Cinematography

     "And later I thought, I can't think how anyone can become a director without learning the craft of cinematography ( Nicolas Roeg)." Nicolas Roeg is an English film director and a famous cinematographer. Some of his most famous pieces of work, when he was a cinematographer, includes Lawrence of Arabia, The Masque of the Red Death, and Fahrenheit 451. Cinematography clearly plays the biggest role in film production. It is an art of how the director chooses to capture the images that he wants in his film. If cinematography is used correctly in film making it will evoke emotions of the viewer, develop the characters being shot, tell the story more fluently, and produce a distinct look to the director's film. Like mise en scene, there are also five elements to cinematography. The camera work or angles of shots is a key element to cinematography. There are many different angles and ways to shoot a scene, and some are the basic pan, dutch tilt, a low shot, long shot, or a close up. Camera work has the job of presenting the story and provoking ideas to the viewer. Filters also have a big impact to the film. Filters act almost like sun glasses, some are yellow and different colors, and when you look through them it gives your perception of things a different color of tint. Filters can also polarize the shots, add more vivid colors, or even develop a more gloomy look to what is being portrayed. Lenses work the same way, for they can develop a more intense kind of glare, or even an awing kind of blur. Film stock is another decision the director has to make that is part of cinematography. The different types of film stock are standard, wide screen, and I max. Many people think they are getting less of the film if they watch it on wide screen because there are black bars on the top and bottom, but really they are seeing more than standard because you are viewing more of whats happening on the right and left portion of the shot/scene. Visual Effects, like CGI (Computer Generated Imagery), are also part of cinematography. CGI is used because it is easier to create monsters or wrecks or the perfect scenery on a computer than to find them in real life. In my film studies class we have dissected the elements of cinematography in three films, Citizen Cane, Punch,Drunk,Love, and Pan's Labyrinth. 

    Citizen Kane, released in 1941, directed by Orson Welles, is rated as one of the top movies ever made. This film is about one of the most richest and powerful people of all time, Charles Foster Kane. He passes away in the beginning of the movie and says his last word Rosebud, and no one knows what this meant and the press is digging into his past to find out who Rosebud is. Kane grew up in small house with his family who owned a trading post. His mother felt it'd be best if he would go travel the world with a New York banker named Walter Thatch. When Kane grows up he takes control of the New York Inquirer, a news paper company.When Kane becomes tired of running the press he retires to the world famous chateau called Xanadu. During the great depression Kane is forced to sell the Inquirer to Thatcher because of Kane's spending habits, and the money used to finish Xanadu. The press run in circles reading the reports of Charles Kane, talking to his closest friends that worked with him in the Inquirer, and to his ex Susan, who is depressed and drunken over the loss of her singing career. The press of the Inquirer ask the butler of Xanadu who Rosebud is, but no one has a clue to what Rosebud means. Once the reporters leave the chateau, the butler orders the workers to burn the collection that Kane once had, and in the pile of burning artifacts laid his childhood sled named Rosebud.

  Citizen Kane was a movie ahead of its time. It had cinematography used like no other film of that era, and that is why it has always been rated as one of the best movies of all time.  Orson Welles, who was the director and who played Charles Foster Kane, used different camera angles than any director had attempted before. One of the most exciting camera work that went on was during the end when the film showed what Rosebud really was. The camera
swooped down into the artifacts of Charles Kane and through the piles until it got to the fire where it was revealed what Rosebud was. This single shot still puts my mind in loops on how they filmed it. Another shot like this was when it showed Susan Alexander, who is played by Dorothy Comingore, at a bar.  The camera showed the sign of the bar then slowly zoomed into the sky glass window and focused on Susan Alexander. More shots were made unique in this film by the use of lenses. One in particular was the use of the deep focus lens. This was

used in one of the beginning scene where Charles was a young boy playing in the snow. Orson did not just want to show this so he included his mother, father and Thatch in the foreground and kept little Kane in the background, through the window focused. Citizen Kane was filmed in standard film stock because in the year it was made it would have fit on televisions better in standard. To my surprise this 73 year old film did use special effects. It was used in such scenes like Xanadu, and in the opera house when it showed how the workers did not really respect the performance of Susan Alexander. Orson was smart and actually used miniatures in these scenes. Some of the large rooms of Xanadu were miniatures, and in the opera house, when the camera looked as if it were viewing a whole bunch of giant props going up, they were all a bunch of miniatures. Over all, Orson Welles was a director ahead of his time because he used professional shots that no other director had ever attempted, and the directors of our time use them in some of our most famous movies.


