Cinematographer - DP

[Krisztian Tolnay]

Hello,

 

This is what I found when I was looking for the definition of Cinematographer and DP.

 

Cinematographer

The cinematographer makes decisions based on the visual aspects of a film - from camera and lens choices to lighting design and film stock decisions.

 

Director of Photography

The cinematography in charge of making the director's idea of a scene a visual reality.

 

Are these positions the same job or different jobs with overlapping duties? I am looking for examples based on real film sets.

 

 

Thanks

Krix

 

P.S. I guess on low budget sets one person does "everything"?

[David Mullen ASC]

They are the same job. The two terms are used interchangeably although people like to get into arguments over what they think the differences are. Smaller films usually have smaller camera departments and often the DP/cinematographer is also the camera operator.

[Guest robtags]

I've heard the term 'lighting cameraman' used to describe the DoP/Cinematographer as well. They are all synonyms.

[Kevin Zanit]

Lighting cameraman is a European term for essentially the same thing. They do have a different system in Europe than in the US.

 

I will let someone from Europe go into details on the two different duties over there. I am not even sure if the system used I am referring to is even in use today.

 

 

Kevin Zanit

[Stuart Brereton]

Over here in the UK, Cameramen were split into Lighting Cameramen and Operating Cameramen. The Lighting Cameraman only concerned themselves with Lighting. All decisions regarding Lens choice, camera position and movement were made by the Operating cameraman, according to the Directors' instructions. Below them were the 1st AC (Focus Puller) and 2nd AC (Clapper/Loader), just as in the American system.

 

These days, many DP's choose to operate themselves. For those that don't, the system now operates much more along the American lines, where the DP is responsible for all aspects of the Camera work. Some DP's choose to give the operator a lot of freedom to deal with the director, some don't.