Cinematography for Directors. Jacqueline Frost

famously storyboarded all his films, and the process of production simply followed the film already done in his mind.) There are others who like to work more spontaneously on set, based on the blocking of the actors during rehearsal. Whatever method the director chooses, the cinematographer must go along with it.

      Cinematographers are always hoping for insight into how the director envisions the film, so storyboards can be a very helpful tool in the creative process. If a director comes to a cinematographer with every scene carefully mapped out on storyboards, that can be fine, as long as the cinematographer’s ideas and suggestions are also considered in the interpretation of the script. Most cinematographers will look at anything visual you want to share with them to communicate your ideas. Cinematographers enjoy conversations about what your intentions are regarding the stylistic look of the film. They want to be your creative collaborator, and will no doubt have excellent ideas and contributions to visually enhance the script.

      For films with huge action sequences, storyboarding is essential for both director and cinematographer due to the complications of shooting more difficult multicamera sequences. Sometimes these are the only storyboarded sequences in a film. It all depends on how the director works.

      ■ It’s up to the director how they like to work; it doesn’t offend me one way or the other. But I like to be involved, I like a lot of prep, I like to be immersed in the project as much as possible before I start shooting because I think that saves time on the set.

      (Roger Deakins, ASC, Frost interview)

      Storyboarding and shot listing give the director and cinematographer the chance to sit down together in preproduction and map out the shots and the way the film will be covered. This is helpful both for the cinematographer, to have a clear idea of the various setups used to cover a scene, and for the director, to help them stay on course and get the coverage they need. If something else comes up during production that might be working even better than what was storyboarded, that should be considered as well. Generally, cinematographers are happy to work off of the story-boards and shot lists as long as there is some room for creative spontaneity on set.

      ■ One thing I enjoy very much is working with a director on the shot-listing, which doesn’t always happen, but it is something I like to do a lot. Some directors don’t shot-list; others like to do it on their own in private and will even do a storyboard without the cinematographer involved — and that’s fine. With Alejandro (Iñárritu) we shot-list together, sometimes story-boarded. I can draw a little bit, so sometimes I’ll do some storyboarding. At times we’ve hired storyboard artists, but we do sit down in preproduction, and I really like that process even if we don’t use it during production, because it gets us talking very specifically about the scene and what type of lenses, why would we start with a detail or a long shot. Of course, we use our intuition when we are shot-listing, but it really gives us a sense of the way each scene is covered and helps very much in editing. Alejandro has a really good sense of editing and sound, so in storyboarding we talk about how it’s going to cut, not just the master scene. We shot list as if we are editing.

      (Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, Frost interview, July 2007)

      Most cinematographers want to be involved in the shot listing and possibly the storyboarding of the film. It gives them the chance to previsualize and block out the film with the director. They may also prefer to help out with the storyboards if you are working with a storyboard artist, so that the shots are realistically represented. The best solution is to involve the cinematographer in the creative process by shot listing with them or storyboarding with them and remain flexible if a situation arises during production that could be better than the storyboard as planned.

      ■ Darren (Aronofsky) shot lists partly with me, and the smaller scenes he’ll do by himself— that’s part of his process. Then on the bigger scenes we’ll do them together, mostly because he doesn’t want to paint himself into a corner about what is logistically possible and what’s not. He is extremely precise and doesn’t like to do the work more than once, so on the scenes that feel like they are going to be a challenge for the nuts and bolts of things — meaning, “Can we do this?” — I’m basically saying yes or no, or we can do it this way. From a shot perspective, Darren is the voice; it’s part of his process to set up the shots. He sets up a specific language for his films, where things are extremely symmetrical; they only work in certain axes, and he predetermines screen direction. So almost anybody who knows anything about the fundamentals of filmmaking can discern where the camera is going to go for any given scene, based on how the set is built and knowing that he only likes three axes, three angles; it’s very simple, actually. It’s like playing with a musician who plays the same bars over and over. He’s probably the only person I know who is really specific with storyboards.

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

      ■ A lot of directors hate storyboards because they end up looking like cartoons that can’t be photographed because they’re all done with a wide-angled lens. It’s very hard to find a storyboard artist that can create images that aren’t just information.

      (Robert Elswit, ASC, Frost interview)

      ■ Storyboards are usually very specific, and you can never get a lens exactly like the perspective of the drawing. But it’s a useful tool and I tell some directors to go ahead and story board just to see it. Storyboards are a wonderful tool especially for action sequences, car chases, and any kind of stunt work, special effects.

      (Nancy Schreiber, ASC, Frost interview)

      ■ The thing about storyboards is they often get carried away; sometimes the storyboard artist wants to direct the movie and that gets in the way. I prefer not to use them at all, except for action sequences where you have to touch certain bases. But ordinarily speaking, I don’t like to use them, because directors get too attached to them (and think,) “Oh, there’s the storyboard, it’s got to be like this” — yeah, but we’ve got a better idea in the moment; to hell with the storyboard, this is better. You’ve got to be flexible — otherwise it sucks all the air out of the movie, and you’ve seen the movies that feel like a filmed storyboard.

      (Richard Crudo, ASC, Frost interview, July 2007)

      ■ I don’t think storyboards tie you down. I think storyboards are more important than visual references, in a way, because they focus you on what the scene is about. It’s not necessarily that you are going to shoot those exact shots, because half the time you don’t. Maybe you do with Joel and Ethan (Coen), because they are very particular; they construct sequences precisely for a cutting pattern. Other storyboards are used for a type of shot but not for a particular cutting pattern, so there are many ways of getting to discuss those scenes and getting to the point of what is important about those sequences visually to tell that story. There are no hard and fast rules. It’s whatever gives you a starting point to talk about the visualization of the script; it doesn’t matter what methods you use.

      (Roger Deakins, ASC, Frost interview, November 2007)

      Not all storyboards need to be perfectly drawn artworks, just sketches that communicate the essence of a sequence. Martin Scorsese has been known to draw little sketches to communicate with his cinematographer on how he would like a particular scene shot. Many of these appear in the special feature selection of his DVDs, such as Taxi Driver, where they are shown side by side with the way the film was actually shot. (A few examples from Goodfellas are on the next page.) They are not perfectly crafted images as many storyboards can be, but instead quick sketches used to communicate his vision of the scene.

      Finding the key emotional moments in a scene and being sure to accent them through the camerawork and lighting is essential to good filmic storytelling. It is the subtlety of the cinematography that underscores the mood of the film and it is the director’s responsibility to find whose scene it is and make sure that the camera is capturing the right moment at the right time. It is cinematographer’s job to use the camera and lighting to amplify that key moment in the scene with subtle visuals that will communicate to the audience on an emotional level to visually punctuate the scene.