Greatest & Best Cinematographers Of All Time : By Rajiv Jain ICS WICA, Indian Cinematographer, DOP

Cinematography and its significance is an aspect of film that is usually overlooked by your average movie goer. Often times when a director is know for consistently maintaining a certain style it is due in part to the cinematographers contribution. Like film editors, cinematographers take a back seat to directors when it comes to the public’s perception of each of their significances. Although it is ultimately the directors medium, the cinematographer guides the tone and feel of the film by controlling the aesthetics. This is of course excluding art direction, wardrobe and set design. A beautifully constructed sequence arrests your attention with such command and power, while still displaying a subtle eloquence. This display of the mastery of film is often referred to as something “cinematic”. In that moment it is film declaring “I am what I am.”  The cinematographer plays an instrumental role is deciding what that declaration is going to convey.

A films cinematography can often be so significant that it becomes a character in itself.  Films such as The Sheltering Sky, Road to Perdition, and Paranoid Park have such powerful and daring athletics that they help the viewer to characterize each film and ultimately differentiate them from the pack.  If you’ll notice every film on this list has at least a certain sequence that is ingrained into your psyche because of its overwhelming visual power and emotional significance.

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