Movies and Meaning- Pearson New International Edition

by Stephen Prince

  that influence the way colors are perceived. For ex-

  spectrum is known as the gray scale , and it deter-

  ample, a viewer will judge a red cloth seen at high

  mines which colors are used or avoided in costumes

  noon and again at dusk as the same color, but its

  and sets during filming. Different colors have the

  intensity will vary. Seen at high noon, it will appear

  same degree of brightness. In black-and-white cin-

  much brighter than at dusk. In this regard, percep-

  ematography, this creates a problem. Objects of

  tions of hue and intensity do not always correspond.

  different colors but the same intensity, or gray-scale

  Viewers assume color constancy while correcting for

  value, will blend together on screen. Black-and-

  perceived variations in brightness.

  white film will not distinguish them.

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  FIGURE 2

  FIGURE 3

  Additive mixing.

  Subtractive mixing.

  In color film, hues will naturally separate objects.

  light (achieved through the use of filters to convert the

  Shooting in black-and-white, cinematographers

  white projector light into these hues), they produced

  must separate objects by their degrees of bright-

  a diverse range of colors on screen. Adding green and

  ness. Cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs ( Easy Rider ,

  red, for example, will produce yellow. Additive systems

  1969; Ghostbusters , 1984) points out that in color

  in film, though, were soon replaced by subtractive

  a brown head will separate naturally from a beige

  color mixing, which removes various wavelengths

  wall, but in black-and-white the two may run to-

  from white light. To accomplish this, subtractive color

  gether. The cinematographer has to keep in mind

  filters are used. These colors are magenta, yellow, and

  not only how the human eye will see the colors in a

  cyan. They are contained as layers of dye in the strip

  scene but also how the black-and-white camera will

  of raw, unexposed film, and as white light enters the

  read the brightness values of those colors.

  camera, they filter and transmit only those few wave-

  lengths needed for subtractive mixing. ■

  Additive and Subtractive Color Mixing

  The earliest color systems in film history were additive .

  By adding varying proportions of red, green, and blue

  suited for the themes or action of the film? Memento (2000) was shot in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) because the shallow-focus lenses typically used in that format could be used to isolate the main character (who is confused and suffering from memory loss) from his surroundings. The Phantom of the Opera (2004) also was shot in anamorphic widescreen, but for a different reason. The filmmakers liked the way the anamorphic lenses handled candlelight, which featured prominently in many scenes.

  A second critical consideration involves the consequences of converting a film exhibited theatrically in widescreen to home video and conventional television monitors.

  During the classic Hollywood period of the 1930s and 1940s, frame size remained fairly standard, with an aspect ratio (width to height) of 1.37:1. This was a nearly square ratio 64

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  and one that approximated the dimensions of conven-

  Standard Aspect Ratios

  tional television screens.

  Since the 1950s, however, widescreen ratios have

  been standard. Today, viewers see films projected in

  ratios of 1.85:1 or 2.35:1. These ratios are wider and

  more rectangular than the classic Hollywood ratio.

  1.33:1

  Accordingly, cinematographers must be careful to

  compose their shots in ways that make best use of

  the chosen aspect ratio. A 2.35:1 ratio, for example,

  facilitates compositions using the horizontal axis of

  the frame more effectively than the vertical axis, as the

  1.85:1

  frame enlargement from Yojimbo (1961) demonstrates.

  Filmmakers working in this ratio can spread things out

  across the frame, but the ratio is not good for depicting

  tall objects. Because of this, Janusz Kaminski shot The

  Lost World in a 1.85:1 ratio to give the dinosaurs more

  2.35:1

  headroom than a 2.35:1 ratio would supply. The latter

  ratio, however, is well suited for epics, Westerns, and

  FIGURE 4

  historical dramas and has been used extensively in such

  Standard aspect ratios.

  pictures.

  Anamorphic widescreen produces its image through a process of

  squeezing and stretching. Cinemascope, brought to market in the 1950s,

  was an early and widely-used example of the process, and anamorphic films sometimes are referred to generically today as ‘scope’ films. During filming an anamorphic lens squeezes the widescreen field of view onto the square frame of film. During projection, a corrective lens on the projector unsqueezes the image, correcting the distortion and reproducing the widescreen image dimensions. Christopher Nolan shot Inception (2010) in anamorphic widescreen, and the frame enlargements (see images a-c on the following pages) demonstrate the squeezed and unsqueezed versions of the image.

  YOJIMBO (TOHO, 1961)

  The widescreen 2.35:1 ratio accentuates horizontal space across the screen surface, and skilful filmmakers fully utilize this compositional area. Director Akira Kurosawa loved to arrange his characters in a lateral fashion across the screen, making maximum use of the frame. Frame enlargement.

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  AMARCORD (F.C. PRODUZIONI, 1973)

  The 1.85:1 ratio allows filmmakers plenty of width for compositions as well as a comfortable amount of headroom for vertical elements in the frame. The great Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini used the ratio for strikingly pictorial images in this autobiographical film about his youth. For theatrical release, films in this ratio will be soft-matted : An aperture matte in the projector will mask the top and bottom of the image captured on the square frame of film, producing the 1.85:1 ratio on the theater screen. Frame enlargement.

