Film School: Phantom Cinematographer

Phantom Thread (2017) Phantom Thread (2017)

The unusual and enlightening process of Paul Thomas Anderson’s celebrated film.

In Depth Cine‘s detailed and insightful “Cinematography Breakdown” series examines the tools and approaches of feature film directors of photography, as well as the visual motifs across directors’ filmographies. The film that is the focus of this episode, Phantom Thread (2017), has a cinematographer-shaped hole in its making-of story:

Here is some of director Paul Thomas Anderson‘s camera test footage, as mentioned in the breakdown above (via Cinematographers on Cinematography):

And the results are… well:

Further Viewing

Of course, Phantom Thread is an exception to the rule – but it does speak to the question: how do directors and cinematographers (normally) collaborate?

Related Posts: