lmfao every cinematographer is underrated because we’re the only type of nerds that care about stuff like this everyone else only looks at the movie at surface level
Man, nobody even rates cinematographers, if we're talking about your average movie watcher, or even someone with a bit more knowledge. On the other hand, those who know cinematographers know and appreciate him as well.
How he came up with the look for Se7en,which you just barely touched on, is almost worthy of an entire video in itself . He did subject that film to a variation of the silver retention technique, and in fact only a small number of master prints of that film were released in that fashion. It's my understanding that all the various VHS, DVD and Blu-Ray releases of the picture have been successful to varying degrees in duplicating the look he and Fincher wanted for the film.
In addition, I know that for Se7en he 'pushed' the film by what he claimed was one f-stop i.e. underexposing the negative one stop below what he had decided to lens the picture at, and then having it overdeveloped by one stop in the film lab to compensate. But in so doing he gave the film a subtly different look then it would have had if he hadn't bothered with that process. He also used a lot of smoke, at least for interior scenes, to reduce contrast and add to the ambience, and the Panaflasher, to reduce contrast and bring out details in shadow areas.
The world is going to go with or without Darius Khondji. As a film maker, he maybe benefited if he accepts newer formats. The reason behind could be asserted to "more and more gravitated towards the younger audiences and the industry as a whole needs to pander to "their" needs than oldfart's vision that is dying down.
Darius Khondji is probably my favourite cinematographer. His frames are always perfectly balanced and the look of his work changes with each story. A lot of cinematographers use the same tricks over and over. Khondji is constantly evolving and changing.
heres a guy who does every movie different.. first of all seven is amazing.. but then that directors movies usually always have that look.. but why? hes not the cinematographer... i guess the director really does have control over the look..
Nice video! Kinda of a shame that you didn't deeply analyze his lighting style tho, which at the end of the day, it's what defines the visual style of a cinematographer. Btw, he use a lot of dark blue in the shadows combined with warm-yellow light at the background and with little green details in the higlights.
As said before, I would love to see you do videos on Jeff Cronenweth and Dante Spinotti next. Two other DPs I'd also love to see you cover are Adam Greenberg and Adrian Biddle.
You should do a video on how Steven Soderbergh shot Traffic. For that matter, make a video on directors who are their own cinematographers--Soderbergh, Peter Hyams, Tony Kaye, et al. And how those filmmakers' work is impacted by them wearing the two hats.
He also spoke about Fincher with Seven about what to take that scary tone from, they both watched Klute in pre-production and decided that would be their model to draw from, it wasn't just a tone from how Fincher said scary. At least that's what Khondji said in his book.
I'm surprised you didn't mention his work on several episodes of Nicolas Winding Refn's 'Too Old to Die Young', truly some of the most inventive and striking cinematography I've seen, and the best I've yet seen in a mini-series. Give it a look if you like Refn's recent, slow stuff since Drive.
What a chameleon of a cinematographer! I never would've noticed his name from those movies because of how fully he blends into the sensibilities of the directors he works with. Thanks for this video! And I personally thought the intro wasn't that big of a conceptual stretch / parallel to the work of this person.
You're Adam Mackay of making videos on cinema! Your videos are based on understanding of the medium, which I applaud. But you're always in the mood of mocking someone before making your point.
In my opinion, se7en is probably the most visually impressive film iv ever seen in my entire life. The contrast and deep primary colors in this film, that silver sheen and simultaneous soft and sharpness in the highlights … stroke of genius
A fascinating video with a lot of potential that I think you should do is How Does a DP and a Director Collaborate with a Production Designer. It’s something I’ve been researching myself a fair bit Would love to hear some examples of how the interactions go
A great cinematographer. One of the best of his generation. He sounds like a directors dream, searching for that key phrase to translate the directors vision to the screen. I can only wish to work with a director like him one day.
