who is your favourite cinematographer?

[Priyesh P.]

...and please list the films you liked

My favourites:

-Roger Deakins
Shawshank Redemption, Oh brother, where art thou?

-Dariusz Khondji
Seven, Alien Resurrection

-Bruno Delbonnel
Amélie

-Emmanuel Lubezki
Sleepy Hollow, Children of Men

-David Tattersall
Green Mile, The Majestic

-César Charlone
City of God

-Jeff Cronenweth
Fight Club

[Clayton Harper]

Easy answer but Conrad Hall

Especially these films:

Cool Hand Luke
Fat City
Electra Glide in Blue
In Cold Blood
Butch & Sundance

Close second:

Harris Savides

His fill lights and top lights are so amazing and subtle. This guy understands the limits of film negative.

[Tom Lowe]

In terms of living cinematographers:

John Toll - Braveheart, The Thin Red Line, Legends of the Fall
Emmanuel Lubezki - The New World, Y tu Mama, Children of Men
Chris Doyle - 2046, In the Mood for Love
Ron Fricke - Baraka, Koyaanisqatsi

[Clayton Harper]

In terms of living cinematographers:
Emmanuel Lubezki - The New World, Y tu Mama, Children of Men


How could I forget Chivo!? He's great!

Tom, you are really in gay love with Terrence Malick aren't you?:bleh:

I understand though. Badlands is probably my fav movie of all time.

[Tom Lowe]

How could I forget Chivo!? He's great!

Tom, you are really in gay love with Terrence Malick aren't you?:bleh:

I understand though. Badlands is probably my fav movie of all time.

He's the master.

[Andreas Fernbrant]

DP:s -> Martin Ahlgren, Ketil Dietrichson

[Priyesh P.]

Oh, I forgot Rodrigo Prieto, Frida

[John Allardice]

I think you've gotta look at cinematographers in conjunction with the decades they worked in.

The first wave.
Greg Toland, Sol Polito, Arthur miller, Ernest Haller
The second wave
Geoffrey Unsworth, Leon Shammoy, Freddie Francis
The re-inventors
Storaro, Connie Hall Snr. Jordan Cronenworth, Gordon Willis,
The modernists
John Schwartzman, Paul Cameron, Jeffrey Kimball, Darius Wolski, Mauro fiore, Darius Khondji.

one of my personal faves is someone who's current feature experience doesn't, in my view, even vaguely reflect his talent, and thats Claudio Miranda, who's been doing some of the best commercial & music video work in the last 10 years. Next year we'll get to see his talent on Finchers "Benjamin Button".

check his stuff out at http://www.claudiomiranda.com/

...and of course our resident chameleonic cinematographer, M David Mullen. I'm looking forward to more directors giving him the freedom to show off of his own personal style.( a la the Polish Brothers)

[Jaime Vallés]

Janusz Kaminski - Munich, The Terminal, Catch Me If You Can, A.I., Saving Private Ryan.

[Jason Murphy]

Chris Doyle, Emmanuel Lubezki, and Harris Savides are among the best there are right now. I'll pretty much see anything they shoot just because they lensed it ('Cat in the Hat' being an exception here - sorry Chivo). Lubezki was totally robbed for his work the past couple years, and Savides' work on Zodiac was really something to behold; it's the first time that I've seen digital cinematography on a major studio picture without thinking either "this looks like video" or "this would look so much better if it were shot on film."

A few lesser known cinematographers whose work is definitely worth watching.

Mark Lee Ping-Bin - For my money, the greatest living cinematographer. He shot half of 'In the Mood for Love' but his greatest work is with Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien (who is on a short list of the greatest living filmmakers). If any of you ever get a chance to see a 35mm print of "Goodbye South Goodbye," "Flowers of Shanghai" or "Three Times" RUN, do not walk to get there. Quite frankly, if you can see a 35mm print of Hou Hsiao-hsien's work anywhere, do everything within your power to make it (short of perhaps knocking over liquor stores or robbing little old ladies for ticket money).

Agnes Godard - Mainly for her work in Claire Denis' features. Particularly Beau Travail and The Intruder, both of which are mind blowingly good. If you have a chance to see either of these two films in a theatre, take it.

Nathaniel Dorsky - Not very many people know him, and his only major industry work is "Revenge of the Cheerleaders" - hardly a calling card. However, he's been shooting beautiful films for over 35 years on a 16mm Bolex, usually on Kodachrome (until it was sadly discontinued a short while ago). His films are all silent, projected at 18fps, with no narrative to speak of; however, they are some of the most beautiful films I have ever seen anywhere, and I don't say that lightly. My favorites would be 'Variations', 'The Visitation', and 'Threnody.' (The shot of the plastic bag blowing in the wind from 'American Beauty' is a crappy attempt at a miniDV remake of a similar shot in 'Variations'). Again, give his films a chance if you see them playing anywhere; none of them are on video (and quite frankly, the effect of seeing them on video would destroy much of their ephemeral beauty). You'll be very glad you did.

