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Learn about intercultural and individual styles of cinematography across the globe. Examining these can help with understanding the culture and social background of these techniques.
Cinematography is the art of telling a story with the aid of the camera and other systems like lights, frame and composition. Each film industry, owing to its particular past, society, and culture, has managed to acquire such characteristics, and approaches development. Culture may be understood from the perspective of language through storytelling about different societies in moving images by taking scenes from the cinemas of Hollywood, Bollywood, and other movie industries.
Hollywood
Special effects, computer animations, sound track effects, and detailed sets all come together in making a new thriller. There are so many technical devices a new age film maker needs to apply effectively in order to make a film. We have indeed come a long way from the silent pictures of the last century and cinematography techniques in Hollywood have made a mark for themselves on the global filmmaking community.
- Camera Movement and Framing: In a bid to enhance the narrative of Hollywood films, shot designs include programmed camera movements with characters played out in corresponding action backgrounds. Hasselblad techniques, tracking and drones are included to augment the satisfaction of the audience and not necessarily to show the camera view. The viewers are supposed to lose the sense of being in a ‘movie theatre’ so that there is perfectly bare elision between the language of the story and the language of pictures.
- Lighting and Color: It is true that Hollywood cinematography is very well done. Computer Controlled Lighting, and color correction and grading for that matter keeps the audience in two phases of the film, that is action and emotion. In contrast, a much lighter and drier makeup is applied to dramas that contain content that is bitterly elaborated.
- Innovations: CG, IMAX, 3D or Virtual Reality – these and other Hollywood technical innovations facilitate the integration of visuals and narrative and development of a visual story beyond its original content. And one can witness this emphasis-on-visuals trend in movies like sci-fi, and superhero which gobbles so much well-presented effects of visual spectacles out of the subjects.
- Cultural Reflection: There is a culture of cinema perfectionism, professionalism and commercial appeal in Hollywood christened cinematography. Visual effects are bold, fully detailed, and smooth camera movements are meant to remind one of the American ideals of dynamic growth, technology, and self-heroism.
Bollywood
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The Indian film industry that produces films in Hindi and is based in Mumbai is referred to as Indian cinema or Bollywood. It produces a large number of films annually in a variety of languages and genres, making it one of the largest film industries in the world. Indian cinema has a worldwide following and recognition due to its musical numbers, vibrant production design, and larger-than-life characters and plotlines. Indian cinema has become an important part of popular culture over the years.
- Fantastic Uses of Color: One of the most prominent aspects of the cinematography of Bollywood films is the use of bold saturated colors. This is in line with India’s culture which revels in brightness and extravagance as seen in the festivals, especially, Holi and Diwali. The use of colors in the movies makes it apparent that it’s a celebration in either romance, musical, or even drama.
- Music and Dance Integration: Bollywood is a type of India cinema when the camera is necessarily divorced from the scenes to sit out seated motion inside a written page, prolonging frame sequence to convey un trails of thought proportional equivalent duration. In these sequences, there is generally more activity and variety in camera work, employing tilts and cuts of cranes and wide lenses to create action and spectacle. Dance numbers are shot with the music and are choreographed in a way whereby action on the screen corresponds with the sound.
- Close-ups and Expressive Camera Work: Expressing feelings is very important in any Bollywood narration. One classical method applied is to bring the camera close to the actor’s face towards the end of the story when more sensitive emotions are coming out and expectations have grown. A camera is then a means to enlarge the character’s internal state and the viewer has to penetrate its very core.
- Cultural Reflection: Camera work comprises the drama and emotions and highlights the spectacle of India.
European Film Industry
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Hollywood is believed to be the center of the movie industry and many people tend to forget or have not been informed that there was an emerging film industry in Europe during the Era of the silent films. the adoption of clay animation, and many artistic elements that are now considered ordinary, were invented in Europe, such as the use of color, special effects, soundtracks, and even the chase of the protagonists.
