View Full Version : Anyone inspired to photograph after watching a movie
Three films that have had an impact or motivated me to get out and take photos after seeing them:
Wings of Desire by Wim Wenders, camera by Henri Alekan
Nice use of black&white counter-pointed with colour in the second half of the film, great sound-track too. Listening to it inspired me to start this thread!
The Pawnbroker by Sidney Lumet, camera by Boris Kaufman
Just a favorite cinematographer! For a film shot in the early 60's (the golden age of B&W movies) Some very cool "street shooting" towards the end!
I am Cuba by Mihail Kalatozov, camera by Sergei Urusevksy (?)
Wide angle through out the entire film and lots of use of B&W infra-red!!!!! If you can stomach the blatant Soviet jingoism, it's worth it just to look at, but at three hours, the look wears thin!
I'm an admited "film snob" with a bias for Black&White movies, but hey, anyone who takes photos has to have a favorite movie!
Anyone?
Duncan Ross
06-04-2005, 13:18
Koyaanisqatsi really stunned me. However I quickly discovered the void between motivation and results! :(
Yeah, Koyaanisqatsi is a cool movie, I saw the 2nd film that after Powaquattsi but it wasn't as interesting, there is a third one, just made but I don't know anythign about it.
Hmm, I rarely feel really motivated to shoot photos after a movie, but thinking about movies with a very photographic style, the first two directors that come to my mind are Jim Jarmusch and Aki Kaurismäki (two of my favorites, too).
And the early episodes of CSI looked like cross-processed film ;)
Roman
afaceinthecrowd
06-04-2005, 15:04
For me it's Amelie and The Long Engagement ... Both by the same director but the name escapes me. All very sureal and dreamy. I'd love to know how they did it if anyone knows :D
dan
Gordon Coale
06-04-2005, 15:10
"Blow Up", but that was a long time ago.
"Eyes Wide Shut", but I couldn't find similar models.
Goodyear
06-04-2005, 15:45
Here's a weird one: watched Sin City yesterday.
The look of it reminded me why I love mono so much.
andersju
06-04-2005, 18:00
"Vozvrashcheniye", a.k.a. "The Return" - stunning cinematography by Mikhail Krichman, who also took the beautiful still photos used in the movie.. definitely one of the best movies I've seen the past few years. http://imdb.com/title/tt0376968/
Last Year at Marinenbad (sp?)
La Jete
Manhattan
but Wings of Desire (gorgeous cinematography), Blow Up (the COOLEST photography film EVER [afterall, IIRC the Yardbirds show up in it] and by one of the greatest directors ever), Peeping Tom (creepy b&w) and Pecker would all work for me too. :)
The director of Amelie and A Very Long Engagement is Jean Pierre Jeunet. The Cinematographer for both was Bruno Delbonnel. I assume you're talking about how they got the peculiar color palette in both of them. It's a mixture of the production design (lighting with paint), lighting (painting with light) and a whole bunch of digital color correction. American Cinematographer magazine has had very in-depth articles on both if you want to read more.
For me I get inspired to go out after seeing anything Christopher Doyle has shot, especially his work with Wong Kar Wai (Happy Together, Fallen Angels, Chungking Express, In The Mood For Love). The same goes for Rodriego Prieto's work on Amores Perros and 21 Grams. Beautiful stuff.
afaceinthecrowd
06-04-2005, 21:16
Thanks for the tip on Amelie ... yes it was the colours that I was refering to :D I agree on 21 Grams and Amores Perros ... very nicely done.
dan
Ingmar Bergman b&W, cinematographer Sven Nykvist -- very inspiring.
Yeah, I am with Fraley -- Bergman's "The Seventh Seal", "Wild Strawberries" and so on. Antonioni's "La Traviata" was also inspiring. It is all so creamy and plus-x like...
Yes, particularly after B&W Woody Allen reruns, or various films showing the Las Vegas lights. Others too. :)
Actually, I wanted to go out and shoot after "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow".
With a whole bunch of extra film.
