Cinematography Research

The Bucket List (2007) - John Schwartzman, Director of Photographer.

The lighting in The Bucket List is very naturalistic. The use of pale backgrounds makes a stronger contrast between the characters and the background. It also uses shadows effectivelt and over emphasises them. This can be seen in this image. this adds the third dimension to the image.

The mise en scene within the film gives insights into the personalities of the character. For example in this shot the audience can see a clock in the background and when watching the film it becomes apparent that Carter (portrayed by Morgan Freeman) is very aware of what is happening to him and the time he has left and what he should do with it. This subliminal placement of the clock adds an extra sense of urgency within the audience.

Heavily influenced by Citizen Kane, John Schwartzman he explains in an interview with Empire "Citizen Kane is the one movie I take with me whenever I travel. I watch it before any movie that I do - it's my bible. Everything you need to know about cinematography and directing is in this picture." One of the most notorious notes about Citizen Kane is it's use of depth of focus. Cinematographer, Greg Toland throughout Citizen Kane used a deep depth of field. This technique allowed for the audience to focus on more than one area of the film at once and it made the film more personal. This can be seen above on the right. In the window a young boy is seen in the snow whilst there is a conversation between the three characters in the fore front of the image. This style of film making was ground breaking when Citizen Kane was first released in 1941.

In The Call, the production team are aiming to use these techniques of depth of field and background information to aid the story.

666 Park Avenue (2012 - 2013) - Cinematography by Derick V. Underschlutz and Annette Haellmigk

Similar to the themes in The Bucket List in terms of lighting, the use of two lights is quite effective. Above in the annotated photograph it shows the two light sources which can be shown by the shadows and highlights which can be easily seen. The highlights on her hair which bleaches the corner of the blonde hair is an obvious indicator of a light. The motivation behind this light is the main light from the room in which she is stood. The second light source, which be seen through the shadow in the door. You can see each of the panes has its own sharp shadow which suggests a harsh light. The motivation behind this light is the moon and the natural lights of outside at night (street lamps and the moon). Through the use of these two additional lights to mimic a natural scene it makes it feel believable and also clean as it isn't underexposed. 

Dawsons Creek (1998 - 2003) Principal Cinematographer, Levie Isaacks.

Dawsons Creek, The Swing Scene (Season 2, Episode 1). 

In the script there is a scene which takes place on a swing set so the Director, Niamh and Cinematographer, Kathryn discussed shows in which they have seen that have that set up. Dawson's Creek is an example. As seen in the image on the left there is a motivational light from a street lamp which has been aided by a studio light to add a key light on the face of Dawson. The image has also in this image crushed the blacks in the background.

Levie Isaacks has a history on working on shows such as CSI: New York, Malcolm in the Middle and the film, Mean Girls 2. All three of this have a realistic and rough feel about them. This can be shown in the image from Dawsons Creek. The dark lighting adds the noise which suggests a home movie feel which aids the connection between the viewer and the characters. By breaking down the crisp nature of film and making it similar to real life images and film, it adds that element of it could be looking in on the life of a friend or someone down the street. In The Call, Kathryn will be using this device to make the film feel more home made and more relatable to the audience.

Strengths that can be taken away from this shot is the composition, the image is nicely balanced and there is a use of the rule of thirds, it also has the use of bokeh in the background which adds depth to the image as well as having soft lighting which adds to the romantic feel of the scene. Weaknesses include the un-naturalistic lighting. As mentioned earlier it could be attributed to a street lamp but if the audience look at the angle of the light it looks much lower and the temperature of the light is too orange. This may have been on purpose to emphasise the love element but it can be explained through the crew using a strong tungsten light coming from the right of camera.

I Miss You (2012 - 2013) Unknown Director of Photographer.

I Miss You is a Korean Drama about a young girl, Sooyeun who goes through a series of problems, being kidnapped by Ajhusshi, she then gets saved by her father. When she goes to school she then sees her step mother drive up with a new boy to school. He is called Jingwoo and can be seen in the photo on the left and Sooyeun in the image below. 

It can be seen in this images that the scene is set at night much like in The Call, Kathryn thought she could learn from the lighting from this of scene to enhance Scene 7.

Kathryn annotated both the master and the close up shot from the scene and noted on the close up there were 3 lights and on the master there was 3 but in different positions. This can be shown in the directions of light in the images and the shadows cast. This use of lighting is very effective and the production team will endeavour to do a similar style of lighting.