Cinematography of Hoyte Van Hoytema

Hoyte Van Hoytema is a cinematographer from Sweden, who went to the National film school in Lodz. Now working in the United States, his work is seen in big hollywood movies such as Her, Interstellar, and The Fighter. In some of his work he discusses using a real earthy color palette such as in Interstellar, he plays off of the natural green of the crops when in the farmland setting. His approach is also clearly seen the opposite when he creates the futuristic world of Her, utilizing LED lights to make the look and color of the film - a soft and intimate, near-future setting. His work is stands from Digital on the alexa in Her, to film in the Imax camera with custom made lenses for Interstellar. In each, there is significant camerawork and several handheld sequences.

This is an interesting video which is worth checking out, selling a little of Imax, but it is important to see some of the huge Imax reels, and the handheld work of Hoytema with the Imax camera.

Light: The Brightest Form of Art

I was flipping through reddit.com the other day (like a good college student should) and I came across this really cool picture posted on r/pics. He strapped a flashlight to his chest and then took a long-exposure shot. The result was fantastic...

Original reddit post

After being a little inquisitive, I found his personal website: DennisCalvert.net
He's posted dozens of amazing pictures here that he created with artistic lighting, but what I found most exciting was his tutorial section where he explains how he made several of his pictures.

Keep in mind that there is no serious photoshop work going on here. All of these were created with specific lighting tools to create really interesting designs. To see how he made any of these visually stimulating pictures, check out his tutorial page here.

Of course, this blog mainly focuses on films and not photography... so let me reel this in a little.
Because film can not take long exposure shots like photos can, the possibilities become a little more narrow unless you want to use special effects. However, there are still plenty of ways to artistically use lighting. By this point most of us understand the standard three-point lighting system like in this diagram:

When all of them are used, you get a nice looking shot like this one here:

It looks great, but the absence of one or more of these lights is when you can get a really interesting shot. Take for example this shot from There Will Be Blood:

In this shot there is only one light source on Daniel Day Lewis and he is blending right into the background. It really pulls our attention to his face and makes us wonder what his eyes are so transfixed on. 

Here's another example from The Third Man, where one light is creating a dramatic contrast between the character and the environment. 

I pulled all of these pictures from an album I found (on reddit... of course) which explains lighting and color temperature really well. Check it out here.

On a final note, I just want to say that we really do live in a world of free education today. You just need the motivation to find it! 

Shooting on a DSLR

          Some videos like "Reverie" by Vincent Laforet, "Tick Tock" by Ien Chi, and most recently Act of Valor really captured my attention. There are a bunch of other short films I have seen on YouTube that are of really good quality and seem really professional. These video as I learn have been shot on DSLR's. What makes them stand out against other affordable cameras is the low light abilities. Other features that I liked is the amount of manual control on them and the ability to put different lenses on the body. 

          So over spring break I visited the person I interned for in senior year. He runs the TV station in my hometown. So I asked on advice for what type of camera to get, because I wanted my own and an upgrade from my Nikon D3000. The advice he gave me was buy the best body I can afford and then a cheap lens like the Canon 50mm F/1.8. And then for important projects just rent cinema lenses for the high quality. So that is what I did to a degree.

          I am starting to learn filming on DSLR's since I got one towards the end of the summer. I've only had two chances to film with it so far. So far I am very pleased with how they turned out and how everything performed. I got a neutral density filter so I can maintain low depth of field and it worked well outside. I was able to do a pretty good job considering I had no tripod or audio equipment, aside from an iPhone. The only thing I really slipped up on was not setting the white balance, but since it wasn't for a project or job I'm ok with that. Also I filmed two quick projects in the same day over a six hour span with unpaid-non-professional talent, so if I took extra time on it, they would have gotten really annoyed.

          I am looking forward to what I can produce from this camera, I have high expectations for myself and it. The last thing I want to share is a bit of DSLR humor. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEwUnENlc9M&feature=player_embedded

James Majeau