Cinematography

Is there such a thing as too much Toland?

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Is there such a thing as too much Toland?

I am often asked who my favorite insert artistic occupation here is. I am often forced to ask the question “Are we talking classic or contemporary?” I make that delineation because I believe it is important to respect the shoulders’ of the giants our modern genius’ stand upon. If you were to ask me who my favorite music composer is I would tell you that contemporarily it is John Williams. I know almost ever single one of this compositions and they are sealed into my memories. Being nine years old and watching as the gates to Jurassic Park open before me. In fact, while I was in middle school the Jurassic Park theme was one of the first things I learned how to play, and man is that fun on a sliding trombone!

Yet, if you were to ask me who my favorite classical composer is I would tell you that it is dangerous for me to be driving and the notes to “The Well-Tempered Clavier” begin to tap away through my speakers. Those keys reach out through time and pull me back to a 1722 where Johann Sebastian Bach works his magic. His music has always, and presumably shall always give me pause and send me into retrospective moments.

I’ll stop there, I know, this isn’t a music lesson, this is the cinematography lounge and you’re probably wondering what in the hell Johann Sebastian Bach has to do with an art form created one-hundred and forty-five years after his death. My point is, that I promise John Williams would not minimize the effect of Bach’s work in his field, which brings me to this collection of words.

My favorite director is John Ford – he even had a sailboat. I want a sailboat. I digress, my favorite John Ford movie is “The Grapes of Wrath.” This brings me to the greatest cinematographer to ever exist: Gregg Toland. In his short life he shot sixty-seven feature films. Among other films were Citizen Kane, The Outlaw, and yes, I’m going to say it – Song of the South.

Toland was known as a king of deep focus. We need to understand the limitations of optics in the 30s and 40s to really get a grasp on how profound his work was. The amount of light needed to keep everything in focus as you closed the aperture down, much like squeezing your eyelids when the light is bright, it “focuses” the light and makes it readable. But, you’re playing with a film stock where your highest ISO is going to be 400, well, if you wanted big Hollywood movies you needed big Hollywood lights.

We’re going to stay in the photographic realm for a second and we’re going to sidestep into still photography. There was another man in early 1900s that was taking off with his photographic processes and that man was named Ansel Adams. It was a couple of years before Toland’s death where Adams, working in Southern California developed the zone system. When you are buying a digital camera these days they will talk about their “15 stops of dynamic range!” Well, what they are really saying is that they have 15 zones of contrast the camera is capable of capturing. Black and White Film stock, most variations of it, were capable of 9 stops (zones) of contrast capture. From White, all the wavelengths of light combined, to black, the absence of wavelengths (we also call it blown out in the whites and underexposed in the blacks) there were 9 shades of grayscale that would compose your image. Now, in Adams expressions, he would say that a “perfect” image would capture all nine of those zones.

Let us now slingshot back to Toland and “The Grapes of Wrath.” It is my opinion that the Grapes of Wrath is the most perfect film ever shot under those conditions. When I was taught how to color a project, I was coached in how to take all the color away, adjust the contrast, and then dial the color back in. In order for this to work most effectively, the cinematographer must be thinking about this process in his creation of his work. I have attached an image from The Grapes of Wrath and then Pre and Post color of my own work. I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Just in time for spooky season - two great articles on the new film "Smile".

First is how the symbol of joy can be captured in the creepiest way ..

https://slate.com/culture/2022/09/smile-movie-marketing-creepy-baseball.html

and the second is how they used that "Smile" for a great marketing campaign .....

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Kevin Jackson

2
2 people like this
- Ashley Renee Smith
- Florin Şumălan
3 days ago

This is really nice footage for real. Any chance we could get him to do a webinar of Stage32?

Florin Şumălan

1
1 person likes this
- Ashley Renee Smith
3 days ago

I like too very much the footage he got. Have you seen "Moving Art" series from him? If not, perhaps you wish to take a look (or maybe more looks). I think it's great what he did on those episodes; ve...

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Ashley Renee Smith

5 hours ago

Kevin Jackson, great suggestion! I'll look into it and see what I can do. =)

Florin Şumălan, thank you so much for sharing this video! It's incredible. I'd never heard about Louie, but his work is so beautiful and unique!

Tasha Lewis

1 week ago

Can you respond to my direct messages? Thank you in advance!

João Nobre

Wonderful story!

