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Cinematography and visual style: understanding the collaborative roles of the cinematographer in the development and production of South African fictional feature films

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Humanities in fulfilment of the degree of Master of Arts by creative research in Film and Television, University of the Witwatersrand, 2016 / In this dissertation I examine the roles of the cinematographer in fiction feature film
production. I begin the discussion with a historical review of the emergence of
cinematography as a specialised field in early cinema. This corresponds with developments in
camera technology that enabled accurate framing, lighting and the possibility of movement.
In order to provide a framework for further discussion, the first chapter proceeds with a
review of formal definitions and less conventional definitions of the role of the
cinematographer. The focus in these discussions is on the cinematographer’s engagement
with the design, development and application of a unique ‘visual style’ in the articulation of
the director’s vision for the film. A large component of this research pertains to the work of
the cinematographer in South African feature film productions. The second chapter presents
an analysis of two very different South African feature films Oil On Water (Matthews, 2007)
and SMS Sugar Man (Kaganof, 2008). I was the cinematographer on both productions and the
discussion engages a reflexive mode of analysis. The third and final chapter is an analysis of
the accompanying film Impunity (Mistry, 2014), which forms the creative component of this
research. I conclude with establishing that the creative engagement of the cinematographer
in the design of a coherent visual style contributes to a nuanced and engaging cinematic
experience and richer visual vocabulary. / MT2017

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/21859
Date January 2016
CreatorsTahor, Eran
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
FormatOnline resource (74 leaves), application/pdf, application/pdf

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