the art of cinematography
by Patrick Keating
Iwatch the Academy Awards every year. defined the art of cinematography as an art artistry can also be found in the film’s subtle
For me, the high point usually arrives about of storytelling. Rather than distract the audi- details. The story presents events from three
halfway through the ceremony, when they ence with spectacle, the cinematographer’s different time periods, and each period has a
announce my favorite award: Best Cinema- job is to keep the audience’s attention rapt distinctive look. For the first period, set in
tography. Of course, I then will stick around on the unfolding narrative. This does not 1935, McGarvey did something that sounds
for minor awards like Best Picture, but the mean that style should be neutral. Quite the a little strange: he placed a Christian Dior
suspense is often over. Ever since I was a child, contrary: the key to the art form is modula- stocking behind the camera lens. Because the
I have always loved the pictorial aspectsof the tion. All stories are about change; as the stocking is completely out of focus, it does
cinema, and the film with the best cinemato- stories change, the style should change. A not turn the image into a blurred abstrac-
graphy is often the film that best fulfills the well-photographed film is a film that shifts tion. Rather, the fashionable French hosiery
cinema’s potential as a pictorial art form. smoothly from comedy to drama, action to enhances the image by giving it a soft, hazy
For my favorite category, the Oscars usu- romance, always keeping the mood of the glow. When the film shifts to the second
ally reward splashy, spectacular films like cinematography in accord with the fluctu- period (1940), McGarvey takes the stocking
Memoirs of a Geishaor The Aviator. How- ating arc of the story. When no one notices out, and uses a filter to produce a subtler
ever, most cinematographers insist that the the cinematography, it is because the images soft-focus effect. For the end of the film, set
art of cinematography is not necessarily an have set the right tone for the story, no mat- several decades later, McGarvey eliminated
art of spectacle. In fact, if you ask a group of terhow many moods the story may present. the filtration to produce a cleaner, harder
cinematographers (also known as DPs, or Thetools of cinematography may have look. The audience is not supposed to notice
directors of photography) to describe their changed over the years, especially with the these shifts—it would be very distracting if
work, the typical response will sound like wide adoption of digital techniques, but most we were all thinking about the stocking
this: “When people tell me they thought the Hollywoodcinematographers still adhere behind the lens!—but the patterned modula-
film was beautiful, then I know that I failed. to the basic principles practiced during tion in visual style heightens the story’s shifts
Good cinematography is invisible.” Such a the Studio era. in theme and tone.
response might suggest that cinematographers For instance, consider the 2007 film When it comes to modifying the image,
are paragons of modesty, but they are actually Atonement, photographed by Northern cinematographers have many variables to
a very confident group, quick to cite Rem- Ireland’s Seamus McGarvey. The film was consider, including the choice of film stocks,
brandt and Caravaggio as the distinguished nominated for Best Cinematography, largely the control of lighting, and the manipulation
forebears of their craft. So what is it that on the strength of a single spectacular shot of the image in post-production. Steven
makes cinematography an art? depicting the evacuation of Dunkirk. While Spielberg’s cinematographer of more than a
Decades ago, Hollywood cinematographers the shot is certainly masterful, McGarvey’s decade, Janusz Kaminski, is famous for experi-
JANUARY 2010 27
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