Greetings Film Buffs,
Some great movies will be on TCM over the next few days. Here’s an over view from Friday July 18 – Wed July 23
Friday July 18 TCM 8:00pm In The Heat of the Night 1967 Color 1.85:1
Dir: Norman Jewison
DP: Haskel Wexler ASC
Saturday July 19 TCM 10:00 AM The Desperate Hours 1955 B&W
Dir: William Wyler
DP: Lee Dewey Garmes 1898-1978
Sunday July 20 TCM 11:30 AM 12 Angry Men B&W 1.66:1
Dir: Sidney Lumet
DP: Boris Kaufman
Sunday July 20 TCM 5:15 PM West Side Story
Dir: Robert Wise/Jerome Robbins
DP: Daniel L. Fapp
Monday July 21-22 1:00AM Apocalypse Now 1979
Dir: Francis Ford Coppola
DP: Vittorio Storaro
Tuesday July 22 3:30 PM the Best Years of Our Lives 1946
Dir: William Wyler
DP: Gregg Toland
Wednesday July 23 5:45 PM The Apartment 1960
Dir: Billy Wilder
DP: Joseph LaShelle
These are all highly recommended for viewing. Note all aspects of production:
direction, blocking, camerawork- moves, focus, lighting, art direction/props, etc.
Think of the different departments, their functions and any specific problems that any one department in particular had to deal with.
Here are some production notes for a few of the above.
July 18 TCM 8:00pm In The Heat of the Night 1967 Color 1.85:1
Dir: Norman Jewison
Dp: Haskel Wexler ASC
Production Notes:
• Rod Steiger was asked by director Norman Jewison to chew gum when playing the part. He resisted at first but then grew to love the idea,and eventually went through 263 packs of gum during the shooting of the film.
• Mississippi was eventually ruled out as a location due to the existing political conditions. Sparta, Illinois, was selected as the location, and the town's name in the story was changed to Sparta so that local signs would not need to be changed. The greenhouse was added to an existing home and filled with $15,000 worth of orchids.
• The scene that took place at the sheriff's house featured dialog that came out of improvisations between Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger.
• It was suggested to Rod Steiger that he base his performance of Bill Gillespie upon the popular cult icon of the day, "The Dodge Sheriff", but minus the comedy. The Dodge Sheriff was a stereotypical Southern (USA) Sheriff in TV commercials and magazine advertisements of the day promoting the high-performance line of Dodge automobiles.
• The movie's line "They call me Mister Tibbs!" was voted as the #16 movie quote by the American Film Institute
• The movie's line "They call me Mister Tibbs!" was voted as the #76 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.
• Virgil arrives in Sparta, and subsequently leaves town, via the old Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad.
• The "Owl on the Prowl" song: According to Norman Jewison and Haskell Wexler on the DVD commentary, they originally wanted the song "Hey There Little Red Ridin' Hood" by 'Sam the Sham and The Pharoahs' , which is what was actually playing in that scene and what the character Ralph Henshaw (Anthony James) is dancing to. Apparently, Sam the Sham wanted too much money for use of the song and it was probably Quincy Jones who came up with the new song and Glenn Campbell is singing.
• Frequently cited as Sidney Poitier's favorite of all the films he's done.
• In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #75 Greatest Movie of All Time. It was the first inclusion of this film on the list.
• Set in a hot Mississippi summer but filmed during Autumn in Illinois, many of the actors had to keep ice chips in their mouths (and spit them out before takes) to prevent their breath from appearing on camera during the night scenes.
Location Notes:
Belleville, Illinois
Chester, Illinois,
Dyersburg, Tennessee, (cotton fields)
Freeburg, Illinois, USA (opening railroad scene)
Raleigh Studios - 5300 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California,
(California Studios site) (studio)
Sparta, Illinois, USA (Sparta, Mississippi)
July 19 TCM 10:00 AM The Desperate Hours 1955 B&W
Dir: William Wyler
DP: Lee Dewey Garmes 1898-1978
Production Note: First B&W film to shot in VistaVision –
A few notes on VistaVision –
VistaVision is a variant of the 35 mm motion picture film format created by Paramount Pictures in 1954 based on the Glamorama and Superama widescreen systems.
Paramount, who did not buy into the anamorphic systems available, such as CinemaScope, looked for a more satisfying alternative. Paramount's intention was to create finer-grained negatives through shooting with larger surface area on film, which when printed and projected on the screen in the new flat widescreen formats, would register as clear as those which were not magnified for variable ratios.
In shooting VistaVision, the film is run horizontally, as in a still camera, with a width of 8 perforations per frame, which required special cameras.
This gave a wider aspect ratio of 1.5 against the conventional 1.37, and a larger image area. VistaVision films were shown in a number of aspect ratios, the most popular being 1.85:1. Others included 2:1 and 1.75:1.
the process saw limited usage, as it required considerable labwork including optical printing and matting down to a conventional aspect ratio on vertical film (with the exception of a very small number of theaters between 1954 and 1956), as well as the cost of twice as much film stock during filming. VistaVision lost out in the general market to the less expensive, anamorphic systems such as Panavision and the more capable 70 mm format. Since its last usage in the American market for One Eyed Jacks in 1961, it has virtually disappeared as a primary imaging system for feature films. Most films today are shot in Panavision,
In 1975, Dykstraflex, a retooled VistaVision camera, was created for Industrial Light and Magic's use on process shots in Star Wars. Since then, the format has enjoyed a brief renaissance as an intermediate format used for shooting special effects, since the larger negative area compensates against the increased grain created when shots are optically composited. However, the advent of computer-generated imagery, advanced film scanning and digital intermediate work, film stocks optimized for special effects work, lenses and film stocks with higher resolving power, and usage of 70 mm for similar optical compositing work has largely rendered this usage of VistaVision obsolete as well.
July 20 TCM 11:30 AM 12 Angry Men B&W 1.66:1
Dir: Sidney Lumet
DP: Boris Kaufman
Production Notes:
The filming was completed after a short but rigorous rehearsal schedule in less than three weeks on a budget of about $350,000.
At the beginning of the film, the cameras are positioned above eye level and mounted with wide-angle lenses to give the appearance of greater depth between subjects, but as the film progresses the focal length of the lenses is gradually increased. By the end of the film, nearly everyone is shown in closeup using telephoto lenses from a lower angle, which decreases or "shortens" depth of field. Lumet, who began his career as a director of photography, stated that his intention in using these techniques with cinematographer Boris Kaufman was to create a nearly palpable claustrophobia
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Film Viewing Alert – Love With The Proper Stranger (1963)
TONIGHT! - 7/10 Thursday TCM @ 8:00 PM -- Love With The Proper Stranger (1963)
Length: 102 min.
Color: B&W
Aspect Ration: 1.85:1
Dir. Robert Mulligan (also directed To Kill A Mockingbird 1962)
DP: Milton R. Krasner
Among the many films, Mr. Krasner also shot are –
THREE COINS IN A FOUNTAIN 1954
THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH 1955
Mr. Krasner won the Oscar for best cinematography (color) for THREE COINS IN A FOUNTAIN. Back then there were two cinematography Oscars – Color & B&W. See Cinema History Note (CHN) below.
