ten movies every photographer should see

8/3/2019 Ten Movies Every Photographer Should See

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Ten Movies Every Photographer Should See

By: Greg Stott

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Lists are often arbitrary and this one is no different. It springs from my tastesand my opinions and I won't be surprised if some visitors to this website feelstrongly that I have overlooked movies they think should be included. In thatregard, I welcome your suggestions but let's set some guidelines.

For me, the movies that populate my list are not those that containextraordinary special effects or extended dolly or crane shots. Nor are theyfilms that necessarily contain great acting though the blend of great visuals

and admirable acting often do seem to go hand in hand. There have beenmany great movies over the years, of course, but only a small number I thinkare able to visually inspire a still photographer. In my opinion, the qualities ofsuch movies include quality of light, first and foremost, but also fetchingcomposition and, sometimes, camera effects. The most inspirational moviesfor still photographers often possess powerful and memorable scenes thatmake you wish you were there with a camera to capture some of the magicmoments. Indeed, if I watch a movie and am left with an urge to go takepictures, it's one of the factors that make it a contender for my list of moviesworth recommending. By the way, as my list suggests (lots of foreignmovies), I'm not bothered by subtitles.

Most of the films listed below are available on DVD but some are admittedlyhard to find. The Conformist, for example, cannot be found in my experienceexcept through rare copies offered at high prices on Amazon.com. Likewise,Raise the Red Lantern can be hard to locate although the owner of my localvideo store got one in a week through a Hong Kong contact. The quality isexcellent. Many of these films mentioned here are not available through youraverage video store. In bigger cities, you can usually find a specialty outlet


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that caters to more art-house tastes through rentals or sales. Of course,there is always Google and the chance to undertake some Internet sleuthingto locate a copy of your own.

Here then is my alphabetical list ofTen Movies Every Photographer

Should See soon to be followed by a list of Honourable Mentions. If you wishto add a recommendation or comment, you can e-mail me [email protected].

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Baraka

Baraka (1992) - In a review written several years ago, the author declaredthat this was his choice of a film for a desert island. If he had just one movieto take along to an isolated refuge away from the human race, this would beit. Certainly it would be one of my candidates as well. The movie has no plotbut it's anchored by a riveting stream of images shot over 14 months in 6continents and 24 countries. A three-person crew, led by director andcinematographer Ron Fricke, employed a $4 million (U.S.) budget to capturescenes of beauty, mystery and destruction in the expensive TODD-AQ 70mmformat. Throw in a hypnotic soundtrack and you've got a 93-minute feast forthe eyes and ears.

Baraka contains at least several dozen scenes any photographer would loveto have captured digitally or on film. One minute you're mesmerized byimages of the very human-like faces of Macaque monkeys immersed in hotsprings in snowy Japanese mountains and sometime later you're watchingburning-of-the-dead ceremonies on the Ganges River or Whirling Dirvishesspin in what I believe is a Syrian temple. It's all very captivating although the
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film is probably best viewed in two or three viewings because there is almosttoo much to absorb in a single viewing.

For movie-goers who insist on a beginning, middle and an end, Baraka mightbe a little bewildering because there is no narration or explanation and there

is often little context except, for example, that the viewer might knowintuitively that certain scenes were shot in, say, Asia or Australia.

While nature and exotic location photography anchor this movie, Frickeemployed a computer-controlled camera to record some wonderful time-lapse shots in congested locations such as Manhattan at rush hour or Tokyoon the crowded subway platforms. These are scenes that illustrate motionbut they are also reminders that still photographers can capture motionthrough the use of time-lapse exposures as well.

It's no surprise that this film was supplemented by a nicely-printed and

handsome coffee-table book. It compliments the movie and photographerMark Magidson describes the move-making process and shows the peopleand equipment that made the film along with a variety of images in both blackand white and colour.

If the film seems a little derivative to some, it's probably because it bears aresemblance to Koyaanisqatsi, a 1983 movie that was the first film of the typeto dish up a well-constructed sequence of music-laced world scenes. Notcoincidentally, Koyaanisqatsiwas filmed and edited by Ron Fricke.

