Anyone inspired to photograph after watching a movie

[JOE1951]

Three films that have had an impact or motivated me to get out and take photos after seeing them:


Wings of Desire by Wim Wenders, camera by Henri Alekan

Nice use of black&white counter-pointed with colour in the second half of the film, great sound-track too. Listening to it inspired me to start this thread!

The Pawnbroker by Sidney Lumet, camera by Boris Kaufman

Just a favorite cinematographer! For a film shot in the early 60's (the golden age of B&W movies) Some very cool "street shooting" towards the end!

I am Cuba by Mihail Kalatozov, camera by Sergei Urusevksy (?)

Wide angle through out the entire film and lots of use of B&W infra-red!!!!! If you can stomach the blatant Soviet jingoism, it's worth it just to look at, but at three hours, the look wears thin!

I'm an admited "film snob" with a bias for Black&White movies, but hey, anyone who takes photos has to have a favorite movie!

Anyone?

 

[Duncan Ross]

Koyaanisqatsi really stunned me. However I quickly discovered the void between motivation and results! 🙁

 

[JOE1951]

Yeah, Koyaanisqatsi is a cool movie, I saw the 2nd film that after Powaquattsi but it wasn't as interesting, there is a third one, just made but I don't know anythign about it.

 

[Roman]

Hmm, I rarely feel really motivated to shoot photos after a movie, but thinking about movies with a very photographic style, the first two directors that come to my mind are Jim Jarmusch and Aki Kaurismäki (two of my favorites, too).

And the early episodes of CSI looked like cross-processed film 😉

Roman

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

For me it's Amelie and The Long Engagement ... Both by the same director but the name escapes me. All very sureal and dreamy. I'd love to know how they did it if anyone knows 😀

dan

 

[Gordon Coale]

"Blow Up", but that was a long time ago.

 

[FrankS]

"Eyes Wide Shut", but I couldn't find similar models.

 

[Goodyear]

Here's a weird one: watched Sin City yesterday.

The look of it reminded me why I love mono so much.

 

[andersju]

"Vozvrashcheniye", a.k.a. "The Return" - stunning cinematography by Mikhail Krichman, who also took the beautiful still photos used in the movie.. definitely one of the best movies I've seen the past few years. http://imdb.com/title/tt0376968/

 

[RayPA]

Last Year at Marinenbad (sp?)
La Jete
Manhattan

but Wings of Desire (gorgeous cinematography), Blow Up (the COOLEST photography film EVER [afterall, IIRC the Yardbirds show up in it] and by one of the greatest directors ever), Peeping Tom (creepy b&w) and Pecker would all work for me too. 🙂

 

[Matthew]

The director of Amelie and A Very Long Engagement is Jean Pierre Jeunet. The Cinematographer for both was Bruno Delbonnel. I assume you're talking about how they got the peculiar color palette in both of them. It's a mixture of the production design (lighting with paint), lighting (painting with light) and a whole bunch of digital color correction. American Cinematographer magazine has had very in-depth articles on both if you want to read more.

For me I get inspired to go out after seeing anything Christopher Doyle has shot, especially his work with Wong Kar Wai (Happy Together, Fallen Angels, Chungking Express, In The Mood For Love). The same goes for Rodriego Prieto's work on Amores Perros and 21 Grams. Beautiful stuff.

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

Thanks for the tip on Amelie ... yes it was the colours that I was refering to 😀 I agree on 21 Grams and Amores Perros ... very nicely done.

dan

 

[fraley]

Ingmar Bergman b&W, cinematographer Sven Nykvist -- very inspiring.

 

[StuartR]

Yeah, I am with Fraley -- Bergman's "The Seventh Seal", "Wild Strawberries" and so on. Antonioni's "La Traviata" was also inspiring. It is all so creamy and plus-x like...

 

[dmr]

Yes, particularly after B&W Woody Allen reruns, or various films showing the Las Vegas lights. Others too. 🙂

 

[thpook]

Actually, I wanted to go out and shoot after "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow".

With a whole bunch of extra film.

 

[Mike Richards]

Just got some Orson Welles DVDs -- Citizen Kane, The Third Man, Touch of Evil. Admire his mastery of B&W. Lots of dark or black areas that make the subject stand out. Unusual lighting angles -- e.g. very low with large shadows, strong side lighting that results in half illuminated faces, high lighting that results in eerie shadows over faces. Now, I have to get out at night with some fast B&W film and a 1.4 lens.

 

[vladhed]

La Double Vie de Veronique

La Double Vie de Veronique

When I moved to Paris in 1991 I was shooting B&W until I went to see "La Double Vie de Veronique" by Krzysztof Kieslowski. Then I started shooting Kodachrome again - mainly in the warm early morning or evening light, including some rough glass balls I found at a Marché aux puces...

 

[Pherdinand]

Hitchcock with his black and white all-wide-angle style really makes me think. Not that i can do anything on the same level, but it makes me think about exploring simple scenes. Also, the original Dracula movie, Nosferatu or whatever it was called, it has some amazing photography. Not beautiful, but interesting. (Nope, i don't like the movie itself.)

Otherwise, on "beautiful" photography: I rarely agree with awards but the girl with the pear earring was indeed very well done. I don't think it's inspiring for me, though; it's not what I aspire for. The colours in the Amelie and Long engagement... are indeed something great nut also not making me think and try to replicate.
I think i'm more like a shape and angle-isnpired guy than colours or tones. Also Lola rannt is a great example of the many possibilities that can be explored without any exotic locations or "special effects".

Leon the professional also has some great stuff. Remember the scene when the stepmother of Mathilda is shot in the hottub, seen from above and from behind? Or when her sister is watching the TV and doing the aerobic stuff? Or the headshot of Leon(sorry for the pun)? I don't exactly know who's merit is such a performance, the director or the photographer or who, but it's good stuff.

Oh and as inspiration, of course, the movies of Milla Jovovich always inspire me. I imagined already many many times the lighting and angles of photographing that bubble bath of me and her 😀

 

[mkyy]

Any the films by Pedro Almodovar and Wong Kar-Wai w/ cinematographer Christopher Doyle. I really appreciate the art direction of both directors.

Another movie of recent is "Closer". Julia Roberts did not inspire me. But the camera she holds did 😀