Jaap Ruurd Feitsma

 

That's what I want to do. Pretty much down to the last detail.

That's pretty cool! :)

I wonder what your drive is to do it this way? Is it a budget choice or total (creative) freedom or both, etc.? Personally I LOVE sparring with various creatives (including art directors, DP, etc) to combine ideas, really collaborate to get things just right, you know? When I do all of it myself, sort of as a one man band, it is usually because of budget reasons :D

But I think it is really cool to shoot and direct a feature. Would love to hear about the progress. Do you have a blog somewhere or something? :)

What you gain from "control" you risk losing input /idea,s /experience from your Dp, Camera OP.. Editor.. they aren't there just to follow orders .. mostly they know alot more than the director to be blunt.... in the doc world as Dan points out.. its purely to save money.. and will nearly always have a very negative effect on the finished product .. I vote against it :)

Agreed! :)

I'm a DP/Editor/Director. I love the combination of the three jobs for many reasons. I will bring in a producer and I generally like to bring in writers to help as well. My business is more documentary style however, so you're really the only crew outside of an audio guy and a lot of times, I don't even have that. For narrative, I do like to work with assistants, gaffer, grip's, etc. For documentary, I generally only have one assistant who can do everything. Wish I had some demo stuff to show, but sadly I'm a bit low on that right now, but I can post some stuff in the coming days. :)

Would love to see some of your work, Tyler! :) I enjoy doing lots of it myself as well (I also edit, on occasion). But it really depends on the project. I'm doing a commercial soon and will direct and edit it, and possibly shoot it too. It is such a small thing (two internal locations) which I can light creatively on my own and camera movements, etc. are not going to be very complicated :)

Most people who direct and dp at the same time hire a camera operator. It makes it way easier.

True! :)

Are there directors who, if they could spread themselves thin enough, would ideally take over the cinematography as well? Though not a pro I once planned to be, and could never figure out how I could direct without being behind the camera, or be the DP and also direct. I think cinematography is so intimately associated with the creation of a movie that for some directors it must be a frustration. But that's the reality of working in big features, that one person can't do both - in most cases.

There are (some) directors who do this. James Cameron sometimes does, just to name one. It seems it is either a low budget choice, or quite the opposite and when you have hugely impressive track record haha. Interesting though!

I always wanted to be cameraman (back when I saw Jurassic Park, JAWS and Blade Runner as a kid). It is only now, years later, that I am sort of switching more and more towards directing. It mainly has to do with the 'stories' I want to tell, that I could no be telling as a DP/cinematographer. Who knows, perhaps on some of them I can both direct and DP?

As a director I love the collaboration with a Director of Photography, though... Perhaps that's an important thing as well. The thing that makes you most comfortable to shoot.

I've done both jobs on a couple of drama films. How well you can do both jobs depends on the schedule, on one with a very small crew there was less time pressures, although they existed, because the filming was spread out in one week blocks, The other was a short with a full crew, but the time pressures were larger.

 

On the latter, I felt that both jobs were being compromised to a certain extent, with the small crew production the pressures came more from the environment because once the lighting was set, it didn't change too much.

 

You need a good gaffer if doing both jobs.

Hi Brian, would love to watch themes drama films, if possible? :) And I agree, you can definitely do both jobs, but when a project gets complicated e.g. in terms of directing actors and the lighting/cinematography, it can get extremely stressful and it is very easy to get lost in all the things that are happening. When I direct, on some shoots dozens of people are asking me questions that need 'yes' or 'no' answers, and some questions you need to wrap your brain around for a longer period of time. When I'm also DP'ing on such a project, and in charge of the camera and G&E departments, one of the two can ends up getting buried under the other one, more or less. In my case, it is usually a budget thing when I end up doing both, which is kind of sad :P So many things come down to money!

Hey Jaap,

 

I'm Directing/DPing a short in January. It was never the original plan and I wanted to use a DP I've worked with on shorts before. But they're busy and this is such a low budget shoot that I've ended up DPing as well.

This is not a problem for me as I've done it before. From the pre production/storyboarding/shot listing there is not much lighting. There are only a small bit of Interiors and the rest are Exteriors with natural light.

 

I've also DP'd a doc I directed this year. Its not necessarily the way I want to work but it seems to be how its happening at the moment. I think it is just the low budgets haha...

 

I'll happily share the experience if this topic is still hot in January. But that seems unlikely. So you can PM me if you're really interested.

 

Dan

Hi Dan, thanks for your insight :) For me, it is quite similar. Interesting thing is, I see more and more directors DP'ing themselves, and not just on low-budget shoots. For me, it is always better to have a dedicated director and a dedicated DP, but I have done both as well, on occasion (mainly for some small TV/online commercials, etc, that still had to look 'filmic'.

Hi everyone,

I am just wondering if there are any people out there who are both directing and filming (as cinematographer) their work.

And if so, what type of projects are those (short films, documentaries, etc.)? And what is your reason to do so (e.g. budget, more creative freedom, etc.)?

Please note that I am not asking for a specific reason, just kind of curious.
Feel free to share some examples, could be fun!

Kind regards,

Jaap

P.s. meant to write simultaneously in the topic :P

If you want your film to be seen, use part of the budget to market your film. Think social media, newspapers, etc. But also think film posters and getting your film into film festivals. A 10K budget can make a very nice short film. It starts with story. The story better be great! :) And if it is, it would be shame if many people wouldn’t be able to see it. Sure, you can post it online, but getting as much publicity for your film will help you in your future career for sure.

Perhaps it could be interesting to share a longline + synopsis? Will you film this and/or direct it?

I even do that with my own gear! :) Preparation is key!

Checking out the entire workflow from start to finish is something I find very important..

There isn't always budget for it though (it always come down to money, does it not :( )... But still I insist!

Hi Henry,

My MBP retina is from mid 2015 and has 2,8 Ghz, i7 with 16 GB 1600 Mhz DDR3 and an Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB and AMD Radeon R9 M370X 2048 MB graphic cards (for switching).

I can edit most of the things I need to (including RAW files from RED, ARRI, Blackmagic, etc. without problems, up to 5K without problems and very comfortably.

However, it all depends on the files. Editing GH5 footage straight from the camera is much more difficult, because of the codec being used.

It really depends on what you want/have to do with it. What will you edit?

One (small) book that has helped me tremendously with directing is Peter D. Marshall's 'Making the Magic Happen - The art and craft of film directing'.

Though I totally dislike terms like 'demystifying the process', the book really helped me out on the many levels of directing a film project :)