First episode of our series dedicated to the talented cinematographers, these men of the shadows yet so attached to the light in the cinema. How to start this collection with someone other than Roger Deakins? Favorite director of the Coen brothers, then Denis Villeneuve, the Englishman has signed the photography of many masterpieces: we owe him the cold and chilling landscapes of Fargo, the superb lights of Skyfall, and most recently the sublime visual prowess of Blade Runner 2049, a film for which he finally won the Oscar after 14 nominations.Discover our portfolio of Deakins' most beautiful creations.
Landscape Faces
Roger Deakins' photography is a wonderful journey as he has filmed different landscapes: the great plains in Sicario and True Grit, the deserts in Blade Runner 2049, the forests in The Village, the snowy fields in Fargo, the misty Scottish expanses in Skyfall, and so many other places both delimited by the frame of his camera, and infinite by his gaze.
But perhaps the most striking thing in this photograph is this fascination to place man in the middle of nature, to reserve a very special place for him in the image, sometimes by placing him at the center as a real element of understanding and apprehension of this nature (as in The Village of Shyamalan), sometimes by letting the plains and forests regain their rights. The characters, sometimes in the light, sometimes in the shadows, are often in strong points of Deakins' images, as beings both divine and cursed, that the rays seek to sublimate, or on the contrary to darken.
The Escapees, Frank Darabont (1994)
Deakins also uses a variable geometry, always playing with the contrasts created by nature and men. With a camera often overhanging, like a divine and impartial eye, he films with hindsight these lost lives or on the contrary very precise. The straight lines of his photography, like a semblance of order in these often chaotic destinies, fit perfectly with the place of an imperfect man in this absolute nature. Like drawings traced in the snow of Fargo, the beauty of the image emerges by this sublime and meaningful geometry.
True Grit, Coen Brothers (2011)
Paradoxical confinement
And yet, despite this unconditional love for the great outdoors, Deakins can't help but lock up his characters, like an irremediable destiny drawn by a raw and dead-end scenario. And he knows how to film this imprisonment as he films the releases.
Skyfall, Sam Mendes (2012)
And this is also where Deakins' geometry operates: because if it manages to give an impression of grandeur with these infinite lines, it can just as easily signify this confinement, physical or mental. This is for example the case in Blade Runner 2049, where the condition of replicant and the mental grip materialize through this simple cable, as an authority of man over his own nature, as this desire to control the uncontrollable.
Light
How to characterize the image of Deakins without addressing its relationship to light? The eye of this cinematographer seems irremediably attracted by this glow both physical and metaphysical, which emerges like a sublime beam, and which comes to imprint itself on the retina to leave an indelible trace. In these last films, Deakins has used neon lights a lot as an infinite source of light, which manages to highlight man and robot, nature and modernity.
Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve (2017)
But this fascination for light is also that of projections; Deakins remains above all a man of cinema, who knows how to capture this all-consuming passion and this fantastic art. He does not miss an opportunity to place his work in his films, to put the characters behind a cinema screen, and to film their reaction and happiness to this incredible invention.
As his films progressed, Deakins developed a taste for the warm lights and orange glows they gave off; emanating from a torch, a lamp post or a lantern, it is in its contrast with the dark night that the colors of Deakins' light take on its full magnitude, to invade the image of a warm and fiery halo. And yet, paradoxically, this heat is often a symbol of a threat, a perilous situation or an approaching danger. This warm presence is perhaps one of the most present elements of Deakins' filmography, much to our delight.
The Escapees, Frank Darabont (1995) The Village, Night Shyamalan (2004)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Andrew Dominik (2007) No Country for Old Men, Coen Brothers (2008) 
Shadow
Beyond his mastery of light, Deakins is a poet of shadows; As his works progress, he develops a real artistic touch around this singular expression. The characters of his films assert themselves here no longer by their faces, but by their bodies and their posture, which detach themselves from these dark backgrounds to magnetically attract the eye. The warm glows thus suddenly become icy, and bring out more and more symbolic nuances and opaque characters.
Sicario, Denis Villeneuve (2015)
Deakins' camera lingers more and more on these magnificent backlights, with a light that illuminates the part invisible to our eye; The characters all have this imperceptible part, these secrets never revealed that are nevertheless the keys to their personality. This other side of the human, which we will never see, sounds like an unsolved mystery to be discovered or invented. Deakins knows how to sumptuously hide these hidden faces from us, exposing them to the light without us being able to see them ; He thus develops what could be called a real fascination to film his characters against the light.
Sicario, Denis Villeneuve (2015) Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve (2017)
Visual audacity and sublime result, this is how we could characterize Roger Deakins' photography. One of the greatest cinematographers, whose mastery and talent are well established, still shines today with his passion and creativity. Always looking for the image that will highlight as accurately as possible a universe and a scenario, Deakins' camera knows how to take sublime risks, and allows his photography to stand out to create a unique and singular space. We never tire of looking at his most beautiful creations, waiting for his next post-Oscar prowess.
