Leo Biagi
Mr. Mitchel
Film Making
02/24/20
This article talks about the 2019 movie “The Light House” starring Robert Patterson and Willam Defoe. The movie is a take on 1940s horror films and is shot in black and white with the same aspect ratio that movies had in the forty’s. The quality in the camera is supposed to resemble a 1940s horror film like Frankenstein and the Invisible man. The article talks about the how the director made it look like one of these films as well as why he decide to make it like this and how it affected the film and story. The article says that the movie was films on 35mm film with a vintage camera lens and a nearly square aspect ratio. The director says “I filmed it in black and white because I wanted to seem like something that had been dug up form the past.” The film is about two lighthouse workers who slowly descent into insanity as the island starts to play tricks on their mind. The main reason I chose this article was because I have seen the movie and really liked it. The way this movie is filmed is very traditional and might not get high praise but that’s what works about this film is that it doesn’t try and pander to all audiences but has a certain audience and focuses on that group. The aspect ratio is used to make you feel claustrophobic and bleeds into the background at the begin of the film. Most of the shots in this movie makes it very immersive and keeps you focused on what is happening in the film. While this movie has some of the best acting I have seen with long takes of important dialogue and a great script the movie still wouldn’t be as good if it wasn’t filmed in black and white and used an older camera with a small aspect ratio. The cinematography is the icing on the cake and really utilizes this abstract aspect ratio. Most of the shots in this film have harsh lighting and shadows that closeup this screen so that we are focusing at small spots in the frame. While this technique cant be used for everything, the article reminds us that you don’t need a massive budget or a great camera to make a great movie but a creative idea and a good technique to capture it. You can tell that the director has a vision and idea that he is trying to tell in this film and it really shows. Everyone working on this film is putting a lot of passion into the project and it really shows. The actors are incredible, the editors are amazing, the cinematography is film in a very unique and creative way. It is easy to tell that the director is a big fan of classic horror films and does his best to make one for the modern audiences and it works so well.
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