A Brief Note On Kick-Butt Cinematography and Where To Find It

         Hello my friends! The hour grows late and I must start to alter my sleeping patterns so that the bat-velociraptor part of me (for more info please see last night's late-night article; unless you do not want to see a completly tired-enthused collection of writing schematics, if this is the case, then please don't) becomes less external. Also my mom just came in and told me to go to bed, so I regret to say that this article shall be a little hasty.
          One of my favorite things in the world right now is good cinematography and understanding it's ability to draw in the audience. How do you know if it's good cinematography you ask? Well I mean, there are multiple ways and some of it is completely opinion-based. Really what I think of as good cinematography are the camera shots that really capture the emotion of the scene, the dramatics, the gooey stuff. yeeah.
A more movie-scientific answer would be something like seeing that shots use the rule of thirds, continuity, that kind of stuff. And don't get me wrong that stuff's important too, but, man, any shot that captures emotion well just gets me whether it follows film guidelines or not.
       
          Here are my favorite types of cinematography right now and a bit on why I like the angles/moments created. Some of my favorites are from movies so I will mark all of those like this: ****______ SPOILER**** and end it like *****END SPOILER _______**** then it is up to you, young jedi, not to read any further. Use the force; the force of the brain. But just in case some of you guys accidentally skim it I'll keep the spoilers to a minimum.


NOELLE'S DECLASSIFIED LIFE SURVIVAL GUIDE TO COOL CINEMATOGRAPHY LATELY
Or, you know, cool camera doo-dads.

1) Sherlock (2010-2012). My gosh where do I even start I mean
Look

At

These

THINGS

There are so many fantastic examples of the flawless camera work but I can't find them all at the moment. The Sherlock series is so great at capturing the essence of what Sherlock and John are about along with any emotion that's being portrayed in the scene. The contrast is awesome, the colors are awesome, the show is awesome. The style is very polished, and very motivated, if that makes sense, by the characters.


****SPOILER SHERLOCK****
Especially in the scene after the death, if you pay close attention to the camera work there are people that hustle in front of the camera just a tad but it focuses on John's expression, showing how sort of small he becomes in the world at that point and showing how when you hear terrible news the world seems to slow/go out of focus around you, which the camera portrays literally.
****END SPOILER SHERLOCK****


2) Like Crazy (2011). Listen I'm not that into Drama-filled romance movies, but man the interesting camera work in this film (and Anton Yelchin) really kept me watching. Jump cuts were all over the place but intentional, but they worked and actually influenced some of my own work I did recently. The style really captures the simple hardships of love and life and keeps the movie feeling hyper-realistic and it's great. Especially the date scenes,









Leave one feeling as if they're actually there, hearing the waves and sound and stuff and the cinematography puts a great spin on the montage we see a bit later in the movie. The work has a sort of raw, realistic sort of vibe that I haven't experienced in any other film.







3) Star Trek Into FABULOUSNESS (Darkness) ((2013)).  Saw this in the theater. Twice. This is saying something because I don't go to the theater often my friends. The camera work in this film is very polished and exciting, and allows for an awesome visual experience in the simplest of scenes.


4) Finally, pretty much my favorite movie of all time, Master and Commander (2003). This movie takes place on a British war boat, or ship, more rather, in the early 1800's and follows the account of a skilled captain searching to capture a french fleet for the king. The whole movie allows you to actually become part of the crew, and the movie bumped up my level of understanding of old timey sailing by 200%. Not only is the camera work swell (haha) but the plot is perfect, the cast is phenomenal, and script is entirely believable and not too sappy or anything and basically perfect.

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And furthermore! For any cinematography needed references or ventures, 
Here are just some other really fabulous videos for inspiration/viewing pleasure. The first is an in-depth cosplay of the Joker, second is a commercial my friend reblogged for some perfume commercial or something. I'll do a more in-depth analysis perhaps of specific genres later, or if you have any questions/are in need of suggestions for inspiration feel free to comment and I'll try to help.

                              Joker:

                     Perfume Commercial Blog Thing:

Goodnight you all, and I hope you have a lovely evening. :]