Mike Richards
06-05-2005, 03:14
Just got some Orson Welles DVDs -- Citizen Kane, The Third Man, Touch of Evil. Admire his mastery of B&W. Lots of dark or black areas that make the subject stand out. Unusual lighting angles -- e.g. very low with large shadows, strong side lighting that results in half illuminated faces, high lighting that results in eerie shadows over faces. Now, I have to get out at night with some fast B&W film and a 1.4 lens.
When I moved to Paris in 1991 I was shooting B&W until I went to see "La Double Vie de Veronique" by Krzysztof Kieslowski. Then I started shooting Kodachrome again - mainly in the warm early morning or evening light, including some rough glass balls I found at a Marché aux puces...
Pherdinand
06-05-2005, 05:24
Hitchcock with his black and white all-wide-angle style really makes me think. Not that i can do anything on the same level, but it makes me think about exploring simple scenes. Also, the original Dracula movie, Nosferatu or whatever it was called, it has some amazing photography. Not beautiful, but interesting. (Nope, i don't like the movie itself.)
Otherwise, on "beautiful" photography: I rarely agree with awards but the girl with the pear earring was indeed very well done. I don't think it's inspiring for me, though; it's not what I aspire for. The colours in the Amelie and Long engagement... are indeed something great nut also not making me think and try to replicate.
I think i'm more like a shape and angle-isnpired guy than colours or tones. Also Lola rannt is a great example of the many possibilities that can be explored without any exotic locations or "special effects".
Leon the professional also has some great stuff. Remember the scene when the stepmother of Mathilda is shot in the hottub, seen from above and from behind? Or when her sister is watching the TV and doing the aerobic stuff? Or the headshot of Leon(sorry for the pun)? I don't exactly know who's merit is such a performance, the director or the photographer or who, but it's good stuff.
Oh and as inspiration, of course, the movies of Milla Jovovich always inspire me. I imagined already many many times the lighting and angles of photographing that bubble bath of me and her :D
Any the films by Pedro Almodovar and Wong Kar-Wai w/ cinematographer Christopher Doyle. I really appreciate the art direction of both directors.
Another movie of recent is "Closer". Julia Roberts did not inspire me. But the camera she holds did :D
Hitchcock with his black and white all-wide-angle style really makes me think.
Maybe I come a few years too late, but I always remember Hitchcock films as color, such as "Birds", "Rope", "Rear Window", and "Marnie", where the use of the fade to total red gave me the absolute creepies ("Colors, stop the colors") for some reason I could never figure out!
Pecker and I Love N.Y. inspired me not only to shoot, but to shoot black and white.
Justin Low
06-06-2005, 10:17
Any the films by Pedro Almodovar and Wong Kar-Wai w/ cinematographer Christopher Doyle. I really appreciate the art direction of both directors.
Another movie of recent is "Closer". Julia Roberts did not inspire me. But the camera she holds did :D
Yes, nice Leica and Hasselblads. :)
Didn't really get the story though.
"Blow Up", but that was a long time ago.
"Blow up" was a classic. Probably got a lot of young guys interested in photography because they thought they would get to roll around on the floor with their models.:)
Krasnaya_Zvezda
06-06-2005, 12:02
"The Unbearable Lightness of Being", because of the artistry of the film, the aspiring photographer character 'Tereza', and for the (ahem) unforgettable scene where Lena Olin and Juliette Binoche take turns photographing each other nude.
Hey, I'm not 'shamed!
Krasnaya_Zvezda
06-06-2005, 12:13
"Blow up" was a classic. Probably got a lot of young guys interested in photography because they thought they would get to roll around on the floor with their models.:)
Just watched that recently for the first time. The style is certainly the '60s, all the way through. Even if you knew nothing about the movie, you could watch it for 10 minutes and you would instantly think 1966. Some parts made me really laugh, but if I had seen it when it came out, I'm sure I would have thought it really cool.
