Have you ever wanted to see what it might have been like back in the early 20th century? Well "Days of Heaven" easly transports the audience back to the thos rolling hills of wheat and grain loacted in the Texas panhandle. "Days of Heaven" is a romantic drama art film written and directed by Terrence Malick. Although the characters in the film seem to be the main focus of the story, it is the cinematography of the film that truly captures the emotion and beauty of the story.
Days
of Heaven’s cinematography is beautiful! Technically speaking, the
film has many cinematographic aspects. With tremendous pans across
the vast empty wheat fields. These are combined among fluid tracking
shots, close-ups, and even time-lapse photography. Most of Days
of Heaven was
filmed during the early morning or late evening right before the sun
had set, during what became known as "magic hour.” This was
done to capture the silhouettes of the farm. Even the simplest shots
had gorgeous detail and looks like it was preserved in a time capsule
from the early 20th
century.
According
to Almendros, the cinematographer of the film, he wanted to make a
very visual movie.
Almendros would go through hours just waiting for the sun to come up
or go down to hit the “magic hour.” They happen to rehearse for
hours through out the day that was not during this magical hour.
Almedros also wanted to not only recreate the landscapes, he wanted
recreate similar dynamic lighting when shooting inside buildings. “In
this period there was no electricity. It was before electricity was
invented and consequently there was less light. Period movies should
have less light. In a period movie the light should come from the
windows because that is how people lived.” (Almendros)
Although
the film got a bad rap for when it was first released, it did win an
Academy Award for Best Cinematography with an additional three
nominations for the music, costume design and sound. Malick himself
won the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Despite
initially unfavorable reviews, Days of Heaven has since become one of
the most acclaimed films of all time, particularly noted for the
beauty of the cinematography. In 2007, Days of Heaven was selected
for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the
Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or
aesthetically significant".
To
film the scene with the locusts, where the insects rise into the sky,
the filmmakers dropped peanut shells from helicopters. The actors had
to walk backwards while running the film in reverse through the
camera and achieve the effect. When it was projected, everything
moved forward except the locusts.
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