At first, I was finding it quite difficult to choose a director/cinematographer to research and write about. A lot of the famous and more recognized directors of photography had a whole repertoire I hadn’t seen or heard of, and the ones whose work I had seen just didn’t interest me enough to write something with any convincing attempt of enthusiasm. It was only when I was on yet another break procrastinating from writing this post, that an advert for Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory made my decision for me.
Pete Kozachik is a cinematographer better known for his visual effects work on Starship Troopers (1997), Innerspace (1987) and Howard the Duck (1986.) However I have seen none of these and was much more interested in his cinematography work for Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride (2005) and The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993.) He also worked on James and the Giant Peach (1996) which I felt I should also mention, not only because it demonstrates his cinematographic style, but because I had it on DVD when I was younger, and watched it approximately 300 times despite it really creeping me out. Same goes for his work on Henry Selick’s Coraline (2009) which I still do not enjoy watching by myself but is simultaneously one of my favourite films.
For example, take this scene from Coraline (2009), the colour palette is warm and therefore supposedly more cosy and inviting, the ‘other’ father is smiling while the ‘other’ mother is holding a gift, and yet the shot is still so creepy and unsettling. The lighting placement here is very clever in my opinion. It is set up so that the parents are mainly lit by the candles on the table as well as an overhead light. The organic movement of the candle light highlights the button eyes whenever it glints against them, as well as lighting their faces in a way that is subtle, but is still a salute to the classic horror trope of a face lit by a candle. In the background, two spotlights are put on the skulls hanging on the wall. To me, the horns on them suggests a link to imagery of the devil, which makes sense if you then notice that the candelabra looks similar to a three pronged pitchfork often linked with the devil also. This is another way the chilling and dark tension is communicated in this scene, which I think is so clever in the way it is what is highlighted yet still subliminal to a viewer. The most obvious and effective technique Kozachik has used to unsettle us is by placing the camera as if we the viewer are Coraline. This immediately places you in the scene, and forces you to directly be interacting with the characters. Being stared at by button eyes is not something I should think anyone enjoys, yet you feel so involved and immovable that you can’t help but keep watching.
I think that is what I like most about Kozachik’s work with both Selick and Burton, the execution of horror and fear evoking film through the medium of animation is so genius to me, and in my opinion has not been achieved to a higher standard by anyone other than the collaboration of these three filmmakers. I think Kozachik’s role in the films is somewhat underrated and underappreciated as I could find barely any information about his style and his IMDb page was pretty empty. He has an ability to reflect the style of the director while still complimenting it with his own, as he has managed to give the film’s he’s worked on a sense of continuation and similarity, despite being by different directors and having different plot lines. His work is so effective, intelligent and well executed, and discovering that he worked on a lot of my favourite films has given me a bit of a new appreciation for them.
I would say that I’m now going to re-watch them but that would be a lie, because I don’t fancy having a nightmare about buttons as eyes.
jrwolf 