Visual Expressions Notebook

Nov. 21, 2016

Winner and Losers (Michael Clayton, Gilroy, 2007)

More amazing work from Robert Elswitt. In this scene from Micheal Clayton, Elswitt again meticulously composes this climatic shot when Clooney's character…

by chasekekai

Nov. 18, 2016

That's Some Color (The Revenant, Iñárittu, 2015)

by chasekekai

Nov. 18, 2016

The Elevator Scene (Drive, Winding Refen, 2011)

One of my favorites, this whole movie is a cinematographic tour de force. In this scene from Drive, Ryan Gosling realizes he has to kill this other man in the…

by chasekekai

Nov. 18, 2016

Children of Men (Cuarón, 2006)

This sequence by DP Emmanuel Lubezski is absolutely breathtaking. The natural lighting and grainy look combines perfectly with this vivid scene where they…

by chasekekai

Nov. 18, 2016

My sunset scene

by chasekekai

Nov. 18, 2016

Sleepy Hollow (Mark Aurèle, Photoblog)

Would be really hard to get this kind of shot in 16:9. But the dramatic composition in black and white is really great, with the vanishing point and all the…

by chasekekai

Nov. 18, 2016

Ideal beach day

I was in my yard and thought, this lighting is great for mid-day, and my iphone did well. Would almost be a good establishing shot for a beach scene if the…

by chasekekai

Nov. 18, 2016

The Ko'olau summit

Just my own interpretation of a misty mountain scene. Shot on an iphone 4, I was surprised by the nice look that the cool colors make the shot moody and…

by chasekekai

Nov. 18, 2016

After Effects: (A Nude Descending Staircase, Duchamp, 1912)

A futurist painting. This shitty blog deleted my last lengthy comment because it was too long and now I'm just gonna give the short version. This painting…

by chasekekai

Nov. 18, 2016

Playground (Prasad Ambati, Nat Geo)

Great balance and perfect lighting for this shot. I like how the tree balances the children playing and the misty mountains in the background, very serene and…

by chasekekai

Nov. 18, 2016

The night scene: (Cafè Terrace at Night, Vincent van Gough,…

This would be a hard shot to recreate in film ratio. But in this famous post-impressionist oil painting by van Gough, the warmth of the yellow light reflecting…

by chasekekai

Nov. 18, 2016

Reverie: (Bogdan Comanescu, Nat Geo)

by chasekekai

Nov. 17, 2016

Better Call a Better Lawyer, (Better Call Saul, Gilligan)

Sorry for the poor quality. This shot shows the two negotiators agreeing to only a broken leg each for the men on the ground. It is a very funny shot when in…

by chasekekai

Nov. 17, 2016

"The treetop sword fight ballet"Crouching Lion (Lee,200)

Terrible quality, i'm sorry, I actually bought the movie but couldn't screenshot it somehow. A truly beautiful story; aided by the fact that every scene/shot in…

by chasekekai

Nov. 17, 2016

Nightcrawler,2014

The predator stalks his prey, or an expensive bicycle. This frame grab from Nightcrawler is more craftwork of DP Robert Elswit, who demonstrates another great…

by chasekekai

Nov. 17, 2016

There Will Be Blood (P.T. Anderson, 2007)

Robert Elswitt is a master of composition, Paul Thomas-Anderson's go-to Cinematographer. He can craft moods and direct the viewers attention with ease simply…

by chasekekai

Nov. 16, 2016

The dance macabre (Bertolucci, The Conformist. 1970)

Such. great. cinematography. The cinematography in this movie is so effective it becomes almost a narrative device in the film, using all the elements in the…

by chasekekai

Nov. 16, 2016

Treasure Island

This reminds me of a desert island scene. With my friend in the sun, and the beach dweller in the shade, you can kind of get how valuable shade was to this man.

by chasekekai

Nov. 16, 2016

Uluwatu graffiti-er

This shot of my friend tagging an abandoned building at night was pretty eerie since it was a pretty sketchy area. The shot kind of translates the clandestine,…

by chasekekai

Nov. 16, 2016

The Uluwatu lookout.

by chasekekai