Script

Cinematography is the art and craft of making motion pictures by capturing a

story visually. However cinematography is also known to be the art and the
science of recording light either electronically onto an image sensor or
chemically onto film. Cinematography is the creation of images that you see on
screen. It composes each shot, considering where everything in frame
demands attention. There are six factors that cinematography considers:
camera placement, camera movement, shot consumption, shot size, focus and
lighting. A cinematographer or director of photography is the crew chief that
presides over the camera and light crews on a film or video production.
Lighting is amazing factor in cinematography because without it there would
be no mood created and no visual appearance. Looking at the history of
lighting in Ancient Greece theatres were built in open area spaces and were
placed so the sun would come from behind the audience so that the
performance area would be filled with sunlight. A few thousand years later in
the 16th century Sebastian Serlio an Italian architect with a passion for theatre
design suggested using candles as a spruce of illumination. This method quickly
spread eventually evolving into chandeliers to light the stage. Almost two
hundred years later the greater illumination was achieved. After the creation
of the Morden oil lamp in the 1700s lighting technology began to develop at a
rapid pace, with the invention of Gas lamps forty years later. Shortly after
Thomas Edison and his team of researchers a created the invention of the
electric light bulb. This is where the beginning of the Morden stage lighting
began. Film makers relied heavily on day light rather than a posting the use of
artificial lighting, used in photography to enhance the aesthetic appearance of
a shot.
Director D.W Griffith born 1875 was the first to explore cameras and lighting to
help heighten the mood of a film. This can be seen in the film Enoch Ardan
releases in 1911, which introduced soft lighting on faces as a technique. This is
usually created by bouncing or diffusing the light source of a shot, ensuring
there is no harsh shadows on the person or the object being lit. Soft lighting
makes a shot more appealing to a viewer and tends to be used for happier and
upbeat scenes.
Film production lighting in the late 1800s was rather different in comparison to
the techniques being used in photography at this time.
One of the first significant pioneers in the medium is Thomas Edison. In the
1890s he invented the Kinetograph which is a camera based on photography.
This impacted cinema by inspiring French inventors Louis and August Lumiere
to develop a movie camera and projector. These developments allowed a
larger audience to view films. Also, George Eastman is a significant pioneer
because he created the first camera so without him Edison would not have
been able to invent the Kinetograph camera. The Kinetograph used celluloid
film which gave Edison the idea to build a small movie theatre which could
then capture the best sunlight when filming movies.
Green screens were in invented in 1940. A great example is Larry Butler who
first created and successfully utilised blue screen on the Oscar winning ‘The
thief of Baghdad’ for which he won a special effects award. They convinced the
travelling matte technique with a blue screen ideally for the brand-new
Technicolor films of that new era. Following on from that serves experiments
were undertaken using ultraviolet travelling matte. Blue screen had come a
long way in the forty’s and fifty’s and some of the greatest developments can
be seen around the turn of the 1960s.
Green screens are used a lot in now a day films which have developed largely
over time. The first creation was a Matte technique called multiple explorers.
Small sections of the film strip were not exposed to the lighting, this process
would involve painting a piece of glass over a lens. This small part of the strip
would be unexposed to the light hitting it and would be black throughout. This
glass is removed and replaced with a negative version
The next technique introduced was called the glass shot. This involved a piece
of painted glass which was placed between the subject and the camera. The
glass would normally be used to paint grand landscapes, extended the scale of
houses or add in complete vistas. However, this technique was very costly and
time consuming and would also require a lot of time to set up beforehand.
In the late 1990s the Titanic film won the best cinematography award at the
1998 Oscars as well as eleven other Oscar awards. The Titanic was a film that
captured a large variety audience even in countries where the sinking of the
unsinkable was never part of popular lore, but the movie became the story.
Without the high quality of the technology, they used the film would have
never of happened because it wouldn’t have been possible to do with a low
budget. The Titanic tells a story that is perceived to be true. It is a tragic love
story because the conclusion is known. The film demonstrates the intense
power of nature. As well as this the films ability to shape the world’s
imagination to the point that hundreds of millions of people will eventually
share this incredibly unique experience thanks to the art of movie making.
