CInematographers should not be paid... What?

[Matthew W. Phillips]

In my momentary excursion into proffanity there, I discovered by experiment that sustaining members can use that word but others can not. In my case it converted to "an bum".

 

Hilarious.

I had no idea...that is funny actually!

 

Matthew, you were the one complaining about ad hominem attacks, now you're the one making them. I never once criticized you, yet you took it upon yourself to make snide comments about me. If you want a kinder, more diplomatic forum, then start with yourself, because right now you're just a hypocrite.

Fair enough, Stuart. I have become a grouch. I apologize.

[Robin R Probyn]

The forum,part from sometimes being quite funny,is ultimately to learn stuff..and I for one and Im sure just about everyone else here over the years has been caught out saying something thats wrong.. just simply not correct information.. and Ive been alerted to my mistake.. you learn something.. you might have made a bit of fool of yourself but you are the only one who remembers it after a day..

Even David and Stuart etc have been caught out a few times.. its not a big deal.. but some people will just never admit they are wrong.. a million excuses and straight BS flows forth.. yes not the end of the world.. but there are many people coming here for information on all sorts of things.. nothing to do with taste or who's the best dir.. just plain techie stuff.. and duff info for answers just has to be high lighted.. or people can/will really make big mistakes.. when they came here to learn ..

[Landon D. Parks]

Fellas....don't make me come down there!

 

R,

 

Richard, we all know you Canadians are too nice for that... :rolleyes:

[Satsuki Murashige]

So instead of hitting me with a hammer, why don't you educate? I asked the question: "Maybe you know the appropriate term for those people?" and all you did was call my opinion ignorant and dumb.

 

 

From my post immediately preceding yours:

 

Commercial work is not the same thing as fashion work. Totally different field. Ron Dexter and Bill Bennett being obvious examples of commercial DPs. You might want to look them up.

 

Furthermore, here is a list of agencies representing cinematographers who shoot commercials, pulled from a previous thread: http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=21846.

 

You can watch many of their reels by following the links. Additionally, a lot of top ASC cinematographers shoot big commercials between movies. I've worked with Shane Hurlbut and Tobias Schleissler who both shoot large studio features. I worked with David Burr, ACS on a commercial right before he left for Africa to shoot 2nd Unit on 'Mad Max: Fury Road.' I learned a lot in my very brief time working for them. So your contention that there is nothing to be learned from working with commercial DPs does not hold water. I'm sure you'd learn more from these DPs on a feature, but that was not your argument.

 

 

Satsuki, in my youth, I shot quite a few national television commercials. Back then we called that industry "commercial/fashion". I have no idea what people call it today, but that's the term I've always used because that's what the agency I worked for, billed me out as. Unfortunately, I left that industry when I moved to Los Angeles and got into features. So honestly, I have no idea what they call that industry today, 18 years down the road.

 

 

If you've worked in the high-end commercial industry, then you must be aware that there are many different sub-genres: car work, food, table-top, lifestyle, fashion, etc. There are people who only shoot green screen chroma key work, or iPhone and iPad screens. There are folks who only do beauty. There are specialized tools and tricks of the trade for each type of work. There are people who only shoot Easyrig handheld lifestyle work that is functionally no different than documentary, and still others who are basically shooting narrative-style. They are all highly specialized and there are many experts in the field.

 

Again, it's incredibly reductive to boil that all down to 'fashion' because 'all they do is make things pretty.' You're missing out on a great education if you assume it takes no special knowledge to shoot an Apple iPhone commercial to their brand's standard, or a Toyota car commercial, or a Pantene commercial, or a Heineken commercial.

 

 

 

 

 

I think you just assumed I was using "fashion" as a derogatory term to put down Matt's work. Just the opposite, I have high praise for the masters of that art form, but it's an entirely different skill set then; narrative, documentary and industrial, which is my point.

 

How is stating that all someone does is 'make things pretty' anything but derogatory?