Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography - Essay Example

Movie Summary- Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography s 17 Jan Movie Summary- Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography1.0 IntroductionIn the filmmaking industry, the role of a film director is regarded highly and in most cases, the director takes home the fame or shame for the success or failure of the movie. However, this notion is slowly diminishing with the evolvement of communications media and increasing interest in the subject of film-making process. This has led to more appreciation of the other contributors to the process such as the actors, editors, cinematographers and script writers among others.

One of the key eye-openers to the importance of cinematographers’ role in filmmaking came through release of the movie Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography (1992).2.0 The Movie SummaryVisions of Light: The Art of Cinematography, written by Todd McCarthy, was directed by Arnold Glassman, Stuart Samuels, and Todd McCarthy. The movie was produced through a collaboration between NHK/Japan Broadcasting and the American Film Institute. It explores the history and development of cinematography through interviews with the directors of some of the most celebrated movies.

The movie features over 23 cinematographers with the most conspicuous being Conrad Hall, Vilmos Zsigmond, Ernest Dickerson, Vittorio Storaro, Haskell Wexler and Gordon Willis among others. In the interviews, these cinematographers discuss their roles, influence, techniques and also provide a guide on how to shoot various forms of movies. The movie examines various scenes from over 100 famous films including Sunrise (1927), Oliver Twist (1948), Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and In the Cold Blood (1967) among others.

Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography runs for 90 minutes, largely focusing on images from various movies and how they are converted into motion pictures by the cinematographers. The interviewees (cinematographers) explain their roles while working with their directors, through relating to the stories they’ve worked on, the innovations they have made and some of the hitches that they helped to solve in their careers. They help to expound on most areas of cinema such as their materiality and the creativity involved in balancing the art and science.

The movie Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography shows the various changes that have occurred in the field of cinematography in general. For example, the cinematographers explain how they have adapted to changes in technology as in the arrival of wide screens, sound, and colored televisions. This has led to creative responses from the cinematographers through invention of new equipment and attempts on new methods. In what is seen as a chronologically arrangement of films and their advancements, the movie narrates through various features of filmmaking such as the conspicuous styles of the 1930s studios, the advent of noir, the changing look of New York and the influence of European culture and technology in cinematography.

According to Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography, cameramen began by shooting at scenes and casted them unedited to their audiences. The next step was the introduction of the lighting process to photography during the studio years. Then there was the introduction of the anamorphic widescreen processes which came into use in the 1950s and 60s before focus shifted to the newly invented hand-held camera. Bill Butler discusses how the hand-held camera approach to the movie Jaws proved a success after he had persuaded and convinced his director Steven Spielberg into adopting it.

Other advances in cinematography include the photography lighting which cinematographer John Alcott explains to have changed since the production of the movie Barry Lyndon where they almost entirely used natural sources to light it.3.0 ConclusionThe movie Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography explains almost everything about the history of cinematography basing its evidence from movies produced between 1915 and 1990. The clips and the interviews presented in the movie enable the recall of virtually every aspect of cinematography development during that era.

It is a creative and an eye-opening film that shows what most audiences have not been made to understand and appreciate- cinematography.BibliographyMcCarthy, T. (Producer), & Glassman, A., McCarthy, T., and Samuels, S. (Directors). (1992) Visions of light: The Art of Cinematography [Motion picture]. California: Image Entertainment, Chatsworth.