   Punch, Drunk, Love, released in 2002, was a romantic comedy our film studies class had watched as an example of how cinematography was used. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, Punch, Drunk, Love, was about Barry Egan, who is assumed to be psychologically troubled and quiet lonely. Barry trying to cope with his loneliness calls a sex line, and during this call he gives away his social security number and his credit card number. The next day the sex line girl calls back asking for 750 dollars, so Barry denies her the money but she will not leave him alone, for she even called him at work. This same day at work he is asked on a date with a woman named Lena Leonard, and during this date the viewer is can conquer that she is also psychologically troubled. He heard that Lena is going to Hawaii on a business trip, so Barry takes advantage of a deal that if he buys enough pudding he is set for life in air mileage and follows Lena to Hawaii. After they get back from Hawaii, a car wreck is caused by henchmen of the sex line, and Lena is taken to the hospital. Barry, seeking to settle his troubles, calls the sex line back asking for the supervisor, Dean Trumbell, which is actually just a mattress store owner.  Dean was intimidated by Barry when they meet face to face, and agrees to leave him alone. Lena forgives Barry for leaving her at the hospital alone once Barry confessed about the sex line and what all happened to him, and then he promises to always stay by her side.

  Paul Thomas Anderson, composed this film with his own unique twist on cinematography. The movie was not awarded much, but holds it own in the comedy films category. He uses camera angles and shots that most directors do not, and it shows in this film. In the scene where the harmonium is being dropped off, the camera is at a medium shot that follows Barry Egan, played by Adam Sandler, to the corner of the street and pans past Barry to view the action the director wants the viewer to be seeing, which just happens to be a random car wreck. The only kind of lens that I noticed that was being used in the film was the flare lens. It has the affect of scattering the light across the lens causing the whole image to be 

brighter than it really is, while magnifying the intensity of the light being used. This will help make some shots look more beautiful than they really are, and it can also add to romantic scenes. Punch Drunk Love was filmed on wide screen film stock. As far as special effects go, there were none present in this film. Most of the time it was stunted footage. There were about two car crash scenes in this movie, and both of them could have been easily stunted with no one getting hurt. Newer vehicles have more of a tendency to look shredded and torn up from the accident, and with a roll cage in the car and some extra padding some one could have stunted the beginning crash scene. Punch Drunk Love was a great comedy, and the way the story was captured gives it such a unique feeling that you will rarely encounter in other movies. 

   

    Pan's Labyrinth, a Mexican-Spanish film made in 2006, is a dark fantasy film that takes place in 1944, Spain, five years after the Spanish Civil War. A legend is told in the beginning about a princess to the underworld, where there is no pain, lies, or sickness, she wanted to visit the human world, so she sneaked out. When she got to the human world the sun wiped out her memory, and she eventually had got sick and died. It then cut scenes to the main character, reading a book, Ofelia, a young girl traveling with her pregnant mother to Ofelia's new step father, Captain Vidal. Later that night after the doctor gives Ofelia's mother a drug to help her sleep, and then a fairy comes to her room and leads her to a labyrinth where she meets a Faun named Pan. Pan informs her that she must do what ever this book tells her in order for her to return to her Kingdom, and that Ofelia's real name is Princess Moanna. Pan tells her that she must complete three tasks before the full moon is in the air. Meanwhile her mother's condition is worsening and Ofelia is worried about her. Later her mother goes into labor and does not survived the birth but the baby boy had. The nest task Pan gives her is to bring her brother to the labyrinth. The captain catches her in the act and chases after her to the labyrinth. Pan tells Ofelia to hurry and give him the baby because the next task is to use the blood of an innocent. Ofelia refuses to hand him over, and when Pan disappears, the captain catches up to Ofelia, takes the baby, and shoots Ofelia. Mercedes, who is one of the captains servants, and the captains troop meet the captain at the beginning of the labyrinth, the captain hands over the child and explains he wants to be remembered, but Mercedes says that he will never be mentioned, and they kill the captain. Ofelia is suddenly in a golden kingdom and is welcomed by cheering people, the king, queen, and Pan. The king explains that she chose the right thing to do and offered her own blood instead of an innocents, and there she took her place on the right side of the king as princess. 