Baraka is an ancient Sufi word which can be translated, in part, as "a

blessing". The film is just that, a gift to anyone who appreciates visualartistry. Prepare to be inspired.

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Barry Lyndon

Barry Lyndon(1975) - Okay, who out there has an f 0.7 lens? Well, amongstill photographers no one I know has such a treasure and even in the richlyfinanced movie industry, such an extraordinary piece of glass is very rare,


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possibly limited to just one - the one director Stanley Kubrick used to film thelingering candlelit scenes in Barry Lyndon. For these moments, Kubrick hada 50mm lens built for NASA by the Carl Zeiss Company modified with aKollmorgen adaptor used in still cameras. No artificial lighting was used withall the illumination coming from the candles. The warm light generated by the

candles creates a compelling painterly look that is reminiscent of ThomasGainsborough and other artists of the era in which this movie is set.

The movie focuses on the exploits of a scheming Irish rogue who wins theheart (and fortune) of a rich widow and makes a sideways entrance into 18thcentury aristocracy. There are some powerful battle and dueling scenes butit is the candlelit scenes and meticulous composition that hold visual sway forphotographers. The frame is often held and the action allowed to developwithin it. Often landscapes rather than people dominate the screen.

Barry Lyndon is played by Ryan O'Neal who was never a great actor in my

view but who, nevertheless, manages to capture the rakish failings of a manwho doesn't have the moral compass to match his lofty ambitions. BarryLyndon won several awards including Academy Awards for BestCinematography (the late John Alcott) and Best Art Direction & Set Directionand The Best Cinematography Award by the British Society ofCinematographers. The film runs 184 minutes. In those three hours and abit, I counted at least 22 scenes I would like to have recorded with a stillcamera. It is impossible not to watch this movie and not want to indulge insome portraiture of your own employing candles, perhaps employing a fewreflectors to spread the light.

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The Conformist

The Conformist(1970) - I saw this movie three times before I was able tofully digest the complicated - some would say disjointed - plot that revolves
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around the story of an ambitious professor in Italy in the late 1930s and early1940s. It's a time when Mussolini has risen to power and the professorconveniently declares himself a fascist. His commitment gets tested later,however, when he gets involved with the secret police and is given asassignment to murder one of his former university teachers who leads an

anti-fascist resistance group. Disturbing psychological themes and sexualundertones abound. Freud almost deserves a credit on this film.

While director Bernardo Bertolucci didn't cater to viewers with a traditionalbeginning, middle and an end (the movie jumps around, as I said), whatmakes the movie irresistible is the inspired and daring cinematography ofVittorio Storaro and the vision of Bertolucci. The movie features some of themost dramatic use of light and shadow I've seen. Often, unusual shootingangles or the use of filters to tint colours heighten the visual tension. Manyscenes from the movie stay with me still such as the windshield wipers of acar sweeping across a window or sunlight streaming through a forest or the

daunting interior scenes of Mussolini's art-deco headquarters. Some of thesescenes manage to be both beautiful and creepy and they are always powerfuland often surreal. Still today, 35 years after it was released, this film iscapable of inspiring a still photographer to think outside the box - to createcompositions that defy convention.

The movie is arguably Bertolucci's most intriguingly photographed filmalthough some viewers might feel another Bertolucci movie, The LastEmperor(also on my list), is a more elegant contender for that honour.

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Days of Heaven

Days of Heaven (1978) - Still Photographers are often reminded that the

best times to shoot are the "magic hours", the time around dawn and dusk.These are the times when the light is warm, low and flattering to its subject.Movie directors enjoy the magic hours too but they have significantconstraints such as budget and plot and onerous schedules. It would cost afortune to have highly-paid actors and crew waiting around just to shoot theirscenes for one or two hours a day when it might not advance the plot.
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Nevertheless, back in 1978, shooting a film almost exclusively in the "magichours" is just what director Terence Malick did in a remarkable film calledDays of Heaven. Telling a story about a love triangle in the early 20thcentury, Malick employed the talents of two of the greatestcinematographers at the time, Nestor Almendros and, to a lesser extent,

Haskell Wexler. For much of the film, the decision was made to only shootduring the "magic hours" and it paid off: Days of Heaven and Almendros wonBest Cinematography at the 1978 Academy Awards.

