Cinematography for Directors. Jacqueline Frost

Someone who has shot several romantic comedies, for example, may be attracted to shooting a suspense thriller, whereas someone who has been shooting all big-budget action films may want to shoot a smaller, character-driven film. For example, Janusz Kaminski, who has worked with Steven Spielberg on eleven large studio films, shot The Diving Bell and the Butterfly for Julian Schnabel. It’s a very different type of film than what he had done before, so he found it creatively challenging. For his work on that film, he was nominated for an Academy Award, and won numerous other awards.

      No one likes to be labeled, but it happens quite often in the film business, and cinematographers are not exempt from the categories. Most cinematographers can shoot in various styles, but because of their own individual personalities, they will be attracted to specific types of material. One may love the big blockbuster film full of special effects and CGI; another may prefer the small low-budget film or a glossy comedy to a noir thriller.

      Daniel Pearl, ASC, whose success with the first Texas Chainsaw Massacre put him into a certain genre as cinematographer, has since shot numerous films in the horror genre, because he likes working with darker images and the challenges they create. But he has also shot hundreds of music videos and commercials that have nothing to do with the horror genre.

      ■ Oddly enough, I shot Texas Chainsaw Massacre successfully twice, and it’s not really my kind of film to shoot. I’m not in love with the horror genre, but it does give me the opportunity to exercise my craft, so I like that kind of film for that reason.

      (Daniel Pearl, ASC, Frost interview, July 2007)

      Ultimately, it is a good script that will get the cinematographer interested in the project — along with a passionate director bringing forth enthusiasm and creative ideas on how to visually interpret their story. The goal of a film is to take the audience on a journey, to entertain, and make them believe in or identify with the characters. Therefore, understanding character and plot is essential, and enhancing this with visuals is what makes the film work on a subliminal level.

      ■ I think the responsibility of a cinematographer going into a meeting with a director is to understand the story as best as you possibly can. Ask questions about the story. In my experience, if the director starts to ask you about camera and what your ideas are about camera, it’s an unsophisticated conversation. The sophisticated conversation to have is about character motivation. From the cinematographer’s standpoint, just like from the actor’s or the director’s, it’s the story, and the story will motivate the questions and eventually will motivate the look of the film.

      (Matthew Libatique, ASC, Frost interview, September 2007)

      VISUAL INTERPRETATION

      Once you convey the characters’ motivation and have discussions on the thematic elements of the script, the cinematographer may ask the director several questions: How do you see this film? Is it static or moving? Are the shots wide or close? Is it filled with saturated colors or desaturated colors? How does the color help underscore what is happening within the story of the scene? Is it in deep focus or shallow focus? Do we need to see the character within their environment or not? Does the background need to be in focus? Is the camera handheld or on a Steadicam or a dolly? Is the film being shot in a studio or on location? And finally, what format were you thinking of shooting on, film or HD? Understanding what you plan to do technically to interpret the script, and why, is an important conversation between director and cinematographer that can either enhance or destroy the basic concept of the film.

      ■ I write down a lot of questions for the director, mostly basic ideas about story telling. I get to more specific questions later, but initially I ask whose point of view are we experiencing? I end up narrowing it down to very specific questions about each scene, moment by moment throughout the whole movie, so I can understand the purpose of every single scene. What is the dramatic representation, and how is it supposed to feel?

      A writer/director might be more wedded to certain things so story structure or ideas about the purpose of scenes takes on a different meaning when the director is also the writer. But all directors at some point have to make a decision in every scene: what the purpose of that scene is and how to tell it.

      (Robert Elswit, ASC, Frost interview)

      When director Christopher Nolan asked Wally Pfister to shoot Batman Begins (2005), Wally agreed to shoot the film before even reading the script, because he trusted the director from their previous collaborations on Memento (2000) and Insomnia (2002). The two have since collaborated on two more films including The Dark Knight (2008), Inception (2010), and The Prestige (2006), for which Pfister was nominated for an Academy Award.

      ■ I wasn’t sure that I was ready to take on another big action film, but I knew that I could trust Chris’s judgment.

      In this case, Pfister wanted to work with a particular director based on their previous relationship. So it wasn’t as much about the script as about wanting to work with someone whom he trusts and respects.

      ■ On my second reading of the script, I started writing notes, little things like “low angle, very dark and moody,” or some indication of mixed, warm, cool, or patterned light.

      (Wally Pfister, ASC, from “Birth of the Bat,” ICP website)

      When Ang Lee selected Rodrigo Prieto to shoot Brokeback Mountain, he wanted the cinematographer to shoot the film in a style he was not famous for. Prieto had just finished shooting Alexander for Oliver Stone, which was a big-budget, multi-camera shoot. He had worked with Alejandro Iñárritu on several films including Amores Perros and 21 Grams, both with a distinctive style and interweaving storylines, each with a different visual mood. He replicated this approach on both Babel and Lust, Caution. But Ang Lee wanted the cinematographer to shoot in a much more conventional format.

      10. Batman Begins (Photographed by Wally Pfister, ASC)

      ■ I asked Rodrigo to work in a style that was quite opposite of why people want him.

      (Ang Lee, American Cinematographer, January 2006, 58)

      In Brokeback Mountain, the landscape in which the story takes place is as much a character as the subjects themselves. These men are cowboys working the land, living on the land. Their forbidden love is safe in the mountains where they can be themselves surrounded by nature. The understated cinematography beautifully complements the thematic elements of the story.

      Regarding the visual interpretation of the script, cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, and director Ang Lee used numerous subtle cinematographic techniques to distinguish what the characters were experiencing in the story.

      ■ When they talk, they don’t adorn what they say with fancy words — they’re direct. (Director) Ang Lee and I felt the camerawork had to be like that as well. Ang said he wanted to shoot it very much like the characters are: very stoic and simple.

      (Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, American Cinematographer, January 2006, 58)

      The selection of lenses and film stock also played a part in underscoring the emotional state of the characters in Brokeback Mountain. For example:

      ■ I knew the mountains should be romantically photographed. That’s why the film is called Brokeback Mountain: Everybody has a Brokeback Mountain, a yearning for romance or the illusion of romance. When Jack and Ennis are off the mountain, they want to go back, but are never able to. The landscape gets drier and drier as we go along, and gradually becomes a backdrop.

      (Ang Lee, American Cinematographer, January 2006, 62)

      11. Brokeback Mountain (Photographed by Rodrigo Prieto, ASC)

      The careful selection of film stock helped to reveal the subtle differences between the events occurring