movies influencing photography

[false_Aesthetic]

Hey,

As I go about using Netflix as a tax write-off, I'm curious to see what movies have influenced other photographers (apart from films about other photographers, technique, etc).

I'd love to see what other people watch/recommend.

Here's mine in no order
1) Memento.
2) Pi
3) Six Feet Under (ok, I know its not a movie but . . .)
4) Blue, White, Red trilogy
5) Noi the Albino (icelandic film)
6) Titus
7) Mullholland Drive / Lost Highway
8) Blade Runner
9) Citizen Kane
10) To Kill a Mockingbird.


WOrd

T

[Leonard Evens]

How in the world do you use Netflix as a tax write-off?

[Helen Bach]

Would you like to mention who shot those movies you like, or doesn't it matter?

My list would be rather long, and it would be influenced by what I have seen projected rather than on DVD. Here's the first few films that have influenced me that spring to mind.

Almost anything shot by Robby Müller, in particular Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas.

Almost anything shot by Chris Doyle for Wong Kar-Wai.

Anything by Patrick Keiller. Robinson in Space is a masterpiece.

Fitzcarraldo, Thomas Mauch for Werner Herzog.

The Moon and the Sledgehammer by Philip Trevelyan.

Launch by the Amber collective.

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Al Ruban, Mitch Breit and maybe John Cassavetes.

Tokyo Story (and others) by Yuuharu Atsuta for Yasujiro Ozu.

I don't go for the overtly spectacular, in case you hadn't noticed.

Best,
Helen

[Colin Robertson]

Hey, false Aesthetic! Are you kidding?? If not-
check out ALL the early Kubrick (Killer's Kiss, The Killing, Dr Strangelove, 2001)
ALSO- 'Crystal voyager' (Yeah, dude, your mouth IS hanging open . . .)
'Badlands' and 'Days Of Heaven' by Terrence Malick.
Also, 'Stalker' by Tarkovsky.
Forget Citizen Kane- check out 'Touch Of Evil'.
Have more for ya soon . .

[John Kasaian]

Funny thing, after giving this a lot of thought I narowed it down to Metropolis and Destiny, both by Fritz Lang. Both films in glorious B&W of course! These films influenced my photography (if any film has had an influence) but probably not photography in general.

[Colin Robertson]

'Frankenstein' The original James Whale
'Koyannisqatssi' (spelling??)
'Images'- Robert Altman, you'll LOVE it

[false_Aesthetic]

Netflix (and emusic) work as write offs because they help me make better pictures. The photographer I assisted for would ask me to help make his work a bit more "hip." I started by renting 6' under and other HBO dvds and then applied what I saw to the shots we were going to do. Music works the same way . . . everything from the beats making me or the models relax to showing album art to an art director stuck in 1987. I also use/show movies/music when I'm teaching. (I got to buy "A Love Supreme" and then assign a project based on it to my freshmen last semester. Did the same for Kerouac's recordings, Blade Runner and Baraka).

John, Helen and Colin, thanks for your input. Keep it coming.

by the by, touch of evil was ok . . . I wasn't floored by it. I was, however, much more thrilled by The 3rd Man.


Word
T

[Colin Robertson]

Ha Ha- false, my boy!!
Did you like 3rd Man?? perhaps you are a latent Sam Peckinpah fan. Go directly to 'Straw Dogs'. Off-beat camera angles, highly subjective camera position. 'Blade Runner', by the way, is highly derivative of 'The demon with a glass hand', which was first episode of , I think (now 3.30 am and LOTS of brandy) Outer Limits on TV. Ridley Scott is visually very strong- see 'The Duellists'.

[cyrus]

I remember a movie - the title was Aggrandizement (Enlargement in French) - but I suspect it was an American movie adopted to French. Anyway, if I remember right it involved a photographer inadvertently photographing a political murder. It was pretty compelling stuff, when I was 8

[j.e.simmons]

Hitchcock films, particularly after I listened to the commentaries on the DVD versions. In his films, the camera was key and actors had to respond to it, rather than the other way around. He was also a master of letting the camera, rather than dialog, tell large parts of the story.

On a less serious note, Blow Up probably made more men think about getting into photography than any other movie.

And I wonder if 24 will change what is generally acceptable in photography. As we all know, the general rule is to have the stuff near the camera in focus - 24 has lots of stuff between the camera and the actors, particularly inside CTU headquarters, and that stuff is usually out of focus.
juan