If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is a movie at 24 frames per second worth? Let’s not do the math, but since every minute of film is made up of thousands of flashy shots, it’s worth a lot to say the least; maybe that’s why so many great books have been written about cinematography and the visual medium. The cinematography of a particular film leaves a lasting impression on the viewer for a reason.
The visual component (and the ability to frame, light, and color it in certain ways) is what sets movies apart from other art forms such as music and literature. Cinematography can perform a myriad of tasks, including showing depth of character, striking settings, and building suspense. Even the lowest budget production can be enhanced by strong cinematography. The director of photography clearly has his work cut out for him.
There have been so many talented cinematographers in the industry that it’s incredibly hard to pick just a handful for this list. From blockbusters like La La Land And Star Wars to lesser known films such as Bound for glory, there are countless different styles and eras of movies in which cinematographers excel. Some people spend their entire lives studying the greatest artists in the business. While this article is by no means conclusive, it’s more of an introductory introduction, so here are some of our favorite cinematographers to get you started.
10 Mandy Walker
Although Disney’s Mulan was a film loved by some and hated by others, the film’s cinematography was widely admired. We have Mandy Walker for the breathtaking landscapes and close-up action shots.
Some of Walker’s other famous works include Australia, Jane Got a Gun, And Hidden figures. In all her films she balances intimate close-ups with dramatic shots. Much of her work emphasizes the natural beauty of epic landscapes, though Walker’s simplistic framing makes each time period and setting shine.
9 Greg Fraser
You may recognize a few Greg Fraser‘s most recent work — he’s done cinematography for several blockbusters, including Dune And Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Lots of fans watching Dune commented in theaters on the sheer scale and enormity of the elaborate world-building; this sense of awe comes directly from Fraser’s sense of scale and use of wide shots.
Dune isn’t the only place we see Fraser using scale. In Villain One, he came up with creative new shots of iconic symbols like the Death Star and the Imperial Walkers, all of which restored their massive size in a way that was unappreciated prior to this film. The work of the cinematographer has given a kind of expansiveness to exciting films like Zero dark thirty And Let me inwhich is probably why Fraser was tapped to film The batterand received universal praise for it.
8 Rachel Morrisson
The film industry has been largely dominated by men for many years, but women are slowly creeping into all parts of the business. Rachel Morrisson was the first woman ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, and is best known for her work on fruitvale station, Black Panther, And Mudbound. According to her website, Morrison specializes in bringing “emotional intimacy” to large-scale global settings.
7 Gordon Willis
This would not be a complete or definitive list without it Gordon Willis. A man who practiced his craft in an unconventional way; served in the United States Air Force as part of the Photographic and Charting Service during the Korean War. But while it depicted war in its most unadulterated form, where he proved his agility behind a camera, it was shooting with the likes of Woody Allen and Francis Ford Coppola where Willis really made a name for himself.
By Annie Hall, ManhattanAnd All the president’s menUnpleasant The godfather trilogy and that of Alan J. Pakula klute, Willis was the king of American cinematography in the 1970s. Known for using a 40mm lens, low light and underexposed film, Willis had a distinct style, unlike any other, and while he never received proper recognition from the Academy for his efforts, he was undeniably a photographic artist .
6 Christopher Doyle
A lot of Christopher Doyle‘s films have not achieved the same blockbuster popularity as many other cinematographers on this list, probably due to his close association with Hong Kong filmmakers such as Wong Kar-Wai and other international directors. Some of his best work include Hero And In the mood for lovebut each of his films shows an excellent understanding of form and color, and they are some of the most extraordinarily beautiful compositions ever put on film.
Doyle said it best when he described it the making of In the mood for love“You have nothing to fall back on other than the physicality of the space you’re working in or the way light falls into a space,” he said. “Which is a reaction to what exists as opposed to an imposition of what you imagine.” Doyle uses what is already available in a setting to create dramatic frames and intense colours.
5 Vittorio Storaro
Is it the copious use of olive oil, or the vitamin D-enriching Mediterranean sun, that makes Italians age so gracefully and gracefully? Vittorio Storaro is one such example who looks like a wise professor who knows something we don’t about sartorial sense and the inner workings of the universe. While his knowledge of star arrangements is unknown, he is a professor of one thing every cinephile will know: filmmaking.
Roman DOP is a master of photography and has worked on films The Last Emperor, The Conformist, Reds, Last Tango in Paris, and Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece, the unmistakable Apocalypse now, drenched in red mist and atmospheric haze. Storaro is not only a distinguished winner of multiple Academy Awards, but also a film pioneer.
4 Emmanuel Lubeski
Emmanuel Lubeski is best known for his work on The Tree of Life And the revenant, winning Academy Awards for the latter, Gravity, And bird man. In that last video, the holy director combined his long tracking shots to create the feeling of a seamless single shot.
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Lubezki captures huge scenes of nature as well as intimate details in facial expressions, relying on camera movement to create the desired feel in a shot. His use of rack shots, panning, and hand-held cameras are excellent examples of how to capture motion properly, and his integration of technology into films such as Gravity is groundbreaking.
3 Jack Cardiff
Jack Cardiff is credited as one of the first to work with and master Technicolor. He actually started as a child actor in silent films and then became a director. By the time he landed on cinematography, Cardiff understood the world of cinema better than almost any other director or photographer. Some of his most famous films include The Diary of Anne Frank, the African Queenand the utterly gorgeous, visually groundbreaking film The red shoes. In 2001, he won an honorary award as master of light and color at the Academy Awards.
2 Conrad L Hall
Conrad L Hall was a man of prestigious talent, and coincidentally the only ‘L’ he had ever taken on in a decorated film career was the one in his name. Whether due to recency, or simply attributed to being overlooked, Hall’s name often seems to be neglected when it comes to the discussion of extremely gifted and influential cinematographers. He was the man behind the lens for, among others Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cool Hand Luke, American Beauty, And Road to destructionwith three of the four aforementioned winning him Academy Awards for Best Cinematography.
Hall simultaneously made the classic cinema look modern with lavish color palettes and avant-garde lighting techniques, and the modern cinema looked visually classic, with central framing, sweeping shadows and dramatic shots that made use of beautiful natural light. He was arguably the best at capturing a scene at its most aesthetically striking and articulate, so beautiful was the penultimate scene in the film Road to destructionthat some have heralded it as the aesthetically best piece of filmmaking of the decade.
1 Roger Deakins
Nominated for 14 Oscars and the winner of two, it’s no wonder we saved Sir Roger Deakins for the last time. He won Academy Awards for his cinematography in Blade Runner 2049 and for (another so-called single-take movie) 1917, but his long list of great films doesn’t stop there. His work on Oh brother, where are you made revolutionary (albeit often unnoticed) changes in the way we think about technology and color in film, and he has even consulted on some animated films such as How to train your dragon.
Deakins has a way of portraying people that has created some of the most famous stills in cinema to date. His masterful use of silhouettes can be seen in movies like The Japanese Jellyfish And The man who wasn’t thereand the cinematographer is arguably the best in the field right now.