Cinematography technique · used in 53 films
Filming in recognizable real places so the setting acts like part of the cast. Streets, buildings and landscapes shape the mood of the story.
Examples
David Lean · 1945
Much of the film was shot at Carnforth station in Lancashire. The platforms, the bridge and the steam trains give the story an ordinary, everyday setting. The station is where all the feeling is stored.
Where to see it: Milford Junction. Laura and Alec meet on the station platform and in the refreshment room.
Orson Welles · 1947
Welles shot largely on location in Acapulco, Sausalito and San Francisco, often in long takes. The real harbors and streets give the plot a sticky, unfamiliar atmosphere.
Where to see it: The yacht voyage to Acapulco: Michael sails with the Bannisters and Grisby, far from anything he knows.
Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly · 1949
Kelly and Donen pushed MGM to shoot musical numbers in New York itself, with a short location shoot at spots like Columbus Circle, the Brooklyn Bridge and Rockefeller Center. Crowds of Frank Sinatra fans caused trouble, so some shots were taken from a camera hidden in a station wagon. The city feels real and busy, and the sailors seem to be running through it for real.
Where to see it: New York, New York: The three sailors sing their way through the streets of Manhattan on the morning of their leave, sightseeing as they go.
John Huston · 1950
The opening of Dix evading the police was shot on location in Cincinnati, and the final scene was shot at Keeneland in Lexington. Cinematographer Harold Rosson worked with Huston to blend neorealist naturalism with film noir styling. The real places make the thieves feel like people from an actual city.
Where to see it: The opening chase. Dix slips through the streets and past the police.
Fred Zinnemann · 1953
The crew filmed at Schofield Barracks on Oahu, with Army help providing aircraft and Pearl Harbor footage. The real place gives the film a sense of authenticity.
Where to see it: Schofield Barracks: Prewitt transfers to a rifle company at the barracks, where the film's story begins.
Alfred Hitchcock · 1956
Hitchcock filmed in the real places from the case, including Jackson Heights in Queens where Manny lived. The Stork Club owner played himself, and the prison scenes were shot among actual convicts in a New York prison. It looks and feels like a record.
Where to see it: The Stork Club. Manny plays in the band at the real club, and its owner appears as himself.
Jean-Luc Godard · 1963
The film was shot on Capri at Casa Malaparte, a striking house above the sea. The cliffs, rooftop and water frame the characters and make the sadness feel big.
Where to see it: Casa Malaparte: Camille and Paul's marriage reaches its breaking point at the villa on Capri.
Sidney Lumet · 1973
Lumet shot in Harlem, the South Bronx, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn and Queens. The streets are crowded and run-down, and the city feels like the place where this corruption lives.
Where to see it: The burglar chase: While chasing a burglar, Serpico is shot at by other officers who did not recognize him as one of their own.
Michael Cimino · 1974
The film was shot in small towns around Great Falls, Montana. Churches, schoolhouses and open roads give the story its mood. The land feels like part of the cast.
Where to see it: The opening. A gunman shoots at a preacher in a church, and Lightfoot accidentally runs him over.
Robert Zemeckis · 1984
The production shot in Mexico, in places such as Veracruz, with whitewater scenes filmed on the Rio Antigua. The real water, mud and greenery make the characters' struggle look physical. It also gives the film a sense of scale beyond a studio.
Where to see it: The river: After Jack takes the emerald back from Ralph, a river separates him and Joan. The whitewater was filmed on the Rio Antigua in Mexico.
David Lean · 1984
Lean found the real caves unsuitable and used the hills near Bangalore instead, along with other Indian locations. The landscape looks huge and indifferent. It makes the people look small.
Where to see it: The hills near the caves. Adela and Aziz climb toward the caves under a hard sun.
William Friedkin · 1985
Friedkin uses real Los Angeles places: Union Station, the Sixth Street Viaduct and the freeways. The city is wide, hard and bright, with no glamour. The places feel as ruthless as the men chasing each other through them.
Where to see it: The robbery under the Sixth Street Viaduct. Chance and Vukovich take the cash from Thomas Ling at gunpoint, and it goes wrong right there.
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen · 1990
The story is set in an unnamed city, but the Coens shot in New Orleans because of its look. Old storefront windows and untouched architecture give the Prohibition years a lived-in feel without tying the film to one real place. The woods scenes were shot at a forest plantation near Hammond.
Where to see it: The woods at Miller's Crossing. Tom leads Bernie there with Caspar's men in tow.
