Movies and Meaning- Pearson New International Edition

by Stephen Prince

  an extremely wide-angle look. The most extreme

  made by cinematographers. ■

  THE SEVENTH SEAL (SVENSK

  FILMINDUSTRI, 1957)

  Sven Nykvist shot many of acclaimed

  Swedish director Ingmar Bergman’s films,

  and Nykvist’s sensitive and bold use of

  light made Bergman’s films into paintings-

  in-motion. Nyvkist’s deep shadows and

  chiaroscuro lighting enhanced the brooding

  nature of this film, a medieval parable about

  death and salvation. Frame enlargement.

  ( continued)

  70

  Cinematography

  THE GODFATHER (PARAMOUNT, 1972)

  Cinematographer Gordon Willis created a unique look for the Godfather series by using an amber color palette to unify the story across all of the films. He also broke several rules of traditional cinematography, such as the one stipulating that an actor’s eyes must be lit. Instead, Willis often placed faces deep in shadow. His work on these films is a classic example of how a cinematographer helps establish a look, mood, and tone on a production. Frame enlargement.

  THE LAST EMPEROR (COLUMBIA PICTURES, 1987)

  Vittorio Storaro is a legendary cinematographer acclaimed by his peers as one of the great masters of cinema. Storaro brings an elaborate theory of color to his work, believing that color is a universal form of communication and that it can be orchestrated to evoke specific emotional tones and responses in viewers. Like all great cinematographers, he is a master of lighting.

  Much in demand, he has worked most famously and regularly with Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci. Their films together include The Last Emperor as well as The Conformist (1970), Last Tango in Paris (1972), 1900 (1976), and The Sheltering Sky (1990). Frame enlargement.

  71

  Cinematography

  THE MALTESE FALCON (WARNER

  BROS., 1941)

  Light-source simulation in a realistic

  design, whose effect is that the table

  lamp is casting the visible illumina-

  tion. The actual lights illuminating

  the set are off-camera, and they have

  been set up to light the character in

  ways that seem consistent with what

  the table lamp would do. Although

  realistically motivated, the overall

  design is stylish and moody, fitting

  the character, Brigid O’Shaughnessy

  (Mary Astor), a wicked and danger-

  ous murderer. Cinematographer

  Arthur Edeson was an expert at han-

  dling shadows and moody tones, as

  illustrated by his work on such key

  films as Frankenstein (1931), The Old

  Dark House (1932), and Casablanca

  (1942). Frame enlargement.

  Sometimes the way to achieve a realistic design is to avoid lighting set-ups that look calculated or complicated. Using practicals as exposure lights, and underlighting the actors or set, can work very well, as cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki demonstrated on Children of Men (2006). That film’s director, Alfonso Cuaron, wanted the movie to have a documentary feel even though it was fiction, and Lubezki lit numerous locations using only practical sources. This helped give the film a rawness and im-mediacy that a glossy lighting design could achieve.

  PICTORIAL LIGHTING Pictorial lighting design stresses purely pictorial or visual values that may be unrelated to strict concerns about source simulation. Realistic and pictorial approaches are not rigid categories, and many films may use both CHILDREN OF

  MEN (UNIVERSAL,

  2006)

  Cinematographer

  Emmanuel Lubezki

  wanted to avoid the

  pretty, glossy look

  that conventional

  film lighting often

  creates. He used as

  few lights as possi-

  ble in order to make

  the action seem

  harsh and real. This

  climactic birth scene

  was filmed with a

  single, practical light

  simulating a lantern.

  Frame enlargement.

  72

  Cinematography

  BARRY LYNDON (WARNER BROS., 1975)

  Candlelit scenes are almost always filmed using electric lights to simulate the glow of candles. Stanley Kubrick and cinematographer John Alcott (who had worked together previously on 2001 and A Clockwork Orange ) wanted to break with tradition and, in the interest of realism, shoot by candlelight alone. The film, about the rise in society of an 18 th century Irish rogue, was shot entirely on location in England using period houses and castles. There were no studio sets, and Kubrick wanted to capture the special quality of light that people living in these old buildings had experienced after sunset when candles provided the only illumination. Kubrick and Alcott used a super-light-sensitive lens, specially constructed for their purpose. Because the light levels were so low, there was virtually no depth of field in which to stage the action. But the results were extraordinary, unlike anything moviegoers had seen before, and became one of the film’s most talked-about features. Frame enlargement.

  approaches. Bram Stoker’s Dracula includes many scenes in which the lighting design is governed by extravagantly pictorial considerations. When Dracula (Gary Oldman) meets with real estate representative Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves), who has journeyed by train and coach to the vampire’s remote Transylvanian castle, Coppola and Ballhaus achieve one of their most striking pictorial effects.

  Harker shows Dracula the portrait of Mina, the woman he is engaged to marry.

  Dracula realizes that she is the reincarnation of his own true love lost many centuries ago. Wanting to possess Mina as his own beloved, Dracula feels murderous rage toward Harker. As the two converse, Dracula’s shadow, which had been cast on the back wall, disengages itself from the vampire. The shadow advances on Harker and begins to strangle him.

