Vittorio Storaro,

A.S.C. The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), founded in Hollywood in 1919, is a cultural, educational, and professional organization that is neither a labor union nor a guild. The society was organized to advance the science and art of ci ...

, A.I.C. (born 24 June 1940) is an Italian

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

widely recognized as one of the best and most influential in cinema history, for his work on numerous classic films including '' The Conformist,'' '' Apocalypse Now'', and '' The Last Emperor''. In the course of over fifty years, he has collaborated with directors such as Bernardo Bertolucci,

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five ...

Warren Beatty Henry Warren Beatty (né Beaty; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker, whose career spans over six decades. He was nominated for 15 Academy Awards, including four for Best Actor, four for Best Picture, two for Best Director, ...

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

and Carlos Saura. He has received three Academy Awards for Best Cinematography for the films '' Apocalypse Now'' (1979), '' Reds'' (1981), and '' The Last Emperor'' (1987), and is one of three living persons who has won the award three times, the others being Robert Richardson and Emmanuel Lubezki.

Early life

Storaro was born in Rome. The son of a film projectionist, Storaro began studying photography at the age of 11. He went on to formal

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...

studies at the national Italian film school, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, when he was 18.

Career

Storaro is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential cinematographers of all time. He has worked with many important film directors, in particular Bernardo Bertolucci, with whom he has had a long collaboration. His philosophy is largely inspired by

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

's theory of colors, which focuses in part on the psychological effects that different colors have and the way in which colors influence our perceptions of different situations. He first worked with Bertolucci on '' The Conformist'' (1970). Set in fascist Italy, the film has been described as a "visual masterpiece". Also in 1970, he photographed '' The Bird with the Crystal Plumage'', the directorial debut of

Dario Argento Dario Argento (; born 7 September 1940) is an Italian film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and critic. His influential work in the horror genre during the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in the subgenre known as ''giallo'', has led him ...

and a landmark film in the giallo genre. The first American film that Storaro worked on was '' Apocalypse Now'' (1979). Director

gave him free rein on the film's visual look. ''Apocalypse Now'' earned Storaro his first

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

. He worked with

for the first time on '' Reds'' (1981), and ended up winning his second Academy Award. Storaro won a third Academy Award for '' The Last Emperor'' (1987), directed by Bertolucci. Three years later he received a nomination, but did not win, for the Beatty film '' Dick Tracy''. In 2002, Storaro completed the first in a series of books that articulate his philosophy of cinematography. He was the cinematographer for a BBC co-production with Italian broadcaster RAI of Verdi's '' Rigoletto'' over two nights on the weekend of 4 and 5 September 2010.

's ''

Café Society Café society was the description of the "Beautiful People" and "Bright Young Things" who gathered in fashionable cafés and restaurants in New York, Paris and London beginning in the late 19th century. Maury Henry Biddle Paul is credited with ...

'' (2016) was the first film that Storaro shot digitally; he used the Sony F65 camera. In 2017, Storaro was honored with the George Eastman Award. The same year he also attended the New York Film Festival at which he debated with Ed Lachman on cinematography and its transition to digital. His other film credits include '' 1900'', '' Last Tango in Paris'', '' Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist'', '' One from the Heart'', '' Bulworth'', '' The Sheltering Sky'', '' Tucker: The Man and His Dream'', '' Ladyhawke'', '' Tango'', and '' Goya en Burdeos''. With his son Fabrizio, he created the Univisium format system to unify all future theatrical and television movies into one respective aspect ratio of 2.00:1. As of 2020, this unification has not happened, and the universal replacement of 4:3 televisions by large, wide-screen displays greatly reduces the need to modify scope-ratio films for home theater presentation.

Personal life

Storaro is known for stylish, fastidious, and flamboyant personal fashion. Francis Ford Coppola once noted, "Vittorio is the only man I ever knew that could fall off a ladder in a white suit, into the mud, and not get dirty."

Filmography

Selected credits:

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

British Academy Film Awards Primetime Emmy Awards

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

American Society of Cinematographers

International Film Festival of India The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. Held annually, currently in the state of Goa, on the western coast of the country, the festival aims at providing a common p ...

References

External links

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International Cinematographers Guild Interview Vittorio Storaro Website (Italian or English)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Storaro, Vittorio 1940 births Living people Best Cinematographer Academy Award winners Best Cinematography BAFTA Award winners Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia alumni David di Donatello winners Ciak d'oro winners European Film Award for Best Cinematographer winners Italian cinematographers Film people from Rome