Visions of Light
1992 · 92 MIN · IMDB 7.7 · 3,383 VOTES · DIR. Arnold Glassman, Todd McCarthy, Stuart Samuels
Overview
Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the "DP" (the director of photography), illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from Birth of a Nation to Do the Right Thing. Themes: the DP tells people where to look; changes in movies (the arrival of sound, color, and wide screens) required creative responses from DPs; and, these artisans constantly invent new equipment and try new things, with wonderful results. The narration takes us through the identifiable studio styles of the 30s, the emergence of noir, the New York look, and the impact of Europeans. Citizen Kane, The Conformist, and Gordon Willis get special attention.
Dialogue Timeline — 1,360 lines
A SAMPLE ACROSS THE RUNTIME — EVERY LINE IS SEARCHABLE
00:00:37 (Thunder rumbles)
00:04:30 Some years ago, I had the very good fortune
00:08:17 where it's all too obvious that there's a microphone
00:11:46 that we think of as being Hollywood
00:15:45 I hate to be entertained. Please don 't do it
00:19:15 of Walker Evans or Dorothea Lange or Doris Ulmann or anybody
00:22:43 Exactly one week
00:27:21 and working with Welles on these compositions
00:31:49 And you're more free to associate drama and tonality and so on
00:35:29 No, leave room for the cake!
00:38:37 the kind of person who is a cinematographer
00:42:40 We would try things and specially...
00:46:10 The light hitting his face with this phenomenon happening on the windows
00:49:26 I do not think that movies should be made because of the dialogue
00:52:43 "No, Billy, no. Move, move, move."
00:56:30 that had happened before that was being filmed
01:00:10 I mean, that was a job of cinematography that everybody couldn't help but notice
01:03:55 We could put a camera where nobody had ever put one
01:07:34 It was like being the MVP or winning the Triple Crown
01:11:41 "We want you to come up here and do this picture, Nestor has to go,"
01:14:55 And it's so good and so evocative, it's so powerful emotionally
01:18:43 with the different stage of light. Different colours
01:22:18 There was a shot in Goodfellas, when De Niro and Ray Liotta are sitting in that cafe
01:25:50 And we could control the colour