Monday, December 23, 2013

light can be psychology



"When I was an AC, a gaffer told me, ‘Don’t run on a set,’ because you show everyone that you probably forgot something. I still don’t run on set, and I try not to forget too many things."
Bruno Delbonnel  AFC ASC 
Cinematographer (Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince  & Inside Llewyn Davis)


Movies have power.
The power to take us to far far places, back in time or very near inside ourselves and our every day life. One of the most important aspects of filmmaking is cinematography. The way every frame is composed and orchestrated. It helps the story to get across. Not a single element is random. There is nothing left to chance. Whenever you see a movie for the second time, take a look around the frame of a film. Not at the center where the director wants you to look the first time you watch a film. Get a glimpse of the sides, the colors, the shapes…what does the light say?


Light is not only an entrance or exit (as Spielberg tells us in all his movies and J.J. Abrahams often does his flares) Light sets moods and makes a room full or empty. Light is contemplation and psychology. 

This three films were made by the same cinematographer. 


'You can't learn how to be inspired, that has to come from yourself.' BRUNO DELBONNEL


Amélie is a classic movie. It is classic not because it has beautiful colors. Not because it is in French. Not because it is filmed in Paris. Not because it has awesome performances. Or a narrative so delicious you can almost smell the croissants. Not because the Perfect lightning . Or the wonderful world of imaginative concepts it takes us in. It marks a before and after in all cinema, because it needs no translation. It needs no closed caption for the hearing impared. Its Images are unique. It is a perfect blend of story and color.IT´S INNOCENCE.



Harry Potter and The Half BloodPrince. Potter´s adventures never appealed to me. The books seem enormous and the movies even longer. But J.K. Rowling´s fantasy caught a different kind of color palette in “The Half BloodPrince”. Making it the one that stands out the most of all 8 films. If you can watch it again see how much loneliness each and every frame transpires to you . As the series has become closer to Voldemort´s and Harry´s final conflict the mood of this movie series has changed. From the childrens RATED G to a PG-13 involving deaths. It gets darker.The cinematography is a character on its own. It is simply astounding. IT´S MAGICAL.


The third Movie is called Inside Llewyn Davis by the Coen
Brothers. I haven´t seen it. I don’t like to talk about movies I haven’t seen but in this case i will just say I want to see it because of the images the trailer has shown me, the cinematography inside it. The soft blur in every frame takes us back in time as if it was a memory.  IT´S MYSTERY.


'It's always about what I can do with the script. If I think I can do nothing with the Cinematography I will not do it.' 
BRUNO DELBONNEL

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

BEING BOURNE


Doug Liman was born in 1965 in New York City.
In 2002, he directed a movie based on a Robert Ludlum´s Novel. That movie made such an impression on Hollywood filmmakers, Actors and most importantly the audience…that the standards on action movies were about to change forever. Just a regular guy being able to kill, run, drive using only his intelligence and not gadgets. Not even James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) could defeat.
Forget the flying cars or dinning with royalty. Girls in Bikinis and Martinis. The predictable plots( As Austin Powers parodied) of the super agent against the evil villain ended.
I´m talking about The Bourne Identity.


Starring Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting) as Jason Bourne.
"A man is picked up by a fishing boat, bullet-riddled and without memory, then races to elude assassins and recover from amnesia." IMDB Hitchhiking a ride with (Run Lola Run) Franka Potente. This movie escapes from every day ordinary U.S.A. and takes Bourne from Italy to Barcelona from Zurich to Rome and Paris . Using every day things as weapons: a towel, a mini cooper, the yellow pages, a pen, a magazine, an exit map, a toaster, a cell phone, trains and subways … but most importantly his common sense. He is not betrayed by the importance of being in her Majesties Secret Service; he is not after one evil tyrant villain. He only wants to know who he really is.
A new genre was Bourne.


This FILM changed everything. Saar Klein´s EDITING introduced us the 4 seconds per shot (an apprentice to David Brenner and Sally Menke), Oliver Wood´s wonderful CINEMATOGRAPHY & the MUSIC of composer John Powell  (a Hans Zimmer alumni) The team effort made for this film was incredible. The breaking barriers did not stop in the acting or directing. Bourne cut straight to asking before killing. No romantic inuendos, no lame action. Not even a joke. Bourne spawned so many bad imitations as the new James Bond (CASINO ROYALE, QUANTUM OF SOLACE and SKYFALL) Daniel Craig as the Famous 007. Even Liam Neeson in (TAKEN and TAKEN 2)or MISSION IMPOSSIBLE´S (3 and GHOST PROTOCOL) Ethan Hunt solo movies, seem weak. So Tom Cruise tried to do his Bourneish film with JACK REACHER. Not even close. Kevin Costner is doing “3 DAYS TO KILL” his character name is Ethan Runner….“EH?” The normal guy /bad ass he didn´t know he was. Even James Macavoy did it in "WANTED". Star Trek star Chris Pine is doing “JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT”. Even the poster art is the same. Ha ha ha!


I´m sure Liman was influenced by many, many movies such as: The French Connection, Bullit, Ronin, Pulp Fiction, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Reservoir Dogs, Dobermann, The Last Boy Scout, Killing Zoe, Die Hard, True Romance, Memento and Irréversible. Instead of doing a REMAKE. He broke the mold and told an action movie differently.