All of us writing for DIYP are into photography and/or filmmaking, and since you follow our blog, I believe you are, too. But are you also a Star Wars fan? If you are, then you’ll love this video recently posted by CookeOpticsTV. In this video, cinematographer Peter Suschitzky talks about his experience as the director of photography for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. He reveals what it was like to build sets on a budget, how he lit the scenes, and even how he created the light for lightsabers!
Lessons on properly lighting dark-skinned actors from “Insecure” director of photography Ava Berkofsky
How to properly light the model depends on several aspects, and one of them is skin color. Insecure’s director of photography, Ava Berkofsky, makes the actors in the series look fabulous. In this 2-minute video, she shares her lessons on properly lighting the dark-skinned actors to achieve the best results.
Sports Illustrated lays off Director of Photography, two Photo Editors
Almost a year ago to date, Sports Illustrated cut all staff photographers from its payroll, opting instead to rely on freelancers for images—a move that naturally came with plenty of criticism.
Since then things have been mostly silent on the employment front, but the Time Inc. franchise is back at it again.
New reports say that Sports Illustrated Director of Photography Brad Smith and Photo Editors Clair Bourgeois and John Blackmar will be laid off as part of a larger restructuring plan.[Read More…]
3D Printed Images Offer The Blind An Opportunity To Experience Photography
The Touchable Memories project, which is being spearheaded by 3D printer manufacturer, Pirate 3D, is bringing photography into the lives of individuals who have either lost their eyesight or were born blind. Using the Buccaneer 3D printer, Pirate 3D are able to print dimensional photographs from the participants past, giving them a tangible way to revisit their memories.
You can watch a heartwarming video on the project (below) to witness the first time the participants were able to experience a 3D printed photograph, including the story of one man who was once again able to work as a director of photography on a film for the first time since losing his eyesight over eight years ago.[Read More…]
Swoon Over The Masterful Photography And Video Editing In The Short Film “Watchtower Of Turkey”
Equipped with a Panasonic GH3 and a GoPro 3, director and photographer, Leonardo Dalessandri spent 20 days exploring Turkey, travelling over 3500 km and documenting his experience along the way. The result is this incredible 3 1/2 minute long perspective of Turkey that handily trumps the stock footage travel videos that are oh-so-common these days.
Aspiring filmmakers should be taking a few notes as Dalessandri demonstrates his editing skills and post production prowess. Not to mention the wickedly brilliant sound design that went in to the short film with a little help via contributions from musician Ludovico Einaudi, and voice over actress, Meryem Aboulouafa. Watchtower Of Turkey is definately one you don’t want to miss![Read More…]
Godzilla: The Cinematography of Seamus McGarvey
“I think people just see cinematography as being about photography and innovative shots and beautiful lighting. We all want our movies to look great visually, to be beguiling and enticing, but I think that what really defines a great cinematographer is one who loves story.” – Seamus McGarvey, IFTN
Seamus McGarvey was contacted by an executive producer he had recently worked with on The Avengers; she told him about a project she had been involved with, being directed by a guy named Gareth Edwards. Seamus took the time to watch the only other film Gareth had done at that point: an small-budget indie film called Monsters. He was not just impressed by how well the director executed the making of the film while also being in charge of the visual effects and cinematography; he was impressed by the storytelling of the film, as well. For Seamus, it was refreshing to see a monster movie that approached monsters in such a suspenseful manner, like the classics it was so heavily inspired by. The cinematographer signed up and got on board to work with Gareth Edwards on his second project: Godzilla.
The Cinematography of Harris Savides
“He was a complete rule-breaker. He’d light anything to make a scene work, never paid attention to conventional wisdom and did not know from self-doubt.” – Scott Rudin, New York Times
“He liked the blacks to be not fully black, to have a milky, filmy quality, and he liked the light part of an image not to be fully blown out, not just gone complete white, so if someone was wearing a white dress in a window, there would still be details in the dress. He would say the word ‘creamy.’ He liked a creamy image. Otherwise there was no way to tell whether it was Harris.” – Van Sant, New York Times
Harris Savides was only 55 years old when he passed away from brain cancer. Above are a few quotes from the people he’s worked with over the years. Along with the tragedy of leaving at such a young age, he time sadly came when he was at arguably the highest point of his career.
I’ve kept a habit of starting off every one of these posts stating that you might not know this cinematographer, but that you know the films they made. But Harris Savides was someone who never even got nominated for an Academy Award. Admittedly, the Oscars aren’t something that determines the quality of a film (…Crash.), but the resume Harris had on him will make make you wonder why not either way.
Blade Runner: The Cinematography of Jordan Cronenweth
Last Friday, I did my second entry in a weekly feature I started on the work of cinematographers. That entry covered Jeff Cronenweth, who is known for his work with David Fincher in films like The Social Network, Fight Club, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I wanted to write a follow-up to that today, because I think it’s called for in this case. Jeff Cronenweth is the son of the late Jordan Cronenweth, and he learned quite a bit from his father. This article will go over one film by him that ultimately, along with his son, became one of his life’s most impactful legacies: Blade Runner.
The Cinematography of Jeff Cronenweth
Last week, I kicked off something I thought would be incredibly fun to do, and that was to showcase a cinematographer and his work every week. I started off with Roger Deakins, and I may have to apologize now- that guy is such a legend that I’m afraid the next few posts I do won’t gain as much interest. But I can say that today’s cinematographer is one of my absolute favorites. His name is Jeff Cronenweth, and you definitely know his array of work.
The Cinematography of Roger Deakins
A cinematographer is also known as a director of photography. They’re the guys that make the movies we watch look how they look. It’s their photographic eye that we see. And they don’t get too much recognition for the work they do, with most of the attention going towards the director and actor already. I wanted to write about a few good ones and see if it can become a weekly thing if you guys are into it. You probably know the work these guys have done, so I’ll cover what they did to get the shots that we see on the big screen.
If this is going to be the first out of more to come, I’ll start it off with a bang by focusing it on Roger Deakins.
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