image appear the way it does. These properties
include the film stock, lighting, and lenses. By
employing variations of each property, the cine-
matographer modifies not only the camera’s basic
neutrality, but also the look of the finished image
that the audience sees.
Film Stock
The cinematographer is responsible for choosing a
recording medium for the movie that has the best
chance of producing images corresponding to the
director’s vision. Among the alternatives available
are film stocks of various sizes and speeds, video-
tape, and direct-to-digital media. A skilled cine-
matographer must know the technical properties
and cinematic possibilities of each option and must
be able to choose the medium that is best suited to
the project as a whole.
Even though more movies are being shot on dig-
ital media with each passing year, the majority of
feature films are still shot on traditional film stock.
The two basic types of film stock—one to record
images in black and white, the other to record them
in color—are completely different and have their
own technical properties and cinematic possibili-
ties. Film stock is available in several standard
gauges(widths measured in millimeters): 8mm,
Super 8mm, 16mm, 35mm, 65mm, 70mm, as well as
special-use formats such as IMAX, which is ten
times bigger than a 35mm frame. (65mm film is
used in the camera and then printed on 70mm film,
which is used for projection; the additional space
holds the sound track.) Before the advent of cam-
corders, 8mm and Super 8mm were popular
gauges for amateurs (for home movies). Many tele-
vision or student movies, as well as low-budget pro-
ductions, are shot on 16mm. Most professional filmIn Cold Blood: serendipity creates an unforgettable
shot Although the director of photography must maintain
strict control over the cinematographic properties of a
movie’s shots, every great cinematographer must also be
alert to moments when an unplanned situation happens on
the set that could make a shot even better than planned. In a
climactic scene of In Cold Blood(1967; director: Richard
Brooks), based on Truman Capote’s masterpiece, cinema -
tographer Conrad Hall took advantage of a chance
observation——the juxtaposition of rain running down a
window with a condemned murderer’s last-minute
remembrance of his father——to create a memorable moment
of cinema. Just before his execution for the brutal murders
of a Kansas family, Perry Smith (Robert Blake) remembers
his father. As he moves toward the window and looks out at
the prison yard, heavy rain courses down the window, making
it appear that he is crying. With the strong exterior lights
directed at Smith’s face, cinematographer Conrad Hall
explains that he found the setup for this shot when he
realized that this situation “created these avenues for the
bright light outside to come in.... It was an accident I saw,
and used, and capitalized on the moment.” This just helps to
prove that a great shot can be the result of careful planning
or, as in this case, serendipity.CINEMATOGRAPHIC PROPERTIES OF THE SHOT 229