Quotes About Cinematography

You can't create a movie as you think about it. And what's in the scene is not what's being seen. A shot always means something other than what it is. All are vehicles. A landscape is just a vehicle. The viewer might think different things, and I'm not going to intervene.

The problem with shooting in Paris is, it's been shot to death. When you're in it, you already think you're in a movie, so how do you get away from that feeling, and give some frisson to the viewer?

Festivals are where I see other peoples' films, where we talk, where I get to learn what was working about the film, I get to have a discussion with viewers... and people who enjoy reading films - I enjoy reading other peoples' films, and what discussions can come of that.

I think 'Hero' is not a real martial arts movie; it is not about violence, or formula.

Violence is used to portray what happens in a film. It only helps portray the actors and what they do. I think it is more about the story, when you have something to play off of.

'Ramleela' is my most violent film.

The cinematographer's basically translating the director's vision into imagery.

There's nothing I find more lazy than unmotivated camerawork just to make things look interesting.

That's one of the best things about the RED ONE - I can use all the best lenses that have been used in film forever.

I believe in naturalistic lighting, which isn't to say natural light.

When I shoot a film, I take my camera and put it among the characters and let it show you their world, their problems, their happiness and the little things that matter to them.

Sometimes you remember more about the location where you shot the film than the film itself.

I really like shooting in real locations.

UP has such beautiful locations and such ease of shooting.

When I talk about ideas, I really mean ideas of mise en scène or—if I were to be shocking about it—of framing, or the way shots are put together, which these days are the only ideas whose profundity I wish to recognize.

My father would tell anyone who would listen that this dentist thing he was doing was not his passion; cinematography was.

Cinema is a matter of what's in the frame and what's out.

Alfonso Cuaron

Till now I have never shot a scene without taking account of what stands behind the actors because the relationship between people and their surroundings is of prime importance.

The function of camera movement is to assist the storytelling. That's all it is. It cannot be there just to demonstrate itself.

And later I thought, I can't think how anyone can become a director without learning the craft of cinematography.

A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.