  The effect is not only visually striking but surprising and uncanny. Coppola and Ballhaus creatively violate the logic of shadow phenomena. Shadows are either attached to or cast by the object to which they belong, but in neither case do they behave independently of that object. Coppola violates the perceptual regularities governing cast-shadow behavior, shocking viewers and guiding their interpretations toward ideas of supernatural power. It is a purely pictorial (and physically impossible) moment in the scene.

  The effect was created by shooting part of the scene live and part of the scene with rear projection . Dracula’s cast shadow on the wall is not a true shadow at all but was created by a dancer working in sync with actor Gary Oldman’s movements. The dancer was placed behind the “wall,” which was actually a screen onto which the dancer’s shadow 73

  Cinematography

  BRAM STOKER’S

  DRACULA (COLUMBIA

  PICTURES, 1992)

  Pictorial lighting designs

  suggest purely visual ef-

  fects unconnected to is-

  sues of realism. Dracula’s

  shadow disengages itself

  from the vampire count,

  advances on Jonathan

  Harker (Keanu Reeves),

  and begins to strangle

  him. The effect is picto-

  rial and poetic. Frame

  enlargement.

  was projected. When the “shadow” disengages itself from Dracula, the effect is created by the dancer breaking sync with Gary Oldman and pantomiming the act of strangulation.

  PICTORIAL LIGHTING FOR THEMATIC SYMBOLISM Filmmakers often employ pictorial designs to visually symbolize the thematic content of a scene or film. Pictorial designs do this more successfully and explicitly than realistic designs because filmmakers can manipulate light and color in ways that are unfettered by concerns about realism and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (ORION, 1990)

  After a long scene with su
btle, restrained lighting, the filmmakers suddenly switch to this extravagant design for a shot showing one of serial killer Hannibal Lecter’s victims. The lighting is completely unmotivated in that it has no connection to any sources established within the dramatic action of the scene. With no attempt to hide them, the cross lights and backlights are visible in the frame. The effect is purely pictorial, a visual flourish designed to give impact to this moment of horror. Frame enlargement.

  74

  Cinematography

  SEVEN (NEW LINE, 1995)

  Filmmakers often create pictorial effects by showing and filming a light source within the scene. Investigating a murder scene, police inspector Morgan Freeman cradles his flashlight on his forearm. The dust suspended in the hazy air reflects in the flashlight beam to make it visible. Director David Fincher’s film portrays a world of absolute moral and spiritual darkness for which the flashlight’s inability to illuminate the room becomes a potent metaphor. Frame enlargement.

  ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS (UNIVERSAL INTERNATIONAL PICTURES, 1955)

  Flagging a light source means blocking a selective portion of it, and cinematographers use flags—square wire frames wrapped in non-reflective cloth—to control where light will fall within the frame. Flags enable cinematographers to create highly expressive lighting designs. Director Douglas Sirk and cinematographer Russell Metty collaborated on several films that showcased elaborate color and lighting effects. In this scene, Ned (William Reynolds) harshly criticizes his widowed mother, Cary (Jane Wyman), for dating a much younger man. The flagged light gives his face a sinister cast and adds a volatile and dangerous emotional tone to their confrontation. Frame enlargement.

  that can directly relate to the underlying social, psychological, or emotional themes of a scene. Pictorialism enables filmmakers to use light and color to visually embody the underlying significance of a given scene or film.

  TYPES OF LIGHT: HARD AND SOFT LIGHT Once the cinematographer and director decide on the overall balance of realistic and pictorial elements, they further specify their lighting design in terms of the proportions of hard and soft light .

  75

  Cinematography

  Case Study APOCALYPSE NOW

  Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro’s pictorial designs for

  is partially eclipsed, half in the light, half in the shadow.

  Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979) create a

  The lighting tells the viewer that Willard has become

  precise visual statement of the existential moral issues

  Kurtz. Postproduction editing of the film, however,

  at the heart of the film. The Vietnam War drives a ren-

  weakened the visual and thematic force of this pictorial

  egade U.S. soldier named Kurtz (Marlon Brando) insane,

  statement. After early test screenings indicated that the

  and the military brass sends an assassin named Willard

  original ending did not work for audiences, Coppola

  (Martin Sheen) upriver to Kurtz’s compound to murder

  added a different conclusion in which Willard rejects

  the colonel. Most of the narrative takes place during

  Kurtz’s kingdom and leaves.

  Willard’s trip upriver and raises the question about what

  Coppola’s original ending was more ambiguous.

