I just finished watching the film “Rachel Getting Married”, an excellent and moving piece of cinema by Jonathan Demme.
As I often do when watching movies, I looked at how it was shot, thinking of questions like “how did they light that?”, “why did they shoot it like that?”, or “could I do that?”. (It’s sometimes a curse when watching tv or movies, but it keeps me occupied if it’s something bad, and usually on a good show I get sucked into the story after a bit, and stop thinking about how it was made.) This movie had a cinema verite look, VERY handheld camera, lots of movement, a healthy dose of shake to it. This look can be a bit jarring at first, and when I see movies that are shot this way it often takes several minutes (at least) just to settle into the visual style. My assumption is that most directors choose this style as a way to convey more “realism”, to make the audience feel like they are voyeurs into their characters’ lives, maybe to give the point of view that we, the audience, are the camera walking through this story. Certainly, though, we don’t see the world this way. We walk around the world quite smoothly (like a dolly move or steadicam), and our eyes have an amazing capacity to “stabilize” the image. We don’t bob our heads around mindlessly, otherwise we’d get massive headaches.
Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married"
But I am not trying to knock Demme on an amazing film. In fact, the cinematography DID work for me, even if I was overly-conscious of it. This got me to thinking about my own visual style. Certainly when I started out in this business, I didn’t set out with a “style” in mind. But, after working on various creative projects over the years, I’m fairly confident that I have established one. I tend to envision things very photographically; I try to make each of my shots stand out on their own. Typically I work on a tripod, using few, if any, excessive movements of the camera. If I had to categorize it, I guess I would describe my style as slow and thoughtful. While there’s certainly a place for that type of shot, sometimes the subject matter or director’s vision calls for something entirely different. In those cases, I value the opportunity to be able to stretch my comfort zone and try out new and different techniques.
Tags: director of photography, style