1920-cino

Awards For Excellence in the Field of Cinematography:

It has been said that a director is only as good as his cinematographer. The art of Cinematography goes way beyond "point the camera and shoot" as the Director of Photography is responsible for creating the visual mood, atmosphere and style of a film through lighting, camera placement and shot angle. A good DP works as a creative partner with the director and is involved with the set-up of every shot well before the cameras start rolling, ensuring the vision of the director and writer comes across visually. The use of lighting alone can alter the audience's response any scene on the screen. Close-ups can be used to create a claustrophobic feel or draw attention to a specific character or important image. High-angle shots (shooting down on a subject from an elevated position) can be used to make someone or something seem small, lorded over or insignificant, while a low-angle shot (shooting up at the subject from below) can create the impression of being powerful or overbearing. A mobile camera allows a sequence to continue and many things to occur without breaking up the action through editing. These are just a few of the tools a great Cinematographer has mastered. They serve as the eyes of the audience when viewing a film. A master DP shows us things in new and exciting ways. As day six comes to a close we honor the best eyes in the business. And the nominees are....

� Augusto Battagliotti, Eugenio Bava, Natale Chiusano, Carlo Franzeri, Giovanni Tomatis & Segundo De Chomon: Cabiria (1914) (Italy): Once again, we look to the historical influence of this Italian stunner. A huge team converged to bring this visually stunning epic to the screen and they brought a visual splendor to the screen that was previously unheard of. An early use of dollying techniques gave the camera mobility and helped to bring the massive sets to life. The location shooting was also great, with the march of Hannibal through the Alps a major highlight that brings the audience at the Olympic Hall to its feet.
� G. W. Bitzer: The Birth of a Nation (1915) (USA): Many of the technical innovations found in D.W. Griffith's films can be attributed to his collaboration with G.W. "Billy" Bitzer. A former director, Bitzer was a genius at making Griffith's ideas technologically viable. While it is certainly an exaggeration to say these two men were the sole inventors of techniques ranging from the close-up, the fade, the iris shot, back lighting to the dolly shot, they were pioneers and relentless experimenters in all of them and with The Birth of a Nation, they brought all these techniques together in a way that hadn't been done before and increased the importance of the camera in the way stories could be told visually. The crowd certainly hasn't given up its protest of this film, but Bitzer's wondrous work in the Civil War battle sequences is given its due acknowledgment.
� G. W. Bitzer: Broken Blossoms (1919) (USA): While not as relentlessly innovative or experimental as the large scale epics he collaborated with Griffith on, in this film Mr. Bitzer showed his true mastery of the close-up. Lillian Gish is an actress whose performances just scream out for this technique and Bitzer knew exactly how to photograph her. This a film where the awesome trio of Griffith, Gish and Bitzer meshed perfectly, and the heartbreaking close-ups of Gish's facial expressions as she suffers the abuse of her evil father are both beautiful and tragic.
� G. W. Bitzer & Karl Brown: Intolerance (1916) (USA): No big shocker here. Once again, the techniques developed by Bitzer and Griffith in The Birth of a Nation were kicked into overdrive in this attempt at the ultimate epic. It is readily apparent that the two men were attempting shatter all the boundaries of possibility and they often succeeded. Due to the awesome cost involved, we may never see anything so ambitious again. The wondrous camera movement cause many jaws to drop, and the audience in the Olympic Hall is stunned by the innovative use of an elevator to create a sweeping dolly shot of the massive Babylonian sets.
� G. W. Bitzer: The Unchanging Sea (1910) (USA): Of the early short films Griffith and Bitzer made for Biograph Company, this ranks among the best. In fact, it ranks with Broken Blossoms among your Scholarly Chairman's all-time favorite Griffith films. Bitzer started as Biograph's leading director, rivaling Edwin S Porter at Edison as the most prolific filmmaker in the United States. When D.W. Griffith took over the directorial duties at Biograph, Bitzer became his Cinematographer, one of the most fruitful artistic collaborations ever. This is an early example of their work together. The Unchanging Sea came before many of the major technical advances, but is a marvelous little example of artistic composition. Bitzer showed a masterful sense of framing and camera placement. The image of the women standing gazing out to the sea and wondering if their husbands would return is beautifully composed and like gazing at a great painting. This quiet film is one of the principal examples of early cinema discovering its potential as art.
� Marc Bujard, Leonce-Henri Burel, Maurice Forster: J�Accuse (1919) (France): After the recent Billy Bitzer love-fest, the French are more than mildly enthused to see themselves back in the nominations. Working with Abel Gance, this team of cameramen put together a haunting vision of war. Weaving fantasy with harrowing reality, the team and their director took advantage of all the techniques pioneered by Bitzer and Griffith to present unforgettable imagery. This major artistic statement is a huge leap forward for cinema as a legitimate visual forum for powerful ideas.
� Julius Jaenzon: The Outlaw and His Wife (1918) (Sweden): Sweden leaps into the medal fray with this truly beautiful and poetic film. Through fabulous location shooting, the natural world becomes a leading character in the movie. The use of various camera angles help create a feeling of the awesome power of nature, as the performers succumb to the forces around them. The Alpine scenery is visually stunning, and is captured masterfully by Julius Jaenzon, to enhance the vision of his director, Victor Sjostrom.
� Boris Savelyev: Death of a Swan (1916) (Russia): This was one of the most difficult films for your Diligent Chairman to track down (It was only available in a German language print) but well worth the effort. Yevgeni Bauer was a leading Pre-Revolution Russian director prior to his sudden death after only 5 years of output. Boris Savelyev was his primary cinematographer. In this lovely film, Savelyev shows a wonderful knack for artistic composition. His frames are often beautiful. He often utilizes long takes at various angles, where the perspective changes as the performers move to different places in the frame. Savelyev mixes indoor and outdoor shots well, and has a real gift for the use of natural lighting. One only wishes that the work of Yevgeni Bauer and Boris Savelyev were more readily available, as many more nominations might have been forthcoming if the films could be seen, but your Horizon Expanding Chairman heartily encourages everyone to check out this one.
� Theodor Sparkuhl: The Oyster Princess (1919) (Germany): Continuing in the more International spirit of the Cinematography nominations, Theodor Sparkuhl steps up to the plate for Germany. He captured the majesty of the Oyster magnet's abode, as well as the squalor of the apartments of the fallen prince. Most importantly, he was able to keep up with the comic inventiveness of director Ernst Lubitsch, and transfer his vision to the screen.
� Alvin Wyckoff: Male & Female (1919) (USA): Male & Female is becoming a surprise contender in these games. Wyckoff's camera work is yet another indicator of the wonderful craftsmanship of the film as a whole. He captures all of the performers to their best advantage, especially star Gloria Swanson. (Are you beginning to get the idea that your Smitten Chairman has a bit of a thing for glorious Gloria?) In a film where much of the communication is done through glances and expressions, none of this is lost to Wyckoff's camera. He also does a nice job capturing the sets in all their glory, and the natural surroundings of the deserted island. This is lavish Hollywood craftsmanship at its finest, and the crowd seems to be warming up to its many charms.

So, after the nominations, the two big stories are the domination of Billy Bitzer (with 4 out of 10 nominations) and the fact that 5 different nations are represented. Please return for the finals, it will be interesting to see which of these trends wins the day.