There's no question that some of the most amazing photographs ever taken are for movies. A well shot, well composed film is not only aesthetically pleasing but also evocative and moving, especially when combined with a great story.
The 2006 film CAPOTE was a well-acted, well scripted piece coupled with some great cinematography by Adam Kimmel. These dark and foreboding images of the 1950's Kansas countryside (it's actually Winnipeg, Canada) are nicely shot and remind me of melancholic renderings by Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper. These shots as well as the muted colors did well to heighten the tragic underpinnings of the film.
On a related note, Pixar story artist and film guru Ted Mathot has posted screen shots from the movie THE HORSE WHISPERER (by cinematographer Robert Richardson) on his Rose & Isabel blog. For a while now he's been breaking down films and sharing his insight on staging, composition and photography and it's worth checking out his archives.
Like my other feature called PROFILES, i'll be using MOVING PICTURES to post more great film photography in the future.
5 comments:
These are great images. I've read Ted Mathot's posts as well, and they're all very interesting.
Capote was almost too sombre to enjoy, though the photography's amazing just like you described.
I've also been spending quite some time on Rose & Isabel, really enlightening posts.
Last night I caught a little bit of the "other" Capote movie called "Infamous" and was just surprised at how bad it was. (stellar cast and all)
The direction and tone of the movie is downright laughable, as if it 's a parody of the Philip Seymour Hoffman version... whatever drama there was in this film is almost lifeless and matter of fact.
What's amazing is how one film portrays Truman Capote as a real person with feelings and the other, a cartoon character...
Nice post. There was another blog out there that was nothing but screenshots from various live action films. TONS of great compositions in that blog. Wish I could remember the name of it.
Thanks Chris. Let me know about that blog if you ever remember it.
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