Best place to study Cinematography

[Rajan Banjara]

Best Place to Study Cinematography?

Hey everyone,

I'm really passionate about cinematography and already enrolled in 1 year diploma in the same field but I am looking to pursue a formal education in the field. I'm trying to figure out the best place to study and what factors I should consider when choosing a school.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on:

• Location: Are there certain countries or regions known for strong cinematography programs?
• School reputation: Do specific schools have a reputation for producing great cinematographers?
• Curriculum: What kind of curriculum should I look for? Should I prioritize practical experience or theoretical knowledge?
• Industry connections: How important are industry connections for a cinematography student?
• Other factors: Any other advice on choosing a cinematography school?

I'd love to hear from experienced cinematographers about your experiences and recommendations. Thanks in advance!

[Albion Hockney]

Practical experience above all. The biggest thing you get from school is a network of ambitious filmmakers that you can work on projects with. Often people leave school and just start working on set to gain experience. 

Reputation does matter to an extent, but saying "I graduated from so and so school" is not going to get you work. Your reel and your connections get you work

If you want to be in the business I'd go to school in LA or New York. In Europe probably London

[Rajan Banjara]

Are their other option in Europe like Sweden, Belgium etc where life is also good

[Brian Drysdale]

You should be aware that you may be able to study in Europe, but being able to stay and work there after you've finished could prove difficult unless you're an EU citizen.

[Rajan Banjara]

As my country does not use cinematography that much and i am always fascinated by the moving through cinematography, Please help me shape my career as In my country no one is there to help or guide please. I just want to go country with good cinema culture and work their. To some extend I donot care about high salary, It is my dream so Please help me

[Rajan Banjara]

7 hours ago, Brian Drysdale said:

You should be aware that you may be able to study in Europe, but being able to stay and work there after you've finished could prove difficult unless you're an EU citizen.

As my country does not use cinematography that much and i am always fascinated by the moving through cinematography, Please help me shape my career as In my country no one is there to help or guide please. I just want to go country with good cinema culture and work their. To some extend I donot care about high salary, It is my dream so Please help me

[Rajan Banjara]

On 7/29/2024 at 11:30 PM, Albion Hockney said:

Practical experience above all. The biggest thing you get from school is a network of ambitious filmmakers that you can work on projects with. Often people leave school and just start working on set to gain experience. 

Reputation does matter to an extent, but saying "I graduated from so and so school" is not going to get you work. Your reel and your connections get you work

If you want to be in the business I'd go to school in LA or New York. In Europe probably London

As my country does not use cinematography that much and i am always fascinated by the moving through cinematography, Please help me shape my career as In my country no one is there to help or guide please. I just want to go country with good cinema culture and work their. To some extend I donot care about high salary, It is my dream so Please help me

[Brian Drysdale]

There appears to be a film industry in Nepal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Nepal

https://film.gov.np/

https://www.nepaldatabase.com/film-industry-of-nepal

You're more likely to get into a European film school if you plan to go back to Nepal to build up the industry there.

 

 

[Rajan Banjara]

41 minutes ago, Brian Drysdale said:

There appears to be a film industry in Nepal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Nepal

https://film.gov.np/

https://www.nepaldatabase.com/film-industry-of-nepal

You're more likely to get into a European film school if you plan to go back to Nepal to build up the industry there.

 

 

Yes,  but after getting good knowledge and experience in Europe as Our cinema lacks quality cinematography knowledge and equipments as well as integration into the storytelling

[Brian Drysdale]

You will need to investigate obtaining a work visa if you wish to work in Europe. There's a lot of competition getting work in the film industry. A student visa is simpler to obtain, although, you may be allowed to work for a couple of years after graduation. This is something you will need to investigate.

[Tyler Purcell]

If you want to be a professional DP,  you need to practice your craft. Going to school, is not going to help you much at all. I had spent a decade shooting films and studying before I even went to school and I only got a degree,  because I knew if the film industry thing didn't work out, I'd need something else. 

So from my perspective, you can learn a lot online and reading books at home. You don't need much to practice, some sort of basic cinema camera like BMPCC4k and some LED lights. You should be able to acquire them used from your region somewhere. One book I recommend is "Cinematography: Theory and practice for DP's and Directors" It's important to know what Directors are looking for as well, how to interface with them and how to achieve what they are after. 

Once you've practiced, then you need to start getting work as a camera assistant on real productions and learn how to work on a film set. This skill is extremely important and even if you do this only on a few shows, you will probably learn more on set watching how things are done, than you can learn in school. 

Then, once you feel satisfied, you can come to the US and do a few masters courses. The ASC puts them on and they're kind of expensive, but the masters courses will take you through a lot of tips and tricks from top DP's in the industry which can help you fill in some of the holes, especially with lighting.  I'm not sure if there are any similar classes in the EU, but maybe someone will chime in about that. I know here in Hollywood, they're done on a more consistent schedule. 

