Cinematography Final

Guillermo Del Toro wants his monsters to be sophisticated. He wants them to be intellectually appealing. He also wants his monsters to have visual depth. All of of these qualities bring his monsters to life. In the film “The Devil's Backbone” he uses a ghost as the epitome of being a monster. The physique of the ghost is damaged. It's body is decaying. As time passes by the ghost's body decays more and more. This creation of Del Toro' s monster fleshes out his craftsmanship. Throughout the movie you can perceive the ghost's physiology and conclude that it is anthropologically correct. In the film “Pan's Labyrinth” Del Toro invents his monsters in a fairytale mythological style. According to Del Toro, the key element in the design of “Pan’s Labyrinth” was color. He puts up a big board to color-code the movie for the three key departments referring to Navarro, production designer Eugenio Caballero and costume designer Lala Huete. Those were the colors that were allowed. In the Pale Man’s intensely warm environment, which is dominated by red tones and a blazing fire, Navarro’s lighting team was faced with similarly limited options. In the corridor Ofelia walks through to reach the dining room, small skylight-like holes were built into the ceiling to allow for sources. They brought in something fairly soft from there, just so there would be a little bit of level as she walked through. Rick Stribling and Lee rigged Source Four Lekos around the holes and bounced them into white or silver cards. Then they had places to plug in small lamps hidden throughout the hallway. They also hung 150-watt Linestra tubes on the backsides of the columns and then taped them until they were doing something that did not look like they’d just hidden light bulbs everywhere. Sometimes they put an Arri 150 or 300 on the floor and bounced it into something, but this was rarely possible because the camera moved so much and saw so much.

The Bad Sleep Well

In this film, Akira Kurosawa repeats his cast from previous movies.

Sanjuro

In this film the characters are enjoyable. The protagonist bands together with nine samurai. The costume design of these characters is exceptional. It creates reality in the film. The costumes contain equipment that Japanese warriors wear and use in battle. It also expresses the militarism of the Japanese culture. In the final duel, there is an explosion of blood. The blood is a mixture of chocolate syrup with carbonated water and put under thirty pounds of pressure. In the film Sanjuro kills a twenty-seven people. The close-up shots reveals that Mutsuta's wife have what appears to be blackened teeth.

Rabbit-Proof Fence

The setting of the movie takes place in Western Australia. There is a 1,500-mile fence that separates the outback desert from the farmlands. The cinematography is good. The angle shots allows the viewer to perceive the shades of the people's faces. Every scene is clear and distinct to the eye. The last scene in the film, which shows the real life Molly walking with a walking-stick, was shot first.

King Kong

Despite the obvious complications, Ann Darrow connects emotionally with Kong, who is placated by her presence. When provoked, Kong readily asserts his aggression. After colliding with a reef, the S.S. Venture arrives at Skull Island. Dump tanks were used to slosh water onto the shows gimbal-mounted ship set, which is installed in a blue screen stage where the ocean's undulations and surrounding environment is simulated. The big towers of broken rock on Skull Island suggest the canyon-like streets and huge buildings of New York. In both environments, the humans are dwarfed by their surroundings. Skull Island is really dangerous from the moment the human characters arrive. After using a rowboat to reach Skull Island's shore, Carl Denham and his team survey their surroundings with a vintage Bell & Howell 2709 35mm camera, serial number 152, manned by Denham's cinematographer. Black and his fellow actors take on water during green screen photography of the landing. The filmmakers attempt to cross a massive ravine but soon fall into the lair of a giant spider. In the “spider pit”, the only source of light is the sunlight from above. A boom lift with a rig consisting of aircraft-landing lights is used to provide a strong top light, and some 10Ks gelled with White Flame Green to give everything a slightly green, murky quality. The bottom of the pit is so far down that it's developed its own luminosity. A "flare light" designed by practicals gaffer Warwick Peace illuminates the cast. The source comprised nine Photo-Litas, four of which stayed constant while a circuit "encouraged" the remaining five to fibrillate and mimic the shimmering effect of a flare. Night shoots at the native village set entailed the use of 18Ks on steel scaffold towers and 50K and 100K SoftSuns on cranes. The top of the wall was appropriated as a lighting gantry. Light from the large oil fires was created by Dinos, Dinettes and Par cans programmed to chase. To get tracking angles in front of and behind the fleeing crew, key grip Tony Keddy devised a simple cable rig that delivered the shots safely. To create shade in the narrow brontosaurus set, Lesnie's crew created the "sky garden," a Condor bucket filled with potted palms and draped in camouflage netting. The Times Square portion of the seven-acre New York back lot. The filmmakers re-created the street level practically and built the height of the city digitally. Green screens measuring 25'x100' allowed for CG street extensions and were lit with inverted waterproofed ground rows. Warwick Peace's practicals team laced 2,000 bulbs and lighting units into this set. The blurs in the street are extras running from Kong. Providing ambient light in the set are units the filmmakers dubbed "UFOs," comprising 200 to 400 Par cans that were dimmed in groups to limit the number of cable runs, keeping cable weight to a minimum.