THREE COINS IN A FOUNTAIN helped put Rome on the tourism map for Americans.
--
LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER is an important film for several significant factors –
1. It’s a beautiful love story that unabashedly explores elements of life that confront many young people, namely “one-night-stands” of casual sex, resulting unwelcome pregnancy and abortion, something of a bold cinematic theme for 1963 (10 years before Roe v. Wade).
2. Outstanding performances by the entire cast lead by Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen.
3. High pedigree of recognition - nominated for five Academy Awards for:
▪ Best Actress in a Leading Role (Natalie Wood)
▪ Best Art Direction-Set Decoration Black-and-White (see CHN below)
▪ Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Milton R. Krasner)
▪ Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (see CHN below)
▪ Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen.
Cinema History Note (CHN): 1939–1966 separate Academy Awards were presented for films in color and films in Black & White in the following categories: Cinematography, Art Direction and Costume Design.
For a list of all nominees and winners for Cinematography from 1928 – 2007, visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Cinematography
Tune in again soon for more Viewing Alerts of notable films.
Frost
Length: 102 min.
Color: B&W
Aspect Ration: 1.85:1
Dir. Robert Mulligan (also directed To Kill A Mockingbird 1962)
DP: Milton R. Krasner
Among the many films, Mr. Krasner also shot are –
THREE COINS IN A FOUNTAIN 1954
THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH 1955
Mr. Krasner won the Oscar for best cinematography (color) for THREE COINS IN A FOUNTAIN. Back then there were two cinematography Oscars – Color & B&W. See Cinema History Note (CHN) below.
THREE COINS IN A FOUNTAIN helped put Rome on the tourism map for Americans.
--
LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER is an important film for several significant factors –
1. It’s a beautiful love story that unabashedly explores elements of life that confront many young people, namely “one-night-stands” of casual sex, resulting unwelcome pregnancy and abortion, something of a bold cinematic theme for 1963 (10 years before Roe v. Wade).
2. Outstanding performances by the entire cast lead by Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen.
3. High pedigree of recognition - nominated for five Academy Awards for:
▪ Best Actress in a Leading Role (Natalie Wood)
▪ Best Art Direction-Set Decoration Black-and-White (see CHN below)
▪ Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Milton R. Krasner)
▪ Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (see CHN below)
▪ Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen.
Cinema History Note (CHN): 1939–1966 separate Academy Awards were presented for films in color and films in Black & White in the following categories: Cinematography, Art Direction and Costume Design.
For a list of all nominees and winners for Cinematography from 1928 – 2007, visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Cinematography
Tune in again soon for more Viewing Alerts of notable films.
Frost
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
History & The Human Experience-Remember the Battle of Gettysburg
History & The Human Experience – Remember the Battle of Gettysburg.
As the July 4th celebration approaches, I like to think about things that are a somewhat removed from the conventional summer holiday activities like fire works, cook-outs and potato sack races. That doesn’t mean I’m not patriotic. I’m a US Army veteran and American traditions, and legends of traditions, are near and dear to my heart. My eyes get moist and the bottom lip tends to quiver whenever I hear the Star-Spangled Banner and it can be a downright tear duct deluge when I see news footage of our military people deploying for duty overseas and especially with images of military people returning home and being greeted by adoring family and friends. And I get mad as hell every time I hear reports of American troops killed in action.
In these times of economic woe of soaring prices, mortgage and credit crunch, and that thankless war in the middle east, it’s important for Americans to pause and reflect on The Human Experience and the daily details and routines some people have to go through in order to do things that keep us safe. Take a cranial sojourn and energize your mind to engage a wide scope of human realities. For example – think about what a Special Operations unit, deployed on a secret intelligence mission in eastern Iran, had for breakfast this morning. Or, with respect to the pending July 4th holiday this weekend, what a South Carolina militiaman fighting under Swamp Fox Francis Marion had for a noon meal around July 4th, 1778.
One hundred and forty-five years ago today, tomorrow and Thursday, Americans
fought and killed each other in the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863. Spend some time thinking about that. Seek out and peruse websites that feature source materials like letters and diaries written by soldiers of both sides or observant residents of Gettysburg and its environs. Find sites with photographs of the battlefield, soldiers and prisoners of war. Those of you who are photographers and filmmakers think about how you might have gone about capturing images back then, with equipment of the time and with the technology we have today. Click on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Battle_of_Gettysburg.jpg and study “Harvest of Death”, a photograph taken after the battle by Timothy O’Sullivan, July 5th or 6th.
Timothy O’Sullivan (1840-1882) was an interesting and noteworthy individual, considered to be one of the first to create photography as a documentary form in the 19th century. Not a great deal is known about O’Sullivan’s life. According to sources, he was born in Ireland in 1840 and when he was two, emigrated with his family to New York during the potato famine. In 1858 he began working as an apprentice in Mathew Brady’s New York gallery. He later transferred to the Washington, DC gallery which was run by Alexander Gardner, then an associate of Brady’s. At the beginning of the Civil War, O’Sullivan assisted Brady in creating a comprehensive photographic history of the war. In 1863, O’Sullivan left Brady to start his own business and worked with Gardner who left Brady a year before. Gardner’s studio published the first collection of Civil War photographs, Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, which featured 42 of O’Sullivan’s battlefield images.
After the Civil War, O’Sullivan was a photographer for the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, the first survey of the American West. The expedition started in Nevada and worked its way eastward. O’Sullivan’s assignment was to photograph the West, creating images that were used to attract settlers – an early version of land development promotion. O’Sullivan’s pictures were some of the first taken of prehistoric ruins, pueblo villages, Navajo life and the grand western landscapes.
In 1870 O’Sullivan joined a team in Panama to survey for a canal across the isthmus. From 1871 to 1874 he joined another survey venture west of the 100th Meridian exploring and taking pictures in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. Some of the expedition’s boats capsized on the Colorado River and many of O’Sullivan 300 negatives were lost.
His remaining years were spent in Washington, DC as the official photographer for the U.S, Geological Survey and the Treasury Dept. While in Washington, O’Sullivan met and married Laura Virginia Pywll, the sister of a Washington photographer. In 1876 Mrs. Sullivan had a son who was stillborn. There were no other children. In 1882 Timothy O’Sullivan died of tuberculosis at age 41 or 42.
Eyewitness account of the battle by a teenage girl:
Go to: www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/gtburg.htm then scroll down to read the eyewitness account of Ms. Tillie Pierce, a teenage girl (b. 1848) who lived in Gettysburg at the time. Think about shooting an interview with her a few days after the battle. Research “You Are There”, the amazing, before-its-time 1953 CBS television show hosted by Walter Cronkite that combined history and technology in a most unique way that has yet to be paralleled.
See:
www.tv.com/you-are-there/show/5397/episode_listings.html for general background
and…
www.tv.com/you-are-there/show/5397/episode_listings.html episode guide.
In this thought exercise use your imagination, think in a 360 degree pattern and look for connections within youself and between sources, ideas, realities and above all dreams.
--
As the July 4th celebration approaches, I like to think about things that are a somewhat removed from the conventional summer holiday activities like fire works, cook-outs and potato sack races. That doesn’t mean I’m not patriotic. I’m a US Army veteran and American traditions, and legends of traditions, are near and dear to my heart. My eyes get moist and the bottom lip tends to quiver whenever I hear the Star-Spangled Banner and it can be a downright tear duct deluge when I see news footage of our military people deploying for duty overseas and especially with images of military people returning home and being greeted by adoring family and friends. And I get mad as hell every time I hear reports of American troops killed in action.
In these times of economic woe of soaring prices, mortgage and credit crunch, and that thankless war in the middle east, it’s important for Americans to pause and reflect on The Human Experience and the daily details and routines some people have to go through in order to do things that keep us safe. Take a cranial sojourn and energize your mind to engage a wide scope of human realities. For example – think about what a Special Operations unit, deployed on a secret intelligence mission in eastern Iran, had for breakfast this morning. Or, with respect to the pending July 4th holiday this weekend, what a South Carolina militiaman fighting under Swamp Fox Francis Marion had for a noon meal around July 4th, 1778.
One hundred and forty-five years ago today, tomorrow and Thursday, Americans
fought and killed each other in the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863. Spend some time thinking about that. Seek out and peruse websites that feature source materials like letters and diaries written by soldiers of both sides or observant residents of Gettysburg and its environs. Find sites with photographs of the battlefield, soldiers and prisoners of war. Those of you who are photographers and filmmakers think about how you might have gone about capturing images back then, with equipment of the time and with the technology we have today. Click on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Battle_of_Gettysburg.jpg and study “Harvest of Death”, a photograph taken after the battle by Timothy O’Sullivan, July 5th or 6th.
Timothy O’Sullivan (1840-1882) was an interesting and noteworthy individual, considered to be one of the first to create photography as a documentary form in the 19th century. Not a great deal is known about O’Sullivan’s life. According to sources, he was born in Ireland in 1840 and when he was two, emigrated with his family to New York during the potato famine. In 1858 he began working as an apprentice in Mathew Brady’s New York gallery. He later transferred to the Washington, DC gallery which was run by Alexander Gardner, then an associate of Brady’s. At the beginning of the Civil War, O’Sullivan assisted Brady in creating a comprehensive photographic history of the war. In 1863, O’Sullivan left Brady to start his own business and worked with Gardner who left Brady a year before. Gardner’s studio published the first collection of Civil War photographs, Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, which featured 42 of O’Sullivan’s battlefield images.
After the Civil War, O’Sullivan was a photographer for the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, the first survey of the American West. The expedition started in Nevada and worked its way eastward. O’Sullivan’s assignment was to photograph the West, creating images that were used to attract settlers – an early version of land development promotion. O’Sullivan’s pictures were some of the first taken of prehistoric ruins, pueblo villages, Navajo life and the grand western landscapes.
In 1870 O’Sullivan joined a team in Panama to survey for a canal across the isthmus. From 1871 to 1874 he joined another survey venture west of the 100th Meridian exploring and taking pictures in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. Some of the expedition’s boats capsized on the Colorado River and many of O’Sullivan 300 negatives were lost.
His remaining years were spent in Washington, DC as the official photographer for the U.S, Geological Survey and the Treasury Dept. While in Washington, O’Sullivan met and married Laura Virginia Pywll, the sister of a Washington photographer. In 1876 Mrs. Sullivan had a son who was stillborn. There were no other children. In 1882 Timothy O’Sullivan died of tuberculosis at age 41 or 42.
Eyewitness account of the battle by a teenage girl:
Go to: www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/gtburg.htm then scroll down to read the eyewitness account of Ms. Tillie Pierce, a teenage girl (b. 1848) who lived in Gettysburg at the time. Think about shooting an interview with her a few days after the battle. Research “You Are There”, the amazing, before-its-time 1953 CBS television show hosted by Walter Cronkite that combined history and technology in a most unique way that has yet to be paralleled.
See:
www.tv.com/you-are-there/show/5397/episode_listings.html for general background
and…
www.tv.com/you-are-there/show/5397/episode_listings.html episode guide.
In this thought exercise use your imagination, think in a 360 degree pattern and look for connections within youself and between sources, ideas, realities and above all dreams.
--
Monday, June 30, 2008
DP Owen Roizman ASC & The French Connection
June 30, 2007
Subject: DP Owen Roizman ASC & The French Connection
Sorry for the long delay since the last posting where I promised some info on Mr. Owen Roizman and his work in general and his cutting edge contribution to the industry on The French Connection (1971) an iconic and pivotal motion picture. Roizman used fast film stocks on the film in ways never before tried on a major production, He also developed new styles of camera placement, movement and operating on many scenes, the famous car chase being one of the most prevalent examples. William Friedkin, the film’s director, wanted to take a radicle departure from the basic film look of that time – late 60’s early 70’s – when most film lighting was high key. This was necessary because color negative film stocks were slow – 100 ASA. Kodak was coming out with faster color negative, but most major theatrical production, as well as television spot commercial production, didn’t like to use the faster stock because of the grain factor. But for Friedkin’s creative mind set on “Connection”, the grain was ok. He wanted a gritty look and Owen Roizman was ready to give it to him, as you will see from the interview below. I’ve taken the liberty of making the following selections from an interview with Owen Roizman by the International Cameraman’s Guild (ICG):
ICG: That was in 1970. What happened next?
OWEN ROIZMAN: A young director named Billy Friedkin was looking for somebody to shoot The French Connection, and again, Dick DiBona recommended me. Billy looked at my commercial reel. He liked it but it wasn’t a feature film, so he screened Stop. After about four reels, he said, ‘It’s pretty stuff, but all high-key. I want The French Connection to be a gritty, realistic, down-and-dirty, documentary-style film. Do you think you can do that?’ I said, ‘Why not? I’m a cinematographer. You tell me the mood you want, and I should be able to get it on film.’ I think he liked my spunk. He offered me the film.
ICG: How did you prepare to shoot The French Connection?
OWEN ROIZMAN: I read the script, and started thinking about how I was going to light. There were things I had never done before like shooting low-key scenes in a car at night. I recruited my wife, Mona, to stand-in for Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider. I experimented with lighting those scenes in our in garage in total darkness. She sat in the car, and I experimented with placing a few lamps to get a feel for the look and the mood I wanted.
ICG: Did any of you have an idea when you were doing The French Connection that it would become a classic that is still inspiring other filmmakers?
OWEN ROIZMAN: I don’t think anybody knew it was going to become iconic. It’s still one of the best scripts I’ve ever read. When we were shooting it, we all knew we were getting some good things. One day the production manager was handing out our paychecks when we were about halfway through the picture. He said to me, ‘You’ll probably be going get an Oscar.’ I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’ I had never thought of it in those terms. When they were in the editing stage, I was talking to Billy (Friedkin) on the phone one day, and I asked, ‘How does it look?’ He said, ‘There is no way to tell yet.’ I don’t think anybody knew until it was released and the audience responded.