Cinematography has changed over time from Edison’s Kinetograph to modern
day equipment. These developments have changed the way in which camera
works as there is now new outstanding and high-tech equipment that can be
used for film making available to film makers. As well as developments in film
making equipment digital technology has also progressed as now you are able
to use your smart phone camera to film a 300-degree view. Originally the
technology we have now wasn’t available so films would be very short, only
around a few seconds long.
One of the more recent examples of cinematography is Midsommar. Although,
the film didn’t win any awards it still gives a variety of transitions as well as
psychedelic camera work. The film follows an overanxious girl called Dani. The
movie consists of Dani losing her family because of her sister who had a
breakdown and killed her parents as well as herself. We see that Dani’s
relationship with her boyfriend, Christian isn’t the best. Christian and his
friends decide to go to Sweden for the summer to visit one of their friends who
had invited them to The Midsommar Festival. They realise during the trip it
isn’t as innocent as it seems.
One of the most important factors of cinematography is composition. This
refers to how each shot is framed and all the elements that come along with
the frame. This aspect of cinematography plays a crucial role in determining
what the audience knows and when they know it. Although composition is
crucial in all genres, it can be specifically crucial in the horror genre. For
example, if a young teen is walking through an abandoned house by himself.
The cinematographer in this case may decide to tightly frame the Actor so that
the audience have no idea of what may be around the young teen or what
danger may be lurking until it confronts him. Or the cinematographer may
decide to have a wider frame that shows each room that the protagonist walks
past. While he may not see the murderous villain hiding in the corner, the
audience does. Both of these options can heighten suspense, yet each
differently informs how the audience will react to the story.
Camera movement, the choice to remain static, which can also change how an
audience views a film. You should consider the difference it would make while
shooting a car chase if the cinematographer decided to keep the camera in a
single location instead of following the action. Would the scene hold as much
intensity if the audience watched the chase from a distance as the cars gave
pursuit instead of staying in the thick of the conflict with the vehicles? That is
why action and adventure movies typically involve a great deal of camera
movement to maintain the feeling of rapid motion both from a storytelling
point of view, as well as the literal change of one location to the next by the
characters.
A cinematographer might also make a choice not to move the camera. For
example, this tactic could work well in a courtroom drama, as a static camera
could be used to heighten tension. With nowhere to escape, the audience is
immediately forced to watch and wait while both sides argue their case to
convince the jury to hand over a guilty or innocent verdict.
At a glance, the issue of focus might appear very cut and dry. Which can cause
audiences to become a little frustrated by the blurry images and assume that
the production must have suffered from a filming mistake. However, for a
cinematographer, playing with focus can actually enhance the impact of the
story being told. For example, if the scene in a question is an older person who
is retelling a story from their youth. A cinematographer might intentionally
make the flashback somewhat blurred or hazy to mirror the protagonist’s fond
yet fuzzy recollections of the past. Focus can also be used to emphasize certain
elements in a scene. Take a seemingly mundane shot such as someone sitting
at a table and paying their bills. However, behind them is a window.
A cinematographer may also choose to put the focus on the background
element of the window to show the characters long-lost spouse walking to the
front door, this highlighting the impending emotional reunion between the
two. At the same time, the person at the table might be slightly unfocused to
reinforce their ignorance regrading what is about to happen.
Although the job of a cinematographer involves making many artistic choices,
all of those choices can be executed through the use of technical equipment.
From cameras and filters to dollies and lenses, a Cinematographer has at their
disposal a wide array of devices that can help to realize their vision on film. A
cinematographer is responsible for deciding what equipment can best serve
the needs of the production being produced. That being said, depending on
the size of the production, a cinematographer may likely have an entire
camera department that can help in making those decisions and bringing the
version of the cinematographer to life. This is why one of the most important
decisions that a cinematographer can make is who they want to collaborate
with on the film. It should also be noted that the relationship between the
Director and Cinematographer can also greatly influence the look of the film.