O Brother Where Art Thou

The three main characters are Everett Ulysses McGill along with his allies Delmar and Pete. The setting of the movie is in Mississippi during the 1930s. The cinematography is bold. Every scene is clear and consist of the country settings of the “heart of the rural south”. The sound is good. There are no pitches of sound in any of the scenes. Everything flows sequentially and correctly. The color scheme is beautiful. It fleshes out the scenes by making it look real. In one scene, it shows a close-up of a couple of the characters' faces. The shades of their faces indicates the amount of lighting used in this scene. The lighting alters in every scene. Lastly the costume design is spectacular. It resembles the actual jail outfits they use in real life.

Pan's Labyrinth

Miserable in a new environment, young Ofelia cannot stand the imminent departure of the kindly housekeeper, Mercedes. This scene, set in Ofelia’s bedroom, illustrates the filmmakers’ blend of cool background tones and warm light, a mix that characterizes several settings. After chalking out a doorway on her bedroom wall, Ofelia steps through it and discovers a mysterious hallway. Small holes in the set’s ceiling facilitated the placement of Source Four Lekos, which were bounced into white or silver cards to send soft light into the corridor. Gaffer David Lee and key grip Rick Stribling then proceeded to hide small lamps throughout the hallway, taping them off until they created an interesting effect. In the pozo beneath the labyrinth, the faun explains the tasks for Ofelia's mission. The faun is played by Doug Jones. In this scene, he is seen here with greenscreen-clad legs that will facilitate digital leg removal. This character design is exceptional. Angered at her failure, the faun visits the girl in her room. The creature’s considerable height gave the filmmakers a practical reason to shoot in standard 1.85:1, and the format is appealing for its “human scale.” Navarro and his crew had to light the dark pozo set entirely from above, through a 10 ft.-12 ft. hole at the top, and the ceiling height on stage was limited. The solution was to surround the opening with lights shooting into a silver card overhead, sending a generous bounce down into the well. Key grip Rick Stribling lines up the puchi for a shot in Ofelia’s bedroom. Visible on the wall behind him is the chalked-in doorway that leads to the Pale Man’s room.

The Peach Orchard

This section was an extension to the “Dreams” movie. So far the sections have been a masterwork. In the film, dolls personify the Peach Orchard. The boy cared for the peach orchards. As the dolls recognize this they believe he only cared for he peaches themselves.

Sunshine Through The Rain

This small film is about art. In this small film, the scenery is beautiful. The forest in combination with the rain captures the attention of the viewer. There is a boy who deliberately disobeys his mother after she warns him of something important. The only reward for his disobedience is death. The only chance for his survival is forgiveness from the Foxes. In the film they are unwilling to accept apologies. They are a sacred group of people. The possibility of him living is slim to none. The child is a character subdued by ignorance and curiosity. As for the Foxes, they are a civilization who chooses to deprive the outside world of the knowledge of their wedding ceremony. Lastly the entire film is tied to art because the cinematography embeds imagery with the beauty of nature, perception, and discovery.

Hero

Hero is a Chinese wuxia film, directed by Zhang Yimou and music by Tan Dun. Chris Doyle is the cinematographer. The Chinese martial artist, actor and action star Jet Li is starred as the nameless protagonist. This film has excellent cinematography. The angle shots of the army scenes are wonderful. The costumes of the characters are interesting in many ways. The robes that the characters wear accommodates the meaning of Chinese culture and history. The costume design along with the scenery fleshes out the visual interest of the film. The sound played an important part of the film because it is in direct correlation with each scene. For instance, the noises from the sword fight scenes are spectacular. It equals the time frame and is sequential. Chris Doyle is a talented cinematographer. “Hero” is the most expensive Chinese movie in history. The battle scenes are the best. The color schemes are fabulous. Hero is a movie I enjoy watching. In one battle scene, there are a swarm of arrows which are fired at the nameless protagonist and it kills him. The frontal shot of the swarm of arrows is extraordinary. The structure it forms and the speed of the arrows amplifies the realism portrayed in this scene. The movie also makes sense on a historical basis. This film is very serious. It deals with the history of ancient China prior to the reign of its first emperor. Lastly this is the best Chinese movie I've seen and I look forward to watching more of Zhang Yimou's other films.

