Cinematography: Theory and Practice, 2nd Edition

Writing with Motion

Writing with Motion

The term cinematography is from the Greek roots meaning “writing with motion.” At the heart of it, filmmaking is shooting — but cinematography is more than the mere act of photography. It is the process of taking ideas, words, actions, emotional subtext, tone, and all other forms of nonverbal communication and rendering them in visual terms. As we will use the term here, cinematic technique is the entire range of methods and techniques that we use to add layers of meaning and subtext to the “content” of the film — the dialog and action.

The tools of cinematic technique are used by both the director and DP, either working together or in doing their individual jobs. As mentioned, cinematography is far more ...