Cinematography Style: Roger Deakins

[Music] if we have to crown a popular king of cinematography there would be no doubt that the title would go to Roger Deakins his is a name known by every modern film student ever throughout his career he's resisted relying on anyone's stylized flourish or technique shooting a range of films in different genres and budget levels his images are rich with perfect levels of contrast and meticulously moving camera if there's one thing though that binds together a style its precision his visuals are carefully considered planned and executed everything he does is deliberate little is accidental today I'll be analyzing the cinematography of Roger Deakins by breaking down his philosophy on visual storytelling and looking at the gear that he uses to achieve this Deakins is an English cinematographer born in 1949 he studied painting from a young age and would later develop a love for photography after graduating art school Deakin began working in the film industry as a cameraman on various documentaries as well as music videos for popular artists he began working on feature films in the early 1980s and has continued with his trajectory ever since he's worked with many famous directors of his career such as michael radford Martin Scorsese Ron Howard Denny Villa knew Sam Mendes and of course his frequent collaborations with the Coen brothers for whom his cinematography largely helped to find the look of their phones while some might argue that Deakins has no specific style I'd strongly disagree is images always of a commonality of exactness to them part of this comes from his approach to preparation that he puts into the films that he works on he takes pre-production seriously and prefers to storyboard or at least create a full shortlist and lighting plan before arriving on set notably he's used this approach and has worked with the Coen brothers insist on toys storyboarding a film after prep we don't rarely have to talk that much about day-to-day stuff if we discuss anything it's the order of the shots rather than the shots themselves in his films the camera is often moving he likes slow dolly movement shot and sharp medium to wide lenses his photography especially in whites often utilizes the notion of a frame within a frame or shooting through foreground elements to give increased depth to the images he describes this idea and his work on No Country for Old Men I was always looking for those opportunities tracking through doorways and using windows and other scenic elements to break up the wide frame he prefers to shoot with a single camera set up whenever possible rarely using multiple cameras unless he has to thus allows a more control over each frame shooting with the single camera means he doesn't ever have to compromise on camera position or lens choice likewise his lighting always employs the idea of creating dimension or depth he enjoys lighting with varying levels of contrast and different planes of the image this gives the illusion of reality to more two-dimensional images making them appear more three-dimensional although he always tries to get his lighting and the image perfect on set Deakins is very knowledgeable about the post-production process and uses it to his advantage he utilizes power windows and post which are masks created for a certain area of the image to adjust exposure when shooting digitally he creates a lot or lookup table before shooting begins the that affects the color of the images captured giving them a look and stands in place of a color grade until post-production doing this allows him to capture images and set that I was close to the final product colorize as possible he's shot in both film and digitally choosing his medium depending on the project ultimately though his focus is always on the story and how the elements placed in frame and how they covered by the cinematography affect the audience there's too much obsession these days about digital versus film it's becoming so technically orientated and that's just distracting from what's actually being put in front of the lens [Music] in an interview with director Denny Villa new he joked that Rodger could shoot a movie with a shoe and it would look great although it's a funny sentiment if the gear Deakins chooses to use in fact as a large impact on the look of his phones he likes to use primes / zoom lenses claiming that in general I don't like to use zoom lenses unless there's a very specific reason for it he favors shooting on mid to wide lenses such as a 30 to 35 or 40 mil lens in general he likes a clean image sharp lenses that don't distort or flare too much for that reason he regularly shoots an Aries ice master primes he also likes the cook s force recently on 1917 he's shot with the new Aries signature primes namely the 35 mil and 40 mil which he now favors for shooting large-format occasionally you'll use strange lenses to get a specific look such as the Frankenstein lens used to shoot parts of Jesse James to achieve a dreamlike vignette the rental house