Francesco Crivaro abstract

Abstract

The thesis describes all the technical and conceptual aspects that brought me, as a cinematographer, to move from a script to the actual realization of the short film Roof Knocking. Scriptwriters write stories for cinema and television putting words, phrases and punctuation marks on paper. The cinematographer, instead, has the responsibility to transpose those words into pictures using the camera as a brush and light as oil paints on canvas. Every film requires a specific “camera calligraphy” to be translated into visuals without misleading its message.

The word “calligraphy” brings forth immediate impressions of an elegant handwriting, and the art of producing it. The etymology of the word comes originally from the Greek word “kalligrafia”, and more precisely from “kallos” (beauty). Moreover, the cinematographer has to go further and to be a visual psychologist, capable to lead the audience to feel empathy towards the story.

The short film “Rook Knocking”, written by Lucas Abrahao and directed by Sina Salimi, will be analysed in its relation with the camera’s technical specifications, camera movements, colours and lighting schemes, as well as the set built in the studio, and the postproduction.

How to write a film with a movie camera. The camera calligraphy in Roof Knocking. All the decisions I make as a cinematographer aim to contribute to the strengthening of the structural specificity of the film and to the tone of the story itself. The conclusion of this research intends to underline cinematographer’s role in every moment of the development of the project and to analyse critically the result of the writing of this film with a movie camera.