The DP is the man, obviously,

When it comes to achieving "the look" of a movie, it all falls on the shoulders of one position, the Directory of Photography (DP). Of course, you have the director who says what he wants to see and how he wants to see it, but often times, that director is not directly responsible for actually doing it. That job is the task of the DP who in turn grants the director's wishes. After watching Visions of Light I learned in great depth what it actually means to be the DP. I even learned some of the names of the people responsible for my favorite films.

The first person I would like to throw out there is Haskell Wexler...

He is the man who achieved the look for two of my favorite baseball movies, The Babe and 61*. He paints a beautiful portrait of what it was like to be some of the first great American baseball heroes. Shot in black and white he captures the drama and love for the game that was so evident when Ruth, Mantle, and Maris were in their prime.

The next person on my agenda is a man responsible for one of the greatest movies (and subsequently trilogy) of all time, The Godfather.

And that man is a Mr. Gordon Willis.

The Godfather Trilogy are arguably his greatest works, especially when you think about how highly regarded Godfather I has been over time. The way he captured Coppola's vision for Marlon Brando as the godfather was superb. The mix of light and dark in the opening scene with Brando being begged for help his excellent. He was able to capture this look of love and nurture in the eyes of a cold blooded Mafioso.

The other DP I had my attention drawn to was a one Mr. Roger Deakins.

And with him, I would like to list all of his movies that I would consider very good and worth watching (working from the most recent to oldest): The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, No Country for Old Men, A Beautiful Mind, O Brother Where Art Thou?, The Hurricane, The Big Lebowski, Fargo, The Shawshank Redemption, Mountains of the Moon, and Nineteen Eighty-Four....

Can you see why I like this dude so much?

...and so once again we have reached the end of our time together so I will leave us with yet another movie quote I like. This one goes out to Roger since it is from The Big Lebowski:

Maude Lebowski: What do you do for recreation?

The Dude: Oh, the usual. I bowl. Drive around. The occasional acid flashback.

Thanks for stopping by guys. Take care.

-BB