Chinese Cinema vs. American Cinema

Films were introduced to China in 1896. The first Chinese film, a recording of the Beijing Opera, "The Battle of Dingjunshan," was made in November 1905. Chinese films are all about giving the audience what they want. For instance, in a Chinese fantasy film, the hero always win against any villain no matter how bizarre their power may be. The film entertains the audience and requires them to think about what they watched.
American cinema has had a heavy effect on cinema worldwide since the early twentieth century. The Golden Age of Hollywood, which lasted from the end of the silent era in America cinema in the late 1920s to the late 1940s, movies were issued from the Hollywood studios. Motion picture companies made money by operating under the studio system. After reaching its pinnacle, the studio system and the Golden Age of Hollywood itself succumbed to a federal antitrust action and the advent of television.

Rear Window

Rear Window is a comic thriller. It is about a photographer who thinks a crime was committed in the courtyard. I like the fact that this movie involved him in a relationship with a beautiful woman. This movie is unique because the entire movie takes place in Jeff's apartment. The cinematography was good. The reason is the shots of Jeff and Lisa was exceptional. It made them look like they were right in front of you in real life. Due to the fact that the film is limited to what Jeff can see, it makes the cinematography interesting. The camera shooting of what Jeff saw in his neighbor's yard made it look real. It was as if the audience were looking through the telescope. The scenes in the movie were clear and distinct to the eye. The camera movement was perfect and was in direct correlation with the motion of the characters.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines Journal 2-2

The director of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is Don Burgess. In Terminator 3, Arnold Schwarzenegger reprises his role as the older T-800 model Terminator, sent from the future to protect eventual revolutionary leader John Connor from a new T-X Terminatrix. Connor programmed the Terminator to protect him and girlfriend, Kate but the cyborg soon goes beyond control and takes over. Throughout the movie battling the advanced T-X is tough on the Terminator. One thing I really admired was the special effects. Burgess used cross-back key lights to help chisel Schwarzenegger's features. The character T-X was portrayed by Kristanna Loken. At length the T-X Terminatrix displayed unparalleled strength and a number of weapons.
In one scene, the familiar T-800 endoskeletons march toward the rebellious humans as more about the future is revealed. The mirrored ball helps ILM visual-effects artists properly light CG elements that will be added to the shot. Burgess takes his own still photo to check his light levels. Burgess tries for a better vantage to witness the impending T-X assault. Burgess filmed most of Terminator 3 on Kodak Vision 200T 5274. For a film like Terminator 3, contrast is very important. Burgess's cinematography is exceptional.
For one night exterior, Burgess used Vision 250D 5246. During the opening of the film, we see Connor living life beneath society's radar, sleeping along the river ways of Los Angeles. He wanted the foreground to have a warm, fiery feel and the background to be colder, but not extremely cold. The 250 is a contrasty stock with good blacks, and it allowed Burgess to use uncorrected HMI sources in the background, and get a warm look in the foreground with a mix of corrected and uncorrected tungsten sources. Lastly Burgess shoots most of his nighttime photography at around T2.8. It accommodates good depth of field, especially with wider lenses and provides good resolution in the highlights.

Film Awards Flurry as Oscars Near

A flurry of specialist film award ceremonies have been held in Hollywood as the countdown to the 79th Academy Awards show enters its final stages. The Scripter Award was won by the writers of Children of Men for best adaptation of a book.
At the Production Design Awards on Saturday, Casino Royale, Curse of the Golden Flower and Pan's Labyrinth were the big winners. Best production design went to Casino Royale. Meanwhile Curse of the Golden Flower won in the period film category. Pan's Labyrinth won the prize for a fantasy film. Dame Helen Mirren was named best actress for The Queen.
Lastly Forest Whitaker was named best actor for The Last King of Scotland.

