The Cinematography of NTTD - Linus Sandgren

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  • StarkStark France
    Posts: 177
    Stamper wrote: »
    IMHO, there were some really awfully composited Green Screen looking shots, like for example the first shot of Bond, or some of the car interiors, that really did make the picture look cheap. Though overall, I liked the photography.

    No green screen in the first shot of Bond.
  • matt_umatt_u better known as Mr. Roark
    Posts: 4,343
    Those shots inside the DB5 have been quite edited and color corrected in post.

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  • Posts: 372
    Stark wrote: »
    No green screen in the first shot of Bond.

    Really? It's clearly Studio shots, whereas Lea shots are all Location shots. The light is totally off on the 007 shots.

  • New interview with Linus....It's 44 minutes long. I haven't been able to watch it yet. But I thought others would be interested to see.



    Do we think that Linus Sandgren could get an Oscar nomination for cinematography?

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  • Posts: 1,314
    I think the colour palette and grading is fantastic in NTTD. Although the scene in Hammersmith jumped out at me as being overly contrasts on the faces.

    Matera looked absolutely beautiful. Golden hour sunsets and just a lovely warm autumnal like light. Bravo
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,459
    Thanks for that link! I will watch it shortly.
    Yes, I think Linus deserves awards (plural) for NTTD. I don't care as much for the Oscars as I used to, but of course they are still considered important in the industry.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Matt007 wrote: »
    I think the colour palette and grading is fantastic in NTTD. Although the scene in Hammersmith jumped out at me as being overly contrasts on the faces.

    Matera looked absolutely beautiful. Golden hour sunsets and just a lovely warm autumnal like light. Bravo

    Yes, Matera really stood out.Not that anything else was bad, it was all great.
  • edited October 2021 Posts: 4,400
    Matt007 wrote: »
    I think the colour palette and grading is fantastic in NTTD. Although the scene in Hammersmith jumped out at me as being overly contrasts on the faces.

    Matera looked absolutely beautiful. Golden hour sunsets and just a lovely warm autumnal like light. Bravo

    Yes, Matera really stood out.Not that anything else was bad, it was all great.

    It seems it was impossible to put the camera anywhere in Matera and not have the frame be photogenic. Nonetheless, Sandgren and Fukunaga shot those sequences so beautifully. It just felt timeless. The Matera scenes will live in the pantheon of great Bond moments for decades to come.

    I was wondering though if Sandgren included one of those iconic shots in the film where Craig is standing with his back to the camera and his legs spread apart. Those scenes were always so cool in the Sam Mendes films. I cannot recall a moment in NTTD like that....Can anyone? It's one of the trademarks of Craig's run.

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  • 00Heaven00Heaven Home
    Posts: 573
    Closest one I recall to that:

    https://imgur.com/a/5gPfKkV
  • matt_umatt_u better known as Mr. Roark
    Posts: 4,343
    Yep, and it was cut.
  • 00Heaven00Heaven Home
    Posts: 573
    matt_u wrote: »
    Yep, and it was cut.

    Was it? Damn. For some reason I thought it was left in.
  • jake24jake24 Sitting at your desk, kissing your lover, eating supper with your familyModerator
    Posts: 10,586
    00Heaven wrote: »
    matt_u wrote: »
    Yep, and it was cut.

    Was it? Damn. For some reason I thought it was left in.
    We still see Bond gazing out into the ocean from behind, but at a slightly closer angle.
  • Jordo007Jordo007 Merseyside
    Posts: 2,480
    00Heaven wrote: »
    Closest one I recall to that:

    https://imgur.com/a/5gPfKkV

    Such a fantastic still. It would make a great photo to frame and put on the wall
  • SatoriousSatorious Brushing up on a little Danish
    Posts: 231
    Skyfall has a sharper/cleaner more contrast-based aesthetic, whereas No Time To Die has a more classical softer look with greater range/depth to the colours (so basically digital vs analog). I'm especially pleased that things didn't get over-graded like they did in Spectre. Definitely found the camera movements more kinetic/dynamic in NTTD, whereas they felt a little more static but purposefully framed/blocked in Skyfall. Both styles worked well in their films.
  • edited October 2021 Posts: 642
    I have to say that I was underwhelmed by Sandgren’s cinematography. On its own it wasn’t bad or anything (quite good, actually) but the way everyone was carrying on about how he was going to make the most beautiful Bond film of all time... well, that definitely did not turn out to be the case.

    Which explains why I kept seeing all these posts saying that Deakins work on SF was superior. At first I couldn’t understand it. Now it makes perfect sense. Of course Deakins’ work was superior. In fact Phil Meheux’s work on CR was superior as well. Deakins’ sharp colors practically popped off the screen, whereas Sandgren’s images have this fuzzy/blurry quality to it. Almost like it’s a bit out of focus. I kept noticing this all throughout the movie. I don’t know if they were going for a dream-like quality or something but I didn’t like it. I loved the sharpness of Deakins’ images.

    And then the ending at the poison garden/factory just had this dull gray palette to it that I didn’t care for at all. In fact that whole ending was shot in this gray haze. I kept thinking the whole time “can you not get your camera into focus? What’s with all the haze?”

