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Questions tagged [cinematography]

Cinematography is the art or science of motion picture photography.

Cinematography is the art or science of motion picture photography.

This tag should be used for questions pertaining to the creation, meaning or method of achieving specific scenes from movies or films.

From Cinematography on Wikipedia.

148 questions
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History and reasoning behind average length of a feature film

I've personally always really enjoyed 'shorts', and always wondered why feature length films are the length they are, especially given my experience that most people's attention spans only last 30-40 minutes at most; meaning I get the feeling most…
blunders
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Is there a term of art for a quick location-identifier interstitial scene before cutting to the action?

Is there a term used by directors to describe a brief interstitial scene identifying a location of a following scene? The interstitial doesn't need to show a sign pointing to the location, but it often will. As an example I think of the "RESTAURANT"…
Mark S
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Where does the "TV-Look" vs "Cinematic-Look" come from?

It doesn't matter whether its the 80's, 90's or nowadays - there is the cinematic/movie look, and then there is the "cheap" kind of look. The one from daily soaps, or talk shows etc. The "video" look. To give an example, consider the Japanese drama…
ndbd
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Why is the path of film through a camera so convoluted?

Here is a shot of the inside of a Panavision 65mm camera. As you can see the film makes a number of turns. Why is this done? It seems like it would only make noise and scratch the strip.
spraff
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Is the same camera used for TV series and movies?

Are the same cameras used for TV series and movies?
danish kumar
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Was Spencer Tracy's long monologue at the end of Guess Who's Coming To Dinner filmed in one take?

The film Guess Who's Coming To Dinner ends with a long scene in which Spencer Tracy does virtually all the talking. In a recent conversation at Quora, someone asserted that this scene was shot in one take for some reason related to Tracy's health.…
Chaim
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What is this name of the shot used in Carrie (1976)?

I saw this shot in so many movies: Cape Fear (1991) also. So what is the name of this shot used?
Maximilian Larry
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How do cinematographers do super zoom out shots?

Sometimes I will see a super zoom out shot in a movie. For example, in Bourne Legacy, the opening scene has the protagonist swimming in an icy lake in Alaska, then warming himself by a fire. The camera starts on him by the fire, then zooms out…
Tyler Durden
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Are modern movies less saturated and darker in terms of lighting? What started this?

I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed this or if it is nostalgia tugging but it seems to me that modern movies are much more darkly lit than, let's say, 80's movies. Does anyone have anything to back up or anything that will prove me wrong? Does…
Distress
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What are the two rectangles on videos before release?

There are usually two rectangles over videos before the final video is released. I guess they might be there to help the camera operator. What purpose do they serve? Do they have a specific name? Here is an example:
justtolearn
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What gives a movie the 'Film Look'

This has always made me wonder, what is they key thing that makes a movie look like a film. To explain better, if you watch some camera footage and then compare to how something similar looks in a movie - there is always the feeling that you are…
eYe
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Do actors actually get to film in POV movies?

In movies where we observe from actor's point of view (POV), does the actor actually film the part where he is holding the camera?
eYe
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Is there a name for the side angle car crash scene?

I have seen this type of shot enough that I frequently expect to see it anytime a car shot shows a side angle profile of the driver. I've begun to see a push in the other way now almost in acknowledgment of this type of shot, such as Parasite…
akozi
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Tracking and Traveling Shot

What is the precise difference between a tracking shot and a traveling shot? I’ve seen that some people consider them synonym, like here: https://sites.google.com/a/colgate.edu/fmst-terminology/traveling-shot But in some books, it isn’t implied that…
Alec Brooks
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Zooming background camera technique?

There is a camera technique which is fairly common now but was rather unusual and subtly effective when it was first used. Of course I don't know the name of it or how it is done (hence my question). It is usually used with one or two persons in…
spring
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