Crusade>Raiders
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If it aint broke, don't fix it. I love those five movies you posted(well, I loved three of them, Catch me if you Can and War of the Worlds were really good), and one of the main reasons is the cinematography.
Good point regarding John Williams, but once again he's been on board since day one as opposed to Kaminski! Kaminski has a great eye and a unique visual flair, but every film feels the same aesthetically and that bugs me! It's kind of like Tim Burton's movies, after the first couple it's like enough is enough, do something different. I think Kaminski's look is great for sci-fi films like Minority Report, and it worked fantastic for Munich capturing that 70's look. But the washed out, metallic grey/blue, hazy, dream sequence feel is just overused to me! 11 films plus 4 more to come over the next few years, just feels like a lot of time to me to spend making movies that all have a similar aesthetic feel yet vastly different storylines, time periods, and genres.Peacock's-Eye said:Probably the same reason SS uses John Williams for ever score - these are folks he doesn't have to explain things to - they already know what he wants. And he's not like David Lean - who would fire key people in the middle of production 'cause they weren't doing exactly what he wanted. SS is a collaborator.
>>Catch me if you Can and War of the Worlds were really good<<
Yeah, both those movie (and A.I.) got me back into SS. He lost me in the 1990's - I thought Jurassic Park was too polished and not scary (I like it now). I felt that Schindler's List got really lost & bogged down in the second half, and then just ended (still do). And I really couldn't get into "Saving Private Ryan" - it's a film that feels really shallow to me. And "Lost World" seemed to put me outside the gates forever.
Then A.I. piqued my interest again. Flawed by compellingly watchable. I didn't like "Minority Report" (the end just ruins it for me - and it's far too long), but "Catch Me" I loved, "War of the Worlds" really surprised me - much darker and epic than I was expecting, and I think "Munich" is the best movie he's ever made. And I Loved KSC. So I'm back on board for SS.
deckard24 said:I haven't seen Saving Private Ryan since it came out
To clarify, in it's entirety! I've seen bits and pieces on TV, but I haven't sat down to watch the whole thing in a while. Actually I've been meaning to considering I own it, and my Dad who's a vet has been asking to watch it.Katarn07 said:Say what?
deckard24 said:I still haven't decided how I feel overall about KOTCS, but when I see it for the second time tomorrow I'll have a better idea of where I stand. One thing is for sure Janusz Kaminski's cinematography was as distracting and out of place as I knew it would be!! It seems Spielberg's continual use of him for his films, really gives weight to the argument that he's gotten complacent, comfortable, and somewhat lazy in his advancing years.
If you go back to Jaws in 1975, Spielberg used Bill Butler for his cinematography, then for Close Encounters of the Third Kind he used Vilmos Zsigmond, for 1941 William A. Fraker, for Raiders of the Lost Ark , Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Douglas Slocombe, for E.T. Allen Daviau, for The Twilight Zone:The Movie Allen Daviau, John Hora, and Steven Larner, for The Color Purple and Empire of the Sun Allen Daviau again, for Always Mikael Saolomon, for Hook and Jurassic Park Dean Cundey. Then from Schindler's List(1993) to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull( 2008), 11 films in total plus 4 more over the few years including the upcoming Lincoln, Spielberg has used and will use Kaminski! 15 films?!
I don't get it! Spielberg switched up cinematographers continually for some of his greatest films Jaws, Close Encounters, and E.T., the Indy series with exception, but now he's gotten into this trend of Kaminski and Kaminski only! I for one am sick of Kaminski's visual style! His blue/grey metallic palette, overly lit, hazy atmospheric look has gotten stale. I personally think KOTCS would have been light years better if someone other then Kaminski was behind the lens. Come on Spielberg, get out of your rut and mix things up again!!
What do you guys think?
Matt Holcomb said:All will be revealed in the upcoming American Cinematographer article.
playmountain said:According to David Mullen ASC (DP on The Astronaut Farmer among others) over at Cinematography.com:
"I talked to someone working on the movie who said that they were shooting 35mm anamorphic, Panavision C and E-Series, and did not plan on doing a D.I. (Digital Intermediate) except for the digital efx that had to be transferred to film, otherwise a traditional film post."
