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Portrait of Gordon Willis

Gordon Willis

(1851–1932) Politician United States

18 quotes in 138 categories

Gordon Willis was a politician from the United States, best known for Advances in Questionnaire Design, Development, Evaluation and Testing.

Quick Facts About Gordon Willis

Born: January 13, 1851
Died: January 1, 1932
Nationality: United States
Profession: Politician
Notable works: Advances in Questionnaire Design, Development, Evaluation and Testing

About Gordon Willis

Gordon Hugh Willis Jr., ASC was an American cinematographer and film director, known for his influential work during the American New Wave of the 1970s, collaborating with directors like Woody Allen and Alan J. Pakula, as well as working with Francis Ford Coppola on the Godfather trilogy.

Biography source: Wikipedia

Quotes by Gordon Willis

Good films are not made by accident, nor is good photography. You can have good things happen, on occasion, by accident that…

Accidents

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I hate when somebody says, "This may not work." You'll never get anywhere with that. I've pushed a lot of people out…

Being afraid

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Complexity is not good. People don't understand the elegance of simplicity.

Beauty

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I don't really like directing. I've had a good relationship with actors, but I can do what I do and back off.…

Actors

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The lack of perfection, that's the hardest quality of all, because you're fighting your instincts. You're trained to want to do things…

Excellence

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A huge problem in movies or with people who work on movies is that two people can look at the same thing…

Huge

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Don't get simple mixed up with simplistic.

Funny

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If you take a sophisticated idea, reduce it to the simplest possible terms so that it’s accessible to everybody, and don’t get…

Engaging

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I don't believe in doing thousands of cuts, then giving it to the editor to make the movie. 'Dump-truck directing' is my…

Believe

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There are a lot of cameramen but not so many photographers. And a lot of cameramen attack from a technical approach without…

Approach

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A cinematographer is a visual psychiatrist - moving an audience through a movie ... making them think the way you want them…

Audience

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I'm a minimalist. I see things in simple ways...It's human nature to define complexity as better. Well, it's not.

Complexity

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Grips and electricians have done more to help me shoot good movies than any other craft.

Crafts

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I wasn't trying to be different; I just did what I liked. Don't misunderstand when I say I really had no particular…

Different

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Zooms are lazy closeups. And too many people hang their hats on video assist; it's a way to avoid too much. Video…

Apartment

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A cinematographer is a visual psychiatrist, moving an audience... making them think the way you want them to think, painting pictures in…

Audience

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I'm a great believer in relativity when making movies. Relativity, in my mind, meaning "Light to dark, big to small, good to…

Believer

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The thing about film is that your eye is selective. Film isn't. You have to make film do what you want. Simply…

Doe

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