I've included 3 stills from Threnody. The small size doesn't help much, nor can you get a sense of how exquisite the movement of these shots is. But it's better than nothing, I guess.

Don't know how I'd even begin to determine favorites with older films; there have been so many greats. I like John Allardice's idea of breaking it down into different time periods. A quick nod also has to go to a few of the European silent/early sound cinematographers such as Rudolph Mate, who did some amazing work with Carl Dreyer, and Fritz Arno Wagner, who I feel more or less invented the noir look with Fritz Lang in the early 30s.

[Tom Lowe]

Mark Lee Ping-Bin - For my money, the greatest living cinematographer. He shot half of 'In the Mood for Love' but his greatest work is with Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien (who is on a short list of the greatest living filmmakers). If any of you ever get a chance to see a 35mm print of "Goodbye South Goodbye," "Flowers of Shanghai" or "Three Times" RUN, do not walk to get there. Quite frankly, if you can see a 35mm print of Hou Hsiao-hsien's work anywhere, do everything within your power to make it (short of perhaps knocking over liquor stores or robbing little old ladies for ticket money).

Thanks, I'm gonna check his work out right away. Obviously In the Mood is among my alltime favorite pieces of cinematography.

[overlandfilms]

A friend and I had a long talk yesterday about the fact that he's working on (and I'm not) Vilmos Zsigmond's new film in Wilmington.

I might have to run down to Screen Gems and storm the set. What could possibly go wrong?

[Adam C Lubkin]

I'm going to go old school and vote for Gianni Di Venanzo (8 1/2, Salvatore Giuliano).

Jason, thanks for the recommendations.

[David Mullen ASC]

Here is a list I drew up once, stopping at 2000.

FAVORITE CINEMATOGRAPHY BY DECADE

Silent Era:
Broken Blossoms (1919)
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
The Last Laugh (1922)
Nosferatu (1922)
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Sparrows (1926)
Metropolis (1927)
Sunrise (1927)
Wings (1927)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

1930’s:
All’s Quiet On the Western Front (1930)
Morocco (1930)
Dishonored (1931)
Scarlet Empress (1934)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935)
Garden of Allah (1936)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Alexander Nevsky (1938)
Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)
Gone With The Wind (1939)
Wuthering Heights (1939)
Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)

1940’s:
Grapes of Wrath (1940)
The Long Voyage Home (1940)
Rebecca (1940)
Citizen Kane (1941)
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
Casablanca (1942)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
The Life & Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
Henry V (1944)
Jane Eyre (1944)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Spellbound (1945)
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Duel in the Sun (1946)
Great Expectations (1946)
A Matter of Life & Death (1946)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Black Narcissus (1947)
The Fugitive (1947)
Out of the Past (1947)
Hamlet (1948)
Oliver Twist (1948)
The Red Shoes (1948)
The Third Man (1949)


1950’s:
Rashomon (1950)
An American in Paris (1951)
Moulin Rouge (1952)
Othello (1952)
Singin’ In The Rain (1952)
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)
On the Waterfront (1954)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Night of the Hunter (1955)
Pather Panchali (1955)
Aparajito (1956)
Lust for Life (1956)
Moby Dick (1956)
The Searchers (1956)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Throne of Blood (1957)
Wild Strawberries (1957)
Touch of Evil (1958)
Vertigo (1958)
Apur Sansar (1959)
Ben-Hur (1959)

1960’s:
Psycho (1960)
Spartacus (1960)
El Cid (1961)
One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
Yojimbo (1961)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Cleopatra (1963)
8 1/2 (1963)
Hud (1963)
The Trial (1963)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
I Am Cuba (1964)
Dr. Zhivago (1965)
Help! (1965)
Red Beard (1965)
Bonnie & Clyde (1967)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1967)
In Cold Blood (1967)
Hell in the Pacific (1968)
Romeo & Juliet (1968)
2001 (1968)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
The Wild Bunch (1969)

1970’s:
The Conformist (1970)
Patton (1970)
Ryan’s Daughter (1970)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Devils (1971)
Fiddler On The Roof (1971)
The French Connection (1971)
Klute (1971)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
Cabaret (1972)
Cries & Whispers (1972)
Deliverence (1972)
Fat City (1972)
The Godfather (1972)
Last Tango In Paris (1972)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
Paper Moon (1973)
The Three Musketeers (1973)
Chinatown (1974)
The Godfather, Part II (1974)
Lucky Lady (1974)
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
The Sugerland Express (1974)
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Day of the Locust (1975)
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
All the President’s Men (1976)
Bound For Glory (1976)
Network (1976)
1900 (1976)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
The Return of a Man Called Horse (1976)
Robin & Marion (1976)
A Bridge Too Far (1977)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
The Duelists (1977)
Eraserhead (1977)
The Exorcist II (1977)
Jesus of Nazarith (1977)
Days of Heaven (1978)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Interiors (1978)
Superman (1978)
Agatha (1979)
Alien (1979)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Dracula (1979)
Manhattan (1979)
1941 (1979)
Tess (1979)

