Cinematography

 

The man in the picture is Greig Fraser, who is the only cinematographer I can name, but his work is so exciting to me. He's gained prominence recently from his work in massive shows and movies such as The Mandalorian, Dune, and The Batman. I didn't watch Dune so I can't speak on it, but I would like to compare the differences in cinematography between The Mandalorian and The Batman. 

The Mandalorian uses the Volume a lot, which I think is a really cool technology, but unfortunately I feel like it kind of stifles potential in terms of cinematography. I have watched all of the live action Star Wars shows, including the currently releasing Andor, and now I can usually spot Volume shots when I see them. Luckily, Andor doesn't have nearly as many as Obi-Wan and the previous shows did, but the point is that Greig has had a lot of experience shooting with it. Basically, the Volume is a dynamic background that can project environments built in Unreal Engine 5, or other software. Unreal Engine can build backgrounds that look almost indistinguishable from a normal set, but then the camera shot itself can't be very fluid or interactive. This is what makes the Volume shots easy to notice, they all look the same, and it's a bit disappointing to see Greig's work held back by the methods surrounding him. 

On the contrary, in Greig's work on The Batman, you can really see his talent come out. The shots are beautiful in comparison. They're dynamic, fluid, wide, and detailed, while others are close-up and somehow even more detailed and encapsulating. His work using Robert Pattinson's eyes, and how when they dart around the room, the camera follows. The lighting in The Batman is completely flipped from normal expectations for a movie, the scenes are mostly dark. They eliminate the issue about controlling shadows and instead tackle the challenge of creating minimal light in most scenes. The audience can only see what they need to see, through the lens that Greig wants. They use old lenses for a lot of shots too, ones that are dirty and have blurry edges, and this effect is used to focus the audience's attention where Greig wants it. Batman's eyes become the audience's eyes too, and everything we see and we don't see is very intentional. The Volume was used in The Batman too, but its use is hidden a lot better, and hopefully this style of cinematography that blends real sets with the Volume continues to evolve over time. Can't wait to see Greig's future work!