Questions tagged [cinematography]

Cinematography is the art or science of motion picture photography.

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Is there a quantitative reason why X looks different? [closed]

I’ve always assumed films by Terrence Malick or Kubrick (for example) look different because of “art”. The shots appear cleaner. The subjects are better framed. The lighting is more natural. ...
dvaeg's user avatar
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Animals died during the film shooting?

Is it true, that a lot of animals died during the shooting of Gilliam's "Adventures of Baron Munchausen"? Quote from IMDB's trivia: A lot of the animals for the film died and had to be replaced. ...
user90726's user avatar
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13 votes
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How did Game Night make shots that made the scene look like a model set?

In the movie Game Night they had several transitionary shots of the town the movie was set in that seemed to be an explicit made to make the town look like a detailed model toy set. This goes with the ...
David says Reinstate Monica's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
74 views

Type of Direction

What do you call a type of direction(?) where the perspective changes from one character to another? I couldn't make the story shorter. Please, bare with it. Ex: Characters: - Deliveryman - ...
user250665's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
2k views

How to they film walk on glass scenes in movie?

Like below image, walk on glass intro scene of mass hero is very common in Indian film. Like this kind of scenes, how to they use cameras?
Nagaraj Juro's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
409 views

Has there been a breakthrough in film technology for television?

I've been binge watching Season 2 of The Crown and Godless, both on Netflix, via an fourth gen Apple TV and a very average Vizio 50" 1080p LCD television. I'm a visual artist by trade, and I can't ...
Vern Halen's user avatar
32 votes
1 answer
8k views

Why are paused frames of DVDs blurry?

Sometimes when I pause DVDs the image is sharp, but in most cases, it is blurry. Obviously the film itself isn't blurry. Is the blurriness actually in the film strip or is it an artifact of the DVD ...
Tyler Durden's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
807 views

Why was tilt shift used for the Henley sequence in The Social Network?

David fincher is known to be a perfectionist and each and every frame of his movie is consciously put there to further the main plot of the movie while making the audience relate to the characters ...
Shashank's user avatar
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Why are both Blade Runner films largely shot in darkness?

I watched both the Blade Runner movies today. A few significant things I come across were that 90% of both of the movies' scenes are night scenes. Why did both the directors choose to direct so many ...
Govinda Sakhare's user avatar
12 votes
4 answers
6k views

Time freezes and actors and things can be viewed from different angles. What is this special effect called and how is it made? [duplicate]

The music video for Avicii’s “Lonely Together” shows an effect previously seen in movies like “The Matrix”. What is it is called and how is it made?
Incognito's user avatar
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Why does Elementary often use shots which suggest that the protagonists are surveilled?

Observation Elementary seems to be overly fond of using shots that would normally suggest that the protagonists are surveilled, i.e., they have all or most of the following properties: They are ...
Wrzlprmft's user avatar
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What is the difference between a focus mark and an actor's mark?

As I understand it, camera men generally discriminate between a "focus mark" and an actor's mark or "land". Is the idea that a land is just where the talent goes when they are not the subject, but a ...
Tyler Durden's user avatar
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-3 votes
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631 views

What was the name of the main camera used to shoot Prometheus?

In the movie production of Promtheus, different techniques were used to make the film. The question is: What was the name of the main camera used to film Prometheus?
Habatchii's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
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What is "distorting wide angle for a medium shot"?

In this review of M. Night Shyamalan's Signs, it says: And once again he uses camera tricks—like distorting wide angles for medium shots—to create a weird, slightly off-kilter world. What does ...
einpoklum's user avatar
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How does the first assistant camera focus if the director is pointing the camera?

On a film crew there is often a "first assistant camera" whose job it is to focus the camera, which is complex because the subject could be moving or changing, so the focus must be adjusted constantly....
Tyler Durden's user avatar
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7 votes
3 answers
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First in-helmet shots (like Iron Man)

(I am aware of this question, but the question didn't word its request properly and as a result didn't get the desired answer) In Iron Man (2008), a common shot is used to let Robert Downey Jr. act ...
monoRed's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
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How do they shoot breaking things so close to the camera without damaging it?