Kathryn Bigelow · 1990
The film ends on the streets of New York. The violent confrontation spills from the subway into the middle of Wall Street, so the city of money and rules becomes the stage for a chase between a cop and a killer.
Where to see it: The Wall Street finale: Turner and Hunt carry a gun fight from the subway to the street, where she runs him down in a civilian vehicle and shoots him.
Richard Linklater · 1993
The film was shot around Austin but no town name is ever given. The cruising streets, the drive-through restaurant and the football field become the whole world of the story. It feels like a real small Texas town on a real night.
Where to see it: The cruising scenes: Mitch rides around the neighborhood with Pink and his friends, drinking his first beer and playing mailbox baseball.
Alan J. Pakula · 1993
The film shot in real Washington locations such as the Supreme Court steps, Georgetown University Law Center and the courtyard of the FBI building. The settings carry the weight of power. Earlier scenes in New Orleans, with its French Quarter and warehouse district, give the film a different mood.
Where to see it: The parking garage chase. After a second car bomb, Darby and Grantham are chased through a city parking garage under gunfire before they reach the newspaper.
Woody Allen · 1995
The chorus scenes were filmed at the Teatro Antico in Taormina. The old stones lend authority to a very modern story. You feel the age behind a tale of sportswriters and adoption.
Where to see it: The Taormina theater. The chorus performs among ancient ruins, then the film cuts to Manhattan.
Barry Levinson · 1996
Cinematographer Michael Ballhaus shot the film, and it is rooted in Hell's Kitchen. The neighborhood is the boys' whole world before the prison takes it away. It stays in your mind through the rest of the story.
Where to see it: The opening in Hell's Kitchen. In 1967 the four boys run errands for the local gangster King Benny, and a stolen hot dog cart rolls down the subway stairs.
Woody Allen · 2003
Jerry and Dobel spend their days walking and talking in Central Park, and the film ends with a taxi ride to the airport. New York is the place Jerry has to leave to grow up, so the city feels like part of what holds him back.
Where to see it: Central Park. Dobel and Jerry walk through the park and trade advice about love, fear and survival.
William Friedkin · 2003
Friedkin shoots in and around Portland, Oregon, and in Silver Falls State Park. The wet green forest and the city's bridges and rail lines are where the chase actually happens. The land feels like part of the cat-and-mouse game.
Where to see it: The bridge chase. Hallam steals a car in Portland, and the chase includes a fake light rail train on the Hawthorne Bridge.
Tom McCarthy · 2003
McCarthy shot at a real station in Newfoundland, New Jersey, built in 1872 and still beside an active rail line. Freight trains pass the windows while Fin lives inside. The place explains both his hobby and his wish for peace.
Where to see it: The depot. Fin moves into the old station he inherited and watches the trains go by.
Richard Linklater · 2004
The whole film was shot on location in Paris. It opens inside Shakespeare and Company, a real bookstore on the Left Bank, and then follows them through streets and onto a barge on the Seine. The city feels like a third character in the romance.
Where to see it: The opening at Shakespeare and Company: Jesse talks to journalists about his novel, and Céline appears as he finishes.
Michael Mann · 2004
The film was shot across Los Angeles, including Koreatown and the airport. The cab is the one way you see the whole city, from freeways to nightclubs. The city's night is the world of the movie.
Where to see it: The Metro train finale. Max and Annie flee onto a train, where a shootout leaves Vincent fatally wounded, and his body rides on alone.
Joe Wright · 2005
The film was shot entirely on location in England. Longbourn, Netherfield, Pemberley and Rosings are all real estates. Each house tells you how rich and how formal its owner is.
Where to see it: Pemberley tour: Elizabeth tours Darcy's estate with the Gardiners, and Darcy greets her politely and invites them to dine.
Sofia Coppola · 2006
Coppola shot at the real Palace of Versailles. The halls and gardens show the scale of the world that traps her. The real rooms make the story feel lived in instead of staged.
Where to see it: The arrival. Marie enters Versailles, gives up her Austrian ties and marries the Dauphin.
Ron Howard · 2006
The film shoots in real landmarks. The Louvre allowed filming, and Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland closes the story. The real stone carvings and old buildings make a made-up legend feel as if it could be true.
Where to see it: Rosslyn Chapel. The trail ends in the Scottish chapel, where Sophie learns who she really is.
Ridley Scott · 2007
The shoot used more than 180 locations, most of them in New York, which was a record. Scott found Harlem interiors that had not changed since the 1940s. He remembered a shabby neighborhood of beautiful brownstones falling apart, and the film looks for that. Frank's headquarters was shot on 136th Street, 20 blocks north of where the story puts it.
