Who should I praise? (1 Viewer)

[Holadem]

I love movies, but I know much less about them than I wish I did. One day I will take a movie making class just for the heck of it. But here is the point:
There are many beautiful shots that I see in movies. They are perhaps not classic scenes or anything, these are just pictures are scenes that speak to me, and the actors have nothing to do with it; just they way things are framed, the way the camera moved at a particular moment. Some examples (POSSIBLE SPOILERS):
Magnolia: Among many others, the close up on John C Reilly's face when he opens the door of Claudia's appartment.
Lawrence of Arabia: The ship chimney (??) that shows up all of a sudden on top of that dune.
LA Confidential: The shot of the street from the car, right after the three suspects say where they where holding the girl.
Saving Private Ryan: The first person shots on the beach with the Jerry's machine gun's blazing from those dark bunkers
And many others. Funny, I can't seem to remember anything now that i decided to post this

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Sometimes, I hear about the beautiful cinematography and I know there is someone called cinematographer (one looooong word to type godammit!!) or perhaps photographer. What do they do? Who should I praise? The director or the cinematographer - or whoever the heck he/she is?
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Holadem - this is one confused post(er)

 

[Rob Willey]

In general, the director may choose the shot and the D.P. or cinematographer will carry out making it look great. Depending on the shot, additional praise may be due the production designers, set designers, costume people, etc.
Rob
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"That suits me down to the ground."

 

[Jon Bell]

You may praise me. I am entirely responsible for those wonderful shots you mentioned, including the ones for the movies I haven't seen yet. If you think of any others to add to your post, I'm responsible for those too.

 

[Holadem]

If that is the case Rob, then aren't director a tiny little bit overrated, at the expense of the director of photography and cinematographer?
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Holadem

 

[andreasingo]

Not necessarily.
That depends on the director. Some directors (Stanley Kubrick, James Cameron, David Fincher, David Lynch are good examples) have a very large influence on the look of their films.
You can see this in the style of their films. Finchers films are very brownish and dark while Camerons are very Blue. The director also chooses the people he/she works with. If the director wants a certain look he chooses DP's whos work matches his/her's vision. In most cases the director is the person that is most in charge of the look of the film.
[Edited last by andreasingo on October 09, 2001 at 06:18 PM]