Rain Man isn’t the film you reference for flashy, groundbreaking VFX or wild camera moves. It doesn’t try to dazzle you like the blockbusters of the late 80s. Instead, John Seale’s work on Barry Levinson’s 1988 film is a lesson in… Read More »Rain Man (1988) – Cinematography Analysis
It’s not just a historical epic; Ran Japanese for “chaos” is a masterclass in visual tension. While critics often cite Seven Samurai as Kurosawa’s peak, I find myself constantly returning to Ran. The sheer visual ambition is staggering, especially when you consider Kurosawa was… Read More »Ran (1985) – Cinematography Analysis
As a filmmaker and colorist, I spend a lot of time analyzing how images are built. It’s a craft that marries intuition with technical precision, often under immense pressure. When I think about films that truly embody this, Rocky (1976)invariably comes… Read More »Rocky (1976) – Cinematography Analysis
If there’s one film that gets under my skin not just as a filmmaker but specifically when looking at the image pipeline it’s John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982). This isn’t just a horror movie; it is a textbook example of visual efficiency,… Read More »The Thing (1982) – Cinematography Analysis
Casino is an epic in the truest sense. It’s a sprawling saga set against the backdrop of 1970s and 80s Las Vegas—dazzling at first, then rapidly decaying. While often compared to Goodfellas, Casino pushes the visual language much further. Scorsese famously noted that this… Read More »Casino (1995) – Cinematography Analysis
When I watch Die Hard now, I’m not just seeing Bruce Willis shoot bad guys; I’m seeing a film that is meticulously, almost obsessively, crafted. It’s a testament to practical filmmaking that holds up in a way modern CGI fests simply don’t.… Read More »Die Hard (1988) – Cinematography Analysis
There are a handful of films that live rent-free in my head. Braveheart (1995) is one of them. I spend most of my waking hours staring at screens, tweaking curves, and obsessing over color spaces at my grading service, Color Culture. It… Read More »Braveheart (1995) – Cinematography Analysis