Movies - TV
Martin Scorsese Reveals What Has Always Been His Weak Point In Directing
By ANDREW HOUSMAN
While it’s hard to imagine the masterful Martin Scorsese being weak in any aspect of filmmaking, he revealed in a 2007 interview that lighting was something that he still needed help with. The director explained, “I don't quite know how to express emotion, to bring out the psychological aspects of a character, with lighting.”
As a film student and a director starting out his career in independent, low-budget films, Scorsese admitted that he didn’t quite understand studio lighting because “we had no studios.” The light he used in his early films was the “natural light, [...] bounced light, indirect light” of New York City.
However, the lack of a studio budget and fancy equipment helped Scorsese and his colleagues experiment with unconventional filming techniques to create art. In “Taxi Driver,” for example, Scorsese worked with director of photography Michael Chapman to use New York’s streetlights to give the film its gritty, realistic feel.