    I’m surprised folks aren’t complaining about the haze because they seem to dislike that aspect in the Roger Moore 80s films that were shot by Alan Hume. That haze was especially evident in FYEO.

    So if I were to rank the cinematography of the Craig films it would look like this:

    1. Deakins - Skyfall
    2. Meheux - Casino Royale
    3. Sandgren - No Time to Die
    4. Schafer - Quantum of Solace
    5. Van Hoytema - Spectre
  • SatoriousSatorious Brushing up on a little Danish
    Posts: 231
    That haze is an aesthetic choice which is synonymous with traditional film (it works well in a dreamy/romantic way - which I'd argue suits the film). The sharper cleaner look is definitely digital (more modern, great at high-contrast, often used a lot for selling low-light "hi-tech" environments) and is a lot easier/less expensive+time consuming to shoot on. That said - there is something a bit magical about the colour and motion blur on traditional film - I personally prefer it (providing the life isn't sucked out of it digitally ala Spectre - may as well have shot that on digital + saved themselves all the extras headaches/costs/time).

    I think Schafer's work on QOS is underrated (if we take the horrible way it was hacked around in the editing room out of the equation). I'd rank cinematography as follows:

    1. Deakins - Skyfall
    2. Sandgren - NTTD (but I need to study it more)
    3. Schafer - QOS
    4. Meheux - Casino Royale
    5. Van Hoytema - Spectre
  • Posts: 6,665
    The cinematography of QOS is gorgeous and very well thought out. If the bloody editing and writing were on par, all of us would be happier fans.
  • Junglist_1985Junglist_1985 Los Angeles
    edited October 2021 Posts: 1,006
    Satorious wrote: »
    I'd rank cinematography as follows:

    1. Deakins - Skyfall
    2. Sandgren - NTTD (but I need to study it more)
    3. Schafer - QOS
    4. Meheux - Casino Royale
    5. Van Hoytema - Spectre

    Agreed! This is also how I’d rank them.

    That being said, Craig doesn’t have any ugly films IMO. They’re all visual stunners.
  • edited October 2021 Posts: 6,844
    Univex wrote: »
    The cinematography of QOS is gorgeous and very well thought out. If the bloody editing and writing were on par, all of us would be happier fans.

    I am an enormous fan of the cinematography in QOS. It's second only to SF for me. Both are far beyond what I ever hoped we might get for a Bond film.

    (And I'm referring to the series as a whole. OHMSS is up there too for me, but SF and QOS are on another level entirely.)
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,459
    Well, if we are ranking them:

    1) Sandgren tied with Deakins
    2) Shafer
    3) Meheux
    4) Van Hoytema
  • Posts: 7,500
    I imagine tourism in Matera will go off the scale now. At least I can be a hipster and say I was there many times before it was cool… ;)
  • I don’t understand people placing Schafer above Meheux. Schafer’s QOS looks good but I think CR looks richer with lovelier colors. I loved Meheux’s work on both GE and CR. They both look great but in different ways. Can’t even tell it’s the same cinematographer. Great work!
  • matt_umatt_u better known as Mr. Roark
    Posts: 4,343
    One of the things I desperately love bout the Craig era is the overall top notch cinematography that blessed every chapter of this journey, and the coolest thing is that every film has a different flavor and aesthetic to it.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    matt_u wrote: »
    One of the things I desperately love bout the Craig era is the overall top notch cinematography that blessed every chapter of this journey, and the coolest thing is that every film has a different flavor and aesthetic to it.

    Yes, exactly. They are all great.
  • Posts: 7,500
    Ken Adams' sets were the iconic image of Bond in the old. Excellent cinematography is the image now.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,459
    matt_u wrote: »
    One of the things I desperately love bout the Craig era is the overall top notch cinematography that blessed every chapter of this journey, and the coolest thing is that every film has a different flavor and aesthetic to it.

    Yes, exactly. They are all great.
    I agree wholeheartedly. We have been lucky with great cinematography.
  • edited October 2021 Posts: 725
    I found that spectre looks a lot better in HDR/Dolby Vision. It’s not as depressingly yellow as the SDR version. There is room for more colour gradients.
  • Posts: 12,506
    Absolutely stunning imagery, great work!
  • M_BaljeM_Balje Amsterdam, Netherlands
    edited November 2021 Posts: 4,415
    Cinematography

    Let i say iam happy for this moment and it be other way around what i feel after Skyfall.
    There is No Time for a breath moment and things looks/feel difrent with the trailers. A thrill ride with a lot of action. I get a bit of between QOS and CR feeling, but it never topt. Get idea we missing scenes in Italy and Jamaica / Cuba. The Umbrella and spots (A Night / Evening scene in Jamacia with motorbikes on the background when Bond walking to other side of street) what i name it earlier is not in the movie.

    Less sharpnes in pretitles scenes is mabey what it need , because there was also a danger that it going to look like to much on QOS style.

    I don't know or change more then only MGM lion at beginning who was new one.
  • jake24jake24 Sitting at your desk, kissing your lover, eating supper with your familyModerator
    Posts: 10,586
    Here’s a great edit showcasing Linus’ wonderful cinematography for NTTD:
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