Cinematographers of My Favorite Works

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey: Geoffrey Unsworth

Unsworth began working as a camera operator at Baurmont-British in 1932, then worked for Technicolor beginning in 1937, followed by Pinewood Studios. His first film as cinematographer was the documentary The People's Land (1941). He received two Academy Awards, five BAFTA awards, and three British Society of Cinematographers awards. He worked extensively on period pieces as well as sci-fi. His films include Cabaret, Murder on the Orient Express, and Superman (1978).


2. Blade Runner: Jordan Cronenweth

Cronenweth began his career in the still photo lab at Columbia studios and then became a camera assistant for Conrad Hall in 1961. He was a member of the ASC and BSC.


3. Mad Max: Fury Road: John Seale

Seale is a member of the ACS and ASC. He won an Academy Award for The English Patient. His work also includes Rain Man, Dead Poets Society, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and Poseidon. He began working for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, where he was a camera assistant and then operator, working on news, documentary, and drama. Seale moved to working on low-budget feature films as a camera assistant and operator, before becoming cinematographer for Death Cheaters in 1976. He began working on American films beginning with Witness. Seale frequently shoots with multiple cameras simultaneously, not just for action scenes, but for dialogue-driven scenes as well. This helps preserve continuity even if actors improvise or change their performances between takes.


4. Gravity, Birdman: Emmanuel Lubezki

Lubezki began working in the Mexican film industry in the late 1980s. He attended film school at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. His other films include Children of Men, Sleepy Hollow, The Tree of Life, Ali, Shine a Light, Birdman, and The Revenant. He has won Academy Awards for best cinematography for Gravity and Birdman. Lubezki is a member of the ASC and AMC.


5. Citizen Kane: Gregg Toland

Toland is known for his lighting schemes and pioneering use of deep focus. He started out as a Hollywood camera operator and quickly moved up to cinematographer. He won the Academy Award for best cinematography for Wuthering Heights in 1940. Toland's deep-focus techniques involved using very fast film stocks, bright lighting, and specially-designed lenses with anti-glare coatings. This resulted in more available light so that he could shoot with smaller apertures. He also used non-traditional lighting schemes with hard shadows and and lights placed low instead of above the set. This low-key lighting was a strong influence on the development of film noir. His other films include The Long Voyage Home, Intermezzo: A Love Story, and The Grapes of Wrath. He was a member of the ASC.


6, Black Swan: Matthew Libatique

Libatique attended California State University Fullerton and received an MFA in cinematography from AFI Conservatory. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Black Swan. His other films include Requiem for a Dream, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and Straight Outta Compton. He is a member of the ASC.


7. Days of Heaven: Nestor Almendros

Almendros studied at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. He worked for the Castro regime in Cuba making documentaries before moving to Paris, where he worked with Eric Rohmer and Francois Truffaut. Days of Heaven was his first Hollywood film, and he received an Academy Award for best cinematography. His other work includes Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie's Choice, The Blue Lagoon, and Imagine: John Lennon. He was a member of the ASC.


8. Days of Heaven: Haskell Wexler

In the Heat of the Night

Haskwell Wexler began his career making industrial films in Chicago, before becoming an assistant camera operator working on documentaries, docu-dramas, and television. His first Hollywood film was America, America in 1963. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Black and White) for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1966. He won another Oscar for Bound for Glory in 1976. His other films include In the Heat of the Night, Matewan, The Thomas Crown Affair, American Graffiti, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Medium Cool. He also worked on a number of documentaries, including the Academy Award-winning Interviews with My Lai Veterans. He was a member of the ASC.


9. Apocalypse Now: Vittorio Storaro

Storaro studied cinematography at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, then worked as a camera operator. He first worked as a cinematographer for Giovinezza, Giovinezza, in 1968. His films include Last Tango in Paris, Tucker: The Man and His Dreams, The Conformist, and 1900. He won an Academy Award for Apocalypse Now, Reds, and The Last Emperor. His cinematographic philosophy is based on how different colors have psychological effects, and he makes use of these effects to help convey the tone of the film. He is a member of the ASC and AIC.

Top 10 Things to Watch

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey

2001 is a film by Stanley Kubrick released in 1968, in the midst of the Apollo program and widespread interest in space exploration. It was written by Kubrick and renowned science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke. The film has a complex plot, the bulk of which follows a deep space exploration mission and crew member David Bowman.The main story is prefaced by a segment following an ancient group of apes, presumed to be ancestors of humans, which is tied to the future story by the unexplained presence of black monoliths.

The film is very precisely and beautifully shot, and contains advanced, highly-realistic special effects. Many of these effects were produced in-camera rather than in post production and accomplished through the use of specially-designed sets and photographic techniques. The visuals are very important because the film has little dialogue, and relies on imagery and music to provide the story and tone. The film is an excellent example of Kubrick's attention to detail, with everything in frame placed carefully and purposefully.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou6JNQwPWE0


2. Blade Runner

Blade Runner is a science-fiction film by Ridley Scott, based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. The film was released in 1982, and the novel published in 1968. The film stars Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard, a Blade Runner who hunts down escaped genetically engineered replicants who have returned to Earth. Deckard must track down and kill the replicants, leaving the viewer to question what it means to be human.

The film has a neo-noir, somewhat cyberpunk style, and is set in a dystopian future Los Angeles. Advanced technology is everywhere, but the city is a dirty, run-down mess. The visuals are very dark, with the city seemingly in a perpetual night. Low-key lighting is used extensively and film feels very much like classic noir.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lj2ISTrfnE

3.Top Gear


Top Gear is a BBC television series focusing on cars, produced from 2002 to present. The show is a mixture of serious car testing and reviews, and humorous segments where the three presenters compete with one another in challenges, often with heavily modified vehicles. It is the most widely viewed factual TV program and has a very high production budget, which allows the show to feature a wide variety of cars and shoot in locations around the world.

The show is shot in both single-camera and multi-camera styles, varying between segments. Each episode generally contains one or more serious vehicle reviews which are shot from numerous dramatic angles to show off the details and overall design of the car. These segments are well-planned and visually impressive. The racing and competition segments are typically shot multi-camera using handheld cameras and chase vehicles, often including aerial shots. The two styles may seem very different, but as discrete segments they complement each other and give the show a unique feel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_E3bSFi8lI

4. Mad Max: Fury Road


Fury Road is a reboot of the Mad Max film franchise, released in 2015. The original Mad Max was released in 1979, and followed by sequels in 1981 and 1985. Unlike many film series, all four films have been directed and co-written by the same person, George Miller, who is also one of the co-creators, along with Byron Kennedy. As with the previous films, Fury Road is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland in Australia where resources are scarce, and water and gasoline are precious commodities. Off-road vehicles are essential for survival and violent vehicle-based conflicts are common.

The film looks incredible and has a simple but intense style. The majority of the film is spent following the main characters, Max and Furiosa, driving across the desert while struggling to escape or fight off the gang of War Boys. The landscape is very empty and often obscured by sand, causing the viewer to focus on the vehicles and not pay attention to the background. This style fits the post-apocalyptic tone of the film perfectly. Most of the stunts and visual effects were performed practically, which adds to the realism and intensity of the visuals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEJnMQG9ev8

5.Gravity


Gravity is a 2013 science-fiction film directed by Alfonso Cuaron and starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. The film follows Bullock's character, Ryan Stone, who is an astronaut on a space shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. A destroyed satellite creates a debris cloud that destroys the space shuttle orbiter and damages the ISS and numerous other spacecraft, leaving Stone to struggle to return home safely on her own.

Although the film has several technical inaccuracies, it is overall relatively realistic and makes extensive use of visual effects, both in-camera and computer-generated. The effects are very impressive and result in the film looking very accurate to actual conditions and movement in space. The destruction sequences are especially impressive, showing spacecraft ripping apart and pieces flying around just as they would in a real collision in a microgravity environment. The film uses a sharp, high-contrast style with many shadows inside the spacecraft to provide a feeling of isolation that helps the audience connect with the character.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AmDh6-RdlU

6. Citizen Kane


Citizen Kane is a 1941 film by Orson Welles, and is widely considered to be one of, if not the, best film ever made. It was Welles' first feature film and he not only directed it, but also played the main character. The plot follows the life of newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane as uncovered by a newspaper reporter's investigation following Kane's death.

The film's cinematographer was Gregg Toland. The cinematography was unique for the time in its use of deep focus, many shots having everything in the frame in focus simultaneously. Prior to Citizen Kane, this technique had not been used significantly and the technology to do so had only just become available. The film also uses many low-angle shots, often revealing the ceiling of a room, which necessitate different set designs than were conventional at the time, as ceilings were typically out of the frame and not constructed. The film also made use of special effects, such as optical printing, to produce depth of field deeper than would have been possible with one exposure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzhb3U2cONs

7. Black Swan


This 2010 film was directed by Darren Aronofsky and stars Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassell, Mila Kunis, and Winona Ryder. The film follows Portman's character, Nina, who is a ballet dancer competing with Kunis's character for the lead role in a production of Swan Lake. The pressure results in Nina having a psychological breakdown and losing her grip on reality.

The film was shot primarily on Super 16mm film. This gave it a different look with more grain than traditional 35mm cinema photography. Much of it was shot handheld to add to the realistic look and allow the camera to rapidly follow the motion of the dancers. Lighting design for the stage scenes was interesting, as the scenes had to be lit for the camera while appearing to be lit for a theatre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwD4JZsAuew

8. Birdman


This 2014 film was directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu and stars Michael Keaton as actor Riggan Thomson, who is trying to revitalize his old film career by writing and starring in a Broadway play. The film follows his struggles with the play and himself. The cinematography for Birdman is unique in that the film is designed to look like it is one continuous shot. The film was actually shot as separate long takes with edits hidden, often by the camera passing through a dark space. This style makes the audience feel like an observer that is actually in the middle of the action rather than on the outside, and adds realism through natural motion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J4OxwrzF8I

9. Days of Heaven


This 1978 film was written and directed by Terrence Malick and the cinematographers were Nestor Almendros and Haskell Wexler. The film is set in 1916 and follows a couple, Bill and Abby, who move to Texas to work harvesting crops for a rich, dying farmer. Abby marries the farmer in an attempt to acquire his fortune when he dies. The film is known for being shot largely during the "golden hour" around sunset. This resulted in very warm colors and soft, even illumination during the daytime shots. The skies are richly colored and sunsets blend the sky and the wheat fields providing contrast with the characters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nddVCdacms4

10. Apocalypse Now


Apocalypse Now is a 1979 film by Francis Ford Coppola, starring Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, and Martin Sheen. The film is based on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness adapted to the Vietnam war, which had ended only a few years before the film was released. The plot follows the main character, an army captain, who is sent to assassinate a rogue colonel. The film is known for its portrayal of the Vietnam war, as well as for the lengthy and difficult production.

The film is visually impressive, especially the combat scenes with the rich green of the jungle contrasted with the fireballs of explosions. The night scenes are shot with high contrast, low-key lighting providing a sense of fear and unknown.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntPHFVWDIqM