That was Geoffrey Unsworth (Yes, I just looked it up)
Blade Runner 2047 Teaser Trailer
- Thread starter dmitrizigany
- Start date
That was Geoffrey Unsworth (Yes, I just looked it up)
Greg Smith
Veteran
I'm also not a fan of Kubrick
Now them there is fightin' words. All I can say is it's a good thing you're on the other side of a big ocean from me and my friends.
- Greg
Mitch Gross
Veteran
combatentropy
Veteran
I'm not arguing that he's extremely skilful.. But he's just too correct and reserved. [...] To stir things up a bit more: I'm also not a fan of Kubrick
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Which brings up perhaps a more subtle discussion in how a different cinematographer fits into a particular genre and with a particular director. In case of Unsworth, "A Bridge too far" (Director Rixhard Attenborough) has a pseudo documentary look, which is what was required for a WWII combat film. "2001" and "Superman" (Director Richard Donner), on the other hand, were glossy and refined.
Similarly, Gordon Willis did the "Godfather" Trilogy as a very stylish, almost film noir type thriller (the Luca Brasi death scene) while shooting a pseudo documentary style for "All the President's Men" and "Annie Hall".
And, to bring this back to BR2047, we know Deakins can work with the Cohen Brothers. But what can he do with Villeneuve?
combatentropy
Veteran
I'm with you that a good DP can do more than one style well. I'm just not sure I would call those movies "pseudo documentary." Saving Private Ryan is pseudo documentary, but A Bridge Too Far still looks classical to me, based on the trailer and few clips on Youtube (I admit I haven't seen the whole thing).
But All the President's Men, one of my favorites, also isn't what I would call pseudo documentary. In fact I would say Gordon Willis shot all his movies the same. But his style was so simple it blended into the style of movie he was shooting. Don't get me wrong. His style was precise. But it was at the same time simple: he used fewer lights than your average cinematographer and fewer lenses (if his directors let him, he would have shot all his films with a single 40mm lens [may be slight exaggeration]).
But All the President's Men, one of my favorites, also isn't what I would call pseudo documentary. In fact I would say Gordon Willis shot all his movies the same. But his style was so simple it blended into the style of movie he was shooting. Don't get me wrong. His style was precise. But it was at the same time simple: he used fewer lights than your average cinematographer and fewer lenses (if his directors let him, he would have shot all his films with a single 40mm lens [may be slight exaggeration]).
Mitch Gross
Veteran
I've seen A Bridge Too Far several times, and I don't see how one could call it "documentary" in style. In fact it is shot fairly classically, albeit with more fluid and with greater use of zooms than Kubrick's somewhat rigid, precise style.
Gordon Willis certainly had certain stylistic predilections he would impose on every movie, but all his movies certainly did not look the same. Certainly you'll see a greater use of longer focal lengths and softbox overhead lighting, but don't tell me that Klute, All the President's Men, Zelig and Pennies From Heaven look the same.
Willis' finished look could often appear minimalist, but he would often use huge lighting setups to achieve this. The Washington Post newsroom set (on a soundstage in Hollywood) was lit by hundreds of fluorescent practicals that were rewired so that the transformers were stacked outside the stiudio to avoid their incessant hum. And he was known for requiring such precision that when having his crew set up a row of 10Ks for a window light, he insisted on two layers of Rosco 1/8 CTB because he felt the 1/4 CTB to be off to his taste. Back in the day a DP would establish four sets of printer lights for their dailies: Day Int., Day Ext., Night Int., Night Ext. The dailies would always be printed exactly to those specs so that the DP could look for any variations (which back in the day could be shifts in the lab's bath or batch to batch changing on spools for Kodak). Gordon Willis' dailies invariably looked incredibly close to the finished print.
Gordon Willis certainly had certain stylistic predilections he would impose on every movie, but all his movies certainly did not look the same. Certainly you'll see a greater use of longer focal lengths and softbox overhead lighting, but don't tell me that Klute, All the President's Men, Zelig and Pennies From Heaven look the same.
Willis' finished look could often appear minimalist, but he would often use huge lighting setups to achieve this. The Washington Post newsroom set (on a soundstage in Hollywood) was lit by hundreds of fluorescent practicals that were rewired so that the transformers were stacked outside the stiudio to avoid their incessant hum. And he was known for requiring such precision that when having his crew set up a row of 10Ks for a window light, he insisted on two layers of Rosco 1/8 CTB because he felt the 1/4 CTB to be off to his taste. Back in the day a DP would establish four sets of printer lights for their dailies: Day Int., Day Ext., Night Int., Night Ext. The dailies would always be printed exactly to those specs so that the DP could look for any variations (which back in the day could be shifts in the lab's bath or batch to batch changing on spools for Kodak). Gordon Willis' dailies invariably looked incredibly close to the finished print.
I just watched about an hour worth of "A Bridge Too Far" (I skipped in small intervals) and it's definitely not a "documentary" style movie, aside of a few frames such as the airborne troops parachute jumps. I must have have confused it with "The Longest Day", based on a different Cornelius Ryan novel. ("The Last Battle", to my knowledge, has not been turned into a film yet).
dmitrizigany
Veteran
But one of my favourite films, Luc Bessons debut feature, Le Dernier Combat, is called The Last Battle in English
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085426/
The "Last Battle" (based on the last of three Cornelius Ryan's books) was supposed to be made by the MGM but it never made it to the screen. The subject is not likely to be generating a lot of interest from the Western public, given that it's mostly about the Battle for Berlin, March-May, 1945.
PS. There are other books named the "Last Battle".
PS. There are other books named the "Last Battle".
Mitch Gross
Veteran
I wouldn't particularly call The Longest Day documentary in its style either. In fact it famously has a rather spectacular battle scene near the end where French soldiers advance through a besieged village onto a German stronghold. Much of it is captured in a single sustained helicopter shot that was a significant technical achievement in its time. Multiple directors worked on that film and it took several attempts at staging the expensive and complicated sequence until one of them could finally get it right. The Longest Day was by far the biggest, most expensive WW2 movie made up until that time, a three hour B&W CinemaScope blockbuster with literally dozens of major movie stars filling almost all the roles. I can think of a lot of words to describe it, but documentary isn't one of them.
Teddy_Dem
Well-known member
Piszkos Fred
Active member
Honestly, it looks pretty bad. How it gets an IMAX release is beyond me. I mean, the XT is not even 4K for Christ's sake! I wish it was shot on cameras that represent quality, like the FS7 or C300II or an iphone7. It will bomb big time, and noone will rewatch it 50 years from now, because sub 4K material will be banned. And Roger doesn't have a clue what quality is.
Finnegan
Well-known member
Honestly, it looks pretty bad. How it gets an IMAX release is beyond me. I mean, the XT is not even 4K for Christ's sake! I wish it was shot on cameras that represent quality, like the FS7 or C300II or an iphone7. It will bomb big time, and noone will rewatch it 50 years from now, because sub 4K material will be banned. And Roger doesn't have a clue what quality is.
I'll admit that I thought you were serious until the second sentence of your post.
Teddy_Dem
Well-known member
Chris Johnston
Veteran
The pot, boiling on the stove...he wanted that sooo bad.
...But it had lots of explosions and 50 shades of grey monosyllabic romantic dialog !!! ( I guess Michael Bay was busy so they had to go with Denis Villeneuve instead )