"The cinematographer's basically translating the director's vision into imagery.

"

Cinematography is probably the most overlooked and yet most important part of filmmaking. You
may have written one of the best pieces of literature ever, but if you aren’t going to put the same
amount of care into how your film looks, you might as well make a radio show. I myself, love
cinematography of films and can talk about my favourite DOPs (Director of Photography), prolific
films and the history of the artform in general. And that is exactly what I am going to do.

History of Cinematography
The history of cinematography can go all the way back to the creation of the camera by Louis and
Auguste. The first big leap in the artform came from the duo D.W Griffith and Billy Bitzer. They both
worked together to make 500 films between 1908 and 1924 creating such staples in cinematography
as the Close Up, Fade Out, Soft Focus and Backlighting. Later on, Orson Welles and Gregg Toland’s
film Citizen Kane revolutionised the entire landscape of film. One of the biggest revolutions was
showing the ceiling. This might seem like a big hurrah over nothing but at the time, when sets only
extended as high as the tops of the wall this ushered in camera angles that were rarely seen. Other
achievements such as deep focus have become a staple within filmmaking in general. As technology
has evolved so has cinematography; Technicolour cameras, Widescreen and cinemascope, created
whole new avenues for Cinematographers to explore. However, as we enter the digital age, we also
enter an entirely new way for cinematography to evolve. Virtual production as it is known has
allowed DOPs to continue their expertise into the computer worlds, and with the recent
Mandalorian, by John Favreau, and their virtual set allowing the outdoor world to be fully
customisable and controllable within a nice air-conditioned set. Cinematography and Technology go
hand in hand and as long as technology continues to evolve at the rate it is, Cinematography will do
the same.

Personal Inspirations
A personal inspiration of mine, Matthew J Lloyd. The 38-year-old Cinematographer best known for
his work in the Netflix series Daredevil and Defenders and the TV version of Fargo. His use of lighting
and composition, using interesting colours throughout daredevil to fit emotion and environment.
Although he is a private individual, Lloyd has been nominated for many awards, and won
Camerimage’s Best cinematography in music video, for the video “Flying Lotus: Until Quiet Comes”
Toby Oliver, DOP of Get Out and Happy Death Day 2U. is another great inspiration. The Swinburne
Film School graduate has been nominated for many awards, and won an AFI award for best
cinematography in documentaries. His composition and framing are a big inspiration for me. He has
striking shot blocking; he has interesting centre framing and his use of colour are very interesting. I
think specially to shots like the sunken place and the education video. They have great parallels,
symmetry and lighting. There are shots were having such a smooth motion and colours helps you
feel the disconnection that the character feels.
Probably the most important cinematographer. The first female to be nominated for a
cinematography Oscar, 43-year-old Rachel Morrison. Cinematographer for films such as Black
Panther and Mud bound her use of motivated lighting and colours and her striking blocking and
camera moves have set her apart in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Films. When talking about her
cinematography she was quoted in saying “Usually, if you notice good cinematography, then the
cinematographer's failing. I try to make light feel like it's always motivated and natural in some way
and hope that the lighting goes unnoticed.” Which is an interesting way of looking at
cinematography.

Technical Achievements
Steadicam combines the stability of a traditional tripod mount with the smooth movement of a
bogie mount and the flexibility of a handheld camera. The Steadicam arm smoothly follows the
operator's wide range of movements while absorbing bumps and vibrations. Steadicam was first
used in the 1976 best picture nominated Woody Guthrie Biopic "Bound for Glory" It was used by its
creator Garret Brown. Cinematographer. Haskell Wexler asked Brown to start filming on an elevated
platform and when it hit the ground, Brown stepped down and passed the camera over the tray. The
shot was seen as impossible and led to Wexler winning the cinematography Oscar. It also won the
society of camera operators best technical achievement. It’s been used in 100s of films from Shining
and Halloween to 1917 and Skyfall. The Steadicam has evolved into using gyroscopes like within the
gimble as well as specialized equipment’s like Snorri Cam. The technology has also been
implemented into drones. The Steadicam had completely revolutionized the industry, by allowing for
smooth motions with cameras allowing once impossible movements possible.
Virtual Sets, are widely seen in mostly sport's commentary. Within films they are a replacement for
green screens. Virtual set technology, which evolved from the traditional "chromakey" technique,
debuted as a way of technological presentations by Ultimatte Corp in 1994. A year later, the
technology was successfully used in a production involving European music programming. They have
now evolved into LED walls for virtual production, first big usage was Oblivion Instead of relying on
green screen, it allows for real lighting, and the DOP to frame up the shots. 2019's Mandalorian used
a new technique where the camera was parented to a virtual camera in a game engine so that the
virtual backgrounds can now have moving cameras and more conventional shots.

Ground Breaking Achievements in cinematography.

AVATAR
Avatar is a 2009 film by James Cameron. The film is the current highest grossing film and has won
numerous awards including the Best Cinematography Oscar. This film was completely revolutionary
for filmmaking and completely reinvented many ways we made films. It was a large use of virtual
production, where most of the film is essentially animated, however the movie used a special
camera with a motion tracking rig on it so that the director of photography and camera man were
able to achieve real shots and real camera moves within a digital world. The film also used 3d in a
very clever way using it instead to add depth to shots. The argument that the fact that the film is
mostly CGI is a complete disservice to the effort every artist put in to craft every frame. Despite the
controversy of it being a mostly CGI film. The cinematography was still amazing and lead to shots
such as the ones bellow, which I believe lead the film to deserve the Oscar win.

CHILDREN OF MEN
Children of men, has some amazing cinematography but for now I will focus on the revolutionary car
one take. In this sequence the camera appears not to cut as it flies around a car full of a group of
people as they try to escape a crowd of people. The film used this specialized camera rig which was
operated from the roof of the car. The films DP, camera man and director sat in a small tent at the
very top of the car operating a camera, whilst the actors lie back in their seats to move around. This
one take was not just for flashiness. The one take brings you into the scene and is a real time and
allows you to feel the tension and emotion. I feel like this led to the best cinematography BAFTA that
the film won in 2007.

THE MATRIX
The Matrix was another revolution of cinematography. There is an obvious inspiration from
animation. And the cinematography is somehow able to achieve the motions necessary. They used
dozens of cameras in a green screen room and setting them to take the photo immediately after
each other essentially creating stop motion in real life, but leading to smooth impossible camera
moves. The use of colours was also interesting, as there are quite muted colour pallets using only 2
main colours: green and blue. Even without it’s This created more difference into the worlds. While
not winning any awards for cinematography, I still believe it has some of the most stylized and
interesting cinematography of the time

Conclusion
Cinematography has been there since the beginning of film, and throughout the years as the world
has evolved, so has cinematography. Every technical achievement and every shift in the artform
have led to techniques and more beautiful cinematography. Which to me, is why cinematography is
the most important part of a film.

“I believe that filmmakers have to internalize the story and subtext so well that all of the
departments can start to speak to each other - that music can speak to cinematography can speak to
writing and back again.”- Shane Carruth

“Obviously, the cinematography of films is art, just as a still shot can be art. If I'm watching a Wes
Anderson movie, the colour palettes alone, and the way they're painted, could be art. With music,
you're a little bit limited, of course, because it's only audio.”- Christopher “Frank Ocean” Breaux