Cinematography Oscars 2009

[Sanjin Jukic]

This year 2009 for the first time in Academy Awards history in category of cinematography

there are two movies that are acquired digitally (85% or more) were nominated:

- "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," shot by Claudio Miranda on Viper.

- "Slumdog Millionaire" shot by Anthony Dod Mantle on SI2K.

Unfortunately this year no any movie shot RED1 was nominated.

I thought that CHE would be in the game but didn't happen in that way.

But I'm proud that my RED1 has the same mount (IMS) as one of nominated films shot on SI2K.

By the way RED didn't officially certified IMS for RED1 till today and we even do not know if this will ever be done.

 

[Zack Birlew]

I'm torn between "Dark Knight" and "Curious Case of Benjamin Button". On one hand, I think "DK" should win because they did so many new things and tried out IMAX for narrative filmmaking for the first time, plus the film was just a massive epic. But then you have "CCBB" which, again, experimented with a lot of techniques, this time digital, and was its own beast of a movie due to the constantly changing locations and spans of time.

I haven't seen "Slumdog Millionaire" but from what I've been hearing and reading it's supposed to be really good too. It would be more of a plus since it was filmed on the SI2K but, as we've seen in the past, camera choice isn't too important, with the exception of "DK" since it made so many waves throughout the industry and the press by shooting in IMAX. Tough year, tough year.

 

[Yannick Hagman]

This was an oscar for best cinematography. Not to distinct with best recording medium (no RED certainly isn't the best).

 

[Roberto B]

- "Slumdog Millionaire" shot by Anthony Dod Mantle on SI2K.

Unfortunately this year..

But I'm proud that my RED1 has the same mount (IMS) as one of nominated films shot on SI2K.

good one

By the way RED didn't officially certified IMS for RED1 till today and we even do not know if this will ever be done.

good try..

 

[Shawn Booth]

DK epic? David Lean made epic films. There's nothing "epic" about DK aside from Heath Ledger's performance:

DK should've been called, "The Joker". Best Cinematography? No. So what if they used IMAX. I think Button should take cinematography...

As with all Oscars, it's industry politics. American Beauty winning was amazing and surprising, but it's usually political who is chosen.

Slumdog is another exception and deserves the awards.

 

[Brandon Fraley]

I give DK a lot of credit for not going through a DI, though. That said, I think CCBB is the obvious choice here, IMO.

 

[Tom Lowe]

This is a very weak year for cinematography, IMO.

 

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

I've only seen banjamin button and The Dark Knight but I'd probably go with The Dark Knight for Cinematography it really was a nice looking film.

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

This is a very weak year for cinematography, IMO.

lol... you obviously must have a much better developed eye than I do sir :blush:

 

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

lol... you obviously must have a much better developed eye than I do sir :blush:

He probably says that about every year that doesn't have a Terrance Malick film, so by that logic and blatant assumption on my part 2009 will be a good year for cinematography.

 

[Jason Murphy]

This is a very weak year for cinematography, IMO.

Have to agree with you on this one, Tom. As far as the nominees go, the cinematography for each (except the Reader, which I haven't seen) is solid, but none of it struck me as particularly amazing. (With perhaps the exception of one shot from the Dark Knight - Joker leaning out of the window of a stolen cop car; thought that shot was incredibly beautiful and iconic).

But in many ways, that's kind of how I felt about this year in movies as well. A lot of solid movies, or potentially great movies with some major flaws, or majorly flawed movies with brilliant moments, but almost nothing that I'd call an out and out masterpiece.

If I've gotta choose a nominee, though, would go with either Claudio Miranda or Wally Pfister. One for the digital, the other for the IMAX.

 

[Tom Lowe]

You read my mind, Murphy. Funny, I just made a post about that Joker shot at c.com like 30 minutes ago. Great minds...

In terms of cinematography this year, I also have yet to see The Reader (the trailer looks amazing in terms of the photography), but generally speaking, this year's contenders are all REALLY GOOD, but not great. Not legendary. Many heavy hitters like Prieto and Bebee did not even shoot anything released this year, and Lubezki did a comedy.

