Douglas Trumbull Quotes

I'm usually known for films that look beautiful and attractive, probably because I am a cinematographer too.

When I was an actor in some movies a long time ago, I was so curious about all the camera movements - why is the camera placed here, and why does it move like this? And why the set and the background, the color? It's a lot of questions for me to ask, because I was so interested, not only in acting, but also the whole process of filmmaking.

If you can make a color show or movie seem like it's in black-and-white, then you've done a really good job.

I think the cinematography in 'Mr. Robot' is some of the best I've ever seen, honestly. Not even as being part of the show but as somebody who enjoys cinema and movies in film and TV.

Ashok Mehta was the man who brought contrast and lighting back to mainstream Hindi film cinematography.

I am a film director, and I work with a visual language, with a visual medium. And I try to make virtue of the use of this visual medium. And I try to make sure what I do speaks the language of cinema.

As a director, you're looking for ways to tell the story with the whole image and not primarily dialogue.

It's possible for an editor to break down a dream, if you like, into its components and being able to shoot the wide shots in sunshine, when the weather was at its best and you know, we would get sort of almost a 3D effect sometimes if you chose the right time of day to shoot the thing.

I don't study films particularly. I plan to direct, but I'm not watching film - I watch the entire film to see how the story goes, but I don't say, 'Oh, so he does a slow pan here, or he pulls here, watch the crane shot, or look at the composition,' because it's got to be my eye.

With the black and white films, one was concerned with tone.

It was 100 feet of 16 mm black-and-white film of a car coming to a stop sign, and driving off. I had to decide how to frame and light it. It was magic. There was a sense of mystery.

Visual elements are, of course, the director's job.

Cinema is a matter of what's in the frame and what's out.

When we say 'cinematic', we tend to think John Ford and vistas and wide-open spaces. Or we think of kinetic camera movement or of a certain number of cinematic styles, like film noir.

I always wanted them to look like Hollywood movies; I just didn't know how to do it.

The key to making good movies is to pay attention to the transition between scenes.

Honestly, if I could shoot everything in 1:33, I would.

As a director, I start with the visual.

I never think about it much, the visual aspect of it, until we start making the movie. I don't really think about it when we write. When we finish, and I start putting the film together, and we pick the locations, I do think about that a lot.

Making realistic films is basically about the style.

We are not documentarians, we are filmmakers.

With a lot of these social realist films, the first thing you do is drain the color.

On a serious note, I just enjoy exploring the unconventional. I like Alfred Hitchcock; I actually grew up watching his films. A thriller gives you much more scope of exhibiting creativity in terms of playing with the camera and sound, as against a typical love story.

In the past, there were many times when I thought, 'This photo doesn't look good with a low angle, or this part bothers me.'

I like scary movies. I like the mystery that leaves you wanting to watch the next one.