Also, recently saw 'Pecker', because of all the talk about it here. Funny, quirky movie, but Edward Furlong couldn't act in T2, and he doesn't look like he's learned anything since... and just a nitpick, the one time they showed a shot thru the viewfinder of the Canonet, it didn't look right, just a cross, and no RF patch.
I have only been taking pictures for about a year but now I think about movies in a completely different way. One that comes to mind right away is "Songs from the Second Floor", amazing! Also I watched "The Life Aquatic" and thought it was interesting how the whole movie was shot in wide angle with distortion and all.
One that I saw in theaters recently that surprised me was the new Star Wars, its soo graphic. It makes me think that George Lucas would be better off making silent movies instead of giving his characters such a horrible script. Most of the time the script just seems bad because Lucas already says everything through his pictures and the words just seem repetative.
Leicanthrope
06-06-2005, 12:48
With regard to Closer, I found some details relating to Julia Roberts' photography a little odd, if not necessarily incorrect.
Firstly, when we see her view of Jude Law through the Hasselblad's waist-level viewfinder, surely it should be inverted. (I say this as someone who has never used a Hasselblad, or any other medium format camera for that matter, with any kind of viewfinder, so am quite prepared to be shot down in flames).
Secondly, when she switched to the Leica, I was surprised by how loud the shutter sounded. (Believe it or not, I say this as someone who, while clearly aspiring to , has never used a Leica, but was under the impression that the quiet shutter was one of its legendary strengths. I am, however, prepared to be corrected).
Finally - and I think I am at least on firm ground here - in her exhibition we saw the picture she took of Natalie Portman with the Leica, and it was in the same square format as the Hasselblad shots. While clearly feasible, this does raise the question of why, if you want to display your pictures in square format, you would use a 35mm camera.
Marc Jutras
06-06-2005, 14:23
Here's a weird one: watched Sin City yesterday.
The look of it reminded me why I love mono so much.
Not weird at all! That one was the direct inspiration for one of my latest shoots (see my gallery or site for the "Davy" shots).
Roger Hicks
06-06-2005, 15:59
Yeah, well, I started in advertising photograohy in London in the early-to-mid 70s; we were all brought up on Blow Up, models as well as photographers. You mean anyone had a problem rolling around with the models on the purple paper?
Happy days.
Cheers,
Roger (www,rogerandfrances.com)
sockeyed
06-06-2005, 16:30
Akira Kurosawa and Jim Jarmusch for gorgeous compositions and use of black and white. I've been watching the Criterion Editions of works by both directors later. Amazing.
And Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) for sheer creativity. I just rented his series of music videos and short films released under the "Directors' Series" and my jaw was on the floor the whole time. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for pure visual brilliance. Michel is on another plain altogether.
Amelie, such great color and wonderful story. Perspectives were great too. Finding Forrester. Granted its about writing, but the creative feeling it instills in me to want to go and create happens every time I watch it. The soundtrack is great too. And mostly all of Orsen Wells films, The Third Man in particular, with its terrific lighting and perspectives.
BJ Bignell
07-24-2006, 07:48
I often feel motivated to imitate a style, look, or shot after seeing a movie. This motivation usually succumbs to laziness and/or ennui long before I even make it to the camera bag. Is that bad?
Nachkebia
07-24-2006, 07:50
Allways! I got inspired by antonioni recently :)
Nachkebia
07-24-2006, 07:51
I am Cuba by Mihail Kalatozov, camera by Sergei Urusevksy (?)
Mihail Kolotozishvili is his name and he was georgian, in fact his grand son is my friend :) on of the greatest directors off all time, and Ya cuba is one of the best movies of all time, great photography too.
BrianShaw
07-24-2006, 07:54
I just saw 'Cinderella Man'... I know, I'm on the late-freight but with kids and family committments I haven't had much time for movies. All of the press photographers were using Speed Graphics and flash bulbs. I have little interest in using flash bulbs but it does make me want ot take the Super Graphic out again. Perhaps I'll use a roll film back for convenience, though.
