SeeingEyeBlog

Gordon Willis is a cinematographer who has been dubbed ‘the prince of darkness’ because of his tendancy to shoot scenes so dark that you have to strain to see details. He shot the Godfather movies, among many others. I don’t know his work nearly as well as I should, especially after having shot several scenes for Broken Windows in near utter darkness.

I think I’ll make it a point to netflix all his movies and study his signature lighting. I have about a month before my next picture begins. I was amazed at how much detail Kodak 5218 will give with just one candle illuminating the scene, at a T1.4 and 200 degree shutter. Forget about push processing, there’s no point anymore. I think there might be a renaissance of low light cinematography now that film stock technology is able to capture literally more than our eye can see.