Gordon Willis invented the darkness palette. The interior scenes and brown gloss in Godfather 2 was just beautiful. Indeed the Prince of Darkness. Theres just no arguing against the dark established in Godfather 1 and 2. Those interior scenes are just amazing.
are you a 2d artist also ? if so i love learning from a moving pictures artist point of view like Gordon, and use it in my 2d illustration studies. its really all the same thing kinda
This movie's brassy look reminds me of when as a child I'd visit antique shops with my mom and the stores did have that look. The movie does take me back to an older era of the US.
@grace fung This is from a documentary called "Visions of Light" sponsored by the American Society of Cinematographers. It's a great documentary for filmmakers and for those interested in film.
It looks like the old Life Magazine photos of the immigrants coming to Ellis Island. Shot in color but they've faded now. I think that's what he was going for
in some books they say in godfather I, II he is refereing to rembrandts lighting technique but i cant find any thing of that style. rembrandt never lights from overhead. and he said in a interview, that he has been interested in painters work but he dont try to reproduce that kind of look. in Visions of Light he is responsing to the fact that he works sometimes too far with underexposing, just as rembrandt
@billysscreeningroom i don't know if he's under-appreciated. i think only by the Oscars. but you ask somebody in cinematography, or film crew. why do you love the Godfather? Gordon Willis' name will always pop up
Perhaps but you're talking about the Godfather II intro. I doubt he ever looked at that while they were making the first Godfather, which makes his creativity even more impressive.
The cinematographers branch in 1972 was dominated by old timers who loved to flood their sets with light. So of course they hated the moody, atmospheric work by Willis. Oh well. Like Gordon once said “I make movies for directors. I don’t make them for cinematographers.”