  HOW THE WEST WAS WON

  (MGM, 1962)

  Cinema adopted widecreen

  ratios in the 1950s as a way

  of competing with television,

  which, at the time, offered

  a small, square 4 x 3 image.

  Numerous widescreen processes

  proliferated. Cinerama was the

  grandest, offering a huge, curved

  screen onto which three projec-

  tors cast an image. The screen’s

  curvature stimulated the viewer’s

  peripheral vision and immersed

  spectators deeply within the im-

  age. The ‘smilebox’ presentation

  pictured here is available on Blu-

  ray and DVD and attempts to

  reproduce in miniature the visual

  experience of the huge Cinerama

  screen. Frame enlargement.

  To reproduce proper aspect ratio for home video viewing, a 2.35:1 film typi-

  cally is letterboxed . The image is hard-matted for video; that is, frame bars will mask the top and bottom of the image displayed on the monitor, producing a wider-ratio picture in the center of the screen (and without eliminating anything from the top and bottom of the image). Viewers of a letterboxed video get to see proper, or nearly proper, screen ratio.

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/>   (a)

  (b)

  (c)

  INCEPTION (WARNER BROS., 2010)

  Director Christopher Nolan often films in anamorpic widescreen. The first two pictures (A and B) illustrate the frame image unsqueezed for viewing and the squeezed image capturing during filming. Many cable television channels today show cropped versions of 2.35:1 films, reproducing only a part of the frame, as illustrated in image C. Frame enlargements.

  Digital formats like DVD, electronic delivery systems such as cable television and the Internet, and digital imaging routinely used in post-production have led the industry toward wide use of an alternative method of producing a 2.35:1 image—a scope extraction. A tremendous number of films today are shot digitally or in Super 35, which uses the full aperture of the 35mm negative frame, including the area normally masked for a soundtrack. The film images can then be scanned digitally (electronically captured images will already be digital) and can then be formatted for release in a variety of aspect ratios and for distribution to electronic delivery systems like disk or Internet. A scope extraction, for example, may be performed to produce a 2.35:1 image for theatrical release in anamorphic widescreen, and since the footage has already been digitized, it’s ready for release into electronic non-theatrical markets. Gladiator (2000), The Lord of the Rings, The 67

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  Aviator (2004), and Cinderella Man (2005) were all shot in Super 35 and given a scope extraction for theatrical release.

  When a filmmaker shoots in anamorphic widescreen during production, the im-

  ages are usually well-composed because it is an unambiguous format. Super 35 scope extractions can be more ambiguous because shots are composed simultaneously for two ratios, the square, full-frame and the widescreen area selected for extraction. The frame enlargements from Harry Potter and the Scorserer’s Stone , pictured below, illustrate this problem well. The shot of Hermione (Emma Watson) and Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is arguably more pleasing in its full-frame version than in the scope extraction, which feels cramped by comparison.

  In recent years, filmmakers have mixed aspect ratios and film gauges. The Dark Knight (2008), the sequel to Batman Begins, and Inception were shot in two very different aspect ratios and film gauges. (A film’s gauge designates the width of the film; the wider the film, the higher the resolution because the frames are larger.) Director Christopher Nolan and cinematographer Wally Pfister shot most of these films in anamorphic widescreen on 35mm gauge film, which is the conventional gauge used in ordinary theaters. They also shot selected scenes on 65mm Imax. On The Dark Knight, these included the opening and closing sequences and all of the aerial sequences. Imax is a super high-resolution gauge that is typically reserved for special attractions that are presented in Imax theaters.

  Shooting this way enabled the film to be shown in both ordinary and Imax theaters. The aspect ratio of an Imax film frame is 1.33:1, so for conventional theaters a 2.35:1 image was extracted from the 1.33:1 frame for the footage that had been shot in Imax. The benefits of having shot in Imax were still apparent, even after extracting part of the frame and printing it in 35mm. It had a superior resolution to the rest of the 35mm footage, which had originated on that gauge. For presentation in Imax theaters, 35mm widescreen footage was digitally scanned to Imax 65mm and HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE (WARNER BROS., 2001)

  Super 35 is widely used today in movies shot on film (as distinct from digital capture) because it enables easy scope extractions. The Harry Potter series was shot on Super 35 and was screened in theaters as scope extractions. The left frame shows the full image as captured during production; the right image shows the scope extraction. Frame enlargements.

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  electronically cleaned and sharpened. These scenes were combined with the material originally shot in Imax. A viewer watching the films in an Imax theater would see a widescreen movie, but when the scenes shot in Imax appeared, the aspect ratio suddenly changed and the huge Imax screen was filled with imagery. The Dark Knight was the first feature film to combine footage shot in two such different gauges.

