toby lockerbie

Just want to say thanks for all the advice everyone, lots of food for thought and ideas on what to do and what not to do. It's good to hear the more realistic points of view but also the more positive. The plan is to work hard on getting a better network, finding some short film directors who might want to work with me, possibly shoot a short of my own if I can assemble and spare the time/money etc, all while continuing to do what I normally do. Hopefully getting some more narrative under my belt while still working on other things is doable, if I can keep being flexible, keep working hard and staying positive. Cheers all!

If you do decide to self produce your own shorts to get more narrative experience, just be sure to attach a qualified 1st A.D., upm or coordinator so your experience is the same as it would be if you were hired on a regular production. If that is, you're looking to get "experience" that will help you feel more confident on legit sets. Surround yourself with qualified professionals and that will help ease you into the whole thing while taking the pressure off because you're the boss at the end of the day. It can also get you in front of people who may in turn be able to hire you on their shows.

Thanks Michael, sounds like a good plan if I head that way.

The course is very full time 9 till 6. 4 to 5 days a week.

 

I had to work throughout the course to cover my rent. I was able get edit assistant work and QC work at a soho post house and it was flexible enough to work round my course. I was lucky to be staffed edit assisting the final QC and deliverables on Top Gear - so could work on very long Saturday night shift prior to TX. But i was one of the rare exceptions in that the work I did could be evenings and weekends and I was enough in demand to request flexibility on the hours. Most other students didn't get much part time work in - its very full on.

 

I think the most tired I got was floor running on a series of night shoots for game show in the British Museum and going straight to class after - catching 40 mins sleep on the train to Beaconsfield. (fun times)

 

I felt I was missing out by doing 15-20 hours paid work a week since I couldn't do all the extra curricular side projects or go to all the evening screenings.

 

Its the same on the cinematography course - you have a lot of long shoot days and if you ended up shooting a stop motion animation they can be huge time commitments as well.

That's pretty intense! I didn't really think the full NFTS course would be the right direction for me and I think the above only solidifies that, if I can find some opportunities to work in around current work it sounds like that's the best direction to take.

Side note: love the reel. Though it is a little long.

Thank you! Yes do need to cut that down.

 

 

Oh god! I recognised the name and couldn't work out from where. I think we were both at the BSC show once and I saw your name tag but couldn't work out where I recognised it from!

 

Well if you managed to get Sony to lend you a camera then that is a great start. You could use that kind of ability to help you with equipping for narrative work too! ;)

 

I'm also right here if you need publicity for a project and have a tech angle! :)

 

Freya

Ha ha! Though I haven't been to the BSC show so you were fine there, hopefully there isn't another DP out there with my name doing awesome work!

I stupidly hadn't thought about working with Sony for a short film kit wise, another thing to add to the list, lots of helpful tips here thank you all!

Yes - I'm working film education which works out well, I discovered that I really enjoy teaching and I can still work on side projects.

 

Yeah the Cinematography course at the NFTS is very difficult to get onto. I believe they have applications in the 100's for 6 -8 places. I failed to get on the course twice and third time lucky got onto the TV directing MA. I'd had so much fun working the previous year with the department I thought I'd give it a go and it was an amazing two years. It is more risky now as their fee's are higher. When I went fees were £5k per year and I got a 50% scholarship and maintenance bursary and I still struggled.

 

It did seem to work out well for the DOP's of my graduating year (2009) most of them are doing big budget drama and proper features. So it can open doors.

 

I think in your case you already have a strong reel and it wouldn't take much to get a bit more narrative work in there. I would also try to see lots of short films, go to film festivals and meet filmmakers that way. Creative England sometimes do networking events, I've found them useful to find collaborators.

Glad to hear you're managing education and working at the same time, sounds tricky but rewarding. Good to hear you did get to NFTS, though yes the fees are up a bit now unfortunately, did you manage to find time while on the course to escape some days to do paid work or was it too 'full time' for that? Thanks for the advice on Creative England, will take a look at that and dates for film festivals too.