ICG: This sounds like a dumb question, but how did you know what to do?
OWEN ROIZMAN: When you were shooting commercials in those days, everything was high-key. We hardly ever shot at night or interior car shots. You never wanted to make anything look grainy, low-key or realistic. It was all stylized. In our early conversations, Billy said he wanted the picture to have almost a documentary look. He wanted it to be very real looking. I just started thinking about that and I decided to underexpose and force develop the film and then print it up. That gave a very grainy look.
ICG: Where did that come from? How did you know what to do?
OWEN ROIZMAN: Instinct. We sometimes shot in available light and low-key situations, and stretched the exposure latitude of the film. Everybody thought I shot The French Connection in available light. I always joke and say yes, I shot in whatever light was available from the truck. The goal was to make it look like it wasn’t lit, which was a radical notion in those days.
ICG: This is either a dumb or rhetorical question. During the past several years, there has been a series of articles in newspapers and some trade magazines about how digital cameras are eliminating the need for lighting, and how directors are now making their own movies by putting digital cameras on their shoulders. They are basically saying that lighting gets in the way of the actors and just slows things down. My question is whether future directors and cinematographers will need to be concerned about lighting?
OWEN ROIZMAN: My simple answer to that is FOREVER. I believe every film has a mood …some kind of quality that you want to capture to transmit the essence of the story to the audience. It doesn’t have to happen on a conscious level. I’ve always felt that you subconsciously draw the audience into the film, so that they’re not aware that there’s a camera, lights or anything else. They are just sitting there as voyeurs seeing a story unfold. There are many elements that go into capturing that mood and drawing the audience in, including composition, lighting and camera movement. The video camera is just another tool. You still need creativity and taste, and you still have to know how to achieve the looks and the moods you want. It really does matter. Imagine that you’re shooting a dark scene in a closet and there’s no light on, and yet everything is very brightly lit. Subconsciously, people are looking at it and they’re saying, what’s wrong with this? This doesn’t feel right. Even if it’s not on a conscious level, subconsciously they feel that something’s wrong and you’re doing the film and the audiencean injustice.
ICG: You got an Oscar nomination for The French Connection. Did you get countless offers after that, and how did you decide what to do next?
OWEN ROIZMAN: I never wanted to work non-stop, picture after picture after picture. I turned down a lot of films and filled my time with commercials. I started directing commercials during the mid-1960s. I liked the process of directing and shooting. I could do a lot of experimenting with commercials, and I could be more selective about the scripts I chose.
The following includes questions from Eric Roizman, Owen Roizman’s son who is also a cinematographer and more form ICG:
ICG: Here’s the question of the day for you. You compiled 18 credits in just 12 years and earned your fourth Oscar nomination for Tootsie in 1982. At that juncture, you decided to stop shooting narrative films and concentrate on directing and shooting commercials. Why?
OWEN ROIZMAN: Eric was 13 years old when I finished Tootsie. Actually I shot one more film after Tootsie. It was Vision Quest, which my good friend Harold Becker directed. After that I felt it was important for me to be around home more with a teenage son growing up. I figured if I opened my own commercial company it would tie me down and I wouldn’t be tempted by a great script to go off and shoot a film at a remote location for six months. I turned down a lot of good projects during that period, but I have no regrets.
ICG: How many commercials do you think you did in that span?
OWEN ROIZMAN: I have no idea. Sometimes you don’t do as many when you’re directing because there’s prep time involved. You may have weeks of prep for a one-day shoot, and there’s the whole bidding process. It was probably in the hundreds.
ICG: What did you learn from that experience?
OWEN ROIZMAN: I gained a lot of respect for producers and directors. I had directed commercials before, but now I was responsible for coming in on budget, and making sure I had all the elements. I also had an obligation to the crews to make sure that they were well treated well. I had a staff working for me and a big overhead every month, so there was a lot more responsibility. I became much more aware of the other elements of the process of filmmaking.
ICG: Why and when did you go back to shooting narrative films?
OWEN ROIZMAN: When I started my commercial company in 1983, I signed a five-year lease for office space. The five years were coming to an end, and there was a huge actors’ strike in the commercial industry. The business was getting very cutthroat and Eric had his driver’s license, so I figured, he didn’t need me hanging around anymore. Larry Kasdan asked me to work with him on I Love You to Death and I was interested. Right after that I worked with Sydney Pollack again on Havana and then the following year I shot The Addams Family and Grand Canyon.
ICG: Eric, what did you concentrate on in film school?
ERIC ROIZMAN: I concentrated a lot on the new media, the Internet and the use of computers for delivering content, because it was the dawn of that era.
ICG: What were your questions for your dad?
ERIC ROIZMAN: How much does production design affect what you do?
OWEN ROIZMAN: Production design has everything to do with what we do as cinematographers, because they provide the palette that we have to photograph. It’s the same with wardrobe, costumes, set decorators, all of that makes a huge difference. That’s why it’s important for cinematographers to come onboard as early as possible during the pre-production stage, so you can have meetings with the production designer and director, and hopefully guide them to your way of thinking. Too often, you are brought in after those things have been decided and you’re stuck shooting that palette. It makes a huge difference when you’re working with a really talented production designer. I remember, for example, Three Days of the Condor. It was my first film with Stephen Grimes. I remember we were looking at a set with very fine striped black and white wallpaper. I said, ‘Steve, you’ve got to change this, because this is going to dance and strobe, because it is too contrasty.’ He was totally embarrassed that he had made that mistake. I thought to correct it he was going to take the wallpaper off, but all he did was tech it down to take the contrast out of it. We developed an immediate respect for each other and later worked together on several films.
ERIC ROIZMAN: You have told me that you adhere to a less-is-more philosophy. How do you adhere to the less-is-more philosophy on large sets on soundstages or big night exteriors?
OWEN ROIZMAN: I don’t think the size of the shot makes a difference, because you can just adjust the size of the lights to coincide with the shot. If you’re going to shoot a bottle, for example, or a tin can on a tabletop, you don’t need a huge light, but you are still using one source from one direction. You use whatever size it takes to give you a believable source. This may be an exaggeration but I’ve always felt that if you’re working with a great production designer, you should be able to walk on a set, take one light, put it strategically in the place you want and everything should look great.
ERIC ROIZMAN: When you’re shooting in a practical location, how do you begin? What’s the first thing you look at while deciding how to light it? In other words, do you start from the space and then move onto the actors or do you start from the actors and move out to the space?
OWEN ROIZMAN: Everybody has different theories, but I always think about faces, because eventually you will end up with close-ups on the actors. I always look at their faces and think about how I want to end up lighting them. From there, I work my way out to the set. There are other cinematographers who light the sets or locations first and let the actors find their best light.
ERIC ROIZMAN: Why do you choose a certain stop, say a T-2.8 or 4? What determines that? It seems like the differences sometimes are very subtle.