I recently saw Good Night & Good Luck, a movie about the early broadcast Journalist, Edward R. Murrow, and it was an inspiration. Shot completely in black and white, with heavy use of short depth of field and selective focus. Set in the early 1950's, I loved the style, and Murrow was a heavy smoker, and that adds to the visual interest of many of the sequences. It's a beautiful film, and while I was viewing it I kept thinking to myself...I've gotta mention this on Rangefinder Forum, they'd love this. Of course, I got busy with other projects and never got around to it, so I'm glad this topic was started.
Most black and white films... and Amelie
Almost every postwar BW Italian movie I have ever seen. Kurasawa's films to. Sometimes the American Film Noir B movies of the 50's surprise and inspire me as well. Jim
telenous
07-24-2006, 11:45
Sven Nykvist's B&W cinematography for Bergman's films is sublime. I have no idea how to emulate it but I very much wish to. Hitchcock's terrific visual strengths were highlighted by the use of colour in his 'mature period'. It is virtually impossible to mistake a Hitchcock mise en scene for something else, such was his visual command of the medium. I am particularly in awe of his choice of angles and I would very much like one day to take one photo with that kind of compositional strength. But the films that influence me the most are the noir movies of the 40's and the 50's. I love the expressionistic chiaroscuro evidenced in most movies of that period and I think a rangefinder camera is tailormade for the task.
Flyfisher Tom
07-24-2006, 12:04
War Photographer (James Nachtwey) ...
then I came to my senses. stellar movie though
"Pecker" and "Closer" did that for me.
I love old B & W films, and often find them inspirational.
We recently bought a set of Humphry Bogart DVD's and have been enjoying them. I love some of the photography in 'Casablanca' and 'The Maltese Falcon'. Dark and moody, or foggy, along with the facial close ups.
Also some of the old Audry Hepburns, especially 'Wait Until Dark'. In 'Funny Face', Fred Astaire plays a fashion photographer based on Richard Avedon. He uses a Rolliflex, sometimes like an amature. :cool:
Jonathan_100
07-25-2006, 10:28
I've always enjoyed the visuals of Kubrick (the Shining and Dr. Strangelove), Leone (the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in America, Once Upone a Time in the West), and Ridley Scott all have place in my book. Individual movies with a visual style that I like include, Lost in Translation, The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, The Big Leobowski, Fargo, Punchdrunk Love, and a bunch of others that have already been mentioned in this string.
Jonathan
wrenhunter
07-25-2006, 10:31
"Vozvrashcheniye", a.k.a. "The Return" - stunning cinematography by Mikhail Krichman, who also took the beautiful still photos used in the movie.. definitely one of the best movies I've seen the past few years. http://imdb.com/title/tt0376968/ Agreed, this is a superb film.
Two other films come to mind. First, "City of God", which is a great film in its own right and features amazing colors. It also stars Seu Jorge as an aspiring photojournalist -- with some crazy Brazilian (?) rangefinder (?).
Second, the film "All The President's Men", besides being excellent (and topical), uses dioptric lenses to have both fore- and background in focus simultaneously. I first saw the movie years ago and didn't notice, but having become interested in photography since, it really threw me when I saw it again recently. For more, see here. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_the_President%27s_Men_%28film%29#Production)
Un Homme et une Femme (A Man and a Woman) from 1966. It's a beautifully shot film.
Barry Lyndon
~ Kubrick
Tom
Wings of Desire by Wim Wenders and Babette's Feast by someone else.
IGMeanwell
07-25-2006, 18:54
I have heard a mess of people getting all sorts of inspired after watching Kubrick's Barry Lyndon ... with dreams of the Zeiss f0.7
Films that inspired me to photograph...
"City of God" and "Pecker" for obvious reasons.
