Julian Court

Cinematography - Killing Eve

Julian court is a cinematographer from the UK. He grew up in Sussex and began teaching himself two edit from the Sussex University tutorials. This ignited a lifelong love for filmmaking and he began making short films with his friends using a super 8 camera.

In the 80s, he got a job in an Opera House where the actors encouraged him two pursue cinematography. Later on in the 80s, he landed his first job as a runner where he would make tea for the director. He got this job by just knocking on doors and asking around.

After his job as a runner, he became a Clapper for commercials and music videos. He also helped crews of film students who was studying at film schools near him. He attended the Royal College of film art school where he got a master’s degree in directing and cinematography. His graduation film was awarded 23 grand prix awards on the student circuit.

composition techniques

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After this he began his cinematography career by working on more commercials but this time behind the camera. On this job, he learnt a lot about composition from various other directors.

After doing this for many years, he began working on dramas to which he did for many years before he worked on the films and television series that he is most known for. These include Killing Eve, Prime Suspect: The Final Act and The Devils Whore. He won many bafta awards for his cinematography on these television shows and movies.

I feel inspired by his work on killing eve as I think his composition skills are beautifully used to tell the stories of the characters and displays their emotions incredibly well. Everything about this show is aesthetically pleasing which makes it a lot more engaging to watch. I also admire his use of contrast and light in his shots. He understands how to use these to his advantage to bring the director's vision to life.

Symmetry

This still is of villanelle when she briefly became Christian. It shows her in front of a baptismal font in front of a mural of Angel wings. These wings are cleverly placed behind her to show the moment she becomes ‘religious. There is a light that illuminates from the basin of holy water onto her face giving her an angelic glow. Julian court uses symmetry in this scene to make it look aesthetically pleasing and relates back to old religious art which used symmetry to create a strong sense of unity and display how our world is perfect. The arch around villanelle in this scene uses the technique frame within a frame to draw focus and boarder the image. This image is an eye-level shot.

Symmetry

This still from killing eve is a Birds Eye shot using the building structure to frame the subject (villanelle). This screen grab also uses symmetry. This makes the scene more aesthetically pleasing and more captivating to watch.

Rule of thirds

In this image, Julian court uses rule of thirds which is a 3x3 grid applied to a photograph to help compose the image in a way that directs the viewers eye to the main focal point of the scene. This technique utilises empty space by ensuring that your eyes are only drawn to the main subjects. This grid is used by placing the subjects where the lines cross. The reason this technique is used in this scene is because the dialogue is being exchanged by the two main characters which are seen in the shot. The rule of thirds was used to bring attention to the conversation they were having and to emphasise the importance of their interaction.

Fibonacci sequence

Court uses negative space and the Fibonacci sequence (the golden ratio) to compose this shot. The Fibonacci sequence is a pattern used in composition that consists of a spiral known as the Fibonacci sequence which essentially means that's at the centre of this spiral the image is more concentrated. As the spiral winds out, the Image becomes emptier. The spiral shows where your eye travels to first. When using the spiral, the subject is often to the side of the picture. Julian court Makes use of a technique called negative space. This consists of a small portion of the photo with the subject in it with the majority of the image being empty. This technique is used to display loneliness in filmmaking and photography. This paired with the gloomy and cold lighting shows villanelle's emotions in this scene. As you can tell from her facial expression, she is looking morbid and at a loss.

Leading lines

This image depicts a lady in a public swimming pool hall. The hall is empty Apart from the woman who is standing in the centre of the shot. Court cleverly places her in the centre as well as using a technique known as leading lines. Leading lines is a compositional technique that utilises natural and man-made lines to guide the audiences’ eyes to the subject of the image. This tells us that we should be focusing on her. This photograph is also symmetrical which yet again makes the woman the focal point as she is the only thing breaking the symmetry.

Framing

Angles

Dutch Tilt

In this image, Court uses the 'Dutch tilt' angle to exhibit Villanelle's insanity to the audience. She is the main hitman in this show, and is depicted as a sociopath. They also blurred the background to draw the audiences eye to villanelle. Blur may have also been used to depict her insanity as it is reminiscent of a dissociative-like state.

High angle

In this still from the show killing eve, there is a lady (Villanelle) who is shown to be bleeding from her arm. Julian skillfully used an angle looking down on Villanelle to show her moment of weakness as she had been harmed and was rendered defenseless. This image also shows a bit of symmetry due to where she is positioned centrally on the tiling on the floor.

Close up

In this still, caught uses a close up shot of villanelle as she is being baptised. The screenshot is of her face first in the water of the basin. The angle of which this is taken is so that villanelle is eye level with the camera. This mixed with the enclosed walls of the basin creates an intimate feeling between villanelle and the audience as this is an intimate moment in her life. This image also depicts frame within a frame due to the outlines of the basin framing the subjects face.

Low angle

In this shot shown to the left, villanelle is shown in a childish, ballet-esque, pink tulle dress. She is shown looking of to the side of the camera which is looking up at her. this scene is in the first episode, where the viewers are still gaining understanding of who she is as a character. her appearance shows how crazy she is in comparison to the world around her and the angle insinuates that she is strong and powerful, invoking fear into viewers as we feel small and insignificant.