Award Winning Hollywood Cinematographers and Their Techniques

For this blog post I will be discussing the cinematography of five cinematographers that have all had parts in famous Hollywood movies. I will be researching these cinematographers to analyse what kinds of techniques they have been using throughout their careers, techniques that are instantly recognisable and have shaped the form of modern film-making we know today.

The focus on this research will be to understand the quality of modern cinematography by looking at five of the most popular cinematographers in the industry today, so that I know what standards I am looking to achieve to be taken seriously as a professional cinematographer, starting with.

1 – Roger Deakins

Roger Deakins is an Oscar winning cinematographer known for his eye to capture beautiful, photographic like visuals . Deakins has expressed that he does not have a style but would rather focus on capturing what would be best for the emotional significance of the scene. This means that Deakins avoids using movement and stylist techniques if they are not needed. This is shown in his recent work for films such as Blade Runner 2049 (2017) and Skyfall (2012), where Deakins perfectly captured the emotion of the on screen characters by focusing less on style and more on substance.

Deakins also likes to shoot wide shots with medium distance from his subject, this creates an epic scale of world building. Wide shots make you feel like you are in the cinematic world.

A distinctive technique that Deakins uses is shown in Bladerunner 2049 (2017). Here Deakins uses multiple tracking shots so that we are taken even further into Deakins’ vision of world building. To advance on tracking shots, Deakins uses punch in shots, which are tiny tracking movements which draw your attention to the subject as the tracking movement gets closer to its subject.

“Deakins is truly an artist. His talent of cinematography has created such amazing scenes which were simply perfect. The subtle revelations, the steady spiraling zoom, the focus. And his perfection of delivering the scene in just the way it was desired to create the perfect effect makes him one of the busiest and best cinematographer in Hollywood.” (Indie Film Hustle, 2018)

2 – Emmanuel Lubezki

Emmanuel Lubezki is a three time Oscar winning cinematographer. He is most notable for being the director of photography (DOP) on films such as Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), The Revenant (2015) and Gravity (2014). Lubezki has become known for his incredible long one shot takes.

“Lubezki is no stranger to long takes. Well before Birdman came along, he developed the long intro for the film The Birdcage, which clocks in at over 2 minutes before a real visible cut is seen. Of course, with Lubezki it’s not just about the long take… it’s about the motion during that take, whether it’s a long take or not.” (Paul, J. 2015)

This can be seen in most of the films he has been DOP for. Lubezki has become popular in the industry for popularising a style which is often replicated by other cinematographers. Lubezki’s style pulls the audience right into the action by letting the viewer feel like they are part of the film as a character looking through the camera glass as their eyes and using human like movements (camera shake) to simulate braking the fourth wall. This is most notably seen in a heavy action scene from the underrated Children of Men (2006) where the camera simulate an extra character in first person perspective running through the scene along with the main characters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55NfxbBgWRA

“Emmanuel Lubezki, or “Chivo” as he is sometimes called, is a brilliant cinematographer whose uncanny eye for framing and sense of movement is quite possibly unmatched. I’ve been aware of Lubezki for many years through his work on Sleepy Hollow and Meet Joe Black, but it wasn’t until The New World and Children of Men that I stopped to admire and love the way he uses the camera like a painter does a brush on a canvas.” (Paul, J. 2015)

3 – Wally Pfister

Wally Pfister is an Oscar Winning Cinematographer. He has become know for his role as Director of Photography on many of Christopher Nolan’s movies, such as The Prestige (2006), Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008) and Inception (2010). Wally Pfister has claimed that his cinematography is naturalistic. This is shown by how his frames are rarely lit by unnatural lights. Working with Nolan means that Pfister pushes the boundaries by filming with only the best camera equipment available. Nolan’s budget goes on making his film’s production as big as possible, using IMAX and film stock. Pfister is a specialist in this kind of equipment and works fast along with Nolan who only works fast.

“He and Nolan generally covered scenes with a single camera. The exception to that rule were action sequences where two or more cameras provided coverage from different perspectives. Pfister is a former news cameraman who generally does his own handheld shots. He made certain the cast knew he had their interests at heart. “
(Sudhakaran, 2016)

Despite Pfister saying his frames are natural, it is obvious that Pfister does work with lighting to some capacity. He ignores the three way lighting formation which is the most common form of lighting a scene and instead will light his subjects from the side to create shadows. This is seen in all of Nolan’s films. Pfister will also utilise the location and studio set to create silhouettes from overexposing lighting behind a subject and creating soft light from windows.