While the movie opens in a Chicago steel mill, the heart of the film ostensiblytakes place in Texas farm country when three of the main characters in themovie, including a young Richard Gere and Brooke Adams, join a wave ofitinerant workers following the farm season. In reality, the sweeping farmscenes were shot in the rolling plains of southern Alberta which has neverlooked more evocative. Fields of wheat ripple sensuously in golden light, agrand farm house often anchors simple, elegant compositions and trains

packed with workers cut ribbons through a dreamy agricultural landscape.

The beauty comes under siege though when swarms of locusts descend onthe landscape and fires started to control the plague get out of control.Almendros, who started as a still photographer, builds visual tension withclose-ups of the grasshoppers intercut with tight shots of torches and hemakes the scenes go from warm and romantic to hot and dangerous.Tension is also heightened by the plot which has Richard Gere's charactergetting trapped in a deception of his own making when he pretends to be thebrother of Brooke Adams rather than her lover. Adams moves in and getscozy with the terminally-ill owner of the vast farm where they find employment

and while it starts out as a way for Gere and Adams to inherit the farm, thingsdon't go as planned. In all, the movie presents some low-key quirky actingbut it's really the visuals that reward the viewer. A bonus is the soundtrack ofEnnio Morricone, one of my favourite composers.

Here are a couple of relevant quotes from Nestor Almendros given not longafter the Days of Heaven was completed:

Terence Malick told me it would be a very visual movie, the story would betold through visuals. Very few people really want to give that priority toimage. Usually the director gives priority to the actors and the story but herethe story was told through images. In this period there was no electricity, Itwas before electricity was invented and consequently there was less light.Period movies should have less light. In a period movie the light should comefrom the windows because that is how people lived.

"Magic hour is a euphemism, because it's not an hour but around 25 minutesat the most. It is the moment when the sun sets and after the sun sets andbefore it is night, the sky has light but there is no actual sun. The light is very


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soft and there is something magic about it. It limited us to around twentyminutes a day but it did pay on the screen. It gave some kind of magic look, abeauty and romanticism."

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Dreams

Dreams (1990) - It's a challenge to pick one film by Japanese director Akira

Kurosawa that ranks as my visual favourite. He was very prolific in hislifetime and he displayed a knack for potent cinematography but, without adoubt, Dreams remains the most haunting of his films for me. In fact,Dreams is eight short films, some quite melancholy and all born from hisactual dreams and memories. The surreal, ethereal visuals in each of themis quite breathtaking.

The mystical tone of the film is set in the first vignette when a boy witnessesan eerie procession of fox spirits in a wedding procession. It's visual poetry.Another vignette involves a party of mountain climbers struggling through afierce blizzard. Another section includes a man, a former military leader, who

encounters the ghosts of Japanese soldiers he once commanded in a lonelytunnel. It's chilling to the bone. The same man is seen in the next vignetteas he wanders through a Van Gogh painting and encounters the famousartist (played by Martin Scorsese).

What this movie offers still photographers is imagination. I am guilty, asmany photographers are, of sometimes failing to wring the most out of mycreative instincts. Going beyond the tried and true is always a challenge.Commercial and editorial mandates don't always allow a photographer toblend illusion or fantasy or artistic licence into an image but it's my belief thatwe should always try to pursue at least some personal work that displays

creative flourish and imagination. We need more images that mirror, more orless, what is conceived in the mind's eye. Kurosawa did this with a far-ranging colour palette that swings from the bland to the bold. He did it withpurpose and the discretion of a master but several of his films - this oneespecially - illustrate the joys of constructive whimsy. For me, Dreams tellsme to play in the photographic sandbox a little more.