Where to see it: Frank's headquarters: the building where Frank runs his heroin business in Harlem.
Werner Herzog · 2007
The jungle is real. The film was shot over 44 days in Thailand, in humid, muddy and dense forest. The place feels like a main character that is as dangerous as the guards.
Where to see it: The Mekong: Dengler and Duane push through the jungle to the river and find rapids and a waterfall. Their raft plan collapses.
Woody Allen · 2008
The weekend in Oviedo and the Barcelona summer use real places, including Gaudí's Park Güell and paintings by Agustí Puig. The warm, sunny setting makes the affairs feel like a vacation fantasy.
Where to see it: The Oviedo weekend. Juan Antonio flies the two women there for sightseeing, wine and dinners, hoping to sleep with both.
Martin McDonagh · 2008
The film was shot on location in Bruges, and the old canals and towers feel like part of the cast. The fairy-tale surroundings clash with two killers.
Where to see it: The canal chase: Harry chases Ray through the canals and onto a film set.
Gus Van Sant · 2008
The crew dressed Castro Street to look like the 1970s and took over the former Castro Camera storefront for a couple of months. The Castro Theatre's marquee was redone. Filming in the real neighborhood roots the story in the community Milk led.
Where to see it: Castro Camera: Milk and Scott Smith open a camera shop that becomes the center of the neighborhood's political life.
Woody Allen · 2009
The film returns to New York after Allen's run of European films, and the story plays out in Boris's apartment and around the city. The city is the world Boris grumbles about and cannot leave.
Where to see it: The outdoor market. Marietta takes Melody there and arranges an accidental meeting with Randy.
Guy Ritchie · 2009
The film uses real British places such as St Paul's Cathedral, Manchester Town Hall and Chatham Dockyard to build a rough 1890 London. The finale takes place on Tower Bridge, a real landmark that was still unfinished at that time. You feel the Victorian city as a place that is still being built.
Where to see it: The Tower Bridge fight. Blackwood and Holmes fight on the unfinished bridge, and Blackwood falls through the scaffolding.
Todd Phillips · 2009
Most Las Vegas exteriors were shot at Caesars Palace, including the lobby, pools, corridors and roof. Other scenes used spots on Fremont Street. The real casino glitter sells the idea that anything could happen overnight.
Where to see it: Caesars Palace: The trip starts with a toast on the hotel roof and ends with the friends finding Doug sunburned up there.
Sofia Coppola · 2010
The Chateau Marmont is a real Hollywood hotel, and the film treats it like a home. The halls and suites hold the loneliness of a man with money and nowhere to go. The place has a history of its own.
Where to see it: The hotel stay. Johnny lives at the Marmont with a broken wrist in a cast.
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck · 2010
The story moves through Venice, from a grand hotel to a ball to the canals. The film's boat chase is designed around the city's strict speed limits, so it is a slow chase along the water. The city's old stone and narrow water streets make a postcard romance and a trap at the same time.
Where to see it: The boat chase through Venice. Frank is pursued across the canals in a chase built around the city's speed limits.
Woody Allen · 2012
The stories take place around Rome, from Giancarlo's shower opera at the opera house to a film shoot where Milly ends up. The city is a postcard backdrop that tempts characters into silly behavior.
Where to see it: Milly lost in Rome. She wanders the city, loses her phone and ends up at the shoot where she meets the actor Luca Salta.
Tony Gilroy · 2012
The Alaska scenes were shot in Alberta, Canada, and the Manila scenes were filmed in the Philippines. The cold and empty wilderness at the start and the packed streets later give the story two very different kinds of danger.
Where to see it: Cross in the wilderness. Alone in the mountains, he fights to survive after the drone attack.
Sofia Coppola · 2013
The film shoots in Paris Hilton's own home, which Hilton allowed. The closets, rooms and shoes belong to the real person the teens idolize. The place itself shows what they want.
Where to see it: The Paris Hilton house. Marc and Rebecca find a key under the doormat, go in and take jewelry.
Richard Linklater · 2013
The couple's holiday takes place on the Greek Peloponnese. The sunny, slow setting makes their sharp argument feel even more intimate, since there is nowhere to go except each other.
Where to see it: The dinner with friends in Greece: Jesse and Céline sit with the friends who invited them and talk about love and the different ways men and women see it.
Noah Baumbach · 2013
The small camera rig and minimal lighting let the crew move fast and shoot in several cities cheaply. New York, Sacramento and Paris all feel like places a real person drifts through. The streets and apartments tell you how little money Frances has.