“Wally Pfister prefers to call his style naturalistic. I don’t agree with the terminology, because even though his shots look unlit to the general audience (any good cinematographer should be able to do so), they don’t look unlit to the trained cinematographer’s eye. There are other cinematographers with more naturalistic styles, and sometimes it’s hard to tell whether it was lit at all.” (Sudhakaran, 2016)

4 – Robert Richardson

Robert Richardson is known for being one of the worlds leading cinematographers. He has three Oscars and is known for being the Director of Photography for multiple of Quentin Tarantino’s films. These films include, The Hateful Eight (2015), Django Unchained (2012) , Inglourious Basterds (2009) and Kill Bill Vol 1 and 2 (2003 -2004).

“Prior to becoming a regular collaborator with such prominent directors as Oliver Stone and Quentin Tarantino, cinematographer Robert Richardson served his apprenticeship shooting second unit on Repo Man (1984) while filming television documentaries for PBS and the BBC.” (RobertRichardson.com)

Richardson’s technique is to use harsh outlining around his subjects from backlights. This is because Richardson is lighting from his vision of the story. He uses outlining to draw the eye to the subject on screen, he really wants to focus on what he notices in the frame. Of course back lighting could potentially lead to an underexposed and quite dull and silhouetted frame however, Richardson bounces the backlight around his location to key light the rest of the frame.

“while occasionally branching out to shoot films like John Sayles’ Eight Men Out (1988) and City of Hope (1991). But it was his stunning work using a multitude of stock and cameras to create a documentary feel for JFK (1991), which earned the cinematographer his first Academy Award.” (RobertRichardson.com)

5 – Jeff Cronenweth

Despite being the only cinematographer to not win an Oscar on this list, Cronenweth has ranked up with the highest of the modern day cinematographers working in the industry today. He has worked with the likes of David Fincher as his DOP on films such as Fight Club (1999), Gone Girl (2014), The Social Network (2010) and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011). Cronenweth has also worked on award winning and nominated music videos such as Taylor Swifts – Shake It Off (2014), David Bowie’s – The Stars (Are Out Tonight) (2013), P!Nk’s – Just Give Me a Reason Feat. Nate Ruess (2013) and Usher’s – The Love is in the Club (2008)

“Gone Girl marks d.p. Jeff Cronenweth’s fourth feature film collaboration with David Fincher, a stretch that began with Fight Club in 1999 and has continued through The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. (He also worked 2nd and 3rd unit on Se7en and The Game.) It’s a partnership that has transitioned the pair to digital cinematography, with Cronenweth creating cool, precisely visualized environments for stories plumbing the complexities of life in our globalized, media-saturated information age.” (Stuart, J. 2014)

Cronenweths technique involves using overhead ligh. Cronenweth wants his subjects to be lit from above at all times. This means that Cronenweth utilizes shadow to his advantage. Overhead light creates a flood light effect which lights up the entire frame, however subjects are drowned in shadow from this technique which creates a contrast between skin and hair. In Cronenweths frames, you can see how shiny his subjects hair become, as he uses this aesthetical choice to draw the eye to subjects in the frame. Usually his subjects skin looks soft and underexposed but standout because of the gleam from their hair, a style often used in Fincher’s movies because of Cronenweths technique. This technique also allows the actors to step in and out of shadows in a scene creating beautiful visuals using contrast.

Cronenweth also likes to get in close and personal with his subjects in frame. He really wants the viewer to be in the scene and in the conversation.

Cronenweth has also become known for his use of colour pallets, greens, browns and blues, a convention that is often associated with David Fincher’s Films. This is how Cronenweth uses tone to set the mood in Fincher’s films.

“Cronenweth got an early start on his career by gaining experience on set as a camera loader and second assistant camera during high school alongside his father, Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth (“Blade Runner,” “Peggy Sue Got Married”). After working his way up to first assistant camera and camera operator, Cronenweth got his first shot (so to speak) as a DP for Fincher’s “Fight Club.” (Stuart, J. 2014)