Photography

edbermac

(15,940 posts) Tue May 20, 2014, 12:42 AM May 2014

Godfather cinematographer Gordon Willis has died.

Gordon Willis, the cinematographer whose expert use of light and shadow on such films as "The Godfather" and "Manhattan" earned him the nickname "The Prince of Darkness," has died. He was 82.
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Amazingly, Willis never won a competitive Oscar and was nominated just twice, for Allen's "Zelig" (1983) and Coppola's "The Godfather Part III" (1990). He was awarded an honorary Oscar in 2009 for "unsurpassed mastery of light, shadow, color and motion."

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/19/showbiz/movies/gordon-willis-godfather-cinematographer-dies-obituary/index.html?c=showbiz

Pennies From Heaven was another nicely shot film.

RIP to a true artist.

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Godfather cinematographer Gordon Willis has died. (Original Post) edbermac May 2014 OP

He was more than just the cinematographer on The Godfather... regnaD kciN May 2014 #1

regnaD kciN

(26,044 posts)

1. He was more than just the cinematographer on The Godfather...

Reply to edbermac (Original post)

Tue May 20, 2014, 03:09 AM

May 2014

Normally, it's the director's prerogative to decide on the camera angles used to shoot the film, while the D.P.'s task is then to make sure the scene is properly lit from that angle. But Coppola decided to devote all his time to working with the actors, and let Willis choose the camera angles himself. Strictly speaking, one could say that Willis was really the co-director of that classic.

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