A Deeper Look into Cinematography

Since watching Alfred Hitchcock's classic film "Psycho" in class I was reminded of my love for cinematography. As a lover of old movies I have a certain appreciation for the techniques they used for filming. There is truly something different between movies from before the 21st century. I decided to look deeper into the development of cinematography. What makes a great movie a great movie? Well of course acting plays a large roll, but camera work often takes a back seat to the glamour of having big hollywood names starring in a film. Take Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" for example. Its easy to say that is achieved its success due to the heavy hitting cast (Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, all fantastic actors). However the film would have a very different feel if it wasn't for the amazing work of Gordon Willis, the cinematographer. The use of lighting in this film is impeccable. While filming he was criticized for filming with such low light and yellow tones. However these techniques helped to shape this movie into in my opinion (which may be slightly biased being Italian and all) one of the best ever made.

This interviews with Gordon Willis explains it all!