Personal Entry

Photography is interesting to me. For a birthday present I received a NIKON F301 camera. Ever since then, I've been taking photos of various things dealing with scenery, nature, machines, people, performances, and sporting events. I want to become a professional at photography. Therefore, I have been investigating this camera. The NIKON F301 was a manual focus, autoexposure, auto film loading and advancing 35 mm SLR camera sold by the Nikon Corporation beginning in 1985. The F301 was identical to the Nikon F501 in almost every way, except it lacked autofocus and autoexposure lock. The Nikon F301 is notable for being the first Nikon SLR sold that lacked a film advance lever. It was also the first Nikon to use Polycarbonates in the building of the camera, and was considered by many people as the dawn of a new era for Nikon.

Hotel Rwanda

Critique: Hotel Rwanda

The film, “Hotel Rwanda” was directed by Terry George. It is a docudrama about the Rwandan Genocide. This movie is about true events that occurred in Africa. The cinematography of this movie is bold and precise. In one scene, the protagonist was in a car with another character and driving over corpses of the Tutsi minorities. The camera shots made the image vivid and excruciatingly exact. The camera shot of the dead bodies on the ground were graphic. Another scene is when the protagonist Paul is standing alongside the refugees he saved, amidst in rain. The camera shot in this scene was direct, clear and distinct to the eye.
In this movie, there was violence, profanity, disturbing images, and nature themes. The camera shots that harnessed these scenes were all good. This movie was basically nothing short of spectacular. Everything director Terry George has done wasn't in vain. I personally enjoyed this film. It informed the audience of a genocidal event that occurred in Africa in which at the time Americans were mostly unaware of Rwanda's civil war. Lastly George created a good movie that could have been exceptional.

Batman Begins

Wally Pfister, ASC helps director Christopher Nolan envision the Dark Knight’s “origin story” in Batman Begins. In one scene, Batman spreads his cape and plunges down a stairwell to escape pursuers in Gotham City’s Arkham Asylum. Pfister and Nolan used numerous wire rigs to get the shot. They had Steve Adelson handholding a camera and tracking down with Batman. They tracked parallel to him, and also had cameras at the top and bottom of the stairwell to get those angles.
Wayne and his loyal butler, Alfred, return to Wayne Manor, where they find the furniture and paintings shrouded in white, ghostlike sheets. To illuminate this scene, Pfister positioned a Lightning Strikes 100K SoftSun outside the window. To help Pfister soften his sources for a birthday-party scene in Wayne Manor, gaffer Perry Evans and his crew clamped 4'x8' frames of diffusion together and either hung them from the ceiling or positioned them on stands.
Wayne’s visit to the Himalayan monastery turns hostile, forcing him to defend himself against an entire contingent of battle-hardened ninjas. The monastery’s tri-level courtyard was built on Stage C at Shepperton. Production designer Nathan Crowley left the set’s top and sides open and kept the roof low to accommodate the cinematographer’s lighting plans. Quarter Wendy Lights and four 20Ks on an overhead platform were used to provide general ambience, while 20-25 2K Blondes were used to send additional light through the walls.
After an explosion in the monastery sends Wayne and Ducard hurtling down an icy slope, Wayne manages to save his mentor from certain death with a last-second grab. Several different setups were used to create this sequence, but stuntmen Buster Reeves and Mark Mottram (doubling for Bale and Neeson, respectively) risked life and limb to perform the “money shot” for real. The key moment was captured from cameras mounted on a 30' Technocrane and a dolly.
In my favorite scene, Batman descends from a rooftop. In an attempt to keep CG effects to a minimum, the filmmakers staged the show’s stunts as practically as possible. Buster Reeves was the stuntman, and they could shoot him practically in a medium shot and not give away that he wasn’t Christian Bale. Steve ‘Creepy’ Crawley created the wire rigs that supported both Buster and the camera, and he did a great job.
The Batmobile attempts to elude police pursuit during the film’s climactic chase. In designing the car together, Nathan and Chris came up with a very clever pattern of lights for the headlight arrangement. I love the way the lights looked; they were very tiny, pinpoint sources that were very bright. A tracking vehicle captures some driving action in the tunnel of Chicago’s Lower Wacker Drive. Existing fixtures provided much of the illumination, but U.S. gaffer Cory Geryak and his crew augmented light in areas where stunts would take place.
"Batman Begins" is the kind of Batman movie I've been waiting for. I really enjoyed the special visual effects and the sound. Christian Bale was the perfect actor for the portraying of Bruce Wayne. The movie works dramatically in addition to being an entertainment. "Batman Begins" was a tour de force.