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Lighting performs essential functions in Hollywood films, enhancing the glamour, clarifying the action, and intensifying the mood. Examining every facet of this understated art form, from the glowing backlights of the silent period to the shaded alleys of film noir, Patrick Keating affirms the role of Hollywood lighting as a distinct, compositional force.
Closely analyzing Girl Shy (1924), Anna Karenina (1935), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), and T-Men (1947), along with other brilliant classics, Keating describes the unique problems posed by these films and the innovative ways cinematographers handled the challenge. Once dismissed as crank-turning laborers, these early cinematographers became skillful professional artists by carefully balancing the competing demands of story, studio, and star. Enhanced by more than one hundred illustrations, this volume counters the notion that style took a backseat to storytelling in Hollywood film, proving that the lighting practices of the studio era were anything but neutral, uniform, and invisible. Cinematographers were masters of multifunctionality and negotiation, honing their craft to achieve not only realistic fantasy but also pictorial artistry.
Publisher : Columbia University Press; Illustrated edition (December 15, 2009)
Language : English
Paperback : 296 pages
ISBN-10 : 0231149034
ISBN-13 : 978-0231149037
Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
Dimensions : 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
Reviewer: A Reader
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Fluent book on Hollywood lighting
Review: Not only can scholars and amateur film buffs learn from this book, but Keating's work is a virtual manual on how to shoot films, and any d.p. would be wise to purchase it for that alone. (In this respect, one wishes Keating had provided a glossary for his useful terms that describes the variety of lighting strategies employed by Hollywood cinematographers.) Keating's research is impressive, and he provides ample background to clarify the debates and tensions at issue for these cinematographers. Keating also makes respectful emendations to ideas offered by previous scholars on the subject, showing us that he is every bit as moderate in his analysis as many of the great cinematographers of the era he describes were in their balancing of the variety of expectations placed on their work. Over the course of the book, he shows us how these men did indeed overturn the conception that they were mere "crank-turners" and were, in fact, genuine artists, every bit as worthy the name as a Rembrandt or Bronzino. This is a must read.
Reviewer: Patrick Faith
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Lot of gold in this, if your willing to emerge yourself
Review: There is a lot of "lighting" golden concepts here, but the book has a lot of ASC history information that is mixed in that takes a bit of effort (like a lot of who is who in a historical ASC context). So it's a bit of a history book on personalities and a detailed book on lighting within that historical context, so you have to emerge yourself into that historical context to understand the lighting approaches.So it's for sure not a simple "this is how you light a movie if your trying to do a 1920 piece", it gives a full thematic development of the lighting approach, with examples mixed in. As the stories develop the lighting concepts merge the motivations of the personalities with their lighting techniques. This book is a mandatory read for anyone doing black and white cinematography, but I would say it would also help "color" based lighting too, since both are based on contrast. It's also just a great historical read for people that aren't cinematographers, but more fan's of this period.
Reviewer: Maker of Images
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Want to understand dramatic lighting?
Review: If you want to understand dramatic lighting this is the text. You can read all the books that cover three point lighting and so on, but to understand dramatic lighting, you need scenes and narrative motivations.Keating covers the evolution of lighting as a dramatic tool from its humble beginnings as three point portraiture lighting to the high water of Hollywood's most dramatic films.I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Reviewer: Tizio Roger
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Superbe livre
Reviewer: Turbodog
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Il testo ripercorre la "storia" del lighting hollywoodiano dal cinema muto all'epoca noir, toccando vari argomenti chiave, sia su aspetti tecnici, che artistici, che di storytelling.Stra consigliato (se si mastica l'inglese) sia a lettori appassionati, che ad addetti ai lavori che devono approfondire l'argomento
Reviewer: Trev-R
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Superb book, very interesting but it is a technical read rather than a 'how to' with pictures and diagrams. Anyone interested in the lighting, either movie or still's photographers will find this book of interest.
Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Long winded not much in it if you want to study the lighting setups, there is a lot of political history in it but don't expect to learn any gems of lighting secrets, gives you an insight into some of the reasoning behind the early lighting concepts but it becomes repetitive in large doses where I found in a few chapters it had just covered that in previous chapters, some books you would read again to cover the gems you read earlier, sorry to say this one I would remove from my carousel and allow it to gather electronic dust.