Introduction
History of cinematography
In terms of history of cinematography, there wasn’t an individual who invented or created ‘cinematography’ within the film and TVs industries. However, during 1895 Lumière brothers from Paris were the first individuals who present a projected moving picture to a paying audience within December time.
In addition to that, cinematography itself for cinema has changed and developed as years passed by. In the beginning films were very short, at times they only a few minutes or less. They were shown at fairgrounds and music halls or anywhere a screen could be set up and a room darkened.
Bringing colour into cinema
Colour was first added to black-and-white movies through tinting, toning and stencilling. By 1906, the principles of colour separation were used to produce so-called ‘natural colour’ moving images with the British Kinemacolor process, first presented to the public in 1909.
The first ever attempt to include the synchronised sound to the projected pictures was mainly used by phonographic cylinders or discs. The first featured length movie incorporating synchronised dialogue, The Jazz Singer (USA/1927), used by Warner Brothers’ Vitaphone system which employed a separate record disc with each reel of film for the sound.
Furthermore, in the early 1930s, nearly many feature-length movies were presented with synchronised sound and, by the mid-1930s, few movies were made in full colour too. The advent of sound secured the dominant role of the American industry and gave rise to the so-called ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’. During the 1930s and 1940s, cinema was the principal form of popular entertainment, with people often attending cinemas twice weekly. In Britain the highest attendances occurred in 1946, with over 31 million visits to the cinema each week.
Development
First individual who bring life into cinematography’s world
One of the first individuals who bring life into cinematography’s world itself was Thomas Edison.
Who is Thomas Edison?
Thomas Edison was an American inventor and businessman, who has been described as America’s greatest inventor. He was born on the 11th February 1847 and he died on the October 18, 1931 at the age of 84.
How does Thomas Edison play huge role in Cinematography’s World?
Thomas Edison played huge role in the world of cinematography mainly because, he was the inventor of Kinetoscope. He invented kinetoscope alongside with William Dickson. William Dickson was also an inventor. Who mainly focused into phonograph.
What is a Kinetoscope and phonograph?
Kinetoscope is a type of the motion-picture film (cinematographic) projector. Whereas on the other hand, a phonograph is a device which mainly focuses into showcasing the illusion of motion to photographs shot in sequence.
With kinetoscope, Thomas mainly focused on using the kinetoscope with perforated of 35mm film. Later in 1909 this concept was adopted as the industry standard. The picture had a height-to-width relationship, known as the aspect ratio, of 3:4 or 1:1.33. With the advent of optical sound, the aspect ratio was adjusted to 1.37:1. Although there were many experiments with `other formats there were no major changes in screen ratios until the 1950s.
Cinematography World Today
There are many different amazing cinematographers working within the film industry. However, the Top 4 well established cinematographers are Bradford Young, Claudio Miranda and Rogers Deakins, Emmanuel Lubezki.
Understanding Rogers Deakins’s working strategies (Cinematography)
One of the techniques which Rogers Deakins uses while using his camera is muslin bounce. This is one of the techniques which he developed, right from his documentary filming process. This has been showcased through see over many films, and it is amazingly picturised.
However, one of the disadvantage which Rogers Deakins may face while using this technique might it take time to setup, and you need to control a lot of spill. Therefore, he may still have the time, space or money to control the lighting as precisely as he wants it.
Furthermore, other techniques/camera lens which he preferred using is the 32mm the most, however he also uses all sorts of focal lengths depending on the project he is filming for.
5 Movies which Rogers has filmed are
- Unbroken Prisoners
- Skyfall
- In Time
- Rango
- True Grit
Bringing Diversity into Cinematography world
In Today’s era Cinematography as a job role itself have been developed. During early 1900’s most cinematographers were male. Whereas, now there are more female cinematographers working in the film industry.
Women accounted for just five percent of the cinematographers who worked on the top 250 highest-grossing films of 2016, and a female cinematographer has never been nominated for an Oscar. Because many women are so underrepresented in the field, recognizing and supporting their work is even more important.
Furthermore, there are more female cinematographers, making their mark on Sundance 2017.
Top 5 female cinematographers
- Mandy walkers- Hidden figures
- Kirsten Johnson- A Woman Like Me
- Nancy Schreiber- Stardust & Moonbeams
- Nicola Marsh- 20 Feet from Stardom
- Reed Morano- Frozen River.
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