custom Bolton the lens they called the Deacon Iser the glass from old wide-angle lenses were mounted to the front of an airy macro he likes shooting spherical of shooting anamorphic claiming I prefer super 35 because it allows you to use short focal length lenses I also like the scale of the format the intimacy even for films that require an anamorphic 2.40 to one aspect ratio such as No Country for Old Men he prefers to shoot with spherical lenses and their crop the image and post to get to the desired format Deakins has been a lifelong Harry fan and user of the re system he's shot on film cameras such as that hurry 535 B and that Harry can LT digitally he's used the Alexa XT and recently the Alexa mini L F is experimented with many different lighting packages over the years from tungsten to recent LED technology and uses whatever light source is necessary to get the desired effect he's used HMI such as 18 k's or 12 k's tungsten lighting like old maxi brutes for recent fixtures like Kino flows or LEDs such as the re sky panel he often favors bouncing light using muslin or white or sulfur poly board of alighting directly one lighting technique is employed throughout his career when lighting large spaces for night interiors is to use light rings this is where light fixtures are arranged in a circle and rigged to the ceiling pointing down to provide an even spread of ambient light over large spaces on Blade Runner as Gotha erected an enormous light ring comprising of 256 300 watt airy tungsten for nails to provide ambience to the set he then hit a pool of water on the set directly with a 10 K for null sauce this made the light bounce of the water surface and created the rippling effect that we see in the scene the warm color temperature of tungsten lights gave the scene its yellow glow Deakins likes creating contrast layers by lighting with different strengths of light in different areas such as a bright foreground a dark middle ground and a light background the light is layered which gives the scene a greater sense of depth he prefers to operate the camera himself I come from a documentary background so I'm used to working instinctively if an actor is doing something that was unexpected then it's the operator who has to make that shot work his traditional style of camera movement is with a narrow crane on a dolly this is a 14-foot jabong with a power pod remote head which he operates on wheels he favors the versatility it provides in finding the exact right angle for a shot as it allows them to easily move the camera on any access he desires quickly and easily he's employed a variety of grip rigs over the years to move his camera from techno cranes to the new Harry Trinity which gives him more stabilized dolly like feel to camera movement similar to that of a Steadicam for someone who praises the virtue of story at the expense of being overly technical Deacon Stoll remains an extremely technically knowledgeable DOP someone who is aware of both old and new technology and how he can use that technology to his advantage this practical knowledge combined with his philosophy on creating precise images motivated by storytelling equate to his mastery of sin aaaghh Rafi since he was a boy he's been creating images whether with paint through photography or with digital cinema cameras it's this lifetime practice of his craft that has shaped him into one of the greatest cinematographers of all time thanks for watching this video and Roger Deakins as always liking and subscribing would definitely help with the growth of the channel I'd be interested to hear if you have any other thoughts on the style web suggestions for future cinematographers you'd like me to cover until then thanks for watching and good bye [Music]

Channel: In Depth Cine

Views: 139,470

Rating: 4.9855938 out of 5

Keywords: roger deakins, cinematographer, DOP, director of photography, cinematography, style, in depth cine, 1917, sam mendes, the coen brothers, blade runner 2049, arri, mini lf, film, movies, cinema, gear, video essay, film essay, analysis, how to shoot like roger deakins, lighting, grips, arri trinity, zeiss, master primes, cooke s4, the big lebowski, prisoners, denis villeneuve, ethan joel coen, ron howard, arriflex, what gear does deakins use, deakins, asc, bsc, 1917 trailer reaction, trailer, review

Id: Pb4J-KoV7HU

Length: 10min 5sec (605 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 06 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/GrayKotze]

I analysed his lighting style, such as his frequent use of creating different planes of contrast in an image and his use of ring lights to provide ambient light for large interiors. I also looked at his lens choices over the years and his tendency to use the same glass. Personally I'm not the biggest fan of Master Primes but they're definitely a part of his style.

Do you think it's necessary for DOPs to keep switching up the lenses or gear they use on different projects or do you like the idea of creating a specific look using the same gear over time?