  Willard will do when he finally meets Kurtz. Will he kill

  In both the original and revised endings, Willard kills

  him as he has been instructed, or, because both men are

  Kurtz, but in Coppola’s original version, Willard remains

  equally murderous and bestial, will he join Kurtz instead?

  behind on the steps of Kurtz’s compound facing Kurtz’s

  To suggest the psychological and spiritual bond be-

  army, his face lit to look like Kurtz. Coppola’s preferred

  tween the two characters, Storaro employed a strikingly

  version ended here. He wanted the film to conclude

  similar lighting design for each man. Kurtz is filmed

  with the question of whether Willard has become Kurtz,

  with his face half in and half out of shadow to convey

  and Storaro’s lighting clearly implied that he has. The

  the character’s cruelty and moral darkness and the in-

  way this ending was changed—by showing Willard

  ner struggle between good and evil that has driven him

  leaving Kurtz’s compound—undermined the meaning

  insane. After Willard kills Kurtz, the same lighting de-

  established by Storaro’s lighting design, and this made

  sign is used to make him look Kurtz-like. Willard’s face

  the film thematically less coherent. ■

  APOCALYPSE NOW

  (UNITED ARTISTS, 1979)

  Pictorial lighting for the-

  matic symbolism: the faces

  of Kurtz (Marlon Brando)

  and Willard (Martin Sheen).

  Cinematographer Vittorio

  Storaro’s lighting design

  stresses the moral conflict

  between good and evil within

  each character and suggests

  an essential equivalence be-

  tween both men. Frame

  enlargements.

  76

  Cinematography

  OUT OF THE PAST

  (RKO, 1947)

  Low-key lighting in a sophisti-

  cated, complex design typical of

  1940s film noir. Small portions of

  the frame are selectively exposed

  using hard light, leaving other

  areas to fall quickly into shadow.

  The effect is moody and omi-

  nous. Frame enlargement.

  Hard and soft lighting differ in terms of fall-off and contrast . Hard lighting typically creates high contrast and fast fall-off. The boundaries between the illuminated areas and the areas in darkness or shadow are sharply defined. The rate of fall-off, or change between light and dark, is rapid. This creates a high contrast between light and dark areas as they are distributed throughout the frame. Another way of understanding contrast is in terms of shadow definition. High-contrast lighting produces very strong shadow definition, as in the shot from Out of the Past (1947), a film noir made during a period when high-contrast black-and-white cinematography was very popular.

  By manipulating fall-off and contrast, cinematographers enhance the three-

  dimensional appearance of film images. Notice how vividly the shadow information renders the folds of Robert Mitchum’s trenchcoat in the shot from Out of the Past .

  Light organizes and defines space. The distribution of light and shadow conveys physical properties of depth, distance, and surface texture, expressed by the ways light falls across objects in a room or scene. Motion picture images easily copy this source FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT

  Francis Ford Coppola

  Along with Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, and

  studio since Gone With the Wind (1939). Starring

  Brian De Palma, Coppola belonged to a young

  Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, The Godfather offers

  generation of university-trained film students-

  a richly romanticized and harshly brutal portrait

  turned-directors who established careers in the

  of the rise to power of the Corleone crime family.

  early 1970s. His earliest films ( Dementia 13 , 1963;

  Feeling he had oversentimentalized the Corleones

  Finian’s Rainbow , 1968) are undistinguished and do

  in the first film, Coppola set out to destroy them in

  not hint at the talent that suddenly burst forth in

  the harsher, bleaker sequel, The Godfather, Part II

  The Godfather (1972), the most successful example

  (1974), which many critics consider superior
to its

  of epic narrative filmmaking produced by a major

  predecessor.

  77

  Cinematography

  Between these two epics, Coppola made The

  Zoetrope Studios in 1980, but Apocalypse Now

  Conversation (1974), an edgy, sophisticated portrait

  saddled him with huge debts, and the disastrous

  of the psychological disintegration of an electron-

  box-office performance of One from the Heart com-

  ics wizard and domestic spy (played by Gene

  pounded his problems. The more conventional films

  Hackman). An extraordinarily stylized and ambigu-

  that followed are partly a result of Coppola’s efforts

  ous work, The Conversation avoids the formulaic fea-

  to extricate himself from a mountain of debt by craft-

  tures of the bigger-budgeted Godfather films.

  ing less audacious and more commercial products.

  These three films remain Coppola’s greatest

  Coppola returned to epic form with The

  achievements as director. His subsequent career is

  Godfather, Part III (1991), a compelling but uneven

  checkered with grandly conceived but incompletely

  conclusion to the saga of Michael Corleone, and

  realized ambitions. Seduced by a huge budget and

  Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), a controversial but

  ballooning ambitions, Coppola released Apocalypse

  genuinely visionary and audacious adaptation of

  Now (1979), a visually spectacular but conceptually

  the Stoker novel. The latter film is one of Coppola’s

  muddled account of the Vietnam War. For much

  most ambitious and artistically successful works.

  of its length it is undeniably hypnotic, but after the

  Coppola’s up-and-down career has been marked

  precision and clarity of his previous three films, its

  by an unresolved tension between grandiose artistic

  diffuseness is disappointing.

  ambitions and the budgetary limitations and need

  His next films, One from the Heart (1982), The

  for box-office success inherent in studio-financed

  Outsiders (1983), Rumble Fish (1983), The Cotton