CINEMATOGRAPHY Should Not STAND OUT | Roger Deakins (His Principles of Cinematography

[rand thompson]

CINEMATOGRAPHY Should Not STAND OUT | Roger Deakins (His Principles of Cinematography)


By AlterCine

[Karim D. Ghantous]

I enjoyed that. Thanks Rand. What stood out the most is when he said that he doesn't like images with a 'veneer'. My thoughts exactly. It's childish, just like shooting at T1.2 too much. I loathe affectations in photography. Let the light and the lens do the talking! But overall I think his approach is about clarity, and making a film that will stand the test of time, at least visually.

[rand thompson]

Karim,

You're welcome! Yeah, I think sometimes some cinematographers get so caught up in doing things cinematically that makes themselves standout that they actually forget why they chose to do it for that specific scene or film in the first place. If I had a dollar for every cinematographer who watched every David Fincher youtube video trying to replicate/imitate his camera movements, I would be a billionaire.

I think what Roger Deakins is saying is that every framing, lighting, camera movement decision you make has to be dictated by the exact story you are trying to tell. Not because someone else who was telling a different type and feel of story used it and garnered great acclaim for doing so. Just do the best that you can to convey the love, hate, adversity, loneliness, despair, chaos and triumph of the story you are trying to tell with the bare minimums of exorbitant cinematic tools.