C and E-series Panavision anamorphics do date back to the original films.
I did hear that Kaminski was using his usual diffusion filters, which the original series of films did not really do (except for a few scenes shot with Dior nets, particularly in "The Last Crusade"). But I also heard that they were lighting to deeper stops like Slocombe used to do, shooting on average around a T/8."
***
So, overall... very good news! For those keeping track, this will be Spielberg's first 2.40:1 aspect ratio film shot with anamorphic glass since Hook in 1991. His last film, Munich was shot in the Super 35 format using spherical glass with a 2.40:1 theatrical AR.
deckard24 said:I still haven't decided how I feel overall about KOTCS, but when I see it for the second time tomorrow I'll have a better idea of where I stand. One thing is for sure Janusz Kaminski's cinematography was as distracting and out of place as I knew it would be!! It seems Spielberg's continual use of him for his films, really gives weight to the argument that he's gotten complacent, comfortable, and somewhat lazy in his advancing years.
If you go back to Jaws in 1975, Spielberg used Bill Butler for his cinematography, then for Close Encounters of the Third Kind he used Vilmos Zsigmond, for 1941 William A. Fraker, for Raiders of the Lost Ark , Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Douglas Slocombe, for E.T. Allen Daviau, for The Twilight Zone:The Movie Allen Daviau, John Hora, and Steven Larner, for The Color Purple and Empire of the Sun Allen Daviau again, for Always Mikael Saolomon, for Hook and Jurassic Park Dean Cundey. Then from Schindler's List(1993) to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull( 2008), 11 films in total plus 4 more over the few years including the upcoming Lincoln, Spielberg has used and will use Kaminski! 15 films?!
I don't get it! Spielberg switched up cinematographers continually for some of his greatest films Jaws, Close Encounters, and E.T., the Indy series with exception, but now he's gotten into this trend of Kaminski and Kaminski only! I for one am sick of Kaminski's visual style! His blue/grey metallic palette, overly lit, hazy atmospheric look has gotten stale. I personally think KOTCS would have been light years better if someone other then Kaminski was behind the lens. Come on Spielberg, get out of your rut and mix things up again!!
What do you guys think?
torao said:There's an old thread from pre-release times containing some potentially interesting (I'm unable to judge) stuff about Skull's cinematography:
There has also been this thread about all film stock questions, btw.
AtomicAge said:I will say that I love what Kaminski did with Catch Me If You Can. It's warm and colorful. Beautifully photographed film.
Doug
Blade said:Doug - When Catch me if you can was good it was amazing - I'm thinking of the scene at the pool / hotel when hanks nearly catches di caprio and the scene towards the end with come fly with me is being played. However, most of the film doesn't live up to these highs imo. Is that fair?
segask said:here it is: http://www.ascmag.com/magazine_dynamic/June2008/CrystalSkull/page1.php
a few quotes:
says Kaminski. ?An Indiana Jones film has to have that glossy, warm look with strong, high-key lighting. It?s suspenseful but not too dark ? you always see things clearly. We also had to recognize that we couldn?t use some of the same tricks that worked 20 years ago because the audience has become more sophisticated; today, you can?t use a torch in a cave scene and have light coming from other directions. We were always asking, ?How can we do this as well as Douglas Slocombe but make it a bit more contemporary?? ...
... Kaminski frequently softened the image with Schneider Classic Soft filters to create ?an idyllic Americana look.? ...
...A 4K Xenon lamp was used to create the hard shadow on the car in full daylight. ?We were in New Mexico, and it was 108°, and all of our electronic lights kept shutting off because of the heat, . . . We ended up giving a lot of star treatment to all the electronic lighting because it just hated being in that kind of temperature. Steven just smiled and said, ?Well, that?s why we used arcs last time!?? ...
...Kaminski muses, ?It was a tremendous honor to follow in Douglas Slocombe?s footsteps and continue the visual style he established. At the same time, I was happy to be able to create my own interpretation of the material, because this movie takes place 20 years later. Overall, it was great to be part of the legacy of Indiana Jones.?