  The aspect ratio selected often will influence the lenses employed during production. Many cinematographers dislike shooting wide-angle in anamorphic 2.35:1 because of the curvature the lens introduces into the composition during moving camera shots. If they are committed to working at the shorter focal lengths, they will often shoot 1.85:1 or on Super 35. However, director Christopher Nolan and cinematographer Wally Pfister shot many of the action scenes in Batman Begins wide angle because they felt it provided greater realism.

  Having decided on the film stock, lenses, and aspect ratio, the cinematographer determines with the director the camera’s placement for each shot in a given scene and how the shot will be lit. Camera placement and lighting are interconnected issues: The lighting of each shot is a function of where the camera is positioned.

  Lighting Design

  Depending on the style and subject matter of a given film and the dramatic requirements of the scene, the cinematographer may employ a realistic or a pictorial lighting design or some combination of each approach.

  REALISTIC LIGHTING A lighting design that distributes light to simulate an explicit source on screen, whether it be the sun or a table lamp indoors, is a realistic lighting design . It suggests that the light on screen is cast by one or more specific sources. If it is an exterior scene, the light source is usually, by implication, the sun. If it is an interior scene, then the table lamps, overhead ceiling lights, or street lights visible through windows become the implied source lights. These are “effect” lights because the cinematographer uses them to convey the effect that they are casting the visible light in the scene. This may or may not actually be true. If the table lamp in the set is rigged to be a real source of lighting for the camera, then it is called a practical because it is a visible light source on the set that actually works for exposure of the film. In other cases the actual lights for exposure may be off screen. Lights for effect, then, may be distinct from the lights for exposure. In the case of those lights termed practicals , the light source that creates the effect and the exposure is the same.

  Burnout effects sometimes may be an important part of a realistic design. The term refers to an overexposed portion of an image in which details are lost. Much of the action of The English Patient (1996) takes place in the Sahara Desert. To convey the heat of that landscape, cinematographer John Seale photographed the film’s characters by exposing on their shadowed faces and letting the sunlit areas of the desert burn out with overexposure. This made the desert look hotter.

  Cinematographer Michael Ballhaus devised a very creative approach to simulating light sources in Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). There were no electric lights in Dracula’s time, all light being supplied by candles, lanterns, oil lamps, or torches. The light these instruments cast was flickering and unsteady. To simulate this, Ballhaus placed his electric lights on flicker boxes, which created waver-ing, flickering illumination. Coppola’s film is a gaudy and stylized fantasy. Realism is not the sort of term that one would apply to such a film. Nevertheless, the filmmakers sometimes observed realistic principles of light-source simulation.

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  CLOSE-UP

  Cinematographers

  Moviegoers often think about cinema as being

  instance of Alton’s style can be seen in the film

  mainly a director’s medium. Many movie crit-

  noir The Big Combo (1955). Alton also shot part

  ics discuss films as being the exclusive creation

  of the concluding ballet sequence in the musical

  of their directors. In fact, the cinematographer

  An American in Paris (1952) and broke the rules by

  is a key influence on the visual design of a

  shooting directly into the light sources.

  film, and a convenient way of
thinking about

  The striking visual look and design for which many

  films—and classifying them—is in terms of the

  films and directors become famous actually must be

  cinematographer.

  achieved by the cinematographer. Ingmar Bergman

  Gregg Toland is well known for collaborating

  (Persona, 1966 ) relied on Sven Nykvist, Sergio Leone

  with Orson Welles on Citizen Kane (1941) and that

  ( The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, 1966) on Tonino

  film’s deep focus compositions. But Toland had al-

  Delli Colli, and Akira Kurosawa (Ran, 1985 ) on Takao

  ready used deep focus to striking effect on The Long

  Saito. Kurosawa, in fact, did not begin shooting in

  Voyage Home (1940) for director John Ford, and he

  color until he partnered with Saito as his cinematogra-

  would continue to use deep focus in other films,

  pher. Steven Spielberg frequently has relied on Janusz

  such as The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), directed

  Kaminski, and the Coen brothers often work with

  by William Wyler. Deep focus cinematography is

  Roger Deakins.

  one of Toland’s signatures as an artist, and directors

  Other outstanding cinematographers include

  interested in this technique found him to be a natu-

  James Wong Howe ( Body and Soul, 1947), Haskell

  ral collaborator.

  Wexler ( Matewan , 1987), Nestor Almendros

  The most radical cinematographer in the clas-

  ( Days of Heaven, 1978), and Gordon Willis ( The

  sical Hollywood period was probably John Alton,

  Godfather, 1972). Studying the careers of cin-

  who shot a series of film noirs, often with director

  ematographers can be an excellent way of learn-

  Anthony Mann ( T-Men , 1947; Raw Deal , 1948),

  ing about film. Seeking out films shot by Sven

  that featured single-source lighting, extremely dark

  Nykvist, Tonino Delli Colli, or Gordon Willis

  blacks, huge areas of the frame in shadow, and

  enables one to understand the key contribution