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The Last Emperor

The Last Emperor (1987) - Bernardo Bertolucci faced an enormouschallenge when he decided to tackle the true story of Pu Yi, the last ruler ofthe 300 year old Chinese Ching Dynasty. Spanning the years 1908 to 1967,Bertolucci was successful in turning the story of Pu Yi into a compelling (andtragic) historical epic.

One of the very effective cinematic tools in the movie is the use of colour.

Bertolucci and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro employed very specificcolour palettes to symbolically reinforce and illustrate moods. Indeed, it'sbeen said the real star of the film Storaro's cinematography and certainlysuch deliberate and brilliant use of colour is one of the reasons the moviewon many Academy Awards including Best Cinematography. The film alsoserves to remind any visual artist of the power of colour to influence theresponse of the viewer.

Scenes from Pu Yi's childhood, when his life was vibrant and literallycolourful, for example, are enhanced by bright warm colours such as orangeand yellow. Indeed, Pu Yi, wrote in his autobiography that as a boy he

believed everything was yellow because he saw so much of it. Scenes set inchilly Manchuria incorporate lots of cool indigo while scenes of the emperor'simprisonment and "re-education" during the sterile Maoist era are almostdevoid of colour. When his English tutor arrives (played by Peter O'Toole),we see green for the first time. It's the colour of knowledge. Scenes of Pu Yiin his latter years have a more balanced spectrum of colours which reflect hislife at the time as well as the political and cultural climate. The first time redis seen in the film is when blood fills a sink in a suicide scene.

The topic of colour in the film was the subject of an essay in the book,Bertolucci's The Last Emperor: Multiple Takes (1998) in which Storaro

explains how he exercised the psychology of colour. In the DVD, Vision ofLight (which is reviewed below), Storaro also comments briefly on his use ofcolour in the movie. Photographers can benefit from this movie by beingreminded that colour is rarely incidental in an image. It may be subtle or itmay be bold but it can engage the viewer (and photographer) in ways thatoften appeal to the sub-conscious. An additional benefit for those of us whohave had the opportunity to visit or photograph The Forbidden City in Beijingis the way in which the movie recreates part of the past of the venerable and
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hallowed structure. For those with stamina, there is a director's cut ofTheLast Emperoravailable on DVD. It runs 219 minutes but I have heard atleast once that the picture quality is less than ideal in places.

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Raise the Red Lantern

Raise the Red Lantern (1991) - Like The Last Emperorreviewed above,Raise the Red Lantern provides insight into China's not-so-distant history.The difference is that The Last Emperorwas directed by an outsider, ItalianBernardo Bertolucci, with the cooperation and approval of the Chinesegovernment, while Raise the Red Lantern was directed by Zhang Yimou andnever sanctioned by the Chinese Government. Implicit in its story is acouched allegory about obsolete old men and the harmful traditions

governing China and it is a condemnation of the feudal attitudes that stilllinger today. It's no surprise that the film was financed by a Taiwanesedistributor through a Hong Kong subsidiary.

What the two films, The Last Emperorand Raise the Red Lantern, have incommon is the eye-popping use of colour. When I first saw Raise the RedLantern, it was the first Chinese movie that impressed me with its astonishingbeauty. The plot, which focuses on the experiences of a reluctant youngconcubine in the house of a nobleman in the China of the 1920s, is a grimaccount of sexual or gender politics. As the fourth wife, Songlian, the maincharacter, must figure out how to get along with the imperious master and

husband and survive prickly relationships with his other wives. Tensions areoften thin as rice paper as the hazards of polygamy are charted.

While the tale is psychologically grim, the vividness of the many colours usedin the film is stunning and heightens the emotional content of the story. Themost potent colour is red because wherever the master chooses to spend thenight is ritualistically lit up with opulent red lanterns (hence the title). The filmwas shot in the classic three-strip Technicolor process which allows a
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richness of reds and yellow that are no longer seen in American films. Thevivid colours give the movie a sensuous, vibrant quality, particularly in theuse of fabrics.