   Pan's Labyrinth , directed by Guillermo del Toro, who also directed Hellboy, is an excellent film. The way this film used cinematography made this one of my favorite films even though all of it was in Spanish. It is no wonder why this film was rated so highly the way it uses all of the elements of cinematography together to tell such an amazing story. The director shot this film using the basic and not so basic camera angles, so he was not trying to make this film unique in anyway but it's story. Some of the really cool shots that involved special effects and experienced camera work. One really cool shot was when Ofelia, played by Ivana Baquero, ws talking to her brother and it was as if the camera went into the womb to her brother and then into the story Ofelia was telling. Pan's Labyrinth is a film that used a lot of animatronics, make-up, and CGI. The costumes, like Pan's, had animatronic eyes and ears so they could blink and wiggle. His horns, which were ten pounds, and all else were part of the costume, but his legs were on stilts to give him the height and the back of his leg was 

erased by CGI to give him the goat like legs. The fairies were all CGI, the actors had to pretend they were there, but the Mandrake root was actually animatronic and CGI, so the actors could actually hold it, which gave it more of a realistic look. The Pale Man, which was the creature in a different dimension, was a costume worn by Doug Jones, who also did the costume of Pan. The legs of the Pale Man were CGI along with the eyes, while Doug was really looking through the nostrils of the Pale Man. Along with very cool special effects and camera work was the filters and lenses used to make this such a realistic fairy tale. He used a regular camera lens for all of the shots on Pan's Labyrinth because the director wanted it to be as real as possible, but there were the use of filters. He used a Steel Blue filter on the nights to give them a more colder and forbidding look, but he also used a chocolate filter when Ofelia was in the Pale Man's dinning room to give it more of a warm feeling. The film stock of Pan's Labyrinth was on widescreen, which gives you the biggest dose of this movie you can get. The way that Pan's Labyrinth cooperates fantastic camera shots and outstanding CGI, makes this movie as real as fantasy can get. 

Movie Reviews

   Okay, here it is, which movie I thought was the best out of these three and the reasons why. Citizen Kane is a movie that is rated as one of the best movies of all time, and I can understand why it is. The film was as if a director from our current time traveled back into the 1940's and shot this film about a rich news paper company owner, who wishes he had his childhood back to start over again. It has an amazing life lesson and camera shots that had not even been attempted yet, not to mention a dash of special effects here and there. This film deserves the rates it has gotten over the many years, and will still stand in the future as one of the best films of all time. Punch Drunk Love had its own ability to touch me because I am an Adam Sandler fan. Seeing him play a role that he is not usually asked to do made me respect him even more as an actor. It was funny and at the same time touching to see two psychologically disturbed people meet and their adventure in pursuing love. The film also has a unique part in the way that it is filmed as if the viewer has a part of being in his mind and how the camera always follows the action and not necessarily the main character at times. Pan's Labyrinth had such a real feeling about it that I felt as if I were really there. The collaboration of CGI and professional camera work has an effect on the viewer to ultimately become interested in the film. To me the way that it tells a cool story of a dark fantasy intrigues my little kid side along with satisfying my mind. This film is one of the films that when it ends it makes you think of what happened in the movie and if it really had a meaning too. Overall, all three movies deserve credit for being made as good as they were. The cinematography is easily pointed out in them and is done as well as it can be. My favorite film out of these three, which also made it to my top favorite movie list, is Pan's Labyrinth.

Citizen Kane ....... 3.5 fairies out of 5

Punch Drunk Love...... 2.7 magic stones out of 5

Pan's Labyrinth..... 4.5 fauns out of 5