Oscar-nominated cinematographer Lawrence Sher (Joker) ends a super Vanity Fair discussion on color and lighting by encouraging people to ”Go make something cool.” He packs into 15-minutes various lighting samples from films he’s shot (Garden State, The Hangover, Paul). If you’ve ever had someone tell you to never use or to turn off un-color corrected fluorescent lights (with their green spike), or ugly sodium vapor lights, or not to mix color temperatures, then you’ll appreciate the creative approach that Sher takes to lighting a scene.
And if you’d like to make films but aren’t even sure what a director of photography does on a shoot this is an excellent primer for you as well.
In the four years since that video came out (but I just saw for the first time today), one of the film Sher has been working on is the second Joker film with director Todd Phillips, Joker:Folie á Deux. That film will come out later this year and has reported budget three times that of the original Joker.
And if you don’t have $200 million to make on a movie, look what Sher pulled off visually on the Zach Braff indie film Garden State (2004). Then go make something cool.
Scott W. Smith is the author of Screenwriting with Brass Knuckles and runs the Filmmaking With Brass Knuckles YouTube channel.
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