As my chosen technique to focus on is being the Director of Photography, i'm now researching DOPs for inspiration & guidance of the skill. The technique is really composed of 4 main attributes, these include lighting, framing, camera movement & colour/tone, and with these attributes a films world is created & conveyed across the screen. One D.O.P i will be focusing & researching within this blog is Jeff Cronenweth. Jeff Cronenweth is an American-born cinematographer, who has worked on countless feature films & received many prestigious accolades along the way of becoming a highly respected D.O.P. He has shot on RED cameras, which gives a crisp and clinical finish to the production, also shooting with 5K/6K resolution, to then crop & stabilise the shot, giving that super crisp aesthetic, this demonstrating a sophisticated understanding of equipment and how to utilise it's potential.
(Jeff Cronenweth)
One feature of his that I want to dissect & critically analyse is Fight Club, a film that is highly regarded for its utilisation of lighting, tone & how it creates a world in which we see utter despair and social disorder.
LIGHTING
Cronenweth uses distinctive lighting that like a with a symbolic prop, you can immediately associate to him. For this specific film the lighting used within Fight Club is very effective in it's way of really bringing to life & emphasising the world that the characters live in. The tones are sucked of all the positive & clean colours and given the bleak, eerie ominous ones to feed off. He uses a lot of 'practical' light in Fight Club, this is to make the light as organic as possible, and it suits the themes & topics the film tackles. What this also does is allow the characters to walk in and out of the shadows, which is a characteristic of Cronenweths style, an a Fincher one too, this also adds deeper textures to the mis en scene by using this kind of lighting method.
COLOUR/TONE
The colour palette for fight club is extremely stylised, it's add to the ominous, depressive state of the narrative with it's greys/blues/silvers/yellows that have such an impact on the aesthetic. The white balance is dialled in separately for each scene of fight club, as the locations are different, but the same desired aesthetic needs to be captured for the specific location, and as the scenes are actually on location, the costume design & set design have to be matching the same desired look. He uses warm & cool sources, which adds mysterious and tension, to what normally would be quite mundane shots.
FRAMING/CAMERA MOVEMENT
He uses all kinds of focal lengths, but likes to stay with lots of wide angle lenses, to have crisp shots and to play with the depth of field. This makes sense as throughout Fight Club, you're immersed in the world that has been created and that's primarily through the use of lens' that have been utilised. He also likes to use tracking shots, to glide through locations with characters, to feel what they feel, to experience passing moments with the characters, this a key feature of Cronenweth, and adds to the narratives general tone as it engages the audience through a more visceral approach.
WHY RESEARCH HIM & WHAT AFFECT IT HAD ON OUR PROJECT
I've decided to research this D.O.P due to the striking similarities he has in relation to his aesthetic & what aesthetic we were going for within this project. The ominous, dark & powerful colours/composition's he uses to light up & set the locations & characters really enhance the world that they lay bear in, and add to the overall production value, as it makes the film more valid & believable, thus producing a more immersive experience as an audience member. I wanted to try and emulate some of his stuff & bring to the foreground of our test shoots some of his techniques to see if it could work on our project.
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