During all of this, you should be hanging out with other people who are interested in this business. Maybe make a friend who wants to direct stuff and join forces to put your skills to use. Book learning and experimenting at home is fine, but you must be actually practicing under the gun on a real production. To me, even if the quality of the acting isn't great, even if nobody is going to see it, I feel that hands on experience will help considerably.  

[Brian Drysdale]

I gather the issue is that he lives in Nepal, which has a very small industry. I suspect the difficulty may be that getting the experience on film sets could be a problem. Certainly, a small group of like-minded people starting out can make worthwhile films, which can allow you to get on the career ladder.

[Albion Hockney]

 

14 hours ago, Rajan Banjara said:

Are their other option in Europe like Sweden, Belgium etc where life is also good

I'm sure there are film schools and industries in almost all European countries.  London is the center of film production in europe though so there will be more work there and more filmmakers to meet. If you can find a school in Scandinavia or other smaller country that works too—but there will be a smaller film culture there. Look at the recent alumni of the schools you like and see if there are DP's coming out of those schools that are working professionally

[Rajan Banjara]

7 hours ago, Tyler Purcell said:

If you want to be a professional DP,  you need to practice your craft. Going to school, is not going to help you much at all. I had spent a decade shooting films and studying before I even went to school and I only got a degree,  because I knew if the film industry thing didn't work out, I'd need something else. 

So from my perspective, you can learn a lot online and reading books at home. You don't need much to practice, some sort of basic cinema camera like BMPCC4k and some LED lights. You should be able to acquire them used from your region somewhere. One book I recommend is "Cinematography: Theory and practice for DP's and Directors" It's important to know what Directors are looking for as well, how to interface with them and how to achieve what they are after. 

Once you've practiced, then you need to start getting work as a camera assistant on real productions and learn how to work on a film set. This skill is extremely important and even if you do this only on a few shows, you will probably learn more on set watching how things are done, than you can learn in school. 

Then, once you feel satisfied, you can come to the US and do a few masters courses. The ASC puts them on and they're kind of expensive, but the masters courses will take you through a lot of tips and tricks from top DP's in the industry which can help you fill in some of the holes, especially with lighting.  I'm not sure if there are any similar classes in the EU, but maybe someone will chime in about that. I know here in Hollywood, they're done on a more consistent schedule. 

During all of this, you should be hanging out with other people who are interested in this business. Maybe make a friend who wants to direct stuff and join forces to put your skills to use. Book learning and experimenting at home is fine, but you must be actually practicing under the gun on a real production. To me, even if the quality of the acting isn't great, even if nobody is going to see it, I feel that hands on experience will help considerably.  

Thank you so much for such a wonderful advice. Currently I am doing 1 year diploma in cinematography in my own country where I am getting access to cameras, set and bunch of lighting.  Here we have acting, direction and editing departments as well so I can combine with them and make short movies with them. So I mean to say is I want to complete this course here and learn basic about lighting and camera here in my country and after that go to other country to master it and work in  projects where essence of cinematography is used.

[Rajan Banjara]

5 hours ago, Albion Hockney said:

 

I'm sure there are film schools and industries in almost all European countries.  London is the center of film production in europe though so there will be more work there and more filmmakers to meet. If you can find a school in Scandinavia or other smaller country that works too—but there will be a smaller film culture there. Look at the recent alumni of the schools you like and see if there are DP's coming out of those schools that are working professionally

Yeah but UK and USA's Film schools are pretty expensive for middleclass student like me so I wanted to try Europe where education is little cheaper I guess

[Rajan Banjara]

5 hours ago, Brian Drysdale said:

I gather the issue is that he lives in Nepal, which has a very small industry. I suspect the difficulty may be that getting the experience on film sets could be a problem. Certainly, a small group of like-minded people starting out can make worthwhile films, which can allow you to get on the career ladder.

What I have found from 3 months of my 1 Year of Diploma in cinematography here in Nepal is We even do not use the proper lighting setups and camera movements. Here they are done without putting any meaning and mood to the scene so Learning here will be extremely hard.

[Rajan Banjara]

7 hours ago, Brian Drysdale said:

You will need to investigate obtaining a work visa if you wish to work in Europe. There's a lot of competition getting work in the film industry. A student visa is simpler to obtain, although, you may be allowed to work for a couple of years after graduation. This is something you will need to investigate.

Yeah, I am doing research. Contract based jobs will not help So I have to find proper job in production houses

[Brian Drysdale]

Unfortunately, if you're talking about drama and feature film type work, cinematography tends to be freelance, and production companies (except for some core people), only employ staff on a per production basis. There are companies that do other types of work who employ on a full time basis, e.g. facility houses.

If you plan to go to film school, they usually require a portfolio of material that you've done. From the sounds of it, you may need to do this outside of your course. As Tyler says, reading books on your own is a good starting point, there are also websites that cinematographers discuss their work.

[Rajan Banjara]

9 hours ago, Brian Drysdale said:

Unfortunately, if you're talking about drama and feature film type work, cinematography tends to be freelance, and production companies (except for some core people), only employ staff on a per production basis. There are companies that do other types of work who employ on a full time basis, e.g. facility houses.

