AC profiles the 2000 Emmy Award nominees for Best Cinematography
Television cinematographers are creating ever-bolder imagery by taking higher risks normally associated with TV's much larger counterpart, the silver screen. This year's Emmy nominees pushed the envelope further by testing the limits of film stocks, photographing with darker, more dramatic lighting, and increasing the complexity of their camera movements. These artistic elements, normally reserved for dramas and movies of the week, have found their way into situation comedies, that longtime hotbed of high-key illumination, as evidenced in three of the series nominations.
Whatever the subject matter may be, each nominated cinematographer strove to create a certain mood to present to audiences, and they were granted the freedom to experiment with techniques that would help to accentuate those appropriate moods.
Competition in the field of television cinematography expanded this year with the addition of a new category: Outstanding Cinema-tography for a Multi-Camera Series. At long last, the directors of photography who shoot these shows will now be recognized for their contributions.
AC asked nominees in all three categories to highlight a few aspects of their approach to the nominated productions.
For the noted individual responses on the part of each nominee, please refer to their separate page, provided along with their photo in the picture gallery.