Major Motion Pictures are Still Shot on Film

Film is not dead just yet for major motion pictures.

Christopher Nolan's sci-fi epic Interstellar was shot on film.  Even the upcoming Star Wars sequel, Episode VII was shockingly shot on film (despite the last two movies being shot 100% digital).

Other notable motion pictures shot on film:

• Boyhood
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• The Imitation Game
• Mission Impossible 5
• Jurassic World
• Cinderella
• Foxcatcher

Read more:

RedShark News - Kodak confirms that film isn't going away

The Best Cinematographers in the Last 25 Years

Roger Deakins - IMDb
The Cohen brothers' man of choice.

Skyfall
True Grit
Doubt
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
No Country for Old Men
A Beautiful Mind
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Big Lebowski
Kundun
Courage Under Fire
The Shawshank Redemption

Janusz Kaminski - IMDb
Spielberg's cinematographer

War Horse
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The Terminal
Catch Me if You Can
Minority Report
Saving Private Ryan
Amistad
Schindler's List

Things usually work out better than you plan. When you're shooting a film you're so close to it, it rarely lives up to your expectations while you're there. You always want it to be better, more perfect. When you see a cut, maybe two or three months later, you come to it fresh. It's generally much better than you thought it would be.

Someone said to me, early on in film school... if you can photograph the human face you can photograph anything, because that is the most difficult and most interesting thing to photograph. If you can light and photograph the human face to bring out what's within that human face you can do anything.

The prep period is especially important. Joel and Ethan Coen and I really enjoy it. By the time we're on the set, we're discussing not what we're doing that day but rather something we're doing later that may be a problem.

Emmanuel Lubezki - IMDb
Alfonso Cuarón's go-to cinematographer
Birdman
Gravity
The Tree of Life
Burn After Reading
Children of Men
The New World
Meet Joe Black
A Walk in the Clouds
A Little Princess

Jeff Cronenweth - IMDb
David Fincher's favorite master of light.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Social Network
Fight Club
Hitchcock

Wally Pfister - IMDb
Christopher Nolan's right hand man.

The Dark Knight Rises
Inception
Intersellar
The Dark Knight
The Prestige
Batman Begins
Memento

"Sadly, some people think of good cinematography as a beautiful sunset or a spectacular vista. I believe we affect the audience in a much more subtle way. We're manipulating them emotionally with light, darkness, colors, contrast and composition. I know the Dogme 95 theories, but I believe actors respond to light. Just look at a Rembrandt or Caraveggio painting or any of the Dutch masters, and tell me light isn't important. The pictures have to be true to the narrative, but I like to test the boundaries and see how far I can go."

"Film has an enormous amount of exposure latitude and dynamic range, which gives us infinite creative ability in creating images. I can underexpose it by 3 stops and overexpose it by 5 stops within the same frame and see the entire spectrum on the screen. That's simply not possible in any digital format I've seen. Every digital camera is trying hard to emulate 35mm film, and there's a reason for that."

 
Robert Richardson - IMDb
Django Unchained
Hugo
Shutter Island
Inglourious Basterds
The Aviator
Snow Fall on Cedars
The Horse Whisperer
Casino
JFK
Born on the Fourth of July
Platoon

Bruno Delbonnel - IMDb
Inside Llewyn Davis
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
A Very Long Engagement
Amelie

John Toll - IMDb
Braveheart
Last Samurai
The Thin Red Line
Legends of the Fall
Cloud Atlas
Gone Baby Gone

Eduardo Serra - IMDb
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I and II
Defiance
Blood Diamond
Girl With a Pearl Earring (Oscar nominee)
Unbreakable
What Dreams May Come
The Wings of the Dove (Oscar nominee)


Caleb Deschanel - IMDb
Passion of the Christ
The Patriot
Anna and the King
The Natural
Jack Reacher
Fly Away Home

Matthew Libatique - IMDb
Cinematographer for Darren Aronofsky (4 of his last 5 movies as of 2014)
Black Swan
Iron Man 2
Iron Man
The Fountain
Everything is Illuminated
Requiem for a Dream

Andrew Lesnie - IMDb
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The Hobbit Part 1 & 2
King Kong

Michael Seresin - IMDb
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Directed by Alfonso Cuarón)

Newton Thomas Sigel - IMDb
Drive
Three Kings
X-Men
X-Men 2


Danny Cohen - IMDb
Les Misérables
The King's Speech

Bill Pope - IMDb


The Matrix

John Mathieson - IMDb


Discover more cinematographers

IMDb: Masters of Cinematography - a list by TarquinMcLusky

Raphael Rogers | inspiration of the week

Acting as a one man band, filmmaker and writer Raphael Rogers wrote, filmed, and edited his 8 minute Sci-Fi short film "Beyond".  The film boasts impressive visual effects layered on practical shooting locations, all in California.

Rogers shot "Beyond" with a shoestring budget using a Canon C100 camera when a RED camera was not available.  He filmed in three days in March 2013 and posted it to Youtube on August 21, 2013.

"Universal Pictures’ Syfy Films division has optioned the rights to the sci-fi short Beyond, with the short’s director on board to produce and helm the big-screen translation."

As of January 2015, the film has an "announced" status on IMDB, so it may be filmed in 2015 and released in 2016.

In November 2011 Rogers posted a 1 min, 20 second teaser video that utilized some slick editing and post-production work to create a Hollywood-style action/thriller feel.

Freeze frames from the film:

Read more:

Syfy Films Picks Up Sci-Fi Short 'Beyond' (Exclusive) - The Hollywood Reporter

Interview with Raphael Rogers - the director of Beyond | One Small Window

Beyond (2015) - IMDb

Filmmaker's Spotlight - A One Man Band | Hurlbut Visuals
(March 2014)

Gear to Capture Stunning Wedding Videos

New cameras come out every year, but any DSLR made since the Canon 7D released in 2009 or the Canon 5D Mark II from 2008 can capture amazing cinematic video when paired with the right lenses.