OWEN ROIZMAN: These are great questions. Two things always decide the stop for me. First, I try to pick a stop that I would want to work with for the entire film, because I train my eye to see things at a certain light level, so I know how it will translate to film. If I was working a key of 15 footcandles, I could feel how much fill light I needed. I didn’t even have to measure it, because I just knew from the dailies and doing it every day what it was going to look like. The other reason why I would pick a stop to work at was based on how much information I wanted to see in the background all the time. If I wanted to go for close-ups with the background to be out of focus most of the time, which is the way I generally like it, I would pick a more wide-open stop. Come to think about it, there’s another reason, too. If I had an assistant who I thought was going to be really, really good pulling focus, I could work at more wide-open stops.
ERIC ROIZMAN: So, the crew can be part of your aesthetic decision-making?
OWEN ROIZMAN: Absolutely. There are very few auteurs who can make great movies alone. It is a collaborative process. The crew is like my family. You are living with them day-in and day-out for months, especially when you’re on location. You have to know what everyone can contribute and keep encouraging them to do so.
ERIC ROIZMAN: I have a few more questions. What do you look for during rehearsals?
OWEN ROIZMAN: When the director is working with his actors and laying out a scene, I’m looking at it in terms of the different kind of shots that I think are necessary. It’s all about editing. Is this going to play well with just one master? Which direction will we get the best coverage? Which direction are the actors facing? How can I to get them in the best light? I’m always looking at it in terms of how I’m going to light the actors when they’re looking in a certain direction from a certain spot, and what kind of coverage will we need to make the scene go together smoothly? It’s a multi-faceted approach to thinking that starts on a conscious level, but it becomes almost subconscious or instinctive. It’s both an art and a science.
ERIC ROIZMAN: I’m throwing this question back at you. How would you light a scene in a space that has no light like someone in a closet or maybe a coffin?
OWEN ROIZMAN: Since I’m always asking that question, the truth is that I don’t really have the answer. It really depends on so many factors. Let’s face it. If somebody really is in a closet and the door’s closed, and there’s no light coming underneath the crack of the door, they’re really in total darkness. But, in that case, you might as well be doing a radio show, so you have to invent a way to make it believable by using some poetic license. Everybody takes a different approach.
--
ERIC ROIZMAN: I am always learning. Every film is an education about how to act on the set, how to deal with other people in the crew, and, of course, how to move the camera in ways that help the story. It’s an endless list. My advice to someone who is stepping up to camera operator is to really pay attention to your director of photography and your director. Watch rehearsals like a hawk. Know where your actors are going to be. Know what the scene is about, so you know who to go with if you have to make a choice
--
ICG: There is so much hype today about how technology is or will be changing everything about the art and craft of filmmaking. What is the most important advance that you’ve seen in technology?
OWEN ROIZMAN: I personally think that the biggest advance was the invention of the VCR, laserdiscs, and DVDs. They allow you the opportunityto study hundreds of films and learn more about the art and craft, because it’s a lot easier to run something back and forth at home on a DVD or a tape or a laserdisc than it is to go watch a film in the theater… and studying an art form is how you learn. The more you can study the better off you are. As far as the equipment goes, today’s lenses are and films are a little faster, the lights are a little smaller and cooler, but you still have to know when and how touse them to tell stories. They’re just tools, that’s all. It’s like a painter being given a different palette, a different brush or a different mixture of the colors. You still have to blend it all together and use them. I remember when we were shooting The Black Marble (1980), we had an interior scene in a very dimly-lit church in Los Angeles. The camera was on a balcony looking down on the action. I wasn’t allowed to rig lights, and we were using a 30mm anamorphic lens for the establishing shot. The film speed was 100 and it was a T-3 lens. I had the crew hide Chinese lanterns in the four corners of the church interior, but I was still getting a very low reading on my light meter. However, I decided not to push the film because I felt the scene needed rich black, velvet tones without a hint of grain. With all my experience I was worried about the results. We shot on a Friday, and I spent the whole weekend thinking that my career was finished. I was going to get fired on Monday. But, the dailies were gorgeous. It was probably one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever shot. We have new films, new lenses and other new technologies today, but in that same situation, I’d still have to trust my instincts and understand the craft. Those Chinese lanterns, as weak as they were, worked out great. If you just pointed the camera and shot, it wouldn’t be the same.
ERIC ROIZMAN: I think that’s a great point about DVDs being the most important new technology for cinematographers. Today, it is easy for someone like me to study a film 100 times frame by frame. I was watching Tora! Tora! Tora! Recently. There’s a scene where a general is in a room talking to the other generals, and the dolly moves were just so beautiful, so subtle and thought out. It must have taken such choreography between the dolly grip, cinematographer and operator…especially considering the size and heft of the equipment they were using at that time. It’s great to be able to watch a scene like that and really study it.
--
OWEN ROIZMAN: There’s no secret to success and there are no shortcuts. It requires hard work. That’s the best way. I’ve always professed that in order to master the art, you have to learn the craft. The analogy I always use is the painter. The painter sits down at a blank canvas, has a great idea of what he wants to paint. If he doesn’t know how to apply the paints to the canvas, nothing is going to happen. So, he has to know technically how to paint before he can satisfy his artistic instincts. It’s the same with filmmaking. You have to know how to do it before you can do it. You can’t just like imagine it and it happens. It’s not magic…but it can be magical when it is done well.
Subject: DP Owen Roizman ASC & The French Connection
Sorry for the long delay since the last posting where I promised some info on Mr. Owen Roizman and his work in general and his cutting edge contribution to the industry on The French Connection (1971) an iconic and pivotal motion picture. Roizman used fast film stocks on the film in ways never before tried on a major production, He also developed new styles of camera placement, movement and operating on many scenes, the famous car chase being one of the most prevalent examples. William Friedkin, the film’s director, wanted to take a radicle departure from the basic film look of that time – late 60’s early 70’s – when most film lighting was high key. This was necessary because color negative film stocks were slow – 100 ASA. Kodak was coming out with faster color negative, but most major theatrical production, as well as television spot commercial production, didn’t like to use the faster stock because of the grain factor. But for Friedkin’s creative mind set on “Connection”, the grain was ok. He wanted a gritty look and Owen Roizman was ready to give it to him, as you will see from the interview below. I’ve taken the liberty of making the following selections from an interview with Owen Roizman by the International Cameraman’s Guild (ICG):
ICG: That was in 1970. What happened next?
OWEN ROIZMAN: A young director named Billy Friedkin was looking for somebody to shoot The French Connection, and again, Dick DiBona recommended me. Billy looked at my commercial reel. He liked it but it wasn’t a feature film, so he screened Stop. After about four reels, he said, ‘It’s pretty stuff, but all high-key. I want The French Connection to be a gritty, realistic, down-and-dirty, documentary-style film. Do you think you can do that?’ I said, ‘Why not? I’m a cinematographer. You tell me the mood you want, and I should be able to get it on film.’ I think he liked my spunk. He offered me the film.
ICG: How did you prepare to shoot The French Connection?
