Gordon Willis: The "Prince of Shadows" and the Maestro of Taste

What do Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" and Woody Allen's "Manhattan" have in common apart from being iconic classics of the 70s cinema? Another shared element lies in the presence of the same cinematographer, Gordon Willis. Despite Gordon Willis passing away in 2014 and stepping away from cinematography since 1997, his talent and creative prowess remain topics of vigorous discussion within the industry.

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the American Society of Cinematographers (A.S.C) in 2019, its members voted for the top 100 cinematographic milestones of the 20th century. Gordon Willis listed five of his works, making him one of the most frequently referenced cinematographers.

Michael Chapman, who operated the camera for four years under Gordon Willis ("Raging Bull"), once stated, "American film cinematography is divided into two eras: before Willis and after Willis." This influential figure significantly impacted Hollywood's cinematographic aesthetics but remained overlooked by the Academy throughout his lifetime, never receiving an Oscar for Best Cinematography.

Just like the division between the East and West Coasts of the United States, Gordon Willis, a long-time East Coast resident, never intended to cater to Hollywood on the West Coast. Confronted with displeasure and tantrums from studios, Willis often shrugged it off, as the films usually turned into blockbuster successes, proving him right.

The East Coast Rule Breaker

As the late 1960s heralded the arrival of New Hollywood, a fresh wave in the film industry emerged. What made New Hollywood new? Apart from being influenced by European New Wave cinema, it introduced actual location shoots and liberated the camera, with a group of graduates from the New York Film Academy on the East Coast causing quite a stir when they entered Hollywood's established studios.

Gordon Willis, hailing from the East Coast, wasn't a young newcomer when he became the leading cinematographer. During the Korean War, he served in the U.S. Air Force and studied filmmaking in the film division for four years. Subsequently, he entered the New York film fraternity through a friend's introduction, starting as an assistant cinematographer and gradually rising to the role of the leading cinematographer after 13 years. His numerous experiences in commercials and documentaries established Willis's central creative principle: the art of subtraction. He was a minimalist at heart, always contemplating frames in the most straightforward manner possible. This method of contemplation, often pinpointing the essence, directed the narrative and atmosphere while other elements retreated. In 1969, armed with this approach, Gordon became a cinematographer, and his visuals became shockwaves, challenging film norms.

When shooting "The Godfather" in 1971, Willis obscured the characters' facial features with many shadows, rendering Marlon Brando's eyes invisible in 90% of the frames. During the golden age of classic Hollywood, studios believed audiences came to see stars; a star's face guaranteed box office returns, so they illuminated it with bright lights and emphasized softness. However, this dark and brooding film grossed a staggering $81.5 million in its initial run, 14 times its production and promotional costs.

Willis's artistic intuition impressed Woody Allen as well. While filming "Annie Hall," he taught Woody Allen's actors the incredible effects of actions outside the frame. Characters entering and exiting the structure while their voices remained within it created a romantic ambiance. Through this lens, Willis effectively translated many of Woody Allen's somewhat theatrical ideas into appropriate expressions. Willis was a cinematographer who focused on the bigger picture; he painted with the camera. Adjusting the light here and reducing shades there, what he did was no different from the painters of the Renaissance.

Profound Shadows and Elegant Monochrome

Gordon Willis defined the look of 1970s cinema and how audiences engaged with it. This might sound exaggerated, but many of his shooting techniques have been considered exemplary and are still in use by subsequent cinematographers.

During "The Godfather" series, Willis used top lighting to create deep eye sockets on Vito Corleone's face, accounting for the character's mysterious and complex nature and makeup considerations. This natural choice for a character eventually led to the entire film's approach to character photography. Observant viewers would notice how Michael, Vito's son, transitioned from initially well-lit scenes to constant half-shadowing, eventually ending up in complete shadows after becoming the new godfather, externalizing the character's emotional journey. The same applies to other characters in the film.

This atmospheric shadow was achieved using low-key, high-contrast cinematography. It was an extremely challenging technique to master. The black in the shadows wasn't mere black but needed layers. A single frame comprises light and dark layers, contrasts of reality, and relationships between color tones and light and dark areas. If one needed to understand the intricacies, using low-light photography and underexposed film would be a dead-end street.

Willis transformed underexposure into art, earning him the "Prince of Shadows." However, Willis himself disagreed. He was interested in "visual relativity," the transition from dark to light. He didn't just show you the oppressive aspects within the shadows; simultaneously, he made you feel the brightness of the Corleone family's wedding.

In "The Godfather 2," when narrating Vito's younger days, Willis chose to shoot before the sun dipped and emitted a golden glow during twilight, imparting a warm amber hue to the frames. Subsequently, this "Magic Hour" became rampant. Any story set before World War II boasted similar tonalities. However, Willis didn't believe in equations or formulas that could be universally applied. No film wins merely because of its visual perspective. Art direction, costumes, lens structures, lighting coordination, and filters had to be precise for a single frame to be correct.

Therefore, when he depicted the vibrancy and solitude, beauty, and elegance of New York in black and white in "Manhattan," you'd understand that there wasn't a single term to summarize Willis's cinematographic style succinctly. A simple panoramic composition and the action of a character turning on a light extended the depth of vertical space, even hinting at the starkly different personalities of Isaac and Mary.

In a scene at an observatory, the minimalist use of black and white and clean staging conveyed ambiguous affection between two individuals, remarkably romantic. Not seeing speaks louder to the audience than seeing. Roger Ebert praised this romance, saying it seemed like "they were strolling among the stars, even the moon." Below is one of the most romantic frames in the history of cinema. Willis and Woody Allen and the entire crew waited until 5 am on the Manhattan Bridge as the streetlights dimmed and the dawn approached, capturing the overlooked elegance in black and white imagery.

Gordon Willis stated that his job wasn't to reshape reality but to present it. From 1971 to 1977, Gordon Willis was a cinematographer in seven films that accumulated 39 Oscar nominations, winning 19 awards. However, he has yet to receive a nomination for a cinematography Oscar personally. It wasn't until "Zelig" and "The Godfather 3" that he received nominations, yet he still missed out. The Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009 presented to Gordon Willis could be seen as a belated acknowledgment.

In his lifetime, Gordon Willis directed 34 feature films, collaborating extensively with Francis Ford Coppola, Woody Allen, and Alan J. Pakula. His cinematography was minimalistic and detailed and possessed a painterly quality, coupled with his exceptional artistic intuition, which not only continued the classical aesthetic but surpassed it.