1980’s:
The Elephant Man (1980)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Heaven’s Gate (1980)
Raging Bull (1980)
The Shining (1980)
Stardust Memories (1980)
Chariots of Fire (1981)
Excalibur (1981)
Pennies From Heaven (1981)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Reds (1981)
True Confessions (1981)
Blade Runner (1982)
Das Boot (1982)
E.T. (1982)
One From the Heart (1982)
Sophie’s Choice (1982)
Fanny & Alexander (1983)
The Right Stuff (1983)
Rumblefish (1983)
Wagner (1983)
Yentl (1983)
Amadeus (1984)
Dune (1984)
Greystoke (1984)
The Natural (1984)
1984 (1984)
Brazil (1985)
The Color Purple (1985)
Ladyhawke (1985)
Legend (1985)
Mishima (1985)
Out of Africa (1985)
Ran (1985)
Blue Velvet (1986)
The Mission (1986)
A Room With A View (1986)
Angel Heart (1987)
Empire of the Sun (1987)
The Last Emperor (1987)
Red Sorghum (1987)
Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)
Baron Munchausen (1988)
Tequila Sunrise (1988)
Tucker (1988)
Born On the Fourth of July (1989)
Fat Man & Little Boy (1989)
Mountains of the Moon (1989)

1990’s:
Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams
Dick Tracy (1990)
Ju Dou (1990)
The Godfather, Part III (1990)
Hamlet (Zefferilli) (1990)
Henry & June (1990)
Memphis Belle (1990)
Miller’s Crossing (1990)
The Sheltering Sky (1990)
Barton Fink (1991)
Bugsy (1991)
Delicatessen (1991)
The Doors (1991)
JFK (1991)
Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
Terminator II (1991)
Tous Les Matins Du Monde (1991)
Batman Returns (1992)
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Far & Away (1992)
1492 (1992)
Jennifer 8 (1992)
Howard’s End (1992)
Like Water For Chocolate (1992)
Unforgiven (1992)
The Age of Innocence (1993)
Little Buddha (1993)
The Piano (1993)
Remains of the Day (1993)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Searching For Bobby Fischer (1993)
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
Legends of the Fall (1994)
Natural Born Killers (1994)
The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Wyatt Earp (1994)
Braveheart (1995)
Casino (1995)
City of Lost Children (1995)
Crimson Tide (1995)
Flamenco (1995)
A Little Princess (1995)
Nixon (1995)
Seven (1995)
A Walk in the Clouds (1995)
The English Patient (1996)
Evita (1996)
Fargo (1996)
Michael Collins (1996)
Amistad (1997)
Character (1997)
Kundun (1997)
Titanic (1997)
A Civil Action (1998)
Dark City (1998)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Tango (1998)
The Thin Red Line (1998)
The Matrix (1999)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Snow Falling On Cedars (1999)

[Priyesh P.]

I´d like to highjack this thread a bit ( even if I started it ).
Quite some of us seem to have certain favourite dops which have sort of a style, especially people like deakins, khondji, chivo ( lubezki ) and some more.
This concept of having a style / "handwriting" as a cameraman crashes with the common thinking here in Germany that cameramen / dops shouldn´t have a style.
I think that´s not the best idea since it is my opinion that a dop is an artist, and artists ( think of salvador dali, van gogh, or even alberto vargas ) have a certain style that distinguishes themselves from others. Ok, a dop has fewer liberties and has to tell a story, but nonetheless there could be some common structure in their works.
What do you think? ( edit: especially David, I just noticed your posting )

[P Andersson]

not having a style is a stylistic choice

[David Mullen ASC]

Most of us regular cinematographers can't afford a style... :biggrin:

Style should come from content, but the truth is that there are three reasons cinematographers develop a signature style, for better or worse: (1) they solve similar problems with similar solutions learned over time; (2) they exercise personal taste; (3) they get asked to repeat themselves (which somewhat explains why "Lemony Snickett" looks a little like "Sleepy Hollow").

The reason why cinematographers resist having a personal style is: (1) they don't like repeating themselves and like trying new techniques; (2) their tastes change over time; (3) they try to make the style come out of the content; (4) they have to incorporate the director's visual taste and style into the project.

