Cinematography

/ˌsɪnəməˈtɑːɡrəfi/

nounIntermediate📊CommonArts
1 meaning2 questions

Definitions

1

The art and technique of motion-picture photography, including camera work, lighting, and film processing.

/ˌsɪnəməˈtɑːɡrəfi/

nounneutralIntermediate
Arts

The art or technique of filmmaking.

The cinematography in that movie was incredible!

💡 Simply: Cinematography is like painting with light and motion! It's all about how the camera and lighting work together to make a movie look amazing.

👶 For kids: It's how they make movies look so cool!

More Examples

2

She studied cinematography at film school.

3

His expertise in cinematography was evident in every shot.

How It's Used

Film Studies

"The film's cinematography was breathtaking, with stunning visuals and innovative camera techniques."

Film Reviews

"Roger Ebert praised the cinematography for its ability to capture the mood of the scene."

From French cinématographie, from cinéma (cinema) + -graphie (writing, recording). The word reflects the art of writing or recording with motion pictures.

The term gained prominence with the development of cinema in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Memory tip

Cine (moving pictures) + matography (writing/recording) = recording moving pictures

Word Origin

Original meaning

"cinema writing"

stunning cinematographybreathtaking cinematographyinnovative cinematography

Common misspellings

cinematograhycinematographyycinematogrophy

Usage

10%Spoken
90%Written