American Cinematographer - December 2013 - 4

The International Journal of Motion Imaging

SEE AND HEAR MORE CINEMATOGRAPHY COVERAGE AT WWW.THEASC.COM

Left: Woody Grant (Bruce Dern)
and his son David (Will Forte) take
a memorable road trip in Nebraska.
Right: Phedon Papamichael, ASC
lines up a shot on the set.

In an exclusive podcast, cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, ASC discusses the atmospheric black-and-white cinematography he contributed to Alexander Payne's Nebraska. Bruce Dern stars as a cranky, aging alcoholic who, convinced he has won
a million-dollar sweepstakes, travels from Montana to Nebraska with his skeptical son (Will Forte) to collect his prize.

Frederick Schroeder: "The Night of the Young-mi Lee: "The Big Combo, [which cer- Emma Hornor: "Double Indemnity, Sunset
Hunter, Raging Bull, Winter Light, The Long tainly shows] what 'painting with light' is all Blvd., Manhattan."
Voyage Home."
about."
Darrell Sheldon: "Touch of Evil, The Cranes
Mitchell Bergeron: "Persona, The Seventh Samuel Thomas Claeys: "The Elephant Man." Are Flying, Young Frankenstein."
Seal, Wild Strawberries, Through a Glass Darkly."
Chryssy Tintner: "Double Indemnity, The Iain Trimble: "The use of black-and-white in
Wind, Captain Blood, Brief Encounter."
The Wizard of Oz is my favorite because it's
Terry King: "The Man Who Wasn't There."
used to help develop the story and characters."
Sean Wright: "Woody Allen's Manhattan [shot
Declan Keeney: "For me it's Soy Cuba (I Am by Gordon Willis, ASC]. Choosing to shoot in Tobias Dodt: "The Servant, brilliantly shot by
Cuba), shot by Sergei Urusevsky. Absolutely black-and-white in order to greater romanticize Douglas Slocombe, BSC, and The Third Man,
stunning use of infrared stock and extraordinar- the city in a melancholic way was a great style photographed by Robert Krasker, BSC."
ily long camera moves."
decision."
Tony Davison: "Anything by the master and
Aaron Caughran: "1. Citizen Kane. 2. Raging Dave Clayton: "There are so many great b&w possibly the greatest cinematographer ever,
Bull. 3. Paths of Glory. 4. Sunset Blvd. 5. Dr. movies. The other day I re-watched The Loved Gregg Toland, ASC."
Strangelove."
One, photographed by Haskell Wexler, ASC.
What a superb example of b&w cinematogra- Michael Truong: "Throne of Blood. Talk about
Alifeleti Tuapasi Toki: "Sunrise; L'Atalante; phy, with some of the best location footage of the gray scale."
Letter from an Unknown Woman; Night of the L.A. I've ever seen in a movie. The work of a
Conor Masterson: "Tabu. The whole film was
Hunter; Ivan the Terrible, Part 1; Ugetsu; genius of the lens!"
extraordinary - so beautiful I didn't notice the
Alphaville; Andrei Rublev; The Hypothesis of the
Stolen Painting; L'Enfant Secret."
Merlin M. Mannelly: "The Third Man and lack of dialogue in Africa."
Rumble Fish are probably the two most striking
Joe Del Balzo: "Hitchcock's Rebecca has some examples that stick out to me. Even though ... Olaf Bessenbacher: "Fellini's 8½."
of the most beautiful, well-crafted shots ever - there were so many amazing black-and-white
whether b&w or color. On the Waterfront and cinematographers for half of film's life, these are J.T. Moreland: "Such an awesome question, as
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? are two other the two that bookend why black-and-white will I have always loved black-and-white cinematogmust-sees for anyone studying b&w cinematog- always be relevant no matter how far our tech- raphy! I loved the cinematography of Schindler's
List, and I also think Michael Chapman, ASC's
raphy."
nology goes."
work on Raging Bull was outstanding."
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Photo by Merie Wallace, SMPSP. Photo and frame grab courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

THIS MONTH'S ONLINE QUESTION: What are your favorite examples of black-and-white cinematography?

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American Cinematographer - December 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - December 2013