Where to see it: Sacramento Christmas: Frances visits home for Christmas and finds it cozy but stifling, then returns to New York.
Woody Allen · 2014
Shooting took place in Nice and Antibes in the south of France, with the Nice Observatory playing the place where Stanley and Sophie shelter. The sunny Riviera setting makes the whole fake séance seem like a fantasy.
Where to see it: The observatory. Caught in a rainstorm, Stanley and Sophie take shelter, and after the rain they open the roof to view the stars.
Rajkumar Hirani · 2014
The film was shot in Rajasthan, Delhi's Chandni Chowk and Bruges, the first Bollywood film shot in Belgium. The desert, the crowded Delhi streets and the quiet old town give each part of PK's trip its own feel.
Where to see it: The opening in Rajasthan. The alien lands in the desert, and a thief steals the amulet he uses as a remote.
Woody Allen · 2015
The story was shot in Newport, Rhode Island, with the Salve Regina University campus standing in for the fictional Braylin College. The quiet college town is the sort of place where an ordinary day can hide a murder.
Where to see it: Abe's arrival. He joins the faculty at Braylin College and begins to catch the eye of Rita and Jill.
Sean Baker · 2015
Baker shoots on real Hollywood street corners, in a real donut shop, a car wash and a motel. None of it looks like a movie set. The city feels dusty, loud and lived in, which is how the people in the film see it.
Where to see it: The car wash scene. Razmik and Alexandra meet inside a working car wash, and the soapy, noisy space gives the meeting a private but public feeling.
Makoto Shinkai · 2019
The film uses real places in Tokyo. The abandoned Yoyogi Kaikan building inspired the rooftop shrine, and the Docomo Tower is the kind of landmark that shows up across Shinkai's films. The building was torn down in January 2020, so the film also keeps a place that is gone.
Where to see it: The abandoned rooftop shrine. Hina takes Hodaka to a building where she shows him that she can clear the sky by praying.
Sofia Coppola · 2020
The stakeout runs through real Manhattan streets, where Felix's vintage car looks out of place among cabs. The city's speed and noise are the world Felix cuts through with charm. The setting also shows how small Laura's life has become.
Where to see it: The chase through the city. After Dean leaves in a cab with Fiona, Felix speeds after them through the streets.
Chloé Zhao · 2021
Zhao was given freedom to use more locations and natural lighting than earlier Marvel films. The film shot at Pinewood Studios and on location in England and the Canary Islands. The real landscapes make superhero fights feel like they happen in the world instead of a studio.
Where to see it: Location shoot: the production filmed in England and the Canary Islands in 2019 and 2020. The real settings stand in for the many places and ages the Eternals have lived through.
Sam Mendes · 2022
The film was shot in Margate on the north coast of Kent, with the Dreamland Margate cinema building remodeled and renamed for the production. The tired seaside setting, with its beach and rooftops, shapes the mood of the story.
Where to see it: The New Year's Eve fireworks: Hilary and Stephen watch fireworks from the cinema roof, and she impulsively kisses him.
Richard Linklater · 2024
The film was shot in New Orleans in autumn 2022, and the city's sticky, strange feel suits a story about people pretending to be someone else. Offices, bars and apartments feel lived in, so the lies feel like they could really happen.
Where to see it: The nightclub confrontation: Gary and Madison leave a nightclub and run into her husband Ray, and Gary pulls a gun to back him off.
Lee Isaac Chung · 2024
The film shifts to Oklahoma, where storms define daily life. Small towns, farms and a rodeo give the story its mood, and the weather feels like part of the place. A farmers market set in El Reno was destroyed by a real storm during the shoot and had to be rebuilt.
Where to see it: The Oklahoma stops. Kate and Tyler bond at a rodeo in Stillwater, then shelter from a tornado in a motel pool.
Darren Aronofsky · 2025
The story is set in 1998 and filmed in New York City, including the Lower East Side where Hank lives. The bars and streets set the mood before anyone speaks. The city feels messy and lived in.
Where to see it: Paul's Bar. Hank and Detective Roman search the bar, and a gunfight leaves several people dead.
Edward Berger · 2025
Macau and Hong Kong are part of the cast. Casinos, hotels and temples set the mood, and one review of the film called Macau memorably opulent. The setting looks glamorous and also keeps closing in on Reilly.
Where to see it: Macau casinos: principal photography ran in Macau and Hong Kong from 26 June to 25 August 2024. Reilly moves between luxury hotels and opulent casinos.
Questions