Invest the most in your lenses

Cameras come and go, but your lenses will be capturing incredible footage for years to come.  Spend money on the fastest (widest aperture) lenses you can afford. You won't regret it, and every good lens you purchase will benefit your projects in different ways.

Some great lenses for video:

Fast Standard lens
50mm f/1.4 made by Canon or Nikon.
* Great for isolating your subjects against a beautifully soft and blurry background.
* The most cost-effective way to capture tons of light.  Critically for anything indoors after sundown when you can't use lights.

Telephoto Zoom
70-200mm f/2.8
Perfect for keeping a more comfortable distance from your subjects when filming weddings.  Use a tripod when using this lens to keep your shots stable.

Wide Zoom
16-35mm f/2.8
An excellent wide-angle zoom to capture landscapes, or to pair with a GlideCam.

85mm f/1.8

Use Neutral Density filters during daylight hours

Video cameras are capturing much more light by shooting at a slow shutter speed (1/50th of a second, or 1/125 of a second for slow-motion), you can only get the exposure right by stopping down on your lens.  The problem with stopping down to f/8, f/11, or lower is that the image looks less cinematic and more like video coming from a consumer camcorder.  The more you can shoot between f/2.8 and f/5.6, the better.  Your shots will look more cinematic with beautifully blurred backgrounds.

Days of Heaven and Natural Light Cinematography

Days of Heaven (1978) was filmed almost entirely with natural light.  Here are some DVD freeze frames from the film to help study the placement of the subjects in relation to the light source.

Click an individual image to see a full-size version.

Learn more:
Four Lessons in Cinematography from Nestor Almendros | Filmmaker Magazine

Shooting Days of Heaven with Terrence Malick | A-BitterSweet-Life

Side light during the magic hour.

side light using the setting sun and capturing a golden glow (magic hour)

indoor scene, one of the only scenes in the film to use artificial light

Was probably filmed during sunset. This low angle is one of the only ones used in the film.

The beauty of natural light

interesting framing and juxtaposition showing the character and what he sees

Many of the film's scenes were shot during the magic hour and darker scenes were filmed after sunset.

Most likely late afternoon light, probably using a bounce card to fill in the actress' face naturally.

The Top 10 Films that Influenced My Childhood

I was born in 1987.  As one of the oldest members of Generation Y, I do remember a time before everyone used the internet, had smart phones, and used social media.

These are the top 10 films that influenced my child hood.  I'm only counting films that I saw before age 12, as I feel that really encompasses that "magic years" of a person's childhood.

1. Return of the Jedi

My favorite Star Wars movie as a kid.  Now that I'm older, I appreciate Empire Strikes Back much more.  As a kid, Empire was dark, intense, and left the viewer with a heavy cliffhanger.



2. Aladdin
The music, the vocal talents of Robin Williams, and the epic animation still put this in my top 3 favorite Disney movies.





3. Raiders of the Lost Ark
I saw this by age 5 or 6.  The action scenes were captivating, the melting Nazis' faces scared the crap out of me, and I would sing and hum the music themes.




4. Back to the Future
One of my favorite adventure movies.  I could watch this over and over and still enjoy it.




5. Three Ninjas
My favorite actual kid movie during my childhood.  The antics, karate, and "wisdom" were great entertainment as a 6 or 7 year old.



Most kids who were in elementary school in the early 90's saw this movie.  Sadly it's been lost on the new generation of young kids.

6. The Three Musketeers
One of my favorite adventure movies as a kid.  I loved the swashbuckling adventure, comedy, Tim Curry as the villain, and the swordplay.



7. The Lion King
One of the quintessential Disney movies of the 90's.




8. The Rescuers Down Under
For it's time, much of the animation was groundbreaking and featured visual styles that were rare in Disney films.





9. Dances With Wolves
I loved the music, love story, sweeping landscapes, and the action sequences, even at a very young age. The movie really pulled at my heartstrings, and even as an adult, I feel a strong resonance with the morality tale and love story.

 



10. The Rocketeer





Top Films that shaped my budding love of filmmaking in adolescence:

1. The Matrix

2. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

3. The Patriot (1999)

Minority Report
Traffic
Gladiator
Good Will Hunting
Run Lola Run
Nowhere in Africa
The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Supremacy

Cinematography With Natural Light

Natural light can provide everything you need for exterior scenes, especially if you live in the Northern Hemisphere.  In places like Canada, and Montana, USA., the twilight hour is much longer than if you live further south.  This also means that the "golden hour" that provides cinematographers with beautiful, dramatic light is also longer.

The 1978 Terrance Malik film Days of Heaven was shot almost entirely with natural light.  The crew lit interior scenes and buildings with set lights, but the majority of their exterior scenes were filmed with natural light.  The Spanish cinematographer Nestor Almendros was often at odds with the Hollywood lighting crew because when the equipment truck was be opened, the lights were left behind.  Almendros went on to win Best Cinematography for 1979.

White bounce cards were used for fill light during some exterior scenes, but this is still a form of natural light.  Back lighting was also one of the key techniques used on Days of Heaven. 

Here are some examples of natural light taken during the golden hour. The first three images show light that is very similar to the look of many scenes in Days of Heaven.

Natural light at sunset in Paradise Valley, Montana.

Days of Heaven - lighting style

Sunset light in Livingston, Montana.

Dramatic natural light during a cloudy day, Bozeman, Montana

Sunset along a rural road, Bozeman, Montana