| Film Fanatic September 2002
The Cinematographer -- Understanding the Role: Part
One
Have you ever watched a film with the sound turned
down? With cutting-edge surround sound and exciting sound effects, such a question may
appear stupid. But it’s just the type of question that seems to have escaped
filmmakers lately. In film school I was taught that a film’s story should be
communicated through its visuals. By comparison, dialogue and music were secondary and
only serve to punctuate a visual.
If the film couldn’t support itself on the strength of
its visuals, then the effectiveness of the storytelling would be compromised.
Unless you’re reading a well-written book, words
simply cannot convey the subtleties of character and place that one can experience through
a well-composed image. In life everything has a context, and that context is created
through the interaction of people, places, and climates. What deepens this context is the
detail that hides just below the surface, but is often too complicated to put into words
-- a person’s thoughts, for example. Films allow us to experience both this
superficial context and those details that ride below the surface.
Examine a picture in your family photo album. Within that
single frame of exposed film you’ll discover the atmosphere of the location, the mood
of the person (character), and how they may have interacted with others. If it was a sunny
day on a beach, the character may have a smile. If it was a sunny day, but the location
was a cemetery, you would understand if the character was sad. These examples are easy to
translate given their context.
But what if the person in the cemetery was smiling? That
contrast in character and location could expose a deeper meaning. Maybe the person is
responding to another person off screen. Maybe the person is remembering a pleasant
experience in respect to a dead relative. Or maybe the person isn’t a person but a
ghoul luring an unsuspecting victim into its clutches! Whatever the context, it’s
largely the job of the cinematographer to visualize those deeper meanings and present them
within the frame’s composition.
Recording movement and light
A cinematographer is a photographer who records moving
images. In fact, the term "cinematography" is derived from the word
"photography." Only "cinematography" uses the Greek word for movement
(kinemat) instead of light (phot). Oh, and just so you’re aware, the term
"director of photography" (or DP) is often a substitute for the term
"cinematographer." Also worth pointing out is that it’s common for the
cinematographer to collaborate with the director with respect to what the image should
look like. But this collaboration also depends on the personality and involvement of the
director.
Traditionally, a film director’s job involved
directing actors, while the cinematographer was typically chosen by the producer based on
the specialized "look" they are known for. Of course, if you subscribe to the
auteur approach to filmmaking, the director is king and provides a single vision to the
film. Yes, it can get complicated. But to keep things simple, let's stick discrete
tasks with discrete individuals. Just remember that the cinematographer is in charge of
images.
Like a photographer, the job of a cinematographer involves
equal amounts of science and art. It requires a solid understanding of not only
photochemistry and optics, but also composition. At its most rudimentary level, a
film’s cinematography must construct a visual analogy of a screenplay with the film
sets and props. This provides a reference for the film’s location and time. But like
a great song that uses harmonic color and texture to grip its listener, great
cinematography exploits nuances in light and frame content to affect an audience. What
characters see and feel should be conveyed in the reflected light and composition of the
filmed frame -- as should the atmosphere of the place in which the characters inhabit.
A nice example of this is in the film What
Dreams May Come. As we see Chris Nielsen’s (Robin Williams) life change, so do
the images composed by Eduardo Serra. Grief, happiness, Heavenly beauty, and Hell are all
given distinct personalities. These personalities all interact with the objects and
character reactions to create a mood that is instantly recognizable and, more importantly,
felt by the film’s audience.
But where Eduardo Serra uses a wealth of colors and
magnificent sets to support an ethereal mood and its subtext, Jack N. Greene sets William
Munny’s (Clint Eastwood) plight against more practical locations in Unforgiven.
Within seconds into each scene, and without much dialogue,
the audience is given a clear picture of how William Munny struggles against his personal
demons. Natural climatic conditions are backdrops to the internalized mood of his
character, while Greene’s use of camera position creates relationships between
individuals and objects. For example, Munny’s relationship with Gene Hackman’s
Little Bill Daggett is similar to his relationship with a bottle of whiskey. We gradually
realize that the similarities track in an opposing arc, as the Clint Eastwood character
slowly transforms from meek pig farmer to infamous killer of women and children.
Equally dramatic is how one "look" from the
legendary Eastwood can say more than any word he utters. In fact, most of Eastwood’s
acting is through body language, not dialogue, while his mental and emotional state is
reflected by what surrounds him. All of this is captured through the eye of Greene’s
patient but deliberate camera.
In each film the cinematographer’s approach is
different, but the same dynamics apply. In either case, the audience is seeing mood along
with the story’s subtext being reflected in colors and textures as well as location
and relationships between characters.
But what is composition? What is the frame?
And what tools does a cinematographer use to construct a film’s mood and subtext?
Stay tuned for "The Cinematographer -- Part Two,"
where we’ll talk about the science and art involved in his job.
...Anthony Di Marco
anthony@hometheatersound.com |