In Knight of Cups (2015), Barry breaks things in rage. Pieces fly all over the camera. But this scene is shot so closely to the camera. How do they shoot breaking things without causing any damage to ...
The Hawk's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
362 views

What is the name of this camera work used in the opening shot of After Hours?

What is the name of the camera technique used for the dynamic opening shot of Martin Scorsese's After Hours?
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8 votes
1 answer
3k views

How was the high-contrast cinematography done in Kill Bill?

In the Kill Bill feature film duo, there are numerous black and white scenes with high contrast. The cinematography is remniscent of the work of Ansel Adams. Presumably the interesting appearance was ...
Tyler Durden's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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Cinematography and Mise en scene in Taxi Driver's "You talking to me?" scene [closed]

This movie is considered an all time great, and especially the mirror scene when Travis is talking to his mirror is heralded as an amazing scene. I don't exactly see what makes this scene above and ...
abc12333333's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
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Is the change in camera handling, related to the characters state of mind?

In the movie Carnage 2011 by Roman Polanski, we see a gradual change in the camera handling style. When the film starts almost all the scenes are shot with fixed point camera view. But as gradually ...
Sudip Biswas's user avatar
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In World War Z what is the name of this camera technique that switches between the protagonist and what they see?

The camera in this shot sweeps towards the protagonist as it centres on him (Pitt), and away from the zombies as it switches back to them, giving the impression of speed and approach as the camera ...
G.V's user avatar
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What is the first major film that used drones?

I assume with the switch to digital film-making and light weight 4K or higher resolution cameras, shots that previously would have required a helicopter are now being done with drones at much lower ...
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Was there any notable pushback against "dark" (lack of lighting) cinematography?

One of the most common "normal people" gripes I usually hear about TV shows and films is that directors love to shoot "dark" scenes (literally dark - there is not enough lighting to be able to see ...
DVK's user avatar
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9 votes
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Are there any other films which are constructed in a "Photomontage with narration" style similarly to La Jetée?

La Jetée is a short, French sci-fi film of about 30 minutes. The whole film is just one long sequence of beautiful black and white photographs, except for a single short sequence where the photographs ...
TheIronKnuckle's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
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What's the future of the 3D technolgy used in theaters?

During the last few days, I spent some time reading different articles about certain companies quitting developing and manufacturing processes of 3D technologies for end consumers - more specifically: ...
Patrick L's user avatar
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11 votes
2 answers
481 views

Stroboscopic effects in "Love Actually"

Recently I was rewatching Love Actually in TV and before it started a warning appeared: This movie contains stroboscopic effects. Since you don't often see this kind of warning before a movie it ...
Chanandler Bong's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
2k views

Why do we frequently see movie characters watching very old black and white movies? [closed]

I couldn't help but notice that in many relatively new movies starting from 2000s, movie characters are very frequently shown watching extremely old black and white TV shows or movies rather than ...
eYe's user avatar
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8 votes
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Why are movies still shot on film? [duplicate]

Many modern big budget films such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Interstellar and even some TV shows such as Breaking Bad are still shot on film. Directors such as Christopher Nolan and Quentin ...
user2248702's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
758 views

How were Sophie's interactions with the BFG filmed?

According to the BFG himself, he's a whoppin' 24 feet tall. For the most part, the actress that plays Sophie does a good job of keeping her eyes "on" him, wherever his head is. She also avoids ...
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5 votes
1 answer
1k views

How did the Planet Earth II crew film animals without disturbing them?

Planet earth II has some incredible footage. One of the major differences I've noticed in the second series is that the footage appears to get much closer and follow the animals a lot more. That got ...
David says Reinstate Monica's user avatar
17 votes
2 answers
18k views

Why do soap operas have the soap opera effect?

The soap opera effect occurs when frame interpolation is used. For example, if a movie is shot at 24 frames per second and then shown on a TV screen which is capable of displaying 60 frames per second ...
Tyler Durden's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
146 views

Keystone effect in high-budget movies [closed]

Avatar 3D has gigantic keystone effect throughout the whole film. See feature points for one frame: Obviously, it happened, because converged cameras were used. But none of modern movies that I ...
Anton3's user avatar
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10 votes
1 answer
12k views

Camera technique where crowd moves fast around a stationary character?

