JCC Cinematography Appreciation Thread

I've recently seen All the President's Men for the first time and was immediately struck by the following scene. It's a masterful long take of Redford sitting at his desk talking over the telephone. Sounds exciting right? Well this scene absolutely nails it. It's utterly engaging due to Redford's amazing and nuanced performance to be sure, but I'd like to draw particular attention to the way it's filmed.

The background is that Redford's character, investigating the Watergate scandal and trying to follow the money, has just got a lead from his colleague (Hoffman) and is calling up a Mr Dalhberg. The shot starts at 1:33 in.


What I'd like to do is break down the scene and explain why I find it to be a superb display of cinematography. What we have here is an engrossing 6 minute take with the camera slowly moving (almost unnoticeably) tighter and tigher, timed perfectly to coincide with significant beats in the conversation, while playing with focus. It's not pretty, but it's highly effective at creating tension, surprise, disappointment, annoyance, and relief.

First, we start with Redford and the office behind him, the left side of the frame in focus and abuzz with motion while Redford stays comparatively motionless at his desk.

He picks up the phone and calls the lead, Mr Dahlberg, and as Redford covers his ear to help him hear we move closer, bringing us closer and into the conversation.

As the conversation progresses, a crowd of coworkers gather around a screen on the left, which is kept in focus while the office behind Redford is out of focus. Just as the conversation turns interesting with the reveal of a significant committee and 'why would you do that?', the crowd suddenly reacts to what they're watching and then starts to disperse. Redford covers his ear again to hear better and again the frame tightens.

The conversation then takes a bizarre turn as Mr Dalhberg mentions a neighbour's wife being kidnapped. Then the line goes dead.

As Redford wonders about the way the conversation ended, our view of the office (and the distractions of people moving around) grows smaller and as we focus more on Redford, so too does Redford become more focused in getting answers. Picking up the phone again.

He calls up another contact, a person on the commitee that's been mentioned and the man is unhelpful, grows annoyed and becomes almost hostile. Redford isn't getting anywhere. As he heads towards this apparent dead end, the entire left side of the office is gradually shifted out of frame and we become locked in on Redford alone in focus, feeling trapped in this conversation with him. Then a colleague calls to him and we get a release. Mr Dalhberg has called back.

The new conversation with Dahlberg becomes more interesting the more he reveals, he meanders and seems slightly neurotic. Redford keeps at it. It feels like an eternity but we feel like we're close to an answer, because now we've moved to a close up of Redford. All other distractions are gone. We've become invested in getting the answer from Dahlberg the same way Redford has. Then finally the answer.

The conversation wraps up. Redford says goodbye using the wrong name at first, possibly as he's so amazed at what he's found out. Hoffman calls and they briefly exchange the news and then we end on Redford in profile, typing away. Success. Renewed determination.


Again, Redford's performance is amazing in this. So many little things he does.

Anyhow, what are your favourite scenes in films?

 

[Insert Roger Deakins film]

 

Skyfall is amazing looking.

 

redxavier - completely agree. I saw All the Presidents Men in 2012 for the first time. Amazing movie and that long shot of Redford is terrific (not to mention his flawless acting job.)

Dario Argento and several of his Italian directing brethren made me aware of cinematography, their use of color, light and shadow is amazing and as we cannot upload pictures here, I'll just post a video.

The video below is the opening sequence of Argento's Suspiria (which just had a lovely Italian blu-ray release with an American follow up due later this year. And for some insane reason the film is being remade, but..)

Here, our young heroine Suzy Banyon (Jessica Harper) lands in Germany en route to study at an exclusive Dance Academy somewhere beyond the Black Forest.



The cinematography provided by Lucioano Tovoli seems pretty normal as she makes her way through the airport, but once she hops into a cab and toward her destiny, the psychedelic primary color palette of the film kicks into gear. No photos but that video shows the transition from real world to unreal through the use of color and Goblin's freaky musical score.

 

Okay, after having watched Columbus (2017), which is a really great looking film, from the composition of the shots to the colours used within the frame, I am left with the question: when you have a gorgeous film, how much is the director, and how much is the cinematographer? I have no real understanding of where the director's job ends and the cinematographer's begins. Could anyone with some film-making education help me out?

 

What I am curious about are the post filming techniques.

For example, Mad Max-Fury Road appears to have some filter that gives us that strong orange-ish color we see (compared for example to Mad Max 2). I'd like to check out some videos on the subject.

 

Thanks, that's pretty much what I thought.