Visions of Light

This past weekend I watched the documentary Visions of Light about cinematography. To be honest it was a bit on the boring side compared to the kinds of movies I enjoy watching, but it was very informational to say the least. The majority of the movie consisted of different directors and cinematographers talking about their experiences making films as well as clips from different movies. The first part of the movie talked about cinematographers and their true role in movies. I did not know very much about what a cinematographer adds to a film and learned very much.

A cinematographer must first understand the plot of the movie and where the director is going before he starts filming. Once the film is understood, he must then find a way to create visual images to tell the story. A cinematographer does not mirror exactly what the director envisions when he creates the movie, but must come to the film with a different view and add energy to every scene. The goal of a good cinematographer is to portray the entire movie just through images, so if someone were to turn off the soundtrack, a viewer could still enjoy and understand the movie just based on what is shown. By creating a story through images, a cinematography must be daring to experiment with techniques to express a desired emotion or concept. They cannot be scared by trying something new, but see it as an opportunity to succeed. Many of the widely used techniques in movies today are based off of those created decades ago that have proven as successful. Cinematographers, like other professionals, learn from others and they often copy ideas to a certain extent. Several of the techniques used in movies were a mistake by one cinematographer and then turned out to create a positive effect on the film. The goal of a cinematographer is to incorporate new techniques and those used before to create a picture that viewers will remember not just for the plot, but for the emotion they felt when they physically saw the story come alive before them.

As a cinematographer, one must decipher what emotion the director is trying to create and use a variety of effects to help portray that emotion. Effects such as sharp contrast are used to create mood in the image and often times the most important aspect of a scene is the lights you don't turn on. A cinematographer's best friend is light. They have the ability to shift the focus of a scene or illustrate an important detail just by adjusting a few lights. Contrast was especially used in movies of the Film Noir era that were shot in shades of black and created mood in the film. A particular example is that of Marlon Brando's eyes, or the lack thereof, in The Godfather. The audience never really sees his eyes, but rather two shadowed holes and this decision by the cinematographer adds of mystery to his character. The last aspect of a film that is most important when regarding a cinematographer's role is the camera angle at which the scene is shot. Intimate shots when the camera is in a room with the actor creates a certain effect that a bird's eye view does not. The invention of helicopter and crane shots as well as panoramic shots added a whole new aspect to the film industry as the viewer could finally relate more to the scene in a movie.