OWEN ROIZMAN: I read the script, and started thinking about how I was going to light. There were things I had never done before like shooting low-key scenes in a car at night. I recruited my wife, Mona, to stand-in for Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider. I experimented with lighting those scenes in our in garage in total darkness. She sat in the car, and I experimented with placing a few lamps to get a feel for the look and the mood I wanted.
ICG: Did any of you have an idea when you were doing The French Connection that it would become a classic that is still inspiring other filmmakers?
OWEN ROIZMAN: I don’t think anybody knew it was going to become iconic. It’s still one of the best scripts I’ve ever read. When we were shooting it, we all knew we were getting some good things. One day the production manager was handing out our paychecks when we were about halfway through the picture. He said to me, ‘You’ll probably be going get an Oscar.’ I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’ I had never thought of it in those terms. When they were in the editing stage, I was talking to Billy (Friedkin) on the phone one day, and I asked, ‘How does it look?’ He said, ‘There is no way to tell yet.’ I don’t think anybody knew until it was released and the audience responded.
ICG: This sounds like a dumb question, but how did you know what to do?
OWEN ROIZMAN: When you were shooting commercials in those days, everything was high-key. We hardly ever shot at night or interior car shots. You never wanted to make anything look grainy, low-key or realistic. It was all stylized. In our early conversations, Billy said he wanted the picture to have almost a documentary look. He wanted it to be very real looking. I just started thinking about that and I decided to underexpose and force develop the film and then print it up. That gave a very grainy look.
ICG: Where did that come from? How did you know what to do?
OWEN ROIZMAN: Instinct. We sometimes shot in available light and low-key situations, and stretched the exposure latitude of the film. Everybody thought I shot The French Connection in available light. I always joke and say yes, I shot in whatever light was available from the truck. The goal was to make it look like it wasn’t lit, which was a radical notion in those days.
ICG: This is either a dumb or rhetorical question. During the past several years, there has been a series of articles in newspapers and some trade magazines about how digital cameras are eliminating the need for lighting, and how directors are now making their own movies by putting digital cameras on their shoulders. They are basically saying that lighting gets in the way of the actors and just slows things down. My question is whether future directors and cinematographers will need to be concerned about lighting?
OWEN ROIZMAN: My simple answer to that is FOREVER. I believe every film has a mood …some kind of quality that you want to capture to transmit the essence of the story to the audience. It doesn’t have to happen on a conscious level. I’ve always felt that you subconsciously draw the audience into the film, so that they’re not aware that there’s a camera, lights or anything else. They are just sitting there as voyeurs seeing a story unfold. There are many elements that go into capturing that mood and drawing the audience in, including composition, lighting and camera movement. The video camera is just another tool. You still need creativity and taste, and you still have to know how to achieve the looks and the moods you want. It really does matter. Imagine that you’re shooting a dark scene in a closet and there’s no light on, and yet everything is very brightly lit. Subconsciously, people are looking at it and they’re saying, what’s wrong with this? This doesn’t feel right. Even if it’s not on a conscious level, subconsciously they feel that something’s wrong and you’re doing the film and the audiencean injustice.
ICG: You got an Oscar nomination for The French Connection. Did you get countless offers after that, and how did you decide what to do next?
OWEN ROIZMAN: I never wanted to work non-stop, picture after picture after picture. I turned down a lot of films and filled my time with commercials. I started directing commercials during the mid-1960s. I liked the process of directing and shooting. I could do a lot of experimenting with commercials, and I could be more selective about the scripts I chose.
The following includes questions from Eric Roizman, Owen Roizman’s son who is also a cinematographer and more form ICG:
ICG: Here’s the question of the day for you. You compiled 18 credits in just 12 years and earned your fourth Oscar nomination for Tootsie in 1982. At that juncture, you decided to stop shooting narrative films and concentrate on directing and shooting commercials. Why?
OWEN ROIZMAN: Eric was 13 years old when I finished Tootsie. Actually I shot one more film after Tootsie. It was Vision Quest, which my good friend Harold Becker directed. After that I felt it was important for me to be around home more with a teenage son growing up. I figured if I opened my own commercial company it would tie me down and I wouldn’t be tempted by a great script to go off and shoot a film at a remote location for six months. I turned down a lot of good projects during that period, but I have no regrets.
ICG: How many commercials do you think you did in that span?
OWEN ROIZMAN: I have no idea. Sometimes you don’t do as many when you’re directing because there’s prep time involved. You may have weeks of prep for a one-day shoot, and there’s the whole bidding process. It was probably in the hundreds.
ICG: What did you learn from that experience?
OWEN ROIZMAN: I gained a lot of respect for producers and directors. I had directed commercials before, but now I was responsible for coming in on budget, and making sure I had all the elements. I also had an obligation to the crews to make sure that they were well treated well. I had a staff working for me and a big overhead every month, so there was a lot more responsibility. I became much more aware of the other elements of the process of filmmaking.
ICG: Why and when did you go back to shooting narrative films?
OWEN ROIZMAN: When I started my commercial company in 1983, I signed a five-year lease for office space. The five years were coming to an end, and there was a huge actors’ strike in the commercial industry. The business was getting very cutthroat and Eric had his driver’s license, so I figured, he didn’t need me hanging around anymore. Larry Kasdan asked me to work with him on I Love You to Death and I was interested. Right after that I worked with Sydney Pollack again on Havana and then the following year I shot The Addams Family and Grand Canyon.
ICG: Eric, what did you concentrate on in film school?
ERIC ROIZMAN: I concentrated a lot on the new media, the Internet and the use of computers for delivering content, because it was the dawn of that era.
ICG: What were your questions for your dad?
ERIC ROIZMAN: How much does production design affect what you do?
OWEN ROIZMAN: Production design has everything to do with what we do as cinematographers, because they provide the palette that we have to photograph. It’s the same with wardrobe, costumes, set decorators, all of that makes a huge difference. That’s why it’s important for cinematographers to come onboard as early as possible during the pre-production stage, so you can have meetings with the production designer and director, and hopefully guide them to your way of thinking. Too often, you are brought in after those things have been decided and you’re stuck shooting that palette. It makes a huge difference when you’re working with a really talented production designer. I remember, for example, Three Days of the Condor. It was my first film with Stephen Grimes. I remember we were looking at a set with very fine striped black and white wallpaper. I said, ‘Steve, you’ve got to change this, because this is going to dance and strobe, because it is too contrasty.’ He was totally embarrassed that he had made that mistake. I thought to correct it he was going to take the wallpaper off, but all he did was tech it down to take the contrast out of it. We developed an immediate respect for each other and later worked together on several films.
ERIC ROIZMAN: You have told me that you adhere to a less-is-more philosophy. How do you adhere to the less-is-more philosophy on large sets on soundstages or big night exteriors?
OWEN ROIZMAN: I don’t think the size of the shot makes a difference, because you can just adjust the size of the lights to coincide with the shot. If you’re going to shoot a bottle, for example, or a tin can on a tabletop, you don’t need a huge light, but you are still using one source from one direction. You use whatever size it takes to give you a believable source. This may be an exaggeration but I’ve always felt that if you’re working with a great production designer, you should be able to walk on a set, take one light, put it strategically in the place you want and everything should look great.
