The Crime of Impersonating a Cinematographer

[Mike Lary]

Feel bad if you put "ASC" after your name when you are not in the ASC, not this.

 

I like that distinction. There wouldn't be a need to make a distinction between the elite in a given field if everyone had to meet the same measure to validate the job title.

[Karel Bata]

" I understand totally about feeling like an imposter."

 

I know that feeling too. Reminds me of Richard Eyre (though he's a director) saying he often feels he's just covering up his incompetence and is relieved when anything is received well: "Phew! I Managed to fool them again."

 

Also something Billy Williams said to me about how if you stop worrying about how the rushes are going to look then it's time to give up. :D

 

I think I'm saying that if you ever feel totally comfortable, then that means you've stopped learning, which means your work is no longer interesting. So, er, don't worry about it.

[Thom Stitt]

Thought I'd throw in a word here, as I've felt the exact same way. A union DP/Cinematographer on a major film with a long career, and a fresh-out-of-film-school DP on a no-budget indie both deserve their credit. But being closer to the latter, it can be easy to feel like you're some kind of imposter.

 

Here's what I eventually realized:

If it's what you do, then it's what you are.

If you happen to be proud of your work, then all the better. I know that "imposter" feeling, because there was never a moment where someone grabbed my hand and said "welcome to the club, kid. Yer a CINEMATOGRAPHA now!" I can imagine how joining a society like the ASC could be a kind of magical career-defining moment, but most of us just keep doing our tiny little indies and shorts. there's no "landing". You just find yourself on set one day, wondering how in the hell you're going to hide lights to make this shot work, and you're a director of photography.

 

I don't consider myself a DP anymore, I only consider myself one when I'm actually on set doing it (or in prep/post), because I do it so rarely these days. It's not my regular job. But cinematography will always be something of an obsession of mine.

 

And I cherish the thought that even Roger Deakins has looked at a location and wondered "how the hell are we going to hide lights to make this shot work?". Between the 'imposters' and the masters, we are more in common than we are disparate.

[Satsuki Murashige]

A cinematographer is anyone that has captured a moving image with a camera. A director of photography is anyone that has directed the photography of a motion picture. Simple as that.

Good definition Karl!

 

Feel bad if you put "ASC" after your name when you are not in the ASC, not this.

Yikes! I sometimes pull focus for a young DP whose gaffer likes to write "ASC" after the DP's name on the slate when I'm not looking. They both think it's hilarious. It just makes me cringe.