The scenes involving coffee (every scene) in Jim Jarmusch's "Coffee and Cigarettes" inspired me to take more candid and street photos.
shutterflower
07-25-2006, 23:28
Films that inspired me to slow down a bit, look closer at myself, care less for acceleration into the rat race and to care more for photography in some way :
I don't remember movies too well
1. American Beauty.
2. Speak, Memory is a book : written in images. My own life gained a bit of narration after reading this book.
3. Lolita. book, of course.
4. Pnin. If you know this book, you know alot about me.
5. Sideways - inspired me to pay more attention to the mundane.
I could go on and probably find better examples.
"In the mood for love" and "2046", both by Wong Kar Wai, are visually inspiring: photography full of bokeh, great 1960's era clothes, lots of smoking, rainy streets.
Off the top of my head, I remember being inspired by Jojo Whilden's work for the movie 'High Art'. Have a look for it...stars a very slim Ally Sheedy
~hibbs
ClaremontPhoto
02-27-2007, 02:15
I like it when they do flashbacks in the likes of CSI or Without a Trace that they don't use B&W to denote flashback any more, they use cross processing. Just like many of my own photos.
I have to agree with the Wong Kar Wai/ Christopher Doyle movies. "In the Mood for Love" and "2046" were already mentioned, but "Chungking Express" and "Fallen Angels" are great too. All of them are visually stunning.
In a similar, yet darker vein, is David Lynch.
Nachkebia
02-27-2007, 06:38
Most of my beginning photo experiments were inspired by film`s :D
manfromh
02-27-2007, 07:39
I dont know if its mentioned yet, but La Jetée (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056119/) is one. Its fully made out of black and white photos.
ClaremontPhoto
02-27-2007, 07:45
Shaolin Soccer is so off the wall that it always inspires me to do something different.
El Mariachi has the same effect.
I watched Kandahar a few years ago; absolutely beautiful film, both the light and the photography even on TV, that must be spectacular in a cinema
bmicklea
02-27-2007, 07:54
The director of Amelie and A Very Long Engagement is Jean Pierre Jeunet. The Cinematographer for both was Bruno Delbonnel. I assume you're talking about how they got the peculiar color palette in both of them. It's a mixture of the production design (lighting with paint), lighting (painting with light) and a whole bunch of digital color correction. American Cinematographer magazine has had very in-depth articles on both if you want to read more.
For me I get inspired to go out after seeing anything Christopher Doyle has shot, especially his work with Wong Kar Wai (Happy Together, Fallen Angels, Chungking Express, In The Mood For Love). The same goes for Rodriego Prieto's work on Amores Perros and 21 Grams. Beautiful stuff.
Couldn't agree more - unfortunately I'm trying to shoot only B&W these days for economic reasons. Seeing Doyle's and Prieto's work though just makes me want to reach for bags of gorgeous colour film...
Edit: Spent last weekend going through my father-in-law's old Super-8 movies. That also really made me want to buy up any remaining Kodakrome. The look is just fantastic.
SteveM(PA)
02-27-2007, 11:47
Pecker, Closer, Wings 'o Desire, any Gondry film...but c'mon...I'll say it for ya...The Bridges of Madison County:)
charjohncarter
02-27-2007, 16:57
Not from movies made in Hollywood.
Thanks for the info about Christopher Doyle, will definitely try to see more of the movies he has shot.
I was very much inspired by the movie "Smoke". Auggie Wren (Harvey Keitel) takes everyday at the same place, at the same time a single pic.
I think this sounds like a great project. Maybe someday I will do something like this...
Very cool movie!!!
Greetings, Satch
steverowell
02-28-2007, 12:08
Rumblefish (1983) - Francis Ford Coppola
richiedcruz
02-28-2007, 19:25
A little over a month ago, I tracked down a copy of the old film noir movie The Big Combo-A movie I always wanted to see, after reading Painting with Light. That movie has inspired me to start tracking down flashbulbs and hot lights to play with:D
Richie
TimBonzi
03-01-2007, 18:41
I get the photo bug after watching "Kafka." - 1991 starring Jeremy Irons.
