8mm Forum: The Dying Art of Cinematography

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Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on September 29, 2011, 08:58 AM:

Last week we watched the new Blu Ray release of Citizen Kane. What a gloriuos film, and of course the black and white photography by the legendary Greg Toland was just amazing.
Fast forward to last night, when we watched the 2010 film Fair Game about the misinformation propogated by the White House to justify the Iraq War. A pretty good film in itself, with superb acting by Sean Penn and Naomi Watts. But the cinematography was just God awful. I mean continual hand held shots (not even with a steadicam) with the camera acting like a drunken sailor. There was one sequence of a CIA meeting where the camera fast panned back and fore across the speakers at the conference table - the kind of thing a 12 year old kid would be doing with a video camera! And then we have the innumerable shots with grossly over exposed backgrounds, not to mention the putrid color of the whole film. The first, and most basic rule of cinematography, spelled out clearly 50 years ago in The Focal Book of Cinematography is to keep the damned camera steady!! I do'nt know who the cinematogrpher was on this film, I did'nt bother looking, and if I were him I would not want my name on the credits anyway. But he is certainly not alone. More and more feature films seem to be adopting this Cinema Verite style of just having a guy walking around with a camera on his shoulder, hose-piping away at what ever is going along. I'm not kidding, I almost felt sea sick watching this s*** on my 9 foot scope screen.
And then you contrast this totally sloppy technique with the real art of the cinematographers of the 30's, 40's and 50's, like Greg Toland, where great care and attention was lavished into every single frame of the film, and you realize what crap we are being fed in todays cinema.

Posted by Nick Field (Member # 2132) on September 29, 2011, 02:09 PM:

I know what you mean,even a lot of tv dramas have taken on this type of filming,apparently this type of filming makes you feel like your in part of the action. [Confused]

like what they say welcome to modern filming, more like modern rubbish. [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Bill Phelps (Member # 1431) on September 29, 2011, 05:44 PM:

I agree with you Paul. I have seen quite a few new trailers for theatrical films and I thought they were ads for TV shows. That is what they looked like...

I don't really like all the modern trends....I'm glad there are literally thousands of old films I've never seen so there is plenty to keep me entertained.

Bill [Smile]

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on September 29, 2011, 09:53 PM:

You know what I miss?

A director and cinemaphotographer that can linger on a lovely poetic or perhaps even a horrifying moment, for a minute or two, so the audience really6 has a chance to take it all in ...

.. all the nuances in the shot. The little details.

Terry Gilliam is quite noteworthy on this point. You can freezeframe almost any of his films, and find a lot of details that you'd easily miss just glancing at it quickly.

How about David Lean's films? Those magnificent shots, lingering on the sunrise ...

that INCREDIBLE shot of the desert plain, with Omar Shariff, first, what we think is a mirage, then this form emerging from the seemingly liquid, moist horizon, then slowly becoming a real entity on that desert plain.

I'll always remember that shot and how the film came to a lovely halt. So few directors would do such a thing today.

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