Genius of Moving Image: Pt 2

1. What is the role of the cinematographer in filmmaking?

A cinematographer is a visual psychiatrist, moving in the audience through a movie from here to there and so forth making you as ‘the viewer’ to think the way a cinematographer wants you to think. Where it tells you as the viewer where to look through the control and understanding of light, to compose and create movement these are the 3 elements of cinematography. The cinematographer is the author of light in the film and how it takes part in the story. Where you delve deep into the it, and become part of your subconscious to help develop an idea of how you visually represent a story.

2. Why did director Roman Polanski insist on using hand-held camera in the film China Town?

Polanski used a hand- held camera to shoot the film because it created an intimate and spur-of-the-moment response from the actors. With hand held he was able to get shots that would have had to be done on stages and moving walls. The extreme closeness of the camera towards the actors provides the viewer with an intense voyeurism perspective which was the intended response from Polanski.

3. Name two films which use color in a very symbolic way, and describe what they suggest.

1. The Wizard of Oz (1939) - It differentiates the two universes as Dorothy’s world is shot in black and white where as the world of Oz is shot in Technicolor. It shows major contrast between the two worlds and with this transition the world of color it became an unreal world, a happy place, a fantasy and in that sense Kansas became more real for Dorothy. Color conveys subjective states of perception or time, the metaphors of the everyday human world versus idealized worlds are not consistent.

2. Blue Velvet (1986)- Light had contributed a lot to the story, and the theme of the film was the idea of a polarized world, this theme is especially evident throughout the film which utilizes shadowy and dark cinematography portrayed in the film,  to depict some of the unseen aspects lurching behind the Utopic façade of the town. The use of color imagery throughout the film helps evoke the fakeness conveyed by the suburban town that it is in fact a wonderful place to live without a dark side.

4. In the film ‘Raging Bulls’ why was the fight scene filmed at different speeds?

By using different frame speeds in the fight scene the director was able to control the audience’s emotions towards the film drawing their feelings at a pace intended. The fight was filmed in real time which kept a pace to the action but the ‘over- crank’ side of ring shots were filmed in a much slower and dramatic way, drawing you into the role of the character by stepping into the characters shoes before being flung back into the action.

5. Who is the cinematographer for the film Apocalypse Now and what is his philosophy?

Vittorio Storara is the cinematographer for the film Apocalypse Now; he believes cinematography is a ‘community’ art not an art form. Unlike photography which he believes is a to be a ‘single’ art form like a painting or writing, his idea of working with light is that it is a group effort with the director leading the way.