Hi Freya,

Much appreciated, all constructive advice is certainly taken on board. We've actually spoken before, you interviewed me a few years ago for Red Shark News about a film I made using a camera Sony lent me, small world! As mentioned I'm not just looking to be a feature DP and didn't actually mention features in my question. Rather I'm looking for some tips to get some narrative work and set experience, AJ and Phil's advice pointing me towards shorts seems like the right move to me and it's good to hear more from you about the NFTS and possible opportunities there (though I won't count my chickens!). I'm not going to stop what I'm currently doing but getting some set experience, meeting and working under other DPs, talking to the NFTS to see if I can offer some help will all I think help me on my way to being better at my job.

It does sound like feature work in the UK is a very hard nut to crack and TV not much better so I do greatly appreciate that realism and information. I don't think it will frighten me off aiming for a feature or episodic TV at some point, especially if I can manage other work at the same time, but I can't say I wasn't warned! :)

I think I'm realistic enough to understand I'm not going to be Deakins in 5 years, I'm just looking to be a better cinematographer and this seems the best forum for that for some tips. Hopefully all of us who consider ourselves cinematographers want to do some narrative work and perhaps some only want to do narrative work, I just want to keep being busy, keep getting better and hopefully keep enjoying the journey!

.

Hi Phil (C!),

Thanks for the reply, super helpful and good to hear you're in the UK. Yes it's really drama I'd like more experience of, it does sound like shorts (and finding a good one!) should be the next step to focus on. I've generally assumed that route wouldn't be much of a commercial decision and more of an educational one so pretty set on it not paying much, I wouldn't be able to afford doing that alone.

Really interesting on your NFTS experience, sorry to hear they didn't accept you (I've heard they're massively oversubscribed) but managing to shoot some shorts with them, raid kit and even get paid sounds like you got the best possible outcome! I've looked at the course too but not sure if I could do full time for two years and with the added expense and that's assuming I even got accepted. Definitely interested in the volunteering idea.

Regarding the bulk of your income now, is that in film education? I see you're a course leader for a Film BA at Brighton University.

Thanks for the post Phil, though I thought I was a pessimist! :)

I do of course appreciate your point of view and I've read many of your posts before so always appreciate the time and effort people put into replies, though I do worry a little that as it's a copy and paste by your own admission, it's not as entirely relevant to my situation as I'd hoped. But beggars can't be choosers!

I have been working as a DP and filmmaker for the last five years in sunny London and I also manage to pay my mortgage so I can probably afford to do some low paid work for some helpful experience but I don't think there's any reason for me to solely work as a camera assistant 'full time' for instance and give up on all other work I do.

I was just hoping for some tips on getting some more narrative experience but perhaps I should have clarified further, I'm not saying I only want to shoot features, it's just that in general, cinematography is at it's purest in narrative and if I want to be the best DP I can be I should at least be trying to do some of my work here. So any guidance on my specific situation would be great. Obviously my aim is to DP on some shorts, documentaries, TV and features, but that doesn't mean I don't also want to shoot more commercials or music videos or even live TV, episodic youtube series, social media campaigns, travel films etc. I'm just hoping for a few tips and some possible guidance on how to get a little more set experience in that narrative world. While the state of the features film world in the UK is a little more dire than I expected if I'm to believe the above, I have no doubt that there is still work in the UK in those other types of filming and I wouldn't limit myself to UK only productions.

I'm here looking for advice for my first post so can't complain that I got some but based on my own experience and others I know of, the opportunities for being a DP in the UK aren't quite as astronomically/astronautically impossible if features aren't your only goal. If you've got any more advice about the UK DP industry outside of just the big feature world I'd love to hear it Phil.

Thanks AJ! Really appreciate the time put into that reply, lots of great information there.

Will definitely take it on board and cut a shorter DP only showreel and start actively building up better DP contacts here in the UK in a not too pestering way!

I'll think a little more about doing a short of my own, might not be the best use of my energies if I can get DP work on other shorts or even just crew on other narrative work.

Cheers for the link to David Mullen's advice on representation too, I don't think I'm there yet to approach an agent but will look into representation a bit more for the future.

Thanks again!