What is a film at 24 frames per second worth if a picture is worth a thousand words? Let’s skip the maths, but given that each minute of film is made up of hundreds of flashing photographs, it’s worth a lot, to put it mildly; perhaps this explains why so many excellent books about cinematography and the visual arts have been written. Any given film’s cinematography has a profound effect on the audience, and for good reason.
Movies differ from other artistic disciplines like music and literature in that they have a strong visual element (and the capacity to frame, light, and colour it in certain ways). Cinematography may accomplish a variety of goals, such as revealing a character’s depth, creating visually appealing locations, and creating suspense. A production with a little budget might nonetheless benefit from great cinematography. It is clear that the director of photography has a difficult task ahead of him.
It was quite challenging to select just a few cinematographers for this list because there have been so many brilliant individuals in the field. There are several diverse film genres and eras where cinematographers flourish, from blockbusters like La La Land and Star Wars to obscure movies like Bound for Glory. Some people devote their entire life to learning from the best talents in their field. This post is more of an introduction primer than a definitive analysis, so to get you started, here are some of our favourite cinematographers.
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Christopher Doyle
Because of his tight relationships with international directors like Wong Kar-Wai and Hong Kong filmmakers like Christopher Doyle, a lot of his films have not achieved the same blockbuster success as many other cinematographers on this list. Hero and In the Mood for Love are two of his best works, but all of them exhibit a mastery of form and colour and some of the most breathtakingly beautiful compositions ever captured on film.
You have nothing else to fall back on but the physicality of the space in which you work or the way in which light falls into a space, Doyle said while he was explaining the making of In the Mood For Love. Which, as opposed to being imposed on what you think, is a response to what actually is. Doyle takes the surroundings as-is to produce dramatic frames and vibrant hues.
Conrad L. Hall
Conrad L. Hall was a person of eminent talent, and ironically, the only “L” he ever used in a distinguished career as a film director was the one in his name. Hall’s name frequently tends to be forgotten when talking about the most talented and prominent cinematographers, which may be due to recency bias or simply being overlooked. For films like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cool Hand Luke, American Beauty, and Road to Perdition, he was the guy in charge of the photography; three of the four aforementioned films brought him an Academy Award for Best Photography.
Hall was arguably the best at capturing a scene at its most aesthetically striking and pronounced; the penultimate scene in the movie Road to Perdition, for example, has been hailed as the aesthesis of modern cinema with its central framing, immersive shadows, and dramatic shots that make use of stunning natural lighting. Hall simultaneously made classic cinema look modern with exuberant colour palettes and avant-garde lighting techniques and modern cinema look visually classic.
Emmanuel Lubezki
The Tree of Life and The Revenant, for which he received Academy Award nominations for The Revenant, Gravity, and Birdman, are Emmanuel Lubezki’s best-known works. The revered director mixed his long tracking shots in that last movie to give the impression of a fluid single take.
Lubezki uses camera movement to achieve the required mood in a photo as he catches both grand natural views and intimate nuances in human expression. He pioneered the use of technology in movies like Gravity, and his use of racking shots, pans, and hand-held cameras are good examples of how to capture motion in the right way.
Gordon Willis
Without Gordon Willis, this wouldn’t be a comprehensive or conclusive list. A person who practised their craft in an unusual way by working with the US Air Force’s Photographic and Charting Service during the Korean War. But if capturing conflict in its purest form was where he showed his skill with a camera, Willis’ real breakthrough came while working with directors like Woody Allen and Francis Ford Coppola.
Willis dominated American cinematography in the 1970s with films including Annie Hall, Manhattan, All The President’s Men, The Godfather trilogy, and Alan J. Pakula’s Klute. Willis had a distinctive style, completely unlike any other, and although he never earned the proper credit from the Academy for his efforts, he was unquestionably a photographic artist. He was known for employing a 40mm lens, poor lighting, and underexposed film.
Greig Fraser
Some of Greig Fraser’s most recent work may be familiar to you; he provided the cinematography for a number of box office successes, including Dune and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Several viewers of Dune who saw movie in cinemas remarked on its enormous scope and the size of the intricate world-building; this sense of wonder is directly attributable to Fraser’s sense of scale and use of wide views.
Fraser uses scale in several more places besides Dune. He created innovative new images for Rogue One that reintroduced the Death Star and Imperial Walkers’ enormous size in a way that had not previously been recognised. The cinematographer’s work has given suspenseful movies like Zero Dark Thirty and Let Me In a sense of grandeur, which is perhaps why Fraser was chosen to star in The Batman and gained widespread acclaim for his performance.
Jack Cardiff
One of the first people to work with and master Technicolor is Jack Cardiff. He actually began his career as a young actor in silent movies before becoming a director. Cardiff knew more about the movie industry by the time he switched to cinematography than virtually any other director of photography. The African Queen, The Diary of Anne Frank, and the breathtakingly beautiful, graphically ground-breaking movie The Red Shoes are some of his best-known works. He received an honorary Oscar in 2001 for being a master of light and colour.
Mandy Walker
Disney’s Mulan was a movie that some people loved and some hated, but everyone agreed that the cinematography was stunning. Mandy Walker is responsible for the breathtaking scenery and up-close action pictures.
Australia, Jane Got a Gun, and Hidden Figures are a few of Walker’s other well-known works. In each of her movies, she strikes a balance between close-up shots and broad establishing shots. Walker’s art frequently emphasises the breathtaking beauty of vast landscapes, yet her straightforward framing allows any era and location to stand out.
Rachel Morrison
For many years, men predominated the cinema industry in major part, but women are now slowly but surely entering all aspects of the industry. Rachel Morrison, who is most known for her work on Fruitvale Station, Black Panther, and Mudbound, was the first woman to ever be nominated for an Oscar Award for Best Cinematography. Morrison is an expert at bringing “emotional closeness” to massive worldwide venues, according to her website.
Roger Deakins
It makes sense that we saved Sir Roger Deakins for last, given that he was nominated for 14 Oscars and won two of them. He received Academy Awards for Blade Runner 2049 and 1917 (another supposedly one-take movie), but his extensive history of stunning movies does not end there. He even provided consultation for certain animated movies like How to Train Your Dragon. His work on O Brother, Where art Thou changed the way we see technology and colour in movies in innovative (though frequently undetected) ways.
Deakins’ talent for framing individuals has led to some of the most well-known stills in movie history. He is undoubtedly the best cinematographer working today, and his superb use of silhouettes can be seen in films like The Japanese Jellyfish and The Man Who Wasn’t There.
Vittorio Storaro
Italians age with such grace and elegance, but is this due to the country’s liberal usage of olive oil or the sun’s vitamin D-rich Mediterranean rays? One such example is Vittorio Storaro, who exudes the air of a learned professor who understands the deep workings of the cosmos better than we do. He may not be familiar with star arrangements, but he is a professor of one subject that every cineaste will recognise: filmmaking.
The Roman Director of Photography is a master of photography who has contributed to films like The Last Emperor, The Conformist, Reds, Last Tango in Paris, and Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic Apocalypse Now by adding atmospheric haze and crimson mist. Storaro is a notable multi-Academy Award winner as well as a pioneer of film.
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