It is time for another Hollywood Reporter Oscar contender roundtable! Get pumped, people! This roundtable concerns one of the most misunderstood positions in the film industry: the cinematographers. I say the position is misunderstood because I don’t think most people know what exactly a DP does. Are they just responsible for making a pretty picture?
Well, six cinematographers come together to talk about their position in the making of the film. The panel includes Roger Deakins (Unbroken), Matthew Libatique (Noah), Benoit Delhomme (The Theory of Everything), Dion Beebe (Into the Woods), Jeff Conenweth (Gone Girl), and Dick Pope (Mr. Turner).
They talk about how critics and movie fans perceive what they do, frequent director collaborations, interacting with an actor, and how they approached the various projects they are promoting. This roundtable is a little shorter than the previous ones, at only forty minutes, but hearing these craftsmen talk is still fascinating.
I think Deakins had the best quote of the roundtable, talking about people’s perceptions on cinematography:
People confuse pretty with good cinematography. [The late cinematographer] Freddie Francis said there is good cinematography and bad cinematography, and then there’s the cinematography that’s right for the movie. I often feel that if reviewers don’t mention your work, it’s probably better than if they do.
Pretty pictures are fine, but they are not the goal of the DP. They want to create the look of the film best to service the story. The story could call for very ugly pictures, so why would you not want to do it that way? I think cinematographers only interested in the prettiest picture are off point, and I usually do not respond to those films.
You can watch the roundtable below, as well as click the links for the four previous roundtables.
Previous Roundtables:
