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Interaction with other cinematographers?


Jonathan Bowerbank

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I don't have any secrets to keep. I'll tell anyone anything as to how I shot something because they aren't me and their circumstance won't be the same as mine so they won't get exactly the same results anyway. My value as a cinematographer to a director goes way beyond technique. I learned because other cinematographers have shared their knowledge with me, or to the filmmaking public in general, so I want to repay the favor.

 

 

I more or less feel the same. I will get hired not only for my technique, but also my personality, management, and overall approach to the process. Budgets, equipment, crew skill, actors, etc will always be different. That being said I would actually be quite proud if someone took one of my tricks and used it better than I have. We all take from and get inspired by those we admire and sharing/advice is very important to promoting our craft.

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A lot of it to me seems like intuition, which is pretty hard to explain. I'm always happy to show someone something I've figured out (like stephen said, how i'll do it the next time is the question) but when and where to use it is the real skill.

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These are a couple quotes from the President's Letter from this months ICG Magazine, written by Steven Poster:

 

"The gift of time and attention given freely by someone we respect can often change our entire life, giving us new confidence and fueling our passion to excel. So often, too, the giver of the priceless gift has no idea of the effect of their kindness. I am always struck by the offhand generosity of many of those who excel in this craft. I am sure that, to this day, Vilmos [Zsigmond] does not truly know the extent to which he influenced me, and changed my life."

"Laszlo [Kovacs] exemplified the very best of what I tried to describe at the beginning of this column. He loved what we do with a passion and had an enthusiasm that showed in every frame of every film he shot. He also loved to convey that passion and enthusiasm to his colleagues and his colleagues-to-be. He was always willing and eager to do anything that we asked him to do in order to promote our craft. He was a regular presenter at our Lighting Workshops, he showed up to hand out plaques to emerging cinematographers, and he gave unstintingly of his time, his creativity and his unique genius to those who would hope to follow in his footsteps. The influence of those, like Laszlo, who give of them, does not pass when they do. It lives on in future generations."

 

I thought these quotes fit quite well with what we've been talking about in this thread. I know not all of us get this magazine, so I thought I'd share.

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  • 1 month later...

hi to all my Seniors in the field, :P

 

I am agree with hesitation of some cinematographers to share the vital information with others.

 

I am relativly very young in this field and I feel that this attitude, some time make a diifficult position for us to learn something good or new ideas from seniors in the filed.

 

Virendra Khanna

+91 98102 74375

Cameraman

New Delhi, INDIA

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If anyone ever asked me how I did something, I'd advise them to ask someone who knew what he was doing...

 

Phil

 

I actually thought that was something I had said before I saw that it was signed 'Phil'.

 

I think I know the in and out of what I do. My stuff is fairly simple. Not poor. Simple.

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Actually, most of the time I can tell that someone is hiding or being evasive about something in respect to this. Especially me being a student and all most of the information is new to me and of course very interesting. But those people just look really bad when the are so protective of what they've done or how they did it, especially when they are not that far ahead of you. The just look ridiculous to me.

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