"I know where I'm Going" - B&W Scottish Highlands majesty from Erwin Hillier
"Black Narcissus" - Full-on technicolor majesty from Jack Cardiff, also includes some of the downright best eye makeup ever used on camera, Kathleen Byron looks like a heroin-chic model at the end. In fact, anything from Cardiff is complete genius...
mtbbrian
03-02-2007, 11:23
Yes, this one...
"The Collective" (http://www.thecollectivefilm.com/)
Brian
Ride On!
No one mentioned The Public Eye based on Weegee! I also love Spy Games with Brad Pitt running around with all the Leica's around his neck! :p Funny Face is one of my favorite movies so that's got to be listed.
As for a film where camera's aren't used much but I love how it is shot it would be Lola rennt (Run Lola Run).
"The Naked City" TV series. Routinely outstanding b/w photography around NYC 1960.
robert
"Sparrow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparrow_%28film%29)" and "Exiled (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exiled)" by Johnny To (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnnie_To) are visually stunning. Great lights.
Maybe I'm something of a simpleton, but I felt inspired to buy some colour film watching 'Little miss Sunshine'
I haven't watched 90% of the movies mentioned in this thread, and probably won't :-/ But this one (if you haven't seen it) is very accessible.
I thought Rain Man was nicely shot too.
Not much of a cinema goer!
"In the mood for love" and "2046", both by Wong Kar Wai, are visually inspiring: photography full of bokeh, great 1960's era clothes, lots of smoking, rainy streets.
x2. All Wong Kar-Wai films are required viewing. Days of Being Wild is a favorite.
"The Naked City" TV series. Routinely outstanding b/w photography around NYC 1960.
robert
Agreed, Naked City, great filming and good, simple storytelling.
Orson Welles everytime, The Stranger and Third Man are my favorites for noir.
My last viewing of The Shining renewed my enthusiasm for super wides. There's a scene in "the Making of the Shining" where Kubrick is going into the maze with his crew telling them all to stuff various lenses in their pockets "you put the 15 in your pocket, and you put the 24 in your pocket..."
And all great Film Noir films are inspirational: Double Indemnity, Angel Face, Scarlet Street, The Third Man, Night and the City, The Big Sleep, et al
Brokeback Mountain and No Country For Old Men were pretty amazing for cinematography too.
I could go on forever..
"Raise the Red Lanterns" by Zhang Yimou, snow fluffs with the red lanterns.
"Solaris" and "Stalker" by Andrei Tarkovsky, grass and small objects in the flowing water.
"Enigma of Kaspar Hauser" by Werner Herzog. Wind sweeping through the meadowland with tall grasses.
"Akira Kurosawa's Dreams" by Akira Kurosama, water flowing under the bridge.
"Summer with Monica" by Ingmar Bergman, boat slowly drifting in the small canal with Monica lying on it.
I think these themes evoked my childhood memory, and I was emotionally driven to reproduce them.
-- Yefei
I second Solaris--plus Andrei Rublyov. Solaris is so slow it practically is still photography.
Recently, I found 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' to be very inspiring. The cinematography by Roger Deakins was sumptuous.
Another fairly recent film, The Painted Veil was excellent as well.
I just rewatched La Haine by Matthieu Kassovitz, such great black and white photography.
Recently, I found 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' to be very inspiring. The cinematography by Roger Deakins was sumptuous.
Another fairly recent film, The Painted Veil was excellent as well.
I just rewatched La Haine by Matthieu Kassovitz, such great black and white photography.
Agreed with you for La Haine, I saw it so many times, I would add great black and white street photography.
Carlsen Highway
11-19-2008, 00:46
I dont get inspired to shoot still photos after watching a movie, I get inspired to make a movie, and then have to swallow it down. Many years ago I made 'arty" pretentious short films with other arty pretentious young people. Sometimes it sneaks up on me and grabs me by the throat....
The wrrrrr of an old Arriflex and the silence in front of the camera...and the unexplainable team passion that infects film crews. People will walk through fire for a film. I cant compare it with anything else, the level of enthusiasm that reaches everyone if they think they are doing something worthwhile.
...I get inspired to go and take photos after I read a good book actually...
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