This is very common scene in movies and TV shows where a character is shown standing stationary but all other characters' movement is shown in kinda fast forward mode. And these characters are moving ...
Ravindra S's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
139 views

Who invented the "Run to the president" scene

In many movies you can find a scene where something big just happened and someone starts running to the president (or another important person) to report it. In that scene you can see a floor-near ...
juergen d's user avatar
  • 261
3 votes
1 answer
527 views

Why did they use handheld camera for very end scenes in Carol?

I saw Carol (2015) recently. All scenes are shot with steady cam, sometimes it looks like Wes Anderson or Tom Hooper shots. But for the very end scenes they use handheld camera which almost reminds ...
TriLock Pat's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
7k views

Why does the action look choppy in Captain America: Civil War?

I've just seen Captain America: Civil War and one thing that struck me was how choppy a lot of the action looks. I'm aware that filmmakers often play with frame-rates to get various effects. Action ...
spraff's user avatar
  • 365
44 votes
4 answers
14k views

How do they shoot binocular scenes?

How do they shoot binocular scenes? Do they put two cameras in binoculars? See this binocular vision from Ronin (1998):
Sheryl Pink's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
800 views

Why is the path of film through a camera so convoluted?

Here is a shot of the inside of a Panavision 65mm camera. As you can see the film makes a number of turns. Why is this done? It seems like it would only make noise and scratch the strip.
spraff's user avatar
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16 votes
4 answers
6k views

Are lights a worthwhile investment?

If Terrence Malick can get such gorgeous images using almost entirely natural/available light, why do filmmakers bother with artificial lights? From behind-the-scenes material, you learn that much of ...
Tom's user avatar
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12 votes
1 answer
1k views

How did they shoot the Las Vegas scene in "Now You See Me"?

How did they shoot the Las Vegas MGM Grand scene in "Now You See Me" (2013)? At the beginning of the Las Vegas scene there is a very large auditorium with a rotunda stage and the camera's viewpoint ...
Tyler Durden's user avatar
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4 votes
3 answers
268 views

What are the two rectangles on videos before release?

There are usually two rectangles over videos before the final video is released. I guess they might be there to help the camera operator. What purpose do they serve? Do they have a specific name? ...
justtolearn's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
609 views

How to shoot dangerous animals in movie?

How do they shoot movies with live tigers? Do they use real live dangerous animals to shoot movies? If they are not real then how they do it?
Granth Pandya's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
2k views

Who are these guys that are following the cameraman?

In this video about the filming of The Battle of Winterfell, starting at 4:04 you can see 2 people follow around the cameraman as he is filming. What are they doing? They seem superfluous and ...
David says Reinstate Monica's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
2k views

What is the term for this kind of final scene?

For reference, my question comes after having viewed the latest episode of the HBO series Silicon Valley (Season 3, Episode 9 - "Daily Active Users"). The final camera shot was a single, stationary ...
Nyantho's user avatar
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12 votes
1 answer
9k views

Where does the "TV-Look" vs "Cinematic-Look" come from?

It doesn't matter whether its the 80's, 90's or nowadays - there is the cinematic/movie look, and then there is the "cheap" kind of look. The one from daily soaps, or talk shows etc. The "video" look. ...
ndbd's user avatar
  • 231
5 votes
0 answers
296 views

What is this name of the shot used in Carrie (1976)? [duplicate]

I saw this shot in so many movies: Cape Fear (1991) also. So what is the name of this shot used?
Maximilian Larry's user avatar
14 votes
0 answers
303 views

First appearance of the walk down a black hallway with evenly spaced circles of light?

What is the first film or television show to employ this trope: character walks away down a blackened hallway with overhead light fixtures creating evenly spaced circles of light on the floor? In ...
Wad Cheber's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
757 views

What's the first movie to have the "Michael Bay Spin" in it?

Michael Bay has made extensive use (some sites assert he has used it in "all of his movies") of a shot called by many the "Michael Bay Spin". Here's what it looks like: ...
Todd Wilcox's user avatar
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44 votes
5 answers
10k views

What is this camera effect used in Hot Fuzz?

In this scene in Hot Fuzz (2007) the camera focuses on these two characters and rotates slowly, but the background rotates so fast. So what is this camera effect and how is it accomplished? Timeline ...
Necole Machesky's user avatar