Josef Heks

thx for the very helpful reply brian. Personally, I think the choice to start as an amatuer DOP sounds better..it seems like both paths do not really result in a lot of money in the beginning, and at least that path allows you to always be in the creative role you want. And i'd imagine it'd result in u become a better DOP cause youd get much more practice? thx again

Is the only real way to become a DOP to start from the bottom, as a camera assistant or something? Or are there other ways? Which would you recommend? Also, is it possible to learn to be a DOP by starting out using digital as opposed to film? Thanks a lot for your help and opinions

yeh "lost in la mancha' is fantastic..the movie itslef is a "making-of" doco. But the Special Ed has hours and hours of more stuff, its very comprehensive and pretty funny too..if not somewhat scary! Hellboy and King Kong also have heeaaps of special features tho I dont know how much specifically about cinematography. I remember the King Kong production diaries (approx 6 hours of behind the scenes) had a featurette about the cameras as well as one about the film proccesing and colour correction.

great post, thx. I dont mind using real names..except that if ever u look up ur name on Google it sometimes comes up with ur posts.

Hi, Im not experienced with the technical proccesses of filmmaking so I hope this question wont make you laugh too hard at me :) This question has arisen often whilst I have watched many DVD special features (often when they show deleted scenes). I will use an example from the LOTR 4 disc special edition. On the Post-production disc, there is an example of how the editor edited a scene. The viewer can either watch all the raw shots, or the final edited sequence. Why is it that the raw shots are of such poor image qulity (washed out, different aspect ratio, very uncinematic looking)...these "raw" shots also have numbers (timecode?) on them. Then when you see the final sequence, it looks amazing. So I take it this is not just colour correction at work...why do the "raw" shots look so bad? Is it because they are just lo quality dailies? Im stumped, and would love to know why this is so, Thanks

But because the vehicle is swerving everywhere how would they match this to the footage of the background - which would also have to be moving in a corresponding way? Also, if i could just give my 2c about Sin City, without getting eaten! : I thought it was a visually very unique and special film, but I can remember coming out of the film feeling that it lacked much substance as a movie. It was sort of just 3 unrelated episodes with little emotional depth or much to make u think. Well thats how I found it anyway...maybe that was the point of it! :) I liked the photography of the shot in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang when Downey Junior was lying in the street at night at the end.

Hi, I remember seeing that mentioned War of the Worlds shot at the movies and just wondering how on earth they did it. It was good too, cus I thought the continuity of it really made it a more intense scene. I thought later that they might have put the car on a huge trailer then dolleyed around it. But it was a long time since ive seen it and cant remember if that is a feasible answer... did you see the cars wheels moving on the road?