ERIC ROIZMAN: When you’re shooting in a practical location, how do you begin? What’s the first thing you look at while deciding how to light it? In other words, do you start from the space and then move onto the actors or do you start from the actors and move out to the space?
OWEN ROIZMAN: Everybody has different theories, but I always think about faces, because eventually you will end up with close-ups on the actors. I always look at their faces and think about how I want to end up lighting them. From there, I work my way out to the set. There are other cinematographers who light the sets or locations first and let the actors find their best light.
ERIC ROIZMAN: Why do you choose a certain stop, say a T-2.8 or 4? What determines that? It seems like the differences sometimes are very subtle.
OWEN ROIZMAN: These are great questions. Two things always decide the stop for me. First, I try to pick a stop that I would want to work with for the entire film, because I train my eye to see things at a certain light level, so I know how it will translate to film. If I was working a key of 15 footcandles, I could feel how much fill light I needed. I didn’t even have to measure it, because I just knew from the dailies and doing it every day what it was going to look like. The other reason why I would pick a stop to work at was based on how much information I wanted to see in the background all the time. If I wanted to go for close-ups with the background to be out of focus most of the time, which is the way I generally like it, I would pick a more wide-open stop. Come to think about it, there’s another reason, too. If I had an assistant who I thought was going to be really, really good pulling focus, I could work at more wide-open stops.
ERIC ROIZMAN: So, the crew can be part of your aesthetic decision-making?
OWEN ROIZMAN: Absolutely. There are very few auteurs who can make great movies alone. It is a collaborative process. The crew is like my family. You are living with them day-in and day-out for months, especially when you’re on location. You have to know what everyone can contribute and keep encouraging them to do so.
ERIC ROIZMAN: I have a few more questions. What do you look for during rehearsals?
OWEN ROIZMAN: When the director is working with his actors and laying out a scene, I’m looking at it in terms of the different kind of shots that I think are necessary. It’s all about editing. Is this going to play well with just one master? Which direction will we get the best coverage? Which direction are the actors facing? How can I to get them in the best light? I’m always looking at it in terms of how I’m going to light the actors when they’re looking in a certain direction from a certain spot, and what kind of coverage will we need to make the scene go together smoothly? It’s a multi-faceted approach to thinking that starts on a conscious level, but it becomes almost subconscious or instinctive. It’s both an art and a science.
ERIC ROIZMAN: I’m throwing this question back at you. How would you light a scene in a space that has no light like someone in a closet or maybe a coffin?
OWEN ROIZMAN: Since I’m always asking that question, the truth is that I don’t really have the answer. It really depends on so many factors. Let’s face it. If somebody really is in a closet and the door’s closed, and there’s no light coming underneath the crack of the door, they’re really in total darkness. But, in that case, you might as well be doing a radio show, so you have to invent a way to make it believable by using some poetic license. Everybody takes a different approach.
--
ERIC ROIZMAN: I am always learning. Every film is an education about how to act on the set, how to deal with other people in the crew, and, of course, how to move the camera in ways that help the story. It’s an endless list. My advice to someone who is stepping up to camera operator is to really pay attention to your director of photography and your director. Watch rehearsals like a hawk. Know where your actors are going to be. Know what the scene is about, so you know who to go with if you have to make a choice
--
ICG: There is so much hype today about how technology is or will be changing everything about the art and craft of filmmaking. What is the most important advance that you’ve seen in technology?
OWEN ROIZMAN: I personally think that the biggest advance was the invention of the VCR, laserdiscs, and DVDs. They allow you the opportunityto study hundreds of films and learn more about the art and craft, because it’s a lot easier to run something back and forth at home on a DVD or a tape or a laserdisc than it is to go watch a film in the theater… and studying an art form is how you learn. The more you can study the better off you are. As far as the equipment goes, today’s lenses are and films are a little faster, the lights are a little smaller and cooler, but you still have to know when and how touse them to tell stories. They’re just tools, that’s all. It’s like a painter being given a different palette, a different brush or a different mixture of the colors. You still have to blend it all together and use them. I remember when we were shooting The Black Marble (1980), we had an interior scene in a very dimly-lit church in Los Angeles. The camera was on a balcony looking down on the action. I wasn’t allowed to rig lights, and we were using a 30mm anamorphic lens for the establishing shot. The film speed was 100 and it was a T-3 lens. I had the crew hide Chinese lanterns in the four corners of the church interior, but I was still getting a very low reading on my light meter. However, I decided not to push the film because I felt the scene needed rich black, velvet tones without a hint of grain. With all my experience I was worried about the results. We shot on a Friday, and I spent the whole weekend thinking that my career was finished. I was going to get fired on Monday. But, the dailies were gorgeous. It was probably one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever shot. We have new films, new lenses and other new technologies today, but in that same situation, I’d still have to trust my instincts and understand the craft. Those Chinese lanterns, as weak as they were, worked out great. If you just pointed the camera and shot, it wouldn’t be the same.
ERIC ROIZMAN: I think that’s a great point about DVDs being the most important new technology for cinematographers. Today, it is easy for someone like me to study a film 100 times frame by frame. I was watching Tora! Tora! Tora! Recently. There’s a scene where a general is in a room talking to the other generals, and the dolly moves were just so beautiful, so subtle and thought out. It must have taken such choreography between the dolly grip, cinematographer and operator…especially considering the size and heft of the equipment they were using at that time. It’s great to be able to watch a scene like that and really study it.
--
OWEN ROIZMAN: There’s no secret to success and there are no shortcuts. It requires hard work. That’s the best way. I’ve always professed that in order to master the art, you have to learn the craft. The analogy I always use is the painter. The painter sits down at a blank canvas, has a great idea of what he wants to paint. If he doesn’t know how to apply the paints to the canvas, nothing is going to happen. So, he has to know technically how to paint before he can satisfy his artistic instincts. It’s the same with filmmaking. You have to know how to do it before you can do it. You can’t just like imagine it and it happens. It’s not magic…but it can be magical when it is done well.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Inspiration for Visualization
We’ll continue with the Owen Roizman and The French Connection on the next posting. I’ve been somewhat delinquent in keeping the blog promptly updated. I’ll do better as we progress in our continuing series of observations, notes and artistic instructions of Cinema Studies, Production Techniques and Protocols, and the fundamentals of Cinematography, both physical (film) and electronic (video – analog and digital).
In the meantime, here are two poems of Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967), the venerable African American poet, novelist, playwright, short story writer and columnist.
Dreams and Youth
I thought these selections appropriate as we are rapidly coming upon Spring when new ideas and dreams flourish, and since filmmaking is often the process of bringing dreams to reality. Likewise, Dreams are so much a part of the phenomenon of Youth. So, dream, think, feel – feel the struggle, write, correct and polish your texts, and think and write some more. Youth is a state of mind, one of learning and vision quest. I’m 66 and half and I’m still learning and I have vision quest.
