Making a thread pertaining to movies with the best cinematography or art direction that have made an impact on you or your artistic direction or creative vision.
A short taste of what to expect: Lost Highway (1997)
Barry Lyndon (1975), directed by Stanley Kubrick, is probably the pinnacle of cinematography. The movie is basically flawless all around, though I can understand if modern audiences might be somewhat cold to it. It is a fairly slow burn, has multiple story arcs, and the ending is very bittersweet. Nobody wins. But, as it pertains to the cinematography specifically:
Kubrick used natural lighting for every scene of the movie. Either daylight or candlelight for indoor scenes. This gives the film a vintage look that visually holds up to modern movies.
Probably the best cinematic 'trick' that Kubrick used was this: With every scene transition, Kubrick had the cast hold completely still for a few frames before the scene starts. If you watch closely, this gives each scene transition an effect as if it starts as a Romance-era painting before the characters come alive. This is for less than a second, but it is the kind of thing that you subconsciously notice until someone tells you about it.
There are so many other details of this film that are worth mentioning, but I think these are the two that really set it apart from other movies.
There are many great movies, some of which have already been mentioned in this thread, but on a purely technical level, I don't know of any other film (even among Kubrick's other films) that approach the level of technical mastery of Barry Lyndon.
One of the best cinematographers working today is Emmanuel Lubezki.
His work includes movies such as:
- Sleepy Hollow (Oscar nomination in 2000)
- Children of Men (Oscar nomination in 2007)
- The Tree of Life (Oscar nomination in 2012)
- Gravity (Oscar in 2014)
- Birdman (Oscar in 2015)
- The Revenant (Oscar in 2016)
Dude is one of the best in the game, watch any of the movies he worked on to find out why.
My personal favorite is Children of Men.
The action set pieces were beautifully shot.
Check this shit out:
The dude literally created a new filming technique for this scene which has been copied by everyone in the business since then.
Motherfucker is a genius in his field.
I've always liked those collage ones with the title at the center surrounded by shots from the movie like in the op. Anyone know of a site to easily make them? I have some already but they're mostly video game ones.
One of the best cinematographers working today is Emmanuel Lubezki.
His work includes movies such as:
- Sleepy Hollow (Oscar nomination in 2000)
- Children of Men (Oscar nomination in 2007)
- The Tree of Life (Oscar nomination in 2012)
- Gravity (Oscar in 2014)
- Birdman (Oscar in 2015)
- The Revenant (Oscar in 2016)
Dude is one of the best in the game, watch any of the movies he worked on to find out why.
My personal favorite is Children of Men.
The action set pieces were beautifully shot.
Check this shit out: https://youtube.com/watch?v=pOyAXPn1V9kThe dude literally created a new filming technique for this scene which has been copied by everyone in the business since then.
Motherfucker is a genius in his field.
Knight of Cups is funnily enough the movie that clued me in to who this cinematographer is.
I just chose his more famous work for the post because nobody knows what the fuck Knight of Cups is.