I like the film because, like The Last Emperor, it is a riveting movie made

better by the abundant but careful use of colour. Until this film, I alwaysavoided brilliant reds in my work because they seemed, well, coarse and overthe top. Raise the Red Lantern changed my mind and influenced mywillingness to occasionally search out or use more potent colours formaximum effect. With Photoshop and digital photography, we have theoption more than ever to enhance colours where the enhancements enhancethe image.

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The Third Man

The Third Man (1949) - After writing elsewhere on this page about theglorious use of colour in some films, it's comforting to be reminded that old-fashioned black and white has just as much magic - it's just different magic.No film better illustrates this in my view than The Third Man, a thriller which,

in addition to a great story, offers moody cinematography that won the film itsonly Academy Award (though it was nominated for three).

I saw his movie recently for the fourth time, after not seeing it for many years,and was pleased to discover that this classic hasn't lost an ounce of appeal.If it's not my favourite black-and-white film, it's certainly a contender. (I'm notalone: The British Film Institute voted it the number one British Film of the20the century.) It was the first movie I ever saw that had canted cameraangles so that unsettling tilted compositions heighten the suspense of somescenes. Wide-angle distortions and shallow depth of field also contribute toan unrelenting tension and suspense but nothing grabs the viewer's attention

more than the long shadows and the striking use of light and shade that givethe film its compelling visuals and slightly nightmarish intrigue.

Almost all of the movie was shot on location in post-war Vienna and it'sbased on a story by British screenwriter and author, Graham Greene. FellowBrit Carol Reed was the producer and director and Robert Krasker thecinematographer. The main character is American pulp-fiction writer HollyMartins played by Joseph Cotten. Another lead character, even long before
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he makes his entrance, is Harry Lime, played by Orson Welles. His presence- or lack of it in the first half of the movie - is an inspired absence. Now somecinema buffs will note that both Welles and Cotton, the former especially,anchored Citizen Kane, another great and ominous black and white movieand they'll be wondering why I didn't include it in my top ten. Well, as great

as it is, it doesn't possess the visual intrigue ofThe Third Man.

Greene's story tosses the naive but principled Holly Martins character intoVienna at a time when it's under the schizoid control of four Allied forcesincluding the British, French, French and Russians. The morality in the city isambiguous and there's all kind of illegal black-market activity and wheelingand dealing. Martins has come to visit his old and favoured friend Harry Limebut Lime doesn't show up to greet his arrival and so the mystery begins. Theclimax of the film occurs in the Vienna's sewer system, a murky labyrinth ofrushing water and mysterious tunnels, and it's here that the film-noircinematography and lighting underline the strength of black and white.

Criterion has done a superb job of restoring this film and though the DVD isexpensive, it's well worth it. Watch it and you'll feel the urge to get to work onsome black-and-white images.

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Visions of Light

Visions of Light (1992) - Okay, technically this isn't a movie. It's adocumentary about movies, covering the history of cinematography andsome of the movies mentioned on this page are illustrated or discussed. Andyes, there are lots of talking heads but almost all of them engage theviewer/listener and offer genuine insight, the kind that makes you exclaim"Oh, wow!". We meet such fascinating individuals as Nestor Almendros, the

lead cinematographer ofDays of Heaven (see above), who was interviewedshortly before his untimely death in 1992. Vittorio Storaro, the award-winningcinematographer who won awards forThe last Emperor(see above) and

Apocalypse Now, is another of the many wise men of the camera presentedin Visions of Light.

In some instances, cinematographers acknowledge the vision and influenceof certain directors such as Roman Polanski. His role in determining the
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composition of a scene in Rosemary's Babyis one of the many interviewclips worth waiting for. It reveals how an unlikely move just a few inches inone direction made all the difference. The cinematographer on McCabe andMrs. Millerdiscusses how colours were altered and muted in the film to instillthe feeling of the late 1800s. Anyone who works with Photoshop and has

had to create the look of another era will enjoy this section.

