cinematography

Camera angles

Birds eye view

Long shot

Extreme close up

Close up

medium shot

Wide angle

Low angle

Over the shoulder

High angle

Tilt shot

Lenses

Fish eye lens

Standard lens

Wide angle lens

macro lens

lighting

Ambient light

Key lighting

Hard lighting

Soft lighting

High/low key

Back lighting

Side lighting

Fill lighting

Practical lighting

Bounce lighting

Composition

Rule of thirds

Leading lines

Diagonals

Patterns

Symmetry

Framing

examples of great cinematography

This scene, while only being barely over a minute long, has a huge impact on the whole film, the slow zoom on the woman telling the story indicates the significance of the story to the film overall, the slow rise of the mans head in the doorframe leads the viewers attention to the man appearing, with excellent framing

This scene has amazing lighting and use of camera angles, for example the medium shot, looking from the back side of the man, but with the focus on the godfather sitting in the chair, as he is the most powerful person in the room, and then when the godfather stands up, it changes to a medium shot and we see how everybody moves when he does, showing how loyal they are to him, and also afraid, furthermore the front lighting on his face when he is talking face to face with the man makes him seem more intimidating, and puts him into the spotlight

inspiraitions

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John Seale

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Hong Kyung-pyo

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Simon Duggan

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Gordon Willis &

Valentina Caniglia

What is cinematography?

While the director makes key decisions regarding the camera, the cinematographer actually makes it happen. One of the major considerations for cinematographers is exposure — the art of manipulating the camera settings to get the desired look of the image.

A cinematographer or director of photography is the crew chief that presides over the camera and light crews on a film or video production. They are involved throughout the entire production and liaise closely with the director to create the images you see.