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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

How on Pandora did Avatar get nominated for best cinematography?

There's a lot of live action in that movie. Also every CG shot was lit and set up by a DP- same as a 100% live-action movie. Or are you implying this is a completely animated film undeserving of a cinematographic nod? The ASC certainly wouldn't agree with you- Mauro Fiore, ASC (the DP of Avatar) is nominated for an ASC award for his work as well... http://www.theasc.com/news/News_Articles/News_277.php

Noah
 
Noah Kadner said:
There's a lot of live action in that movie. Also every CG shot was lit and set up by a DP- same as a 100% live-action movie. Or are you implying this is a completely animated film undeserving of a cinematographic nod? The ASC certainly wouldn't agree with you- Mauro Fiore, ASC (the DP of Avatar) is nominated for an ASC award for his work as well... http://www.theasc.com/news/News_Articles/News_277.php

Noah
Click to expand...

I'm just surprised that it was nominated for this. There is no doubt that Mauro Fiore is amazing, and he and his team did incredible work on Avatar. He's a super genius and all of the 3D work on this is phenomenal. This is a technological achievement for sure.

But is it one of the BEST achievements in cinematography this year? IMO* I feel like less than half of what you see in Avatar is the cinematography. The rest is visual effects. Avatar looks incredible, but at least 1/2 of that is thanks to visual effects artists, not the DP.

I'm not in the ASC, and I probably never will be. I'm not mad, but like I said, I'm just a little surprised. I'm not trying to argue that this should not be nominated. I would just like to know why. What is it about Avatar's cinematography, that makes it worthy of these nominations? I can totally see the why the other 4 films got nominated.

For the record I loved Avatar, I've seen it thrice.

*My opinion is probably wrong and stupid and I totally accept that. :emote_hippie:
 
I would tend to agree with you. Avatar is a huge technical achievement, but separate the cinematography from the animation and there would be little to garner an award for the cinematography.
 
Well Avatar also got an ASC nod, I think.

I personally don't think it deserves it, though. I LOVED the movie, but the camera and angles and movement and lighting and all that were nothing super special, IMO.
 
Seemed like pretty thin pickings this year. Although I liked Avatars cinematography.

But VFX vs Camera... probably matters less than you would believe. After all it's not often the gaffers or the grips get to accept the award. Just think of the Lighting TDs and Compositors as a bizzare production with dozens of Gaffers given an above average amount of creative freedom.

I imagine colorists have as much power in a modern production as a lighting TD. CG still needs lights and the film had a consistent look to it which had to have been driven by clear direction. There's very little difference between asking for a 4' silk and an HMI and asking for a 4' area light. The feedback cycle is slower but the process is relatively similar. We're also getting to the point where getting a pretty accurate preview of the final lighting is effectively real-time.
 
I think the Avatar cinematography nomination is an acknowledgement of the technical hurdles they overcame as well as the sheer scale of the endeavour.

So if Mauro Fiore doesn't win, who does everyone think will win? I'm a bit biased (being a Brit) but I'd love to see Barry Ackroyd win for "Hurt Locker" (has a Super-16mm film ever won best Cinematography??!!)
 
The Academy use to give separate awards for B&W and color photography from 1939 all the way up to 1966.
Maybe we need a separate CG one now.

This year will be a replay of 1974 when The Towering Inferno beat out Chinatown for the Academy Award.
Spectacle :lurk5::emote_popcorn: wins out over Art.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Cinematography

Here's list of them... 1928-2009
 
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Bob Gruen said:
I would tend to agree with you. Avatar is a huge technical achievement, but separate the cinematography from the animation and there would be little to garner an award for the cinematography.
Click to expand...

Do the same to D9... Avatar would still be lightyears ahead.
 
Considering cinematography includes the authoring of images - the images onscreen earned the noms... The same imagery on screen IS amazing even if it looks like animation/is 70%CGI/blah blah blah....

MOON deserved a nom
State of Play deserved a nom
Hell, Star Trek even...

Hurt Locker.... as a veteran combat cameraman - Barry Ackroyd did not do a great job in capturing that world. The high speed stuff was great. But it ended there. I felt I was watching a movie the whole time instead of being "sucked in". However, few people actually live/experience the military side of life and the EOD story made for good times for viewers.

Of course, Inglor. Basterds is also nom'ed for it's cinematography... So, what does that tell you?
 
I just liked the way this post was...um... posted

"How on Pandora did Avatar get nominated for best cinematography?"

Made me laugh. Ha
 
Agree - great thread title!

Master and Commander won the Oscar for Best Cinematography. Amazing film - but I think the huge amount of Asylum's fantastic sky replacements and all the good color work helped a lot ;)

Also the physical makeup department won for Benjamin Button - and didn't even bother to thank the CGI folks!

Personally I really liked the cinematography of Avatar.

Hopefully in the future we'll see categories such as makeup, costumes, cinematography incorporate / give credit to the post production side of things more.

My hopes on getting title sequences included in an awards category are low, though ;) The Oscars are long enough!

Actually usually I don't bother to watch them - I can spend those 3 hours writing my script while Hollywood is distracted, bwahaha :)

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com
 
As much as I like the cinematography in Avatar (and the rest of the nominations, good crop this year) I'm quietly cheering and hoping for Half-Blood Prince. I really loved the look of that movie.
 
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