As of now, with what I have seen, I would choose Dark Knight.

 

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

I kind of liked stuff like this myself.

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

He probably says that about every year that doesn't have a Terrance Malick film, so by that logic and blatant assumption on my part 2009 will be a good year for cinematography.

yea, probably

I definitely enjoyed the piles and piles of light used for those city exterior night shots on The Dark Knight, just like that very last grab ^. It really seemed like they lit the real city a lot more than any film I can remember. I was impressed by the scale of this film in every way, even though I had high expectations after the first Batman.

However I too wasn't particularly struck by any 2009 film... though I might be forgetting something... or I might just not know better.

 

[Tom Lowe]

He probably says that about every year that doesn't have a Terrance Malick film, so by that logic and blatant assumption on my part 2009 will be a good year for cinematography.

Lol... this assumes that Terry will actually finish editing this year...

 

[Craig Ryan]

My vote would go for DK. I've posted a lot here about why I liked the film overall, but one major thing to consider is that they didn't use CGI that much, and with IMAX, that's a lot of screen real estate to make pretty compared to 35mm. And they did an excellent job to say the least.

While I loved the photography in CCBB, I'd say the major achievement for the look of that film was more the VFX/CGI and stunning Set Design more than the photography itself.

 

[Kwan Khan]

Another vote for DK.

 

[Shawn Booth]

My vote would go for DK. I've posted a lot here about why I liked the film overall, but one major thing to consider is that they didn't use CGI that much, and with IMAX, that's a lot of screen real estate to make pretty compared to 35mm. And they did an excellent job to say the least.

While I loved the photography in CCBB, I'd say the major achievement for the look of that film was more the VFX/CGI and stunning Set Design more than the photography itself.

Set design factors into cinematography. As does everything else...

"It's all about the frame."
"All the work, money, time, sweat and energy of a working set is all for the frame."

The award should go to the best example of the craft serving the story. Doesn't matter if it's beautiful or ugly photography as long as it serves the story.

"We're slaves to the story, not the cool shot."

"The Joker" was beautiful and shot very well. Kudos for the IMAX. It's not the best cinematography of 09 though. (IMO)

 

[Craig Ryan]

Set design factors into cinematography. As does everything else...

"It's all about the frame."
"All the work, money, time, sweat and energy of a working set is all for the frame."

The award should go to the best example of the craft serving the story. Doesn't matter if it's beautiful or ugly photography as long as it serves the story.

"We're slaves to the story, not the cool shot."

"The Joker" was beautiful and shot very well. Kudos for the IMAX. It's not the best cinematography of 09 though. (IMO)

Points well taken.

To be fair though, the award would be given to the DP, not the set designer, therefore in the context of achievement in cinematography, the set design is sort of a grey area because there's a whole wing of talent behind that effort.

Also, I did not see every movie nominated.

Though, to be honest the points made above have confirmed my favor of DK even more When you consider that the IMAX was used for selected scenes (*not all of which were action spectacles either..the shot of Alfred burning the letter comes to mind), obviously it wasn't just a trivial, or "cool" tool used just for spectacle, but rather a creative genius to serve the storytelling in a brand new unique way. That achievement is why I think DK should win this year.

 

[Craig Ryan]

Points well taken.

To be fair though, the award would be given to the DP, not the set designer, therefore in the context of achievement in cinematography, the set design is sort of a grey area because there's a whole wing of talent behind that effort.

Also, I did not see every movie nominated.

Though, to be honest the points made above have confirmed my favor of DK even more When you consider that the IMAX was used for selected scenes (*not all of which were action spectacles either..the shot of Alfred burning the letter comes to mind), obviously it wasn't just a trivial, or "cool" tool used just for spectacle, but rather a creative genius to serve the storytelling in a brand new unique way. That achievement is why I think DK should win this year.

Also, to go along with that, I liked The Wrestler for the same reason; the choice to go super 16 was perfect.