Ben J

The UK shares one of the same problems as Australia: we speak english. How do you compete with the global marketing of American movies? You can't really. An "industry" supported by tax payers and government will never compete with the US conglomerates. One of the main reasons why countries like Italy, France, China, Germany, and Japan are still able to produce hundreds of movies per year is the fact that people still prefer to see movies in their own language.

Not sure what you want help with?

Check with the school(s). I think in the US it is pretty common to go onto a graduate program and have an unrelated undergraduate degree.

Most universities in Australia offer film degrees but the standard is pretty low. The most well known are - AFTRS - http://www.aftrs.edu.au/ VCA - http://vcam.unimelb.edu.au/ Hard to recommend anything else unless you don't mind working in education.

American Cinematographer magazine.

Look at the course(s) prerequisites. Most of the time you require just an undergraduate degree but it's not always the case.

I've been wondering about this as well. Who is responsible for creating the trailers? Marketing team?

I've been struggling with this kind of situation myself, minus the degree. Phoebe, I think if you look around here long enough (or watch something like Cinematographer Style), you will find that the degree itself won't help you get a job. It's what you've done that counts. Many of my favourite filmmakers haven't gone to film school and have instead come from different backgrounds. The ones that did go to film school usually have come from places like NYU, USC or UCLA and unless you've got the cash to go, forget about it. These places are extremely expensive, especially for an international student. The National Film and TV school (http://www.nftsfilm-tv.ac.uk/) is pretty well known but eventually you will need to move to where the work is. I guess at least the UK and Canada produce around 100 films a year (according to 2008 statistics). Here in Australia it's lucky to be 30 (http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/gtp/acompfilms.html).

You must not have heard of a little TV show called The Sopranos. Not only critically acclaimed but also the most financially successful show on cable. Nearly 12 million people watched the season finale when it originally aired.

Some of my favourite cinematographers have worked mainly in TV. I don't work as a cinematographer (not yet anyway) but I'm guessing there isn't as much freedom when your rotating with 1 or 2 other guys? Watching HBO shows like The Sopranos was one of the reasons why I ever considered this as a career. I love the work of Phil Abraham and Alik Sakharov and also find myself looking up who shot what after watching episodes. I do this with other current shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men and Big Love all the time.

Hello, I am a 22 year old with an interest in cinematography. In high school I seemed to do well in subjects such as photography, art as well as maths and computing so decided to enrol in architecture in university. I thought the combination of the creative with the technical would suit me. I lasted six months before dropping out (due to many reasons which I will leave out for now). I think I would like to work as a cinematographer but unfortunately I live in a country where there is not much of an industry. Approximately 30 movies were made in Australia in 2008. The type of work done here doesn't really interest me and after looking at industry statistics (Screen Australia) it appears making a living here is unlikely. I have been working entry level jobs for the last few years (in retail and at a newspaper) but was laid off last year and have been unemployed since. During this time I have been struggling with making any sort of career related decision. I read American Cinematographer every month and have studied from books recommended here (The 5 C's, Cinematography by Blain Brown). I have absorbed as much as possible. I watch and study about 5 movies a week and also have an interest in TV drama (think HBO, AMC shoes like The Sopranos, The Wire, Breaking Bad). I'm interested in hearing from people who have moved to the US (NY, LA), europe (france, germany, italy, UK) or maybe even Asia and have managed to survive whether you are in college/university or working as a PA or whatever. I've been looking into the costs of US colleges and it seems to average around $50k a year for international students. I unfortunately cannot afford that. I have also looked into some european and asian schools which are cheaper but have the language barrier. AFTRS is a well known film school in Australia but it is on the other side of the country from where I am. If I am going to move I might as well move to where there is work... right? There have been some well known graduates who have come from AFTRS but they seem to go overseas eventually. I have looked into the green card (immigration for the US) and it seems next to impossible to attain. Also I have about 10k in the bank and have no obligations whatsoever. Maybe I should forget it all and take up a trade?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_schools#United_States

Neil Jefferson, ACS

Where in Australia are you?

You don't know any DP's that didn't go to film school? Oh man...

http://www.google.com

When you guys speak of the union, you are referring the International Cinematographers Guild (Local 600) right? So if your not part of any union do you then negotiate rates, health plan, retirement yourself?

I was watching extra features from the movie Network (1976, Sidney Lumet) and cinematographer Owen Roizman was talking about how they all worked only 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. My question is for those working mainly in features and TV drama - is this totally unheard of now? What kind of hours are expected now for a cinematographer working in LA or NY? To my understanding there are union rules enforcing limits. How often are these broken? I understand due to the freelance nature of the work you may only get work for part of a year so you take it when you can. I'm just curious to see what those in the industry have to say.

What a depressing thread.

Things to concerntrate on include physics, landscape biology and culineryy.

Some of my favourites: Christopher Doyle Robert Elswit Roger Deakins Robby Müller Mikhail Krichman Emmanuel Lubezki Phil Abraham

I feel the same way about some of the undergraduate courses I have been looking at here (Curtin, ECU, Murdoch). I would love to do the foundation diploma at AFTRS (which they just introduced) but I'm on the other side of the country.

I only just noticed that. I wonder if it's got anything to do with all the major universities restructuring their undergraduate courses to provide a more liberal arts training (like in the US) with post-graduate training for professions like medicine, law, architecture etc.

Thanks for the response. I noticed you did some work on season 2 of Big Love. I have been watching the latest season trying to apply some of the things I have learnt from reading. In the credits I remember seeing A Camera and B Camera. Your reply provides a great insight.

Hello, I have recently started reading The 5 C's of Cinematography (one of the recommended books from this site). I am reading about filming techniques in the continuity section. It describes how the single camera technique (shoot master scene, then repeat performance for various angles) is best for professional actors and production crews. Is this still the case today? I found an article (http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/?p=91) which implies that the multi camera setup is more common. I know budget and location would certainly be factors. I am thinking of 21st century Hollywood drama and HBO TV. I am getting some American Cinematographer magazines where I'm sure I'll figure it out. I've been lurking here for a while now though and thought it would be time to sign up.