Director of Photography Essay
In this essay I will be writing about a famous director of photography. The points I will be mentioning in the essay I will be writing about the technical, creative and psychological impact of his work as well as mentioning about the equipment he uses from camera, lighting and sound equipment.
The director of photography I will be writing about in this essay is Wally Pfister. Born in Chicago but raised in New York City. His influence in starting to work in the film industry began at 11 years old where a film called Shamus was being filmed in his neighbourhood. Since then he began shooting home films where he used a 8mm lens, since he left school he began working as a freelance cameraman.
Beginning his cinematography career in 1991 working on feature films. He has mostly worked on projects with Christopher Nolan and gaffer Corey Goreyak on numerous occasions; his breakthrough film working with Christopher Nolan was Memento, which was released in 2000.
The equipment that Pfister has used has developed from the years he has been working as a cinematographer. Pfister began his trade in the 1980s, and still does the job today. During the 1980s he shot films using VHS video cameras and has then developed as the years have gone by. When he shot The Dark Knight and Inception he used IMAX cinema cameras. The reason why Pfister uses these cameras in particular is because it’s where he films on a high resolution where he also shoots on a large format. Pfister regularly uses a 70 mm camera for filming; when he was working on Inception he used a 65 mm, all of Pfisters camerawork is mainly handheld and holds the camera onto his shoulder. This technique is used to make the audience feel entwined with the actor’s feelings and emotions. Secondly it makes the camerawork and the film have a more realistic feel to the sequence. When Pfister was working on the Dark Knight in the opening scene of a bank robbery he follows the action by using holding the camera on his shoulder the reason he uses this technique is because of the realistic affect it has which makes it look like the he is being involved in the moment. Secondly when the robbers are inside opening the vault the camera pans sideways this is another way where the cinematography makes the audience enticed into the action that is specialised to put the audience at the edge of their seat.
Pfister has used other equipment during production, example in Inception during the hotel lobby scene which he rotated 360 degrees, the equipment he used a dolly to capture the footage. During the filming stage process Pfister made sure that the camera was made to move as normal, the track that was used to follow the sequence of the action was hidden under the carpet, the outcome of placing the track underneath the carpet is due to making sure the actual track is not visible in the shot.
Secondly many of Pfisters different films noticeably his camera movement changes in different films that he has worked on, the reason for using different techniques is because it strengthens the script and also brings attention to the story, he mentioned in an interview the reason he does this, he said “What’s really important is the story, None of it matters if it doesn’t support the story.
Regards of using lighting Pfister only tends to use one style of lighting to his pictures, we notice that his lighting is very soft. On the films that he has worked on the lighting shown in his films make the picture look more realistic, the reason is he uses a key light and dims the casters to 50% he uses this to provide a glow so that the shadow is not too dark.
The psychological impact of Pfisters style is also shown in his filming, one of his films he worked on Memento we notice in the scene of where a man injects his wife three times before she is killed. Pfister uses this technique by changing the shot each time she says “Harold its time for my shot”. He starts off by mid shot from the start of the scene and then develops into an extreme close up where the camera zooms in onto the wife, as she is about to die. You also notice that the actors he has filmed in his projects that the framing is always central.
Pfisters style of creating effects for example during the zero gravity scene in Inception that was filmed at a studio in California. The hotel lobby was interior was designed in a tube and then rotated 360 degrees. Pfister used a dolly to film the footage. However the actual scene was not filmed in CGI. The whole scene took three weeks just to get it right, many adjustments had to be made to make sure that the shot was perfect. For example the hallway had to be adjusted so that the camera was firmly locked onto the ground so the camera did not move. Pfister designed this technique to make sure that the audience only see the action, to get the scene right the actors had to keep running whilst the tunnel was rotating, also the actors involved in the scene were hung on wires which were supported by rigid poles.
In conclusion I have learnt that Wally Pfister uses numerous of different camera techniques and also different types shots that explain the story the film secondly the style of shots and the storytelling psychologically manipulates the audience’s emotions. Many of the projects he has worked on such as Inception, The Dark Knight and Memento all have a different outlook in regards to cinematography and storytelling.
The set up of the zero gravity scene they made the corridor work by using eight concentric rings to create the interior.
During the Memento scene Poetic Justice the camera zooms shot by shot when the insulin is shown it zooms in each time it is shown. This is shown to represent a climax is about to develop, which leads into someone dying.