Dreams
Bring me all of your dreams, you dreamer
Bring me all of your heart melodies
That I may wrap them in a blue cloud-cloth
Away from the too-rough fingers of the world
And that is what poetry may do
Wrap up your dreams
Protect and preserve them
And hold them until maybe they’ll come true
All the progress that human beings have made
On this old earth of ours Grew out of dreams
That is why it is wise I should think . . .
To hold fast to dreams —
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow
----
Youth
We have tomorrow
Bright before us
Like a flame Yesterday
A night-gone thing
A sun-down name
And dawn — today
Broad arch above
The road we came
We march
Americans together!
We march!
----
In the meantime, here are two poems of Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967), the venerable African American poet, novelist, playwright, short story writer and columnist.
Dreams and Youth
I thought these selections appropriate as we are rapidly coming upon Spring when new ideas and dreams flourish, and since filmmaking is often the process of bringing dreams to reality. Likewise, Dreams are so much a part of the phenomenon of Youth. So, dream, think, feel – feel the struggle, write, correct and polish your texts, and think and write some more. Youth is a state of mind, one of learning and vision quest. I’m 66 and half and I’m still learning and I have vision quest.
Dreams
Bring me all of your dreams, you dreamer
Bring me all of your heart melodies
That I may wrap them in a blue cloud-cloth
Away from the too-rough fingers of the world
And that is what poetry may do
Wrap up your dreams
Protect and preserve them
And hold them until maybe they’ll come true
All the progress that human beings have made
On this old earth of ours Grew out of dreams
That is why it is wise I should think . . .
To hold fast to dreams —
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow
----
Youth
We have tomorrow
Bright before us
Like a flame Yesterday
A night-gone thing
A sun-down name
And dawn — today
Broad arch above
The road we came
We march
Americans together!
We march!
----
Monday, January 21, 2008
Cinematographers - Special Selections
There are 100’s of excellent films out there, from all counties, but a cherished few are deserving of a very special moniker – iconic. We’ll be talking about these examples of outstanding cinematography and direction throughout this semester, and I’m still working on my list of selections. I feel like a kid in a candy store, there are so many choices. Because the class is Cinematography, we’ll detail films that demonstrate exceptional achievement in that category, works that played a pivotal role in the evolutionary process of film production, camera work and audience reaction.
The first film on my list is The French Connection (1971), photographed by Owen Roizman, for which he received the Oscar, and directed by William Friedkin.
In my next posting we’ll examine some of the principle components of cinematography that make this film so special. Stay tuned…..
The first film on my list is The French Connection (1971), photographed by Owen Roizman, for which he received the Oscar, and directed by William Friedkin.In my next posting we’ll examine some of the principle components of cinematography that make this film so special. Stay tuned…..
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Greetings
Hello Everybody,
Welcome to the start-up Post for Edisto Cam, my new blog. Edisto Cam is about filmmaking in general and cinematography in particular. That's because I'm a cinematographer. However, please be advised that heretofore, unless otherwise stated, references to cinematography and camera work will include both physical cinematography and electronic cinematography. Physical simply refers to film running through the camera and electronic refers to video production of all types - analog/standard definition; digital/wide screen; 24p; 1080i, etc.
We'll be talking a about technology but real cinema creativity comes from the mind, the hand and the heart. And Life Experience also plays a big role. Quoting the late great Director of Photography, Nestor Almendros: "Technical matters are really quite secondary in filmmaking. Far more important is taste and having a good eye."
Along the same line of thought, DP Haskell Wexler wrote: "I don't think technology is either good or bad. We get so excited about some device that we don't think about what we are doing."
In other words, the thought process is most important. Nine tenths of cinematography is in the brain - visualizing and designing the overall approach to an assignment. Think in a 360 degree pattern all the time. Tune into whatever is going on around you at all times. Think in terms of visuals and audio. Observe movement, lighting, conversations or ramdom sounds. Connect in you mind what you observe in life with a pending assignment; connect in your mind whatever films you see with pending assignments; take notes when you can but after a while you 'll find your visual retention skills improving.
For example: If you are in a restaurant, note how the light, whatever its source, falls on the faces of people around you; on the waitstaff and other diners as they move through the space.
When you are in a movie theater, turn around and note how the light from the screen dances on faces in the audience. When you're watching television with friends, see how the light from the tv screen dances on faces and other local surfaces in the room. If you are in a shopping mall, observe how light works throughout the entire space. Tune into conversations between people. If you happen on something interesting to watch or listen to, follow along in a unobstrusive fashion, noting whatever variations happen in the process.
Look, see, listen, feel. Feel the struggle when observing challenging subjects. Watch the news. The airwaves are full of challenges.
Well, that's enough for what I hope is an inspiring introduction to Edisto Cam. Next posting we'll continue with the thought process and examine how one might link the fundementals of life watching with practical and technical applications of cinematography - i.e. shot composition and all that goes on in the frame.
We'll be in touch. Good hunting.
Frost
Welcome to the start-up Post for Edisto Cam, my new blog. Edisto Cam is about filmmaking in general and cinematography in particular. That's because I'm a cinematographer. However, please be advised that heretofore, unless otherwise stated, references to cinematography and camera work will include both physical cinematography and electronic cinematography. Physical simply refers to film running through the camera and electronic refers to video production of all types - analog/standard definition; digital/wide screen; 24p; 1080i, etc.
We'll be talking a about technology but real cinema creativity comes from the mind, the hand and the heart. And Life Experience also plays a big role. Quoting the late great Director of Photography, Nestor Almendros: "Technical matters are really quite secondary in filmmaking. Far more important is taste and having a good eye."
Along the same line of thought, DP Haskell Wexler wrote: "I don't think technology is either good or bad. We get so excited about some device that we don't think about what we are doing."
In other words, the thought process is most important. Nine tenths of cinematography is in the brain - visualizing and designing the overall approach to an assignment. Think in a 360 degree pattern all the time. Tune into whatever is going on around you at all times. Think in terms of visuals and audio. Observe movement, lighting, conversations or ramdom sounds. Connect in you mind what you observe in life with a pending assignment; connect in your mind whatever films you see with pending assignments; take notes when you can but after a while you 'll find your visual retention skills improving.
For example: If you are in a restaurant, note how the light, whatever its source, falls on the faces of people around you; on the waitstaff and other diners as they move through the space.
When you are in a movie theater, turn around and note how the light from the screen dances on faces in the audience. When you're watching television with friends, see how the light from the tv screen dances on faces and other local surfaces in the room. If you are in a shopping mall, observe how light works throughout the entire space. Tune into conversations between people. If you happen on something interesting to watch or listen to, follow along in a unobstrusive fashion, noting whatever variations happen in the process.
Look, see, listen, feel. Feel the struggle when observing challenging subjects. Watch the news. The airwaves are full of challenges.
Well, that's enough for what I hope is an inspiring introduction to Edisto Cam. Next posting we'll continue with the thought process and examine how one might link the fundementals of life watching with practical and technical applications of cinematography - i.e. shot composition and all that goes on in the frame.
We'll be in touch. Good hunting.
Frost
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