Vittorio Storaro
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Vittorio Storaro (born 24 June 1940 in Rome, Italy) is an Italian cinematographer.
[edit] Biography
The son of a film projectionist, Storaro began studying photography at the age of 11, and went on to formal cinematography studies at the national Italian film school when he was 18. Working as a camera operator for many years, his first film as cinematographer was Giovinezza, Giovinezza (Youthful, Youthful) in 1968.
He has worked with many influential film directors, in particular Bernardo Bertolucci, with whom he has had a long collaboration, as well as Francis Ford Coppola and Warren Beatty.
His credits include The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, The Last Emperor, Apocalypse Now, Reds, Bulworth, The Sheltering Sky, Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Ladyhawke and Tango.
Storaro’s first mainstream American film was Apocalypse Now, directed by Francis Ford Coppola in 1979 for which he won his first Oscar (Academy Award). Coppola gave Storaro free reign on the film's visual look and it is regarded by many critics as one of the most visually spectacular films of all time. He has also received Oscars for Reds (1981) and The Last Emperor (1987).
Storaro is widely regarded as a master cinematographer with a sophisticated philosophy largely inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's theory of colors, which focuses in part on the psychological effects different colors have and the way in which colors influence our perceptions of different situations. He has also attempted to create a new film format, Univisium, albeit with less than overwhelming results thusfar. In 2002, Storaro completed the first in a series of books that attempt to more substantively articulate his philosophy of cinematography.
Storaro is known for stylish, fastidious, and flamboyant personal fashion. Director Francis Ford Coppola once noted that Storaro is the only man he ever knew that could fall off a ladder in a white suit, into the mud, and not get dirty. [citation needed]
[edit] References
- Masters of Light - Conversations with cinematographers (1984) Schaefer, S & Salvato, L., ISBN 0-520-05336-2
- Vittorio Storaro: Writing with Light: Volume 1: The Light (2002) Storaro, V., ISBN 1-931788-03-0
- Writer of Light: The Cinematography of Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC (2000) Zone, R., ISBN 0-935578-18-8