A direction for filmmakers, filmmakers. I hope my investment comes through soon.

1
1 person likes this
- Amanda Toney
6 days ago

This is a great article! Thank you for sharing, Amanda!

View all All comments

2 weeks ago

I saw the movie. Perfect photography by James. This is the follow-up in photography. Looking where many don't look. Sensitivity in the eyes. That kind of photography runs in my veins with my blood. I like that simple, dynamic look!!!

João Nobre, are there other movies or series that you feel have similar simple but dynamic qualities that you would suggest to the community? I'd love to know what your favorites are and why....

Hi Asheley !

Sorry for the delay in responding !

Similar is THE REVENTED with LEONARDO DI CAPRIO, it is in that sense that it is a film of a well made story where Emmanuel Lubezki had this similar aspec...

Well, everyone sees it from one aspect. Because I work in journalism and throw up a lot of text, as the cameraman that I am, you work with the camera learning various frames. Because the written text...

Asheley, I didn't participate in or create a film, but I worked a lot with journalistic stories and worked in a CINEMA LABORATORY UNIVERSITY. Something that helped me in some techniques. Another was t...

Nathan Woodward

3 weeks ago

One of our many practice shoots for The Master's House

Same as above

Amanda Toney

Nathan, your Salton Sea photos are incredible. Would love to see more of them if you'd be willing to post!

Amanda Toney Hi there Amanda, I will post more of them first chance I get :-) Do you like the comparison of Black and White to their color counterparts?

Absolutely love the black and white and color counterparts. Each tells its own distinct story - same image, but with the color differences it's a different story.

2
2 people like this
- Ashley Renee Smith
- Maurice Vaughan
3 weeks ago

Hi there Freddie. I'm trying to understand your question. At it's heart, every shot in a movie uses the camera to send a message to the reader.

You don't put shots in a screenplay - that's bad form. Wh...

2
2 people like this
- Matthew Parvin
- Jordan Smith
3 weeks ago

It was so inspiring to see a female cinematographer stand out in the strongest category of the night! I was also so excited to see David Mullen win for his amazing DP work on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The visuals of that show are breathtaking.

Jordan Smith

1
1 person likes this
- Matthew Parvin
3 weeks ago

Breaking ground and well deserved!Although I thought Baz went a little to strong on that movie, Austin Butler's acting and Mandy's visuals were stunning.

Lindbergh E Hollingsworth

2
2 people like this
- Matthew Parvin
- Shellie Schmals
2 months ago

Arri is holding its own this year as most of the films are shot on it. Last year, same thing.

2
2 people like this
- Matthew Parvin
- Lindbergh E Hollingsworth
3 weeks ago

Arri for the landslide...wow, you're not kidding Lindbergh E Hollingsworth.

Although it's a close kept secret, if you ask around the lens community, most of the Panavision lenses are made from older still photo glass, the reason I mention that is because there are ways to ach...

Shellie Schmals

2
2 people like this
- Matthew Parvin
- Jordan Smith
1 month ago

Thanks for sharing the podcast! Waaaay too many films to name : Sid & Nancy, O'Brother Where Art Thou, A Beautiful Mind ....

For visuals he is second to none, I personally think his influence on animation as a consultant really pushed the technology boundaries while changing the dynamic of "grounding" the camera on reality,...

Geoff Hall

2
2 people like this
- Shellie Schmals
- Maurice Vaughan
5 months ago

Yes, Maurice Vaughan and I did a review of it, maybe on Stage32 or maybe Amazon. I also sent “RB” a few photos saying ‘this book is so good, you can read it anywhere’! He liked the one attached to thi...

Maurice Vaughan

2
2 people like this
- Geoff Hall
- Shellie Schmals
5 months ago

You sat in a washer and read the book, Geoff Hall?

1
1 person likes this
- Maurice Vaughan
5 months ago

Maurice Vaughan that’s the story I’m running with. There was another of it posed on a toilet cistern, but “RB” preferred this one!

2
2 people like this
- Shellie Schmals
- Geoff Hall
5 months ago

"There was another of it posed on a toilet cistern, but “RB” preferred this one!" Wise choice. :)

Ryan Christiansen

2
2 people like this
- Geoff Hall
- Maurice Vaughan
3 weeks ago

This movie is absolutely brilliant!! Loved it! ....and the smiling :) .....even though it was creepy :)

How Mushroom Time-Lapses Are Filmed - WIRED

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