Another worthwhile interview is with Conrad Hall who photographed thechilling In Cold Bloodback in 1967. Hall recounts how they were setting up akey prison scene where a murderer played by Robert Blake is about to behanged. Rain was splashing the window outside and Hall noticed that if thelighting outside was placed at just the right angle, it projected the shadows ofthe raindrops on Blake's face, giving the appearance of tears as he discusseshis bleak childhood with a Chaplin. Rarely has there been a moreheartbreaking scene in a movie.

Inevitably, the strength of the movie though are the hundreds of film clips itpresents . After its 92 minutes are up, you can't but help come away deeplyimpressed by the talents of the great magicians behind the cameras. Indeed,any still photographer with a heartbeat will be inspired by their vision andability to render magic results with light and technique. What the many filmclips in Vision of Lightdo is help train our visual instincts and ability torecognize and respond to and perhaps even create the kind of light thatmakes for an unforgettable picture, still or otherwise.

The documentary is divided into three sections and right from the get-go, withexcerpts from the early silent films, we are surprised by the quality of picture

making. Even back in the early days, there was genius. The second sectionof the film deals with the black and white era after the introduction of sound(an "evolution" that is lamented by some because sound handicapped themobility of camera operators). The third section of the film focuses on colourmovies and explores how the use of colour can influence viewer response.We are made aware of great composition as well as depth of field and, ofcourse, the power of light and shadow to capture and hold our attention.

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Winged Migration
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Winged Migration (2001) - I'm a sucker for a good wildlife film and they don'tcome any better than this breathtaking effort by French director JacquesPerrin. He gives the viewer a strong sense of what it must be like to fly andsoar in the skies. Indeed, the inspired cinematography is one of the reasonswhy I recently returned to wildlife photography after focusing on other subject

matter for Masterfile, the stock photo agency that has represented me formany years. This might seem a tad naive. After all, Perrin had millions ofdollars as a budget and a crew of over 450 people who used gliders, balloonsand small planes equipped with ingeniously-designed cameras to filmmigrating flocks up, close and personal and from all angles. He also followedbird migrations through all kinds of weather and perilous situations through40 countries and seven continents over four years.

Such advantages don't dissuade me since there's also great magic in asingle still shot of a bird or mammal. It's just a different vehicle for remindingpeople that there are millions of creatures the deserve our consideration.

Millions upon millions of dollars are spent annually on special effects inmovies and often with dazzling effect such as with The Lord of the Rings. Inmy opinion, however, it is the natural wonders of nature that trump just aboutall the special effects and wizardry humans can concoct.

Capturing wildlife doing what it does naturally isn't easy (I speak frompersonal experience), however, some clever and persistent wildlifephotographers such as Franz Lanting and Jim Brandenburg, to name acouple, have managed to achieve this. The potential of a film like WingedMigration is to inspire both documentary cinematographers and stillphotographers to find fresh ways to capture the magnificence of nature or just

to persist in the quest to share nature's wonders through pictures. Just sobeginners don't get discouraged with early results, it's worth mentioning thatfor every 225 feet of exposed film shot forWinged Migration, only one footmade it into the movie.

The DVD offers a 50-minute behind-the-scenes documentary that shows howthe amazing photography was achieved in Winged Migration. It also revealsthat some of the birds were trained from birth and even exposed to thesounds of airplanes and film cameras while still in their shells. For what it'sworth, one of the consequences of the film is that it also motivated me todevelop a means of shooting waterfowl with my formidable Canon 500mm f4lens from one of my kayaks.

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Greg Stott is a Toronto photographer and video & documentary producer anddirector. His clients include corporations, editorial publications and publicservice agencies. His stock photography is represented by the Masterfileagency and affiliates. He specializes in travel and nature but tackles almost


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any subject except food and fashion. He has been shooting digitally for threeyears. He occasionally conducts photo workshops and seminars and exhibitshis photography in galleries. He wrote Ten Movies Every PhotographerShould See while recovering from a bone marrow transplant intended to curehim of a rare cancer. His website is www.stottshot.com and he can be

reached
http://www.stottshot.com/http://www.stottshot.com/

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