If you plan to go to film school, they usually require a portfolio of material that you've done. From the sounds of it, you may need to do this outside of your course. As Tyler says, reading books on your own is a good starting point, there are also websites that cinematographers discuss their work.

Ok, Thank you so much for your advice

[Tyler Purcell]

15 hours ago, Rajan Banjara said:

So I mean to say is I want to complete this course here and learn basic about lighting and camera here in my country and after that go to other country to master it and work in  projects where essence of cinematography is used.

It's going to be hard to "master" cinematography in another country, especially these days. The industry is in a virtual nose dive and for every one of you, there are 20 - 50,000 others who have 20 - 30 years of experience, dying to get any paying jobs right now. It's a very rough time to get into the professional industry, which is why I suggested finding a group in your home country who you could work with. There are plenty of people, you just need to find them. Moving to a hub of cinema like London or Hollywood, will not garnish you any work right now, degree or not. Your CV (Resume) doesn't mean much anymore, it's all about who you know and getting jobs is really based on nepotism in this industry. So if you're coming in without any decent IMDB profile and reel to prove your work, there is very little way you can flourish. Covid had ramped up production, but we are in a production slump right now and there are too many high caliber DP's needing to fill their year out, I don't know if you'd ever get traction unless you had already made some incredible piece for some high profile company. This is why I continue to say; stay put. Ride out this wave for a few years, get your experience points where you live. Build that demo reel and then hopefully in a few years, when you back up your experience with some decent cinematography, you can move to a bigger pond. 

[Rajan Banjara]

9 hours ago, Tyler Purcell said:

It's going to be hard to "master" cinematography in another country, especially these days. The industry is in a virtual nose dive and for every one of you, there are 20 - 50,000 others who have 20 - 30 years of experience, dying to get any paying jobs right now. It's a very rough time to get into the professional industry, which is why I suggested finding a group in your home country who you could work with. There are plenty of people, you just need to find them. Moving to a hub of cinema like London or Hollywood, will not garnish you any work right now, degree or not. Your CV (Resume) doesn't mean much anymore, it's all about who you know and getting jobs is really based on nepotism in this industry. So if you're coming in without any decent IMDB profile and reel to prove your work, there is very little way you can flourish. Covid had ramped up production, but we are in a production slump right now and there are too many high caliber DP's needing to fill their year out, I don't know if you'd ever get traction unless you had already made some incredible piece for some high profile company. This is why I continue to say; stay put. Ride out this wave for a few years, get your experience points where you live. Build that demo reel and then hopefully in a few years, when you back up your experience with some decent cinematography, you can move to a bigger pond. 

Well said. Thank you for your good advice.

[Doyle Smith]

On 7/31/2024 at 8:06 PM, Rajan Banjara said:

What I have found from 3 months of my 1 Year of Diploma in cinematography here in Nepal is We even do not use the proper lighting setups and camera movements. Here they are done without putting any meaning and mood to the scene so Learning here will be extremely hard.

If you have an assignment or project where you are the DP, consult with the director for his/her interpretation of the material. Try to glean the screenwriters intent or context of the story. Discuss this with the director so you are on the same page and speaking the same creative vocabulary.

Use your own resourcefulness to put "meaning and mood" to the piece. You will not likely have access to much professional equipment so improvise (showcard, beadboard, white sheet, batten strips, etc.). Also understand cinematic lighting success is also a product of make-up, costumes, set colors and design, and actor blocking as it is of lighting instruments.

A friend of man worked on remake of The Postman Rings Twice. He said the electricians were a little confounded by how few lights Sven Nykvist used. I always went by the philosophy that every single light I set, usually required more production time (sandbags, cutters, chasing reflections, unwanted shadows, cabling, and rigging) so I carefully considered whether it was needed or not.

 

[Brian Drysdale]

An example of this is what Nestor Almendros did on Days of Heaven:

https://theasc.com/articles/photographing-days-of-heaven

[Rajan Banjara]

20 hours ago, Doyle Smith said:

If you have an assignment or project where you are the DP, consult with the director for his/her interpretation of the material. Try to glean the screenwriters intent or context of the story. Discuss this with the director so you are on the same page and speaking the same creative vocabulary.

Use your own resourcefulness to put "meaning and mood" to the piece. You will not likely have access to much professional equipment so improvise (showcard, beadboard, white sheet, batten strips, etc.). Also understand cinematic lighting success is also a product of make-up, costumes, set colors and design, and actor blocking as it is of lighting instruments.

A friend of man worked on remake of The Postman Rings Twice. He said the electricians were a little confounded by how few lights Sven Nykvist used. I always went by the philosophy that every single light I set, usually required more production time (sandbags, cutters, chasing reflections, unwanted shadows, cabling, and rigging) so I carefully considered whether it was needed or not.

 

Ok Thank you

[Rajan Banjara]

17 hours ago, Brian Drysdale said:

An example of this is what Nestor Almendros did on Days of Heaven:

https://theasc.com/articles/photographing-days-of-heaven

Thanks