Cinematography

What is the role of the cinematographer in filmmaking?

To give the film a certain look or style appropriate to the story.

Why did director Roman Polinski insist on using a handheld camera during the film, “Chinatown”?

Roman Polinski filmed a scene with a handheld Pentaflix in a bathroom (this would usually have been filmed in a bathroom on stage). By doing this, he was able to get an intimate and spontaneous response from the actors by being so close to the subjects.

Name 2 films which use colour in a very symbolc way? And describe what they suggest?

‘Days of Heaven’

The story of this film was told mainly visually rather than by the actors. It was filmed in the “magic hour”, a term associated with the time when the sun sets before it is night, which gave them about 20-25 minutes of film time each day. The light is very soft and gave the whole film a certain colour effect that had a powerful impact on the entire film; it gave it a sort of romantic look, also adding a lot of impact to the emotion.

“The Last Emperor”

Colours in the film represent different stages in the Emperor’s life;  red symbolises the beginning, where if refers to his birth, orange symbolises the warm colour of family and a sort of maternal feel, yellow symbolises consciousness and identity and the colour green symbolises knowledge. The first time green is introduced to the film (colours generally on one side of the colour spectrum; red, yellow .etc.) when the tutor arrives with his green bike.

In the film, “Raging Bull”, why was the fight scene filmed at different speeds?

One of the fight scenes in “Raging Bull” was filmed at different speeds (24fps, 48fps .etc.) to add a dramatic effect and show the intensity of the fight; it draws the audiences “emotional attention” towards the scene.

Who is the cinematographer for the film, ‘Apocalypse Now’ and what was his philosophy?

Vittorio Storaro believes photography to be a single art form and that cinematography is a group effort, led by a director.