American Cinematographer - February 1993 - 61

Visions
ASC takes

of Light: The Art of Cinematography

part in an AFI-NHK documentary film that turns the cameras on some

of motion-picture

photography's leading lights.

by Brooke Comer
Whenever the craft of filmmaking
is examined, the director is gener¬

ally touted as the artist. Tradition¬
ally (and ironically), the cinematog¬
rapher has often been viewed as an
invisible force. If the director of

photography was regarded at all, it
was as a

kind of

sorcerer

whose

magic rendered ideal conditions to
genius.

underscore the director's

as the communications media
evolved and the craft of movie¬

But

making became a subject of general
interest, the cinematographer's role
began to be recognized as a vital
ingredient in the filmmaking pro¬
cess.

The experimentation,
techniques, and artistry that cin¬
ematographers have brought to
their work over the years offer a
new perspective on the evolution of
cinema. Visions of Light: The Art of
Cinematography, a feature-length
documentary co-produced by the
American Film Institute and

NHK/Japan Broadcasting, ex¬
plores the history of cinematogra¬
phy and the development of the art
form through interviews with mas¬
ters of the craft. For years, the cam¬
era has
spotlighted the talent. In
this film, the talent finally spotlights
the camera and the camerapersons
whose domain is light.
Visions of Light was in¬

spired by the successful 1990 col¬
laboration between AFT and NHK,
a union which produced Hollywood

Mavericks,

a

16mm

documentary

about directors. "AFT has a man¬
date to educate the general public
about the moving image as an art

form," says Terry Lawler, who was
executive

producer

AFI and who

on

now

Visions for
heads up

"Women Make Movies," a New
York-based production company.

Lawler describes how Visions
evolved out of an AFT book pro¬

posal

on cinematographers: "We
felt directors of photography had

Mavericks was shot on 16mm,
which posed a problem in terms of

long been underappreciated in the
industry and by the public, which

showing 35mm clips. "We either

of the incredible con¬

them," Lawler notes. HD offered a
technology more amenable to the
wide range of the aspect ratios.
Once the AFI/NHK nego¬

was unaware

tribution that they make to the film-

making process."
What could have been
AFT book

on

an

cinematography in¬

stead became a film when NHK got
involved. "NHK was interested in

another film collaboration," says
Lawler. "They wanted to shoot the

project in HDTV because of the
wider aspect ratio that the technol¬
ogy offers," she explains. Hollywood

February 1993

had to cut them off

or

letterbox

tiations
can

was

were
complete, the Ameri¬
Society of Cinematographers

asked to

serve as

visor. Chairman

creative ad¬

Woody Omens

Above: On the
set of MGM's

1932picture Red
Dust, actress
Jean Harlow

commands the

full attention of
director Victor

Fleming (on
stool}, co-stars
Mary Astor and
Clark Gable

(center) and
director of

photography
Harold Rosson,

and members of the ASC's educa¬
tional advisory board became

ASC (at far left,

actively involved, attending
screenings, reading treatments,

whom Harlow
later married.

American

Cinematographer

near

camera),

59
American Cinematographer - February 1993

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