Museum blog

While at the museum I discovered the large role that the cinematographer has in the production of a film. I knew the position existed but I thought it was more of a director’s assistant that voiced the orders of the director to the camera men. Yet it is in fact much more important then that, I would go as far to say that the cinematographer is the unsung hero of film production. He or she determines the lighting and camera movement and thus the effect the shot will have on a viewer.
There is a 3rd dimension to film production one that surpasses what is being said and how the actors are moving when they say those lines. The 3rd dimension is the mood the shot is given by the cinematographer, which it does not have initially. The shots of a movie center around the actors so a viewer sees them as the most important elements, when in fact the cinematographer has told you where to look and how to feel about the story those actors are telling. The viewer of a film is only looking at a screen and listening to audio via speakers. Yet the filmmakers have to make the viewers feel as if they are really there. This is, in some ways, a magic trick and the cinematographers are the magicians.