2012 Oscar Predictions: The First Batch of Best Cinematography Predictions

I felt it was only appropriate to wait and offer up my first batch of Best Cinematography Oscar predictions the same day Terrence Malick‘s The Tree of Life was released on [amazon asin=”B005HV6Y5W” text=”Blu-ray”]. After all, is there anyone out there that doesn’t believe Emmanuel Lubezki‘s work in that film is the clear front-runner in the category? Well, okay, I’ll admit, there are some fierce competitors hot on its tail.

I had a hard time deciding on number two, but I’m beginning to think Michel Hazanavicius‘ The Artist may have the chance at becoming a serious Oscar darling and become a front-runner in several categories and Guillame Schiffman‘s black-and-white work is one of the film’s chief standout attributes. The question is, how do you compare Schiffman’s work to that of Lubezki’s in The Tree of Life or just the little bit we’ve seen of Janusz Kaminski‘s work in Steven Spielberg‘s War Horse, a film that has already prompted me to draw comparisons to Akira Kurosawa’s breathtaking Kagemusha?

And that isn’t where the vast amount of differences in styles come into play in this year’s Best Cinematography race.

My current top five is rounded out by Tom Stern‘s work in Clint Eastwood‘s J. Edgar and Jeff Cronenweth‘s work on David Fincher‘s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, neither of which I have supreme confidence in and mark the only two spots that are even open in this field.

I’m pretty much convinced The Tree of Life, The Artist and War Horse will be nominated. It’s now down to those last two slots and after my top three I have 19 films vying for those last two slots.

Two films I’m very curious in seeing how they end up are Cary Fukunaga‘s Jane Eyre with cinematography by Adriano Goldman and Martin Scorese‘s Hugo with cinematography by Robert Richardson.

Goldman’s work using candles to light the Jane Eyre set was excellent. In an interview with American Cinematographer Magazine, Goldman tells us Fukunaga actually wanted to shoot the film in 1.33:1, but they couldn’t do that or even 1.66:1 because it would have complicated distribution. He also talked of the candlelit scenes saying:

Also, there are a lot of night interiors lit only with a fireplace and candlelight, including the scene when Jane arrives at Thornfield and meets Mrs.Fairfax [Judi Dench], and the scene that shows the first real conversation between Jane and Rochester [Michael Fassbender]. The two of them sit close to the fireplace, and that plus some candelabra on the wall in the background are lighting the scene. To add a little sparkle to the actors’ eyes for close-ups, we had a Chinese lantern with a dimmed-down 150-watt or 275-watt bulb and a single flame bar helping us here and there,but no reflectors. Every chance we had to cut reflectors, we did, especially for night interiors. We wanted the look to be believable.

These comments alone remind me of another Best Cinematography winner… Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon in which Kubrick and cinematographer John Alcott shot several scenes using only candlelight so as to create “as many sequences as possible without recourse to electrical light.” (source)

As for Scorsese’s Hugo, the use of 3D is already being praised after a work print screening of the film last night at the New York Film Festival. Will Hugo become the second 3D feature to be nominated for Best Cinematography? If so, will it follow in Avatar‘s footsteps and win?

Phedon Papamichael occupies two spots on my list with two dramatically different features, Chris Menges is there with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and films such as Shame (Sean Bobbitt), Rampart (Bobby Bukowski) and We Need to Talk about Kevin (Seamus McGarvey) will need to break out of independent cinema jail, because if they do all three are worthy of spots in the top five.

Just below I have included my current top five Best Cinematography Oscar predictions. You can, however, click here to see my full field as well as comments on all 22 contenders. And remember, to continue to check my Oscar Predictions homepage as things can change at any minute.

I am currently working on my Best Original and Adapted Screenplay predictions with the lists set up and now time comes for the commentary… you know, the hard part… actually giving reasons for my predictions.

Hopefully you’ll have a few thoughts on my Cinematography predictions and share those thoughts in the comments below. What’s your top five right now?