15 Movies That Quietly Revolutionized Cinematography

Hundreds of movies are released every year, but every once in a while, one comes along that revolutionizes cinematography. Sometimes, these exemplary films enact a sea change in cinema at large. Other times, these films' influence is more subtle, but pervasive, planting an artistic seed that takes years or even decades to bloom.

The best moments of cinematography are found in the unlikeliest of places. Movies like "Contact," starring Jodie Foster, involve the search for extraterrestrial life but in a conventional sense. That is until a scene pops up involving such sophisticated camera work and movie magic that it makes your head spin. Let's explore 15 movies that quietly revolutionized cinematography. Some of them may surprise you.

Leave it to Stanley Kubrick to revolutionize cinematography, and film for that matter, over and over again. Case in point: his 1975 film "Barry Lyndon," chronicling the adventures of an Irishman turned rogue. Besides its pastoral beauty and oil painting-like shots, it is the first film to shoot certain scenes entirely by candlelight. This gives the film a remarkable naturalist quality seldom found in movies since.

It may look scrappy and grainy to 21st-century eyes, but 1999's "The Blair Witch Project" introduced an entirely novel approach to filmmaking: found footage. This home video recorder approach influenced countless movies that followed including "Paranormal Activity," "Trollhunter," and "Project X."

While Coen Brothers movies are often beautifully shot and thematically complex even in their visuals, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" utilized digital processing to bring its fairytale qualities to life. Namely, it was the first film to be entirely color-corrected by digital means. This gives "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" its sunkissed, sepia-like tone, which enhances its Greek myth storyline.

To bring the beloved Final Fantasy video game series to life, the crew of "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" used the most advanced processing capabilities of the time. This involved a render farm of 960 workstations to produce 141,964 frames. It took four years to complete. It also gave us the first characters entirely created through motion capture technology.

Much like the previous entry, 2004's "The Polar Express" did not earn the love of critics. Its animation was digital but primitive, resulting in characters that fell into the uncanny valley. Even still, it remains the first film to rely entirely on the motion capture technique to bring it to life. This involves recording actor movements and converting them into computer animation.

Robert Zemeckis' "Contact" succeeded in its exploration of human to extraterrestrial contact. It infuses the often overplayed alien trope with cathartic philosophical musings on the nature of existence. Though a relatively conventional film, "Contact" contains some surprising cinematography tricks. Besides believable CGI, a scene involving a younger version of the main character running into a bathroom still stuns in its seamless mixture of practical and digital effects.

It should come as no surprise that Stanley Kubrick makes this list twice. A legendary filmmaker, he introduced a variety of technological and stylistic innovations to cinema. In his adaptation of Stephen King's "The Shining," Kubrick uses the Steadicam to great effect. It's also the first time a filmmaker used this technology in "low mode," resulting in haunting, hypnotic long shots.

"The Viking" from 1928 is mostly lost to cinematic history. That said, it remains the first feature-length film entirely in color with sound. At the time of its release, "The Viking" quickly became considered the finest use of color film. The production pulled this off using the then state-of-the-art Technicolor dye-transfer process.

It received mixed reviews upon release, but over the years "Apocalypse Now" became considered the greatest war film ever made. It's frightening, absurd, chaotic, and at moments, eerily calm. These vibes are only elevated by its expert cinematography, finding a balance between intimate close-ups and expansive, explosive action shots. Though its production almost killed half the crew, in the end, the struggle only made the film's feeling of war more palpable.

While many films have used sweeping vistas for dramatic effect, the Coen Brothers' "Fargo" mastered the windswept prairie aesthetic. Centered around a tragic murder, the film revolutionized cinematography by making the snow-covered plains of Minnesota a living, breathing character.

You've probably never heard of "Love Me Tonight" from 1932, but it revolutionized a subtle filmmaking process and influenced countless movies that followed. The film was the first to use the zoom lens, which has become a staple of filmmaking for its ability to emphasize feelings, moments, and action.

Many animated movies have come after it, but none can compare to Disney's "Fantasia" from 1940. To create this transcendent, almost psychedelic exploration of music and magic, over 1,000 artists and technicians slaved away for years. It was worth it, however, as no animated film comes close to "Fantasia's" visual and emotional depth.

Even before "Birdman" was made, director Alejandro González Iñárritu wanted the entire film to be a single shot. Doing this practically proved harder than expected, so the production team used some digital effects to stitch shots together. Even still, it's an incredible accomplishment. The film has the remarkable effect of true immersion, enrapturing the audience and taking them along for a wild ride. It also affirms Iñárritu notion that we live our lives with no editing.

Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" found the sweet spot between paranormal high strangeness and blockbuster excitement. It also quietly revolutionized cinema with its use of unearthly lighting and a mixture of practical and CGI effects to accurately depict aliens coming to Earth.

No matter how you slice it, Stephen Spielberg's "Jurassic Park" changed the game. CGI had been used for decades already by the time of its release, but "Jurassic Park" made the digital truly feel real. Be it the palpable movements of a Tyrannosaurus Rex or the horrifying velociraptor scene, this film showed that digital effects could effectively imitate reality.