From American Cinematographer, Common Sense and Camera Angles by William Stull, ASC (Feb. 1932)
"After the players are well rehearsed, I study the action through the camera's viewfinder, or through the recorder's earphones... Most frequently, I study it through the camera, for the visual must predominate in a motion picture. It is not only the action that is important, but the way in which the camera sees the action. The cinematographer must light the action to exactly match the mood in which it is played, and must have his camera at exactly the right position matching the dramatic perspective of the scene. This is the salient point about camera angles: They must be used to match the dramatic angle of the scene, [and] never for their own sake... If they aid the dramatic progress of the picture, they are good, and must be used; if they hinder it, they must not... But the use of camera angles extends beyond this. It definitely enters the realm of the psychological. It can convey the underlying significance of a scene as nothing else can."
- Rouben Mamoulian
I read, discuss, and discover new things about cinematography everyday. Most of it, I consider incredibly interesting. Everyday I will share one of those things, maybe more if I have time.
Showing posts with label angles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label angles. Show all posts
9.5.09
Conrad Hall & Randy Woodside: Pointillistic Reflections
Randy Woodside was Conrad Hall's gaffer on A Civil Action.
"If there's, say, a group of pictures on a wall in the shot, Connie will often say, 'Give me dot-dot-dot.' In order to provide separation between the picture frames and the wall, rather than lighting the wall up, we'll take a small unit like a pepper and come around to the most radical rake on the wall so that the light is only hitting the picture frames. That way, you provide vertical highlights on the frames in the background in order to get more separation. Basically, we're playing with reflective angles. We will also do that same technique from the front. If you're in church on a wide angle lens that reveals the whole church and all the pews, you want something on the reflective angle to bring out highlights. Everybody's first instinct is usually to use a backlight to find that reflective angle. However, people seem to forget that 180* degrees to that, there is also the same reflective angle which is coming from the camera. The courtroom in A Civil Action, had seats that were very much like church pews, so we took a light on the pin and raised it up so that it would just nick the edges. We came in from the front to define those areas against the darker background."
-Randy Woodside
"If there's, say, a group of pictures on a wall in the shot, Connie will often say, 'Give me dot-dot-dot.' In order to provide separation between the picture frames and the wall, rather than lighting the wall up, we'll take a small unit like a pepper and come around to the most radical rake on the wall so that the light is only hitting the picture frames. That way, you provide vertical highlights on the frames in the background in order to get more separation. Basically, we're playing with reflective angles. We will also do that same technique from the front. If you're in church on a wide angle lens that reveals the whole church and all the pews, you want something on the reflective angle to bring out highlights. Everybody's first instinct is usually to use a backlight to find that reflective angle. However, people seem to forget that 180* degrees to that, there is also the same reflective angle which is coming from the camera. The courtroom in A Civil Action, had seats that were very much like church pews, so we took a light on the pin and raised it up so that it would just nick the edges. We came in from the front to define those areas against the darker background."
-Randy Woodside
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