Cinematography Research

Research into Cinematography

I have decided to research into different films and director, looking at how cinematography shapes them. Many films can be burdened by the cinematography aspect as the budget is not high enough to pull it off. However, to curve this issue many make a statement to stand out from the other films when regarding cinematography.

Films:

The first film that I have looked into is called Tangerine (Dir.Sean Baker, 2015). Up until the world premiere of Tangerine, the film maker concealed a huge secret about the production of the film. This secret was that it was shot on an iPhone 5s. That surprising creation factor continued to bring the film attention leading up to its US theatrical release and it is well worth celebrating for the hope it gives to other future film makers who want to make an impact with limited resources.
Despite lacking the high end cameras this film was voted one of the best at Sundance that year.
Tangerine was shot using three iPhones, but with he help of an app - Filmic Pro ($8), this allowed the filmmakers to have fine-grained control over he focus, aperture, and colour temperature. The film was shot in a widescreen 2:35:1 aspect ratio.
Although this film did not win any awards for cinematography it was loved for its different and simple way of filming.

The next film I researched into was Hard-core Henry (Dir. Ilya Naishuller, 2015) the bone crunching action film that looks like a video game. This film broke the atypical style of filming by having the film completely in point of view shots from one character. This film was almost entirely shot using a GoPro Hero 3 camera mounted on to a custom made camera rig and strapped onto somebodies face. This included cameramen, stuntmen and even the director. The filming technique used was 'non-stop trail and error.'

 P.O.V shots are very popular in horror and action films, although being filmed in no other shot than P.O.V made a huge statement.
Much like the above fil GoPros are relatively cheap to purchase and give the hope that amateur film makers can create well made feature length films.




Directors:

Auteurs such as Baz Luhrmann have their own distinct style of cinematography. Luhrmanns has been described as combining a 'controlled chaos' narrative with outstanding visuals and colour.
Luhrmann created his own genre: the red curtain cinema, this genre opposes the classic Hollywood style and breaks the traditions and rules. In red curtain cinema, the form, structure and presentation of the story is more important than the narrative itself. It is presented in a 'hyperreal cinematography' style - with colours and shots representing the mood. For Example, in 'The Great Gatsby' when Caraway meets Gatsby his view is view and perspective is suddenly infused with hope and excitement. The colours used in these scenes are bright and saturated. This is to convey the mood to the elements without stating it through dialogue.