Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/the-godfather-citizen-kane-son-of-saul-and-the-philosophy-behind-cinematography-5400201.html
One of my favourite anecdotes about cinematography comes from Francis Ford Coppola’s DVD commentary track of The Godfather. He says that they decided to be very “classical” about how the film was going to be shot, the camera always about four-and-a-half feet off the ground. “It never was looking up at anyone or looking down, unless [say] the guy was on the street and you had to look down.” This principle is violated in the scene where Don Corleone is shot after buying oranges (see clip below) — there’s a high-angle shot that shows the Don falling, and the fruit scattering on the street. Gordon Willis, the cinematographer, was upset. He asked Coppola, “Whose point of view is it?” Coppola said, “I don’t know. It’s my point of view.”
Willis was a purist. If the camera showed something, it was through someone’s eyes – and who could be standing by the first-floor window in a nearby building, to justify that particular angle of the Don being shot? It’s a valid approach to cinematography, and every cinematographer has his/her philosophies. Karan Johar – for instance — once told me what he learnt from Ravi K Chandran, that your trolley should move only when your character is moving or his or her thoughts are moving. But finally, it’s the director’s point of view that matters, and if everyone had been a purist like Willis (again, not a bad thing!), we’d never have had some of the low-angle shots in Citizen Kane. For who could have been crouching on the floor between the characters played by Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten in order to justify the shot that captures not just the looming men, but also the ceiling above them?
Continued at the link above.
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Baradwaj Rangan 
Madan
October 18, 2018
Wonderful article, loved reading it.
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ramitbajaj01
October 18, 2018
How interesting!
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Sutheesh Kumar
October 19, 2018
I think Birdman used a similar technique.
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chronophlogiston
October 21, 2018
I still can’t get over the fact that Gordon Willis never won an Oscar. He created fantastic atmosphere in Alan J. Pakula’s conspiracy thrillers and then did some beautiful B&W work in a couple of Woody Allen classics like Stardust Memories and Purple Rose of Cairo.
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MANK
October 22, 2018
Hard to believe that Gordon Willis was not even nominated for any of his great 70s work, not even All the president’s men which I think is his best. Since he was a purist, he had his limitations. He couldn’t shoot something like apocalypse now, for which Coppola wisely chose vitario storaro
Speaking of strange camera angles, Hitchcock films used to have a lot of them . Remember a shot from Marnie, where Marnie shoots and kills her horse, it’s shot from a very strange angle
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TheManWithTwonames
November 2, 2018
Watched various vetri interviews over the last few days and he really seems to have regrets over the final product, stating over the lack of finesse in various portions. He has been working right till the release date, and would have worked on things like the background score, editing, and everything else given more time. It is quite understandable that they decided to release it now, given the competition for theatres. Maybe he should take some time and rejig a few things again, and give a 4 hour extended release. Is the lack of a proper Hollywood like pre-production culture hurting his films? I feel he should delegate the writing part of a film to someone else, and concentrate purely on directing.
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