The French New Wave – of the 1950s and 60s changed the face of cinematography forever, as it made extensive use of handheld cameras, shooting with the available light, and editing not in a straight line. Director Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut departed genres of Hollywood films and showed life as it is. Thus, the rough and frequently undisciplined style of French cinematography is a cultural phenomenon that celebrates the individualistic and self-imbued aesthetic, rise against the establishment, and artistic self-governance.
East Asian Cinematography
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In terms of cinematography, most notable contributions have been made by Japanese filmmakers, such as Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu. Stating that, he is fond of a moving picture in wet weather with a focus change and long angle mobility to portray the actors. Ozu was about still-life though, exteriors shot from the ground with eyes below it through doors and windows. It was minimalism and serenity as the Japanese Zen art of Ozu was. The cinematography of Japanese cinema is marked by the association with nature, the flow of time and the ordinary hidden beauty of everyday life.
In the current decade South Korean film industry has grabbed global eye specially with the films Parasite and Old Boy. Cinematographers use dynamic as well as static shots to grab attention and evoke a sense of tension and suspense.
African Cinema
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Aspects of African cinema are important in that they encapsulate a great deal of narrative that is rooted in and bearing majestically the sociocultural aspect, histories and geographies of the Continent. Aesthetically, African films are characterized by the use of sun light and extreme warm and earthy colors that are representative of the environment and its natural beauty.
The focus is on narrative, and many film-makers make use of a simple form of screenplays that deal with community, identity and post-colonialism. It is possible, for example, to feel the presence of the characters more deeply thanks to the use of long shots and countermovement than to montage and quick changes; however, this presence is the result of really existing practice. Moreover, elements of African cinema are known to be oral in nature, most likely meant to be acted out with words, song and images – which often are not just aimed at realism, but also at the mystical aspects of life. Such a unique approach has been employed by directors such as Ousmane Sembène and Djibril Diop Mambéty.
Resources
Hollywood
- Johnson Mr, J. (n.d.). Exploring Hollywood Cinema: A Look at Cinematic Techniques and the Classical Hollywood Ideology. https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1372&context=honors
- Filmmaking Techniques | Seamedu. (2024). Seamedu.com. https://www.seamedu.com/blog/new-age-film-making-techniques
Bollywood
- Vatsala Devki Vats. (2020, August). 11 Iconic Shots From Visually Stunning Bollywood Films Of The Past Decade! Indiatimes; Indiatimes. https://www.indiatimes.com/entertainment/celebs/11-iconic-shots-from-visually-stunning-bollywood-films-of-the-past-decade-519355.html
- Bollywood And Beyond: Exploring The Magic Of Indian Cinema. (2023, February 6). Culturalindia.org.in. https://culturalindia.org.in/bollywood-and-beyond-exploring-the-magic-of-indian-cinema/
European Film Industry
- Italian Film – A Brief History of Italian Films. (2024). Archive.org. https://web.archive.org/web/20190414235856/http://www.italianlegacy.com/italian-film.html
- Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood, Part 1 – Where it All Began – Trailer – Cast – Showtimes – The New York Times. (2023). Archive.org. https://web.archive.org/web/20080905170804/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/188908/Cinema-Europe-The-Other-Hollywood-Part-1-Where-it-All-Began/overview
East Asian Cinematography
- The 30 Most Visually Stunning Asian Movies of All Time. (2016, September 9). Taste of Cinema – Movie Reviews and Classic Movie Lists. https://www.tasteofcinema.com/2016/the-30-most-visually-stunning-asian-movies/
- The 30 Most Visually Stunning Asian Movies of All Time. (2016, September 9). Taste of Cinema – Movie Reviews and Classic Movie Lists. https://www.tasteofcinema.com/2016/the-30-most-visually-stunning-asian-movies/
African Cinema
- Bright, J. (2015, June 24). Meet “Nollywood”: The second largest movie industry in the world. Fortune; Fortune. https://fortune.com/2015/06/24/nollywood-movie-industry/
- Gaffney, J. (1987). The Egyptian Cinema: Industry and Art in a Changing Society. Arab Studies Quarterly, 9(1), 53–75. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41857918
- (2024). Unesco.org. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379165/PDF/379165eng.pdf.multi
