I just saw the movie K-PAX. I won't bother with a review (but I don't feel the admission price was wasted). But I was intrigued by how the cinematographer really USED out-of-focus effects in this film.

Those of you interested in 'bokeh' (and those of you wondering what in the heck some of us find so intriguing about the 'fuzzy' parts) may find the movie an educational visual experience.

A lot of the movie IS sharp, BTW. and NO Leica sightings.

Just in case you have a couple of hours this weekend when you WON'T be out shooting....

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), November 01, 2001

Answers

Andy:

Many of us in the still photo business would do well to study the work of the great cinematographers.

In most movies, every shot is planned for lighting-highlights, shadow density and depth, motion behind, beside and in front of the subject etc., not to mention light quality. How many of us make up storyboard drawings of what we want our final images to look like?

Stanley Kubrick even had special lenses made for Barry Lyndon to give him the colour, flare and "bokeh" he wanted for indoor shots lit solely by candles. He was a still photog before he made the move to movies. A myth has it that he didn't need a light meter to set the balance in most of his scenes.

Even in the trailers for K PAX I could see very creative use of Bokeh in the cinematography. Thanks for the heads-up. When K PAX finally gets here to Singapore I will make sure to see it.(If I bought those kind of things, I could likely get a bootleg copy in Malaysia next week!)

Cheers

No Leica sightings??? Trivia questions!

What Leica model was used in the opening "Now is the winter of our discontent" scene of Ian McKellen's Richard III of about 5 years ago?

What recent movie starring Ralph Feinnes featured a huge hanging Leica street store sign?

Oh well, gotta go back to work.

cheers

-- RICHARD ILOMAKI (richardjx@hotmail.com), November 01, 2001.

Here's another example. One day, many, many years ago, in a land called Hollywood, a closeup shot of a star actress (was it Myrna Loy? I'm not sure) was planned. But the Director of Photography failed to show up that day. A young Chinese camera operator named James Wong Howe was told to get busy and shoot the shot. Howe quickly hung up a square of black cloth near the camera, in front of the actress, and took the shot. The next morning, after viewing the dailies (film returned from the lab for screening), the actress told the producer that from now on, no one but James Wong Howe was to ever film her again. She had never seen her eyes appear so deep and black. Howe went on to become the most honored cinematographer of his time, and a legend thereafter. He never told anyone, until he retired, what the black cloth was for.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), November 01, 2001.

just wanted to second the above ,just something about the film very good visuals with out special effects , Brillance of this cine was that it was all focus exposure , and good lines .

If you enjoyed this also be sure view Amats du Pont-Neuf ,Les and Winterschlafer, very similar cine styles

-- Charles C. Stirk Jr. (ccstirkjr@yahoo.com), November 01, 2001.

I am a Brooks educated photographer turned cinematographer and director and fimly believe the best moving image education is actually a still one.

-- Evin Grant (evin@image-in.com), November 01, 2001.

Here’s else one example. One of my friend, the famous camera operator Nikolay Kulchitsky (1910-1993, in cinematography since 1926) did shoot the whole movie named “The Mountain Pass” with only one lens the Canon FL 58mm F1.2 fitted by himself on the camera Convas. This was of mine. The movie was shooting mainly in the winter season in the mountain of Karpaty with a lot of outdoor scenes near a fire and indoor scenes with candles. There were wild landscapes shot too. We didn’t know those days (1981) anything about “bokeh” but pretty much did about out-of-focus background. When I sow this movie I have been so impressed with the highest level of the camera operator’ work and the “bokeh’ effects” that with a great pleasure did grant him this Canon lens.

-- Victor Randin (ved@enran.com.ua), November 02, 2001.

The Ralph Fiennes movie with the Leica sign is End of the Affair with Julianne Moore. Right time period and 1930's baby!

-- Albert Wang (albert.wang@ibx.com), November 02, 2001.

Evin,

You struck a core her. I second you perfectly. And BTW I share your career, too. Although I was never properly educated in photography but stayed an amateur from the beginning until now.

On another note, this could evolve into a most interesting thread. It just lacks a fresh question, something to really discuss about... :?)

Cheers.

-- Lutz Konermann (lutz@konermann.net), November 02, 2001.

On another note, this could evolve into a most interesting thread. It just lacks a fresh question, something to really discuss about... :?)

I thought there was once a thread on favorite scenes from movies. I started searching (thanks to the Google advice , and did find this thread on the Philosophy of Photog forum on Greenspun.

So- what are some all time great movies for their cinematography?

-- TSW (tsesung@yahoo.com), November 02, 2001.

"So- what are some all time great movies for their cinematography?"

Three that come to mind immediately - Woody Allen's "Manhattan" - Gordon Willis, cinematographer. "Citizen Kane" - Gregg Toland, cinematographer. "Diva" Jean-Jacques Beneix, director (don't know cinematographer) 8^(

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), November 02, 2001.

Here we go with a great thresd:

I was particularly struck by the Cine'y of "SE7EN". There were very very few long shots and the contrast between highlights and shadows was exremely skillfully done. The one I remeber most vividly is the scene teh cop cars are leaving the underground garage into the sunlight, shot from way back in the garage with a long lens.

The scene where The Killer escapes in teh apt building is magic.

I am surprised nobody has mentioned Hitchcock. He started out as an artist at art school and was very good at it. Can anyone forget the dramatic scene in North by NorthWest with the crop duster or Detective Arbogast climbing the stairs in Norman Bates' house. Try shooting a 110 minute movie from only one room: Rear Window. Talk about a disciplined exercise is seeing and see making.

Then there is Paul Strand.

Cheers

-- RICHARD ILOMAKI (richardjx@hotmail.com), November 03, 2001.

OOOPS

That should be "scene" making.

What has all this got to do with Leica? A lot!!

Many of us, myself not the least, get so involved with what is only a tool, albeit a very good tool, that we often miss what the tool can allow us to do.

I make the generalization that most Leica users are educated, sophisticated aware people, and that photography is primarily an artistic medium of communication. Movies are so pervasive that we often miss the technique, which is I guess the mark of real art: we get the emotional message and the technique becomes transparent. A photograph that makes us stop and go "WOW" rarely happens by accident. The beauty of Leicas (and some other similar cameras) is that the transparency becomes easier with the direct view thru the finder, and the faith and drama that the final image creates because of its technical excellence. N0W- back to the real purpose of this forum. How many line pairs can a 1951 collapsable Summicron resolve compared to a 1961 rigid model?

cheers

-- RICHARD ILOMAKI (richardjx@hotmail.com), November 03, 2001.

For some good B&W cinematography, try "Schindler's List" and "Pi." They both show productive uses of high-contrast and large grain, which is the sort of thing that many still photogs avoid like the plague.

-- Douglas Kinnear (douglas.kinnear@colostate.edu), November 05, 2001.

The "grain" in PI is fake, added in the lab.

-- Peter Hughes (ravenart@pacbell.net), November 05, 2001.