what does good cinematography actually mean?

>>82599553

Remember cinematography is just photography with moving subjects. The cinematographer's main job is controlling the lighting on the scene and the quality of the photography through choice of lens, filters, and stocks.

There's not really a checklist of what great cinematography should be. There's a technical side to it, as it may be the director's or cinematographer's choice to be very flashy and beautiful with the cinematography. Maybe they just want it to be merely competent enough. But great cinematographers are aware of the artistic impact of their choices and how the storytelling is helped by the look of the film.

Also, check out the documentary Visions Of Light: The Art Of Cinematography, in which cinematographers discuss their craft and its history.

"Looks nice"

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>>82599553
it means the cenemetogrofy is good

"looks cool"

>>82599553

When they put all the stuff in the shot real good

reddit

>>82599553
Cinematography isn't just about pretty frames.

The visual narrative is the most important aspect.
Quality cinematography isn't just empty pretty pictures but actually telling the story using visual narrative through framing and composition and the performances.
So the context is important, you can't judge it by a screenshot alone.

There is technically bad cinematography, like too strong obvious night scene lighting or breaking the 180 rule for no reason.
And there is bad cinematography because of the lack of actual substance, empty pretty pictures which only fill the form without actually using framing and composition to propell the visual narrative.
And I think the second one is a bigger problem in today's industry because everyone can learn basic photography and produce balanced pictures, but it takes talent/vision to be able to actually tell the story through the visuals.

End of blog post

Cinematography is all of the things you can do with the camera. You can move the camera, you can add lenses and filters to the camera, you can have film or digital, you can change aspect ration and depth of field, and can change lighting with the camera. Movement of the camera is the most important though. When the camera moves around the scene to capture everything and looks really good, it's good cinematography. When the camera barely moves and there is a cut every half second, it's shit.

>>82601850
good post

>>82601850
You're getting cinematography and directing mixed up. Telling the narrative visually is directing, not cinematography.

>>82601915
Then good cinematography is great directing in combination with the cinematographer. It's already implied that the cinematographer should work with the director, he can't work isolated.
A completely ugly frame can also be an example of "good cinematography" if it's fits the narrative.

Just the same as good photography isn't just a pretty balanced picture, everyone can do that if you learn the basic rules.

>>82601858
>when the camera barely moves it's shit.

Factually wrong

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>>82599553
It means they put thought into the composition of the shot.

Bad cinematography:
>what do we need the audience to see in this scene?
>two characters are fighting, the main character wins
>okay, just like move the camera around wherever, it doesn't matter, just cover up the slow choreography

Good cinematography:
>what do we need the audience to see in this scene?
>two characters are fighting, the main character wins
>okay, how about we get both characters clearly in frame, and well have the camera facing this way so we have a clear sense of where they are. I think a medium shot will serve us well for most of this scene, but from this angle, if we use a long shot we can get a view of the crashing spaceship in the background and it can heighten the sense of peril. Also, I can really make the audience feel like the hero will lose if I linger on a punch to the face with slow motion. Would a close up be too gratuitous? Or would that be cliche? Lets try it a couple different ways and see which one works best for the emotion I want the audience to find.

>>82599553
It means the picture looks pretty

>>82599553
meme

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anime

There's a movie called "The Duel" with Woody Harrelson.

The story was somewhat derivative of Blood Meridian in many ways and It contained some grains of true-but-crazy old Texas frontier lore.

Anyway, the script was "black listed" which in Hollywood meant it was so good that it was going to be reserved for the best director to give it the special treatment it deserved.

The art direction and the cinematography in the movie was utter shit, like a lifetime movie.

Ruined it.