Gordon Willis was an American cinematographer who is often referred to as "The Prince of Darkness" due to his use of shadows and darkness in his work. He is best known for his work on films such as The Godfather trilogy, Annie Hall, and All the President's Men. His work has been highly acclaimed, earning him two Academy Award nominations for Best Cinematography.
What is the most famous quote by Gordon Willis ?
A cinematographer is a visual psychiatrist, moving an audience... making them think the way you want them to think, painting pictures in the dark.
— Gordon Willis
What can you learn from Gordon Willis (Life Lessons)
- Gordon Willis taught us that a cinematographer's work can be as important to the success of a film as the director's.
- His use of shadows and light to create mood and atmosphere was groundbreaking and has been widely influential in the industry.
- His work showed us that a cinematographer can be an artist, and that their vision and skill can be essential to the success of a film.
The most practical Gordon Willis quotes that will activate your desire to change
Following is a list of the best Gordon Willis quotes, including various Gordon Willis inspirational quotes, and other famous sayings by Gordon Willis.
There are a lot of cameramen but not so many photographers.
And a lot of cameramen attack from a technical approach without much imagination. They look, but they don't see.
If you take a sophisticated idea, reduce it to the simplest possible terms so that it’s accessible to everybody, and don’t get simple mixed up with simplistic, it’s how you mount and present something that makes it engaging.
I'm a minimalist. I see things in simple ways...It's human nature to define complexity as better. Well, it's not.
Good films are not made by accident, nor is good photography.
You can have good things happen, on occasion, by accident that can be applied at that moment in a film, but your craft isn't structured around such things, except in beer commercials.
I hate when somebody says, "This may not work.
" You'll never get anywhere with that. I've pushed a lot of people out of my way - I don't mean physically - over them being afraid something isn't going to work.
Zooms are lazy closeups. And too many people hang their hats on video assist; it's a way to avoid too much. Video assist helps people dissociate from the scene that they are directing. Pretty soon the director will be directing all the way from his apartment.
Grips and electricians have done more to help me shoot good movies than any other craft.
The lack of perfection, that's the hardest quality of all, because you're fighting your instincts. You're trained to want to do things perfectly.
Masterful quotes by Gordon Willis
I don't really like directing. I've had a good relationship with actors, but I can do what I do and back off. I don't want that much romancing. I don't want them to call me up at two in the morning saying, 'I don't know who I am.
The thing about film is that your eye is selective.
Film isn't. You have to make film do what you want. Simply photographing something doesn't do it. You have to know how to apply light and know what it does on film.
I'm a great believer in relativity when making movies.
Relativity, in my mind, meaning "Light to dark, big to small, good to bad." You visually embrace these things to enhance transitions and instantly paint environments and moods.
I wasn't trying to be different; I just did what I liked. Don't misunderstand when I say I really had no particular DP I was aspiring to be. I really fell in love with the movies as I was growing up, and I must say, I was emulating things that I saw others doing, that’s how you learn, but you soon have to push past that, and do things that you feel are right… or better.
Complexity is not good. People don't understand the elegance of simplicity.
A huge problem in movies or with people who work on movies is that two people can look at the same thing but they don't necessarily see the same thing.
Don't get simple mixed up with simplistic.
I don't believe in doing thousands of cuts, then giving it to the editor to make the movie. 'Dump-truck directing' is my reference to that style of moviemaking. You have to know how to cut before you can shoot well. The lack of definition in movies today is appalling. Very few people know how to mount a narrative anymore. If a scene works in one cut, you don't need 10. Or it might need 10. Let's not make it 20.