Larry Fong

Larry Fong is a cinematographer that has worked on many popular films, such as 300, Watchmen, Super 8, and Sucker Punch.  Fong was a childhood friend of J.J. Abrams and they have worked together with many of their works.

 Watchmen

When setting up each shot for Watchmen, Fong purposely planned out how the subject was composed in the frame.  A major goal for the film was to honor the graphic novel and stylistic choices in comparison from one to the other.  Symmetry is a major key element that Fong focused on in each shot.

Fong also used only one camera throughout the filming of Watchmen in order to make every single shot important and beautifully composed.  Fong felt that when you are using two cameras the second is normally of lesser quality and less concern.

Super 8

Fong collaborated with J.J. Abrams in order to create one of my favorite films of all time.  Super 8 was filmed with many different types of cameras, even super 8 to mimic the look.  This camera was the Beaulieu 4008 ZM4 IV.  They also mostly used 60mm and 25mm speed lens.

Spike Jonze

So I am sure most people can say they have heard of Spike Jonze, but not everyone knows the wide variety of creative works Jonze has taken part in.  He has created anywhere from commercials to skate videos, but he is also the co-founder of Dirt Magazine.  Jonze’s work in skate videos is well known, and he has worked with professional skateboarding companies such as Girl, Blind, and many others.  Skating videography normally isn’t anything that can be examined too closely, because they are just supposed to document the tricks, but Jonze finds a way to artistically make each skate video his own.

Jonze not only shoots skate videos, but he is also an avid skate photographer.  His photography skills have definitely played a major role in his video work, which allows it to stand out even more.

Music videos are yet another avenue that Jonze traveled down.  He has done many music videos for various artists, but my favorite is the popular music video for the Beastie Boys song “Sabotage”.

As for his feature film career, Jonze has many movies under his belt.  He is most noted for his work in Being John Malkovich, but his work that stands out the most with a sense of style and artistic freedom is Where the Wild Things Are.  Creating a movie based off a children’s book is quite the challenge, but Jonze took his own approach with the film and successfully left his mark in this story.  While this story may appeal to the younger audience, any age can truly be amazed by the stylistic camera use and composition throughout the film.

Also Worked On:

                                                                                                                                                          

Benh Zeitlin

Winning countless amounts of independent awards and having two Oscar nominations, Beasts of the Southern Wild, is one of my favorite movies from 2012, if not all time. This film started as an independent flick from a small group of filmmakers that call themselves Court 13.  While Zeitlin played such a major part in the filming of this great film, the Director of Photography (Cinematography) is Ben Richardson.

Richardson knew that he needed a unique way to portray this film, so he decided that digital video was not the way to go.  He not only decided on 70mm or 35mm film, but he shot in  super-16mm film which gives the film such a raw look that no other movie can get away with.  This film was shot with the Arriflex 416 which specializes in Super-16mm film.

The Super-16mm film gives the the grainy feel to each scene, with some shots more than others.

According to nofilmschool.com’s interview with Richardson, he also states that he chose this camera because it allows shallow depth of field and exploratory focus.  He further explains that the film was shot with only a couple of lenses, a 35mm and a 50mm.  What makes this so remarkable is that it allows the viewer to get the sense of Hushpuppy’s world.  Hushpuppy is a young girl that focuses on the smallest details of everything in shot, so Richardson’s use of tighter lenses makes the audience truly take in each aspect of this Southern World known as “The Bathtub”.

Shallow Depth of Field Shots acquired with a wide aperture on the Arri 416.

Being that this is Zeitlin’s first feature film, he has been quite successful, but he has created many short films with the Court 13 crew.  My favorite short by him was his 2008 film Glory at Sea.  This film was definitely an influence behind Beasts of the Southern Wild.  This 20 minute short film can be watched directly from the video below.

Zeitlin’s Other Short Films:

               The Origins of Electricity                                                              Egg:

Click image to watch short film

Click image to watch short film