, but most of it was lit by practicals and looked amazing.

 

Kubrick and his cinematographers developed my taste for a natural & realistic look in movies, so it's not surprising that I fell in love with cinematographers like David Watkin, the early Owen Roizman or Gordon Willis while I was still learning the basics of cinematography (when I first saw "Klute" I noticed where the look of "Se7en" came from!). And then I embraced the style of the people who followed those guys (Peter Hyams, Ridley and Tony Scott, the early Storaro) as an stylization of their approach.

 

Now I admire lots of cinematographers from very different times, styles and countries (Gregg Toland, Freddie Young, Asakazu Nakai, Kazuo Migayawa, Geoffrey Unsworth, Tonino Delli Colli, Stanley Cortez, Richard Kline, Bruce Surtees, Robert Richardson, Emmanuel Lubezki... the list could be endless), but everytime I take a picture or light a set I go back to my roots, because it's what still feels right for me.

[Phil Savoie]

Conrad Hall, Michael Chapman, Vilmos Zsigmond, John Toll, Storaro, and The Prince of Darkness; Gordon Willis

[Matthew Buick]

What means this "ratty" ?

 

Irritable, easily annoyed, aggressive.

 

 

I think the movies we see as a teenager are seminal to how we develop as a filmmaker; it seems to be the time when we are most receptive to the magic they weave. As a teenager, I saw "Star Wars", "Close Encounters", "Superman", Alien", "Empire Strikes Back", etc. well over twenty times in the theater in the original year of release. I must have been going back twice a week or something. I can't imagine being able to do that anymore for any film -- it would start to be torture, even for a fun movie.

 

Yeah, I know what you mean, I feel I am being influenced by the work of John Alcott and Bill Butler ASC, and I do watch the same movie an awful lot, The Shining and Grease are top of my list.

[Leo Anthony Vale]

Back in 1965 as now, the two Kodak b&w neg stocks that were available were Plus-X (64/80) and Double-X (200/250), so it was probably one of those two, but who knows how Gilbert rated and processed either, since there was more flexibility to rate a b&w stock as you wanted to and adjust the gamma through processing. Hopefully someone else knows the particulars, but considering the deeper f-stops that Polanski favored, Gilbert must have done something to help him achieve that, whether push Plus-X or use Double-X.

 

Of course, a few people back then were also using Ilford, Agfa, etc. b&w neg stock.

 

Kodak had four B/W stocks then. In addition to the ones you mentioned:

 

1964

 

EASTMAN XT-Pan Negative film, 5220 Daylight, EI 25. Tungsten, EI 20. Ultra sharp and fine grain. For background projection. Replaced Background X film, 5230. Discontinued 1970.

EASTMAN 4-X Negative Pan film, 7/5224 Daylight, EI 500. Tungsten, EI 400. High speed camera negative film. Discontinued 1990 (G).

 

Ilford is British. Their high speed stocks were well regarded. FP3 was 125/100, Mark V about the same as DXN, and HP4 around 500/400.

I once worked on the original neg of a British trucker movie 'Hell Drivers' on which the interiors and day exteriors were Kodak, while the night exteriors were Ilford. DP? Geoffrey Unsworth.

 

& the Outer Limits was on DuPont.

 

As to the topic Otto Heller's work on 'The Ipcress File' and 'The Naked Runner' were inspirational.

Earlier Ossie Morris on 'Moby Dick'

 

Also earlier I was very impressed by 'Helen of Troy', interiors and night exteriors. The big horse and cast of thousands helped.

Oddly enough, particular shots that stuck with me for ages were usually CinemaScope.

[not valid]

I really enjoy some of Darius Khondji's work mainly the beach, Delicatessen and Se7en.

Janusz Kaminski's Saving private Ryan and Shindler's list. Christopher Doyle did a great job with Hero I also really like Deon Beebe and of course i can't exclude Conrad Hall i really started to appreciate his work after seing American Beauty. American beauty was a very powerful film for me i think that is what really got me interested in cinema in the first place.

 

and while im at it some of those guys that work with David Attenbrough do amazing work also, i was blown away when i was watching a segment on ants on one of his doco's.

[Patrick Cooper]

Agreed. There is some stunning cinematography in wildlife documentaries. 'Dragons of the Galapogos' and National Geographic's 'The Skeleton Coast' by Jen and Des Bartlett are two fine examples.

[Nicholas Jenkins]

Too many to name, but here are the ones that I really dig.

 

Jack Green: Serenity, Unforgiven, Bird.

A dude who's not afraid of negative space and REALLY knows where to put the camera. Check out the scene between Mal and Shephard Book where the practical is just a fire. REALLY well lit and shot.

Darius Khondji: Se7en

I think the thing I like most about Darius' work is how much it all reminds me of still photography (which is where my roots are).

 

Russell Bacon & Craig Barden: Farscape

Flat out one of the best gosh darn looking shows ever put to film (in my opinion anyway). The work they did is fairy formal, but it's stunning in its beauty and craftsmanship. WOW!

 

César Charlone: City of God, The Constant Gardener

Who says realism can't be pretty. Damn!

[Matthew Buick]

What I've seen of Stuart Brereton's work is pretty inspirational.

[David Leugers]

Way too many great cinematographers to pick out, but I would go see a film

just because photography was by Conrad Hall. I'd like to mention Joseph

August who seldom gets mentioned these days. His masterful B+W photography

was legendary in his day starting in the silent era and all through Columbia's golden

era. He invented the zoom lens and other techinical improvements. His strong

and beautiful images never got in the way of the story telling. A good example for

any cinematographer to follow.

[Nicholas Jenkins]

Like directors, Cinematographers are hard to nail down. I like pieces by allot of cinematographers. Sometimes I really enjoy the feel or look of a film, but don't like the film. Of course sometimes I like the look of a piece and everyone thinks I'm crazy (for some reason the work Ernest Vincze and Rory Taylor do on Doctor Who incite this type of response... I love it though). Then there are many films that I love, that I don't particularly care for the look (Andrew Lesnie fits into this with LOTR. I love these movies but didn't care for the way they were overlit at times).

 

I think overall I tend to like very formal cinematographers, though César Charlone is awesome. Bill Pope is allot of fun (Dark City is one of my favorite films). Jack Green (as stated above) always creates interesting frames as well as interesting low light solutions.

[janusz sikora]

So many incredible artists, but if I were to name the few that influance me...

 

Sven Nykvist - for his Soft Light Treatment

Storaro - for his symbolic use of Color

Gianni di Venanzo - for his "stream of conciousness" style

Craig Tolland - for his gambling with Light

Nestor almendros - for his Natural Light treatment :o

 

Its about Light

[Matthew Buick]

I really loved the cinematography on Chronicles Of Narnia, apart from the fact that the colours were a little dull. What stock was this, I want to avoid it at all costs. Anyways...I forget the name of the cinematographer...what a well deserved tribute to the best cinematography of 2005. :(

[Kevin Masuda]

Donald McAlpine ASC, ACS

 

 

Kev

[Matthew Buick]

Ahh...now I remember...thanks, Kev.

 

Would it be possible to contact him?

[Niklas Kanervo]

Janusz Kaminski ASC,

His style is just beatiful....

[Matthew Buick]

I'll have to take a look at his stuff.

 

What are his best films?