Christian Filmmakers

So, I was wondering what might be the best way to go about studying cinematography in films (as in, watching films).  Is it better to “follow” a specific cinematographer’s career (e.g., Wally Pfister, Andrew Lesnie, Roger Deakins) and study his films, trying to get a sense of style?  Or to just look at critically acclaimed/Oscar-nom’d cinematography?  Or just find a movie you like and see what shots you like in it?

Or something totally random that I’d never think of?  <grin>

Any thoughts?

(Note: I’m not asking about the best way to learn cinematography.  I already know that’s by grabbing a camera and shooting something (with the camera…).  I’m already doing that, I just want to see how other, more professional/devoted cinematographers study the works of other even more professional/devoted cinematographers… <grin>)

I have heard that one of the essentials to great cinematography is found in studying the works of the great painters to get a sense of composition…

My knowledge of classical paintings is even more diminutive than my knowledge of cinematographers… <grin>

But since you said that, I did put “A View of Toledo” as my desktop background…

The best way to study in my opinion is to know what to study.  What I mean is go find something you thought looked absolutely awesome (or something others liked) and learn how to break it down.  What makes it look so good?

I know you know the terms “composition,” “color,” “focus,” “light,” etc. so I won’t bother going into that.  The key here is to look at what the shot is doing in combining all those.  How is the special blend of those things coming together to create an image thats amazing?  That’s a key because if you’re on a set and it’s your job to be picking those shots and getting them setup, you need to attack things that way.  Of course, this is all in the context of a story, but knowing all of these things and how to think of all of them at once to either create or analyze an image, is key I think to learning about cinematography.

Learning about aspects of cinematography is one thing, knowing how they all interact with each other to create the final product is another.

The seasoned guys are great because they can look at a given situation and know that if they put their camera there, place this light here, wait till this time of day even, or use this or that film stock with this or that processing on it (and if digital it’s different), that they’ll get “X” image.  That’s what makes them masters.

Example: On “Road to Perdition” Conrad Hall overexposed 2 stops on almost everything, because shooting on the stock he used, and the special processing he planned to give the film for the final image, he knew he could pull things back and give the film a certain look and pull out some more details that he otherwise wouldn’t see.  If shooting that day, you’d look at it and go “wait…why are you doing that?”  Hall knew what he was doing because he was smart enough and knew enough to know that what he shot that day wasn’t the end all be all…it still had another step to go.  So that effects how you do everything from the start.  See what I mean?

With digital it can be different since blowing out something or overexposing can get you into trouble sometimes, but the concept is still there.