Cinematographer Christopher Doyle with director Wong Kar-Wai

Christopher Doyle is one of the most famous cinematographer in Asian country. He was born in Australia, however he spent most of his time in China. He also has a Chinese name Du Kefeng. He and director Wong Kar-war created many amazing films such as Ashes of Times(1994), Chunking Express(1994), Happy Together (1997) , In the mood for Love(2000) , 2046 (2004) etc.  He has worked with other directors such as  Zhang Yimou ,Hero (2002). He has awarded the Technical Grand Prize at Cannes Film Festival for In the Mood for Love, and Best Cinematograph for Ashes of Time at Venice International Film Festival.

Wong applies his reminiscing on most of his films, and express shadiness and rove through camera, which gives Doyle space for creativity. Wong’s ideas and Doyle’s insight together forms Wong’s great films. From Day of being Blind (1991) to 2046 (2004), they have been worked together for 7 times. The deep understanding and trust  between them makes them a perfect team. Their collaboration has achieved all possibilities of Hong Kong films, which includes unlimited freedom of experiment, discovers and reflects  human being, access to best resources such as celebrities and film festival.

From Wong’s perspective, he doesn’t care too much about camera technique, so he alway said to Doyle: I want to create that specific effect. In Days of being Blind (1991), whether the depth of filed or position of characters,  all need to immersed people to get involved in the film.  When Wong starts to direct one scene, he always starts from framing, because he needs to know the certain space pf the frame, after that he will arrange the character’s position. He explains his ideas to Doyle and points a certain angle.  Most of time, Wong will be happy with Doyle’s framing.  At the end of the Days of being Blind , there is a scene of Tony Leung Chiu-wai dressing up  in a tiny narrow room. Everything in room are in a perfect order. The camera is slightly panning following his moment,  and ends with a wide angle ,  which emphasized this mysterious figure.  When Wong need a close up shot, Doyle knows the exactly close up shot Wong wants. This kind of understanding is also based on vast experience and high techniques.

For Doyle, the Day of being Blind is the second stage of his career,  his ‘aha’ moment has come during the filming. Before this, he always sniffy about anyone else’s ideas, and overrated his ability. After working with Wong, he finally realize the essence of photography. He said :working with Wong’s team, I know I could always  achieve my best performance I want to, and I also realizes I just only need to do my best job . I was so difficult getting along with team in set before, but now I feel filming is just like playing games, I feel happy when I am doing this.

LIGHTING IN DOYLE’S FILMS

Lighting of showing Times and Space

The depiction of time is an important  function of light. In some traditional films the performance of time is based only on the reality of the appearance. The light atmosphere only requires the creation of a time-varying form that can be recognized. For example, changes in day and night, changes in the morning and evening. This method of processing is only a direct and simple expression of the script and the plot. It can only form limited changes in the surface layer of visual perception. The new light processing requirements require the integration of light and shadow relationships under different opportunities in order to create an art form with time-varying characteristics and specific load meanings in accordance with the process of sculpting the consciousness of the entire film. It focuses on the truth of art, focuses on the subjective expression of the author’s consciousness, and requires that the light effect must be a manifestation of time in a deeper sense.

The film Happy Together,  the story took place in 1997, on the eve of the return of Hongkong. Two Hongkong people who love each other send themselves to Argentina, South America. They meet to see the great waterfall which is famous for the world. At the other end of the world, they are stuck in their emotional world. In a world of emotional churning, they forget the day and night. Time is flowing like spring, but their promises have not yet been realized. The two people have been separated from each other, leaving only memories of their memories. Their exile is both a geographical exile and a psychological exile. It is worth mentioning that this travel movie is mostly indoors. The outdoor scene emphasizes the psychological feelings of the protagonist when they are at a certain place. When the head of the film appears a steaming waterfall, a long shot of more than three minutes has caused a sensation at the Cannes Film Festival.

Doyle as a photographer, was extremely bold in using light. In this film, lighting has no traditional representation of time. The indoor lighting  intentionally is treated as”without noticing of time”, but intends to let it “have no beginning or end.” Day or night is not important. The film has nothing to do with time. The creator has given the environment a specific time in the film. The time in this film  belongs to  the character, the creator, and the subjective. The location of the story, Buenos Aires, was pushed into the background, only as an element, and the geographical time was also pushed into the background.Tony Leung’s residence is one of the important location in the film. Doyle uses hypothetical lighting technique，use shades and division lighting to create a large contrast between light, darkness and color contrast. The narrow, closed space is always filled with lights. The time did not interact with the outside world. The characters of Tony Leung and Lesilie Cheung existed outside of time and space. They can’t communicate with each other, just like the fragmentation of space by light.

The image of light and shade