Some artists also work from a position of refining a very specific vision over time, with occasional but rare changes in outlook and approach, while others move from project to project looking for opportunities to work in radically new styles different from their previous work. You find though that as cinematographers get more successful, they either get an opportunity to explore their personal style through repetition of genre (like doing a string of period movies, let's say) and they simply get stuck being asked to repeat themselves. Lower-level DP's like myself have to go out for a wide variety of projects with an open mind about the genre and how it will be shot, and we don't have a huge amount of power to exert a strong vision over the project.

For example, my last job was shooting Season Two of HBO's "Big Love" and a look was established by other DP's on Season One, and my job was to refine it, not re-invent it. And HBO was hesitant to hire me after looking at my best work, the dark moody stuff I've done for the Polish Brothers like "Northfork" -- it wasn't until I sent them a copy of "Akeelah and the Bee", which has a more conventional upbeat style, that they decided to hire me. Of course, I could turn down any work that didn't allow me to persue a narrow visual style, but then I'd starve, plus it might get boring.

I had a writing teacher in school who once said "you should lean in the opposite direction of your tendencies". My tendency is towards classically composed and lit images with a moody painterly feeling, so occasionally I take on a feature that will be shot in a handheld documentary style, or a comdey. My other tendency is to plan out a feature in minute detail, so occasionally I take on a feature where I will have to wing it, just to keep my skills up at improvising, being flexible.

[Clayton Harper]

Agnes Godard[/B] - Mainly for her work in Claire Denis' features. Particularly Beau Travail and The Intruder, both of which are mind blowingly good. If you have a chance to see either of these two films in a theatre, take it.


Seriously agree. I was tripping balls after seeing Intruder.

[Clint Johnson]

Well, if I had to pick one favorite I suppose it might be Conrad Hall because of the body of his work. I really loved the look of Road to Perdition.

Then again Christopher Doyle is pretty damn good too- exhibit A would be Hero.

And Guillermo Navarro makes some really pretty pictures, Pans Labyrinth didn't get the Oscar nod for nothing.

I also think that Zhao Xiaoding is one to keep an eye on, House of Flying Daggers was a feast for the eyes.

Oh, and how can I forget Arthur Edeson – All Quiet on the Western Front, Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, Frankenstein, The Lost World and Robin Hood... the man influenced the hell out of me. I really wish I could have seen those on the big screen.

[Tom Lowe]

That is a kick-ass list, David. I should just copy and paste it over to my netflix queue.

[Jeremy Torrie]

Pretty good list. I'd like to add Tom Stern -he's done Iwo Jima, Flags of our Fathers, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, and Exorcism of Emily Rose to name a few...and he was Chief Lighting Technician on Road to Perdition, Unforgiven, and American Beauty, so he's been among the masters.

[Weston Ford]

Emmanuel Lubezki...the new world
Roger Deakins...the village
Andrew Lesnie...LOTR
Janusz Kaminski...Schindlers List

[krd]

(The shot of the plastic bag blowing in the wind from 'American Beauty' is a crappy attempt at a miniDV remake of a similar shot in 'Variations').

Actually Jason, I believe Jem Cohen beat Nathaniel Dorsky to the dancing plastic bag! Check out his "Lost Book Found", if it ever comes around again. However, I think Alan Ball did see Dorsky's film (not Cohen's)....

Glad you've got at least one Hou convert (or maybe so). Best DVDs (in terms of the transfers) are probably Flowers of Shanghai and Three Times. FWI, if I were new to Hou, I'd start with Three Times .

[Jason Murphy]

Haven't seen "Lost Book Found", but I'll certainly keep an eye out for it; maybe I'll be lucky and a Jem Cohen retrospective will roll around, so I can see "Chain," which I missed as well.

I agree with you completely on the Hou DVDs. Millennium Mambo also has a good transfer, and I think it's a pretty wonderful movie, though many like it less than his other films. But Three Times is definitely a very good place to start.

[krd]

Haven't seen "Lost Book Found", but I'll certainly keep an eye out for it; maybe I'll be lucky and a Jem Cohen retrospective will roll around, so I can see "Chain," which I missed as well.

I agree with you completely on the Hou DVDs. Millennium Mambo also has a good transfer, and I think it's a pretty wonderful movie, though many like it less than his other films. But Three Times is definitely a very good place to start.

Didn't like Chain much -- though it's superficially similar to a [much more ambitious!] abandoned project of my own, so maybe I'm predisposed to hostility. "Lost Book Found" is the only one of his films I much like. But you have to hand it to the guy: he finds the money to work, and has made a life of it. Still shoots with a bolex, too, I think. If you live in NY, you see him around at the usual events -- always wears a black engineer's cap, indoors and out. He'd probably give you a copy of Lost Book.

I'm one of those who didn't like Millennium Mambo much, but taste make the world go around.....