The story in a film is, and shall always be, king. But without good visuals the story may seem incomplete. We must admit that sometimes a film is worth watching only because of the imagery. Despite the mixed opinions on how good each of the Star Wars films is, there's some great cinematography that's pleasing to the eye.
Whether it's CGI (computer generated imagery) or all shot in camera is important if it serves as an inspiration or pleases the eye. For us, people who are interested in visuals, it is important to understand the cinematography behind these masterpieces. The compositions, color, light, contrast, shapes, and human expressions are there to evoke emotions in the viewer.
Film School Rejects published 50 of their favorite shots from the Star Wars films. Here are some of them I really liked and a few others I think they've missed:
Scenery
Most of the scenery in these films is created by artists who draw pictures showing how they envision the environment based on the script. The film crew turns these drawings into a "reality".
Relative Comparison to Show Size Difference
That's a quite common technique in cinema where the cinematographer wants to show the vastness of a subject. In order to do that they show us another subject which size is familiar to us. This way we can imagine how, in real life, these subjects correlate in terms of dimensions.
Silhouettes And Complimentary Colors
Silhouettes, whether they are introduced as characters or not, are a great way to show mystery. Using complimentary colors is a simple technique but often used both in grading the scenes, for coloring different lights in the visual, or displaying objects of interest.
Beautiful Set Lighting
This is something that makes big movies look big: The sets. We often focus on lighting, lenses, and cameras, but without a nice set those tools mean nothing.
To see the complete list of beautiful shots, head over to Film School Rejects.
[via Film School Rejects]
A lot of beautiful cinematography but, unfortunately, many photographers think that Star Wars is too beneath them to ever admit it. Not surprised, as of right now, I'm the only photographer commenting. Come on, you guys, give credit where its due!
It's the first time I hear that photographers despise the cinematography of the series.
That classic Tattoine landscape with melancholy Luke at dusk first enchanted me in 1977 and still does today. It's graphically supreme in shape and form much like a painting by Ferenc Pinter.