Rachel Morrison Quotes

I was very glad later when I was directing that I wasn't in the hands of a cinematographer and hoping that he would do it well. I would know what he was doing, and we could discuss how that scene would look.

When I started, you didn't focus so much on production, certainly not - gosh - down to the finest little detail of how you shifted your eyes or how you turned to somebody. A lot of the shots were far away from a still camera. There weren't as many close-ups and intimacy.

The job is trying to create movie shots that have depth, that have the meanings you need them to have, and then good enough so that they will add something to the final picture. They will make the picture; they'll get into the picture, and give them what they need. It's an interesting job.

You have to give directors and cinematographers a word blueprint for visuals, but I had to learn that from experience.

I learned a lot about how to shoot and how to put together sequences.

I'm one of the few directors that actually shoots a lot in camera.

Everything about camera movement, about how film was made, shot architecture, and time management... I was horrible at all that.

On film, you really have to focus on what you're looking at. You're imprinting a physical image.

Having been a cameraman, I think about, 'Well, if this was real, how would this be shot?' I try to inject as much realism as much as possible.

For a cinematographer, every frame has to be important.

I went to USC and tried to learn about the other side of the camera a little bit.

I design my shots. I walk the rehearsal as the camera and say 'this is where I want to be... I want this look.

Because I come from that old-school optics environment, I know stuff about depth of field and camera movement and things that are not necessarily a part of the curriculum for people who started on a box and have never done anything that wasn't on a box.

There are a lot of directors who are knowledgeable about images, and others who aren't.

The way I work with my cinematographer is not based on general principles, but the ideas are triggered by the locations where we shoot.

I like making black and white films in natural surroundings, but I much prefer shooting a color film inside a studio where the colors are easier to control.

People who are good at film have a relationship with the camera.

I think the camera was always my obsession, the camera movements. Because for me it's the most important thing in the move, the camera, because without the camera, film is just a stage or television - nothing.

I really got into filmmaking through photography.

With the work that I do as a director, I've got dialogue, camera movement, and character blocking to help create a tone to the piece. In photography, those elements are somewhat void so that tone becomes a bit more subtle but still equally important.

I was never one for multi-cameras; my approach was always... I always considered there was only one place to be to do a shot.

A shot is only as every as good as how well it tells the story.

I also know what looks good before the camera, how to move the camera, and how to get a story on the screen.

I feel every shot, every camera move, every frame, and the way you frame something and the choice of lens, I see all those things are really important on every shot.

Most people think of cinematographers as choosing subjects of an epic nature to show off what they do - big, sweeping images of war or pageantry.