The Most Important Aspect of Filmmaking Is Cinematography
a brief introduction
Cinematography is, without a doubt, the most critical aspect of filmmaking since it coordinates with the directors. It primarily employs visual storytelling's fundamental philosophies. Cinematography is a terminology that uses both physical and conceptual filming techniques to express emotions, feelings, and relationships to connect with the viewer through the use of movement, distances, light and shadows, objects, and people. It is usually performed by a cinematographer (Brown 2).
Filmmaking requires physical cinematography equipment such as cameras, illumination, camera mounts, and cranes, but the most important is the conceptual tools. For the movie director to effectively convey or tell the story to the audience, conceptual cinematographic tools such as a frame, Light and color, the lens, movement, texture, establishing, and point-of-view (POV) are crucial.
A cameraperson could capture images and match up the director's ideas, feelings but it takes the services of a cinematographer to design the best shots that would have the audience easily interpret or tell what is going on without having a glimpse of any of the dialogue. Cinematography enhances the quality of visual storytelling with appropriate composition, scene construction, continuity, and providing all editorial needs such as optics, exceptional effects, filters, color control, as well as exposure composition (Brown 4).
In cinematography, the camera is the prime proxy for the audience. The interaction between the camera and the scene of a particular episode of a film is the key determinant of the motion or feeling the audience is going to derive from the scene. It is the way the cinematographer wants the crowd or audience to feel that determines how he/she works out the camera (Barsam and Monahan n.p). Different camera shots express varied tones to a particular scene. The cinematographer is responsible for creating the feelings of the audience; the feelings of disorientation, detachment, serenity, fixed or uneven feelings. For this reason, the cinematographer must be aware of the far-reaching magnificence of the minute details in capturing the full attention of the audience. Once the cinematographer understands the direction he/she wants to take his/her audience, it becomes easy to decide what types of shot to use (Barsam and Monahan n.p).
Balancing between the movement between long and close shots is essential in establishing enlightening visuals or intimate emotions. There's no having more of one without relinquish an equivalent quantity of the other (Brown n.p). It's literally all about balancing. For instance, a long shot will make the actors appear smaller when compared to their immediate background. However, this is the point where the establishment of the scene and its elements takes place, depending on the emotion the cinematographer wants to create for his/her audience. At this point, the cinematographer has a chance to visually express him or herself using the patterns in backdrop and shadows that he/she has managed at this range. At the same time, he/she must put forth the character's emotions from the farthest shot. Although there could be limited background information, the emotional strength could very effective at that proximity to the audience (Brown n.p).
Aside from moving the camera, yet another significant element of cinematography is lighting. The cinematographer will use a lighting key that will help him in describing or choosing the different varieties of lighting to incorporate in different scenes of a film. It is important to note that different lighting keys will imply different meanings for the audience (Mannoni n.p). The lighting key the director of photography employs in a scene will dictate, in a large part, the mood or theme of that particular scene or episode of the film. For instance, one will note that high key lighting (brightly lit shots, with less or not shadows) will mostly be used in comedies and musicals. In most cases, high key lighting is used to imply or indicate natural or a real life movie situation (Wheeler n.p).
This kind of lighting is mostly seen or used in Hollywood films. Interestingly, there is totally nothing ordinary with this scene setting. Creating high key lighting will require a cinematographer to use exceptionally bright lights, which are specifically and strategically situated for each shot. The high key lighting style is very common and has long been considered by most audiences as the natural look for most mainstream movies. The second type of lighting is the high contrast lighting. This style of lighting involves a combination of a dominant of harsh light lines and spectacular streaks of blackness (Mannoni n.p). With this style of lighting the cinematographer uses shadows to display a poignant and peculiar look or expression to audience. This kind of lighting is effective in suggesting and representing a sense of nervousness or bewilderment. Cinematographers also use it to present a crooked outlook which troubles or intimidate the typeset on screen.
Cinematography can also utilize low key lighting in persuading the emotions of the audience. This kind of lighting uses shades and aimed beams of light to create ambiance and anticipation. It is mostly used to suggest obscurity (Mannoni n.p). It mostly finds its use in gangster and horror movies in an overstated form through over-lighting (lighting from above the face) or under-lighting (lighting from under the face) actors to produce a striking or indistinct effect (Wheeler n.p).
Conclusion
The cinematographer has a central role in the filmmaking process since he is responsible for giving the film or movie the quality that will effectively impact the audience. For this reason, the director of photography or the cinematographer must be well acquainted with all the producing procedures since he/she is involved in all processes of filmmaking from pre-production to post-production.
Work Cited
Barsam, Richard, and Dave Monahan. Looking at movies. WW Norton & Company, 2015.
Brown, Blain. Cinematography: theory and practice: image making for cinematographers and directors. Taylor & Francis, 2016.
Mannoni, Laurent. The great art of light and shadow: Archaeology of the cinema. Royal College of General Practitioners, 2015.
Wheeler, Paul. Practical cinematography. Taylor & Francis, 2005.
