Sherlock Holmes Photography Review

       Philippe Rousselot is French born cinematographer who worked on films such as "Sherlock Holmes" (2009), "Big Fish" (2003), and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (2005). He caught the attention of Hollywood with his work as cinematographer on the John Boorman film "Hope and Glory" (1986). Aside from being known in America he is also celebrated throughout Europe and in native France for many years.
       The Vaugirard film school in Paris is what sparked his interest in photography, which is where he ended up studying at. Some artistic influences for him were paintings of Pierro della Francescsa; the photographic works of Sarah Moon, German Expression; the paintingsof the French 18th century school.Other artistic influences with films would be Sergei Chereau, Fritz Lang, Kenji Mizoguchi, Federico Fellini, and many more. Rousselot has said that his most satisfying moment on a project was "A very simple shot of an actor wearing a brown shirt against a wall that was the same color. In that moment, I realized I could get away with not using any backlight".
        In the film Sherlock Holmes the scene The Gravity of Coming Events was shot between cage bars. Sherlock on one side and Blackwood on the other. These shots were a very interesting technique made by Rousselot.  Another scene like this one was when Sherlock and Watson are in the slaughter house. They are searching for clues and suddenly hear Blackwood's voice. At some point Sherlock has his back up against the wall with a gap in it. Blackwood appears right into the gap next to Holmes. This shot was another good technique made by Rousselot.