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The Passion of the Christ


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Hi there.

 

Aside from the contents of this film, will anyone be seeing this film for it's cinematography artistry? I'm reletively new to the art of cinematography and the knowledge of the great cinematographers around, but being a movie lover, I enjoy cinematic marvels, great looking films. Being new though, i may not have a good eye for seeing good cinematic films :blink: ... yet.

 

From what I've seen, The Passion of the Christ looks quite nice. And doing a bit of research, found out Caleb Deschanel is the Cinematographer. As I read some info on books, i saw that he is in Film Lighting by Kris Malkiewicz. I also found out he's done films like Apocolypse Now, The Natural, and The Patriot. So I'm guessing this guy is up there no?

 

Well, i'm gonna go see it tomorrow, so I'll let you know how my newbie eyes saw it :)

 

George

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Caleb Deschanel is definitely one of the best DP's working today. "The Black Stallion" -- one of his first features -- is a must-see. "The Right Stuff" and "The Natural" as well.

 

He only shot some inserts for "Apocalypse Now" -- Vittorio Storaro shot the film and Stephen Burum shot the second unit.

 

From what I can tell from the trailer for "The Passion", it was shot in 35mm anamorphic. Probably went through a digital intermediate from the looks of some of the desaturated shots, although maybe only they went through a D.I.

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Did anyone notice scenes that looked soft? The opening scenes with the Pharisees (sp?) in the temple all looked slightly soft. Some of King Herod's shots looked to be as well. Also, in the courtyard when Jesus is standing with Pilot above the crowd, it seems to have been focused to the crowd (who aren't facing us) instead of Jesus/Pilot (who are facing us). It seemed like a strange choice.

I haven't heard anyone else mention this stuff, so I was wondering if it might have just been a problem with the projection? Is that possible?

 

-Steve

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I saw this on a huge screen in the directors hall at The Bridge. First thing I noticed was jagged edges on the titles so I knew it went through a D.I.

 

I liked the way they opened it, nice shots of the moonlit sky. Other than that it was hard to concentrate on the cinematography due to what was on screen. Well that and the wailing of a woman sitting down front.

 

So does anyone think it will be a contender for Oscar season 2004?

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So does anyone think it will be a contender for Oscar season 2004?

I doubt it, mainly because in the past the Academy has no balls.

 

Also I don?t think it was that good of a movie. It was definitely good, but not great (but since when does that make a movie less of an Oscar contender).

 

I think if anything will get a nomination, it will be the cinematography. Great work.

 

 

Kevin Zanit

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I have not seen The Passion of Christ. But from the the seconds i saw on TV. It scared the crap out of me. And from what little i saw, the cinematography seemed extraordinaire (this word is pronounce the same in french, cool heh)? Everything seemed reaaally emphasize. Extreme. Which is what this whole movie is about, i'm sure it will make me totally freak out...which is good. But i'm still not sure if i have the guts to it. I'm not religious, as a child i was. And that stuff his making my head dizzy.

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i personally don't think this movie has a chance in hell of getting nominated for an academy award. i could be wrong, we'll see. its a pretty political award, and mel gibson isn't exactly sending a message that the people who run hollywood are interesting in propogating.

jk :ph34r:

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i personally don't think this movie has a chance in hell of getting nominated for an academy award. i could be wrong, we'll see. its a pretty political award, and mel gibson isn't exactly sending a message that the people who run hollywood are interesting in propogating.

I disagree. I think it has a shot because it created such a stir and made so much money. The Academy might feel that they have a shot at redemption since "The Last Temptatiton of Christ" (onew of my favorites) never had a chance.

 

Who knows?

 

I personally LOVED the way Mel depicted Satan. Right out of "The Seventh Seal."

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"last temptation..." was pretty good, huh? i never saw it but always kind of wanted to, just never got around to it. loved the book. kazantzakis wrote so beautifully.

 

as for "the seventh seal", no work of art but definately one of those movies that i'll flip onto on a saturday afternoon and an hour later realize i just watched it for like the 12th time. kind of like "black hawk down" or, for my friend, "the perfect storm" (his dirty little secret).

 

jk

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as for "the seventh seal", no work of art but definately one of those movies that i'll flip onto on a saturday afternoon and an hour later realize i just watched it for like the 12th time. kind of like "black hawk down" or, for my friend, "the perfect storm" (his dirty little secret).

 

jk

You really wouldn't consider "The Seventh Seal" a work of art?

 

Are we talking about the Bergman film?

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That is flabbergasting to me.... not a work of art?

Being Swedish and keeping up with all the lingo quirks that don´t come through in the subtiteling; this is a masterpiece at its best.... :)

 

And worst of all!!! Mentioned by the side of true bullshit like black hawk down!!??

 

Sorry `bout language but that angers me a tad!!

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ha ha ha bill i just woke up and laughed my ass off when i read these posts. i dont even know if i can tell you what movie i thought we were talking about (it wasnt the seventh SEAL). im sorry... yesterday at 5am i was gaffing a big-budget stills shoot, at 10:30pm i was finishing color correcting a short film on a symphony workstation. guess my brain was a little frazzled. ;)

 

yeah the seventh seal is great, jeez i don't want yellow and blue spraypaint on my apartment door or anything! hmmm how can i distract the swedes...dansk javla!

 

jk :ph34r:

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ha ha ha bill i just woke up and laughed my ass off when i read these posts.

I'm not sure if you're refering to me or Bill D, either way, I suspected you were thinking of the other movie.

 

Whenever I mention "The Seventh Seal" people always think I'm talking about the Demi Moore film, then I have to explain that I'm actually talking about a black and white Swedish film from 1957. By then their eyes have glazed over.

 

Who can forget the image of the "Dance of Death" in silhoette on the mountain..."The srict lord Death bids them dance,"

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The new era of independent filmmaking?

 

Last year the low budget My Big Fat Greek Wedding had a box office return something like 1/4 of a billion in the US. Passion will probably go to around 400 million in the US alone. It's from some company that I don't even remember ever hearing their name. It cost 30 million to make and 15 millions in promotion. Isn't that success?

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"The Passion of the Christ" was released by Newmarket Films, which also distributed the Charlize Theron film "Monster." The company was started by the former head of IFC Films, which distributed "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and "Y tu Mama Tambien."

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That's unbelievable. The same guy breaks all indie records with MBFGW and this year does even better with Passion. And the studios spend $60 million on a flick, plus marketing costs, and have hard time making profit.

 

I think that we'll see more of this in the future. This is just a tip of the iceberg; something totally new. The studios are just too stale.

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Since half the studios (or more) own an indie distribution wing (Miramax, Paramount Classics, Sony Pictures Classics, etc.) I think the studios are letting the indies do the mid-level drama films that they used to make and concentrating on blockbusters instead. It's basically "hey, if you can find the money to make it and get some stars involved, we'll pay back your costs and release it for you" sort of attitude.

 

It's a somewhat dangerous game for the studios though in that with only big-budget blockbusters on the production plate, they stand to lose a lot of money when they flop. Basically, one hit is paying for a couple of big-budget flops.

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