Picture Composition, 2nd Edition

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Composition styles

Visual styles

There are a range of film styles as distinct, for example, as Laurence Olivier's ‘Henry V’ and Billy Wilder's ‘Double Indemnity’, which were both made in the same year (1944). Olivier achieved a formalism based on sets designed with the colour and perspective of mediaeval illustrations, whilst Wilder's visual style is often based on film noir's low-key lighting and night shooting on wet, rain-streaked roads. Camerawork styles and visual imagery are not always influenced by contemporary fashion. The above two films, made in different countries, had two very distinct visual styles. To detail fully the variety of styles that have originated in the history of film and television would require a separate book. ...