The Italian legend, Vittorio Storaro, has worked with such important directors as Francis
Ford Coppola, Bernardo Bertolucci and Woody Allen.
It's a difficult task to analyze his career in just 4 minutes... but let's try!
This is THE CALLING OF ST MATTHEW, by Caravaggio.
Storaro tells that Caravaggio taught him everything.
After analyzing in detail how Caravaggio uses light is not difficult to understand why.
The dramatic strength of chiaroscuro has always been present in the work of Storaro, although
perhaps it's more evident in the first part of his career.
By the way, Caravaggio is not the only painter that has been a source of inspiration for
him: Bacon was the great reference that Storaro and Bertolucci chose for The Last Tango in
Paris.
Let's talk about color.
Storaro is the son of a projectionist.
From the booth, he could not hear the movies -so he thought all movies were silent.
That is why he has always believed that images should tell the story by themselves -and in
this mute speech, color is to Storaro what melody to a composer.
In Goya in Bordeaux, he and Carlos Saura recreated several masterpieces painted by the Spanish
artist.
This is what Goya painted... and this is what Storaro added.
He did it this way because he wanted to reflect the duality of Goya, the contrast between
the portraitist of the Court and the darkest, vanguardist painter.
Storaro explains this concept with colors.
Is Vittorio Storaro an author?
No doubt, he is a cinematographer with his own style, a recognizable voice.
And this is less and less usual among modern cinematographers.
But it's not just about this: He is also a figure with great authority on
the set, even with filmmakers as relevant as Coppola.
In Apocalypse Now he was the one (not Coppola) who indicated to the special effects department
the color to use every time they used smoke in a scene: yellow... pink... green.
It was HIS decision.
Anyway, this is an old and complicated discussion.
The important thing here is that Vittorio Storaro, at his 78 years old, is still in
top form.