Kodak Cinematography Seminar With Russell Boyd

I really appreciated listening to Russell Boyd, similarly to how I appreciated listening to Roger Ebert. Of course, both are at the top of their field, but they were still open to fully answering any question, even questions that might have been considered obvious questions from their point of view. The fact that they were willing to give up their time for both local cinematographers and aspiring cinematographers was impressive in itself.
This seminar gave me a better idea of how a cinematographer deals with light. Russell Boyd always explained how he used or manipulated light in the scenes he showed. In The Last Wave, Boyd pointed out that he used a lot of blue lighting during the cave scenes in the movie. During his explanation of The Last Wave, he mentioned how he likes to use blue light in many of his scenes in general. In Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, his use of blue lighting is obvious, especially during the storm scenes in the ocean. So, I learned that blue lighting is a good way to create an interesting look in dark or ominous settings.
On the other hand, in Picnic at Hanging Rock, he showed how he used light in bright settings. Boyd noted how he wanted each shot to look like an impressionist painting. Of course, he succeeded in doing so, and he mentioned that he got the soft, dreamlike lighting by using fine netting over the camera or on set. I thought that was an interesting technique that I’ve never heard of before. This seminar, like Roger Ebert’s seminar, further emphasized how each shot can look like a painting depending on how you frame or light the shot.
It was neat how the audience consisted of both professionals and non-professionals, like myself. Because of this, there were both professional questions and non-professional questions. I think because Russell Boyd was very nice and approachable, the non-professional people were willing to ask questions that were probably considered obvious and simple questions by the professionals in the audience. It was refreshing how some young students asked questions: there weren’t only adults in the audience. In contrast, there were more complicated questions, which dealt with things I’ve never heard of before. So, it was nice to listen to Boyd answering such a variety of questions.
I liked Boyd’s brief remarks about being resourceful as a cinematographer. He linked the discussion to Australia, where he is from. He mentioned that he thinks a lot of Australian cinematographers are successful in the field because, in Australia, budget was always tight, so they were forced to be resourceful when shooting movies.
I learned, basically, more about a cinematographer’s role on a movie. Boyd talked about how he’s involved heavily in pre-production and filming, but when post-productions starts his job ends. He mentioned that he works very closely with the actors. It was funny how he said he handles the actresses more carefully than the actors, especially between shooting. He mentioned that he is more particular with light on the actresses rather than on light on the actors.
Overall, I have a much better understanding of what a cinematographer’s job is, what it requires, and what it involves.

From T. Chang