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Cinematography?


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Hello,

 

I'm Sebastien (22) when I was 13 or so I got fascinated by comic books, I was spending my time drawing and learning more about them. After high school I got into a college of classical animation, it was 2 years of hard work and yes learning to enhance my skills and imagination. A little before my peers graduation I meet with a recruiter from Warner Bros. I skipped through my small portfolios pages briefly making a few comments as he had looked though hundreds of them. He closed it and told me it seems I was pretty much "there" and he suggest that I might find interest in...Cinematography. Later I sat on a bench and started thinking...Cinematography? What’s that?? And what made him say that looking through my portfolio??

 

I always had a love for films, but I don't think I never really understood what was it that I loved in particular. So I thought about what I notice first when at looked at films...a picture that sums the movie...pretty pictures yeah. Then good acting. And finally problems with the script. Pretty pictures...isn't this what cinematography is made off? I think of the bright white horse in Gladiator with the headless rider galloping in the scene in the opening act or Tom Hanks looking pale loss in is emotions after delivering a long monologue, a straight ahead shot of him holding on his life support machine in Philadelphia...the silhouette of a bike riding by a full moon? Is this all the cinematography that I know? Would I have to learn all technical...hardware stuff? Would I be making a good career decision here, or am I just thinking more like a Director? I don't know. I've never been on the set of a film.

 

But considering my artistic and intellectual knowledge, my practice, my work. I may belong in films and Cinematography seems like the sum of all visual skills. And I think that I’m finally understanding what I love. Isn't knowledge love itself? Making an effort to understand to ultimately connect with something.

 

At the moment I’m spending my time painting digitally, drawing and just looking for freelance work though game or animation companies.

 

I'm seeking help from the professionals out there, what do you think or feel of all this after reading it? What does a cinematographer do in your own words? Is it a person who collaborates with anyone who as a say visually in the picture (director, concept artist, set designer, camera man...makeup)?? I'm wondering if there's cinematographers who I guess are more close to directors, or would I have to spend countless hours learning all the camera brands?? X-003, SD-23A, TR-2-da *sight* lol.

 

 

sincerely,

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Wow Sebastien,

This sounds very familar to the position that i find myself. Though no one looked at my work and suggested Cinematography... I've just gradually found my way to it, or learning about it so far, but this may be for me as well. Basically what I've gathered is a Cinematographer creates the look of the film and Lighting is the main key to creating the art of cinematography. I'm eager to see what kind of responses you'll get from your post as I'm in the same boat as you :)

 

God Bless,

George

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I'm moved by your openness. I would encourage you guys to just go for it. In addition to the skillset that you guys already have under your belts however, it seems to me that you need to start thinking photographically. It sounds to me like you have a jump on the necessary creative and visual development but cinematography is first and foremost a sophisticated form of photography. So invest equal time on the technical aspects of the craft. Take it apart and learn your palette. Then go paint with light.

 

The images that Sebastian described are key frames just like in animation. I'll bet your storyboard frames would be great launching points for a shot. Begin thinking, "How would I light it? What's the best way to shoot it? How would the camera move? What equipment would I use? What story must be told in this shot?" etc. As you begin to discover the answers to these questions, you'll find a lifetime of research ahead of you so don't be in a hurry. Just advance daily.

 

Cinematography is different to every single cinematographer, a different approach for a different purpose. What will be your approach? I'd like to see your reels in ten years, sounds like a lot of good ideas.

 

Thanks to all the fine Directors of Photography that readily share their knowledge, aethstetics and technical wisdom with everyone here, this forum is a great learning source. I, for one, learn from it constantly.

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Hi George,

 

I just watch Lost In Translation today. Its nice to see the realistic stuff. Yeah lighting is a big part of the job..and angles i'll say. Ahh, this stuff is exciting me very much! Helas, i don't even have a camera. But i can paint stuff on photoshop, thats a start. I visited your website, you worked for Sony?? That is so cool. I can't get a job...atlantic Canada is just not the place to be *sight*...and i'm not having a fishing career, no way.

 

Last weekend i got to watch Forest Gump on tv! Now theres the good work! Man, and Saving Private Ryan. I need to watch that one again. I'm starting to like this more, but i still wonder how do you get work at it...the way i look at it, its all talk. Talks about the shots with the director over and over until everyone gets a feel of what we as a group is doing. I also know the basics with After FX (Video&Audio Editing) that can help i guess.

 

Hi Leon,

 

Go paint with light yes. So yeah, thats all i have now is paint...lol. God i'm the cheap guy right now, its hard not being around by artists and other people who i can share my thoughts with. I wonder if theres some cinematographers who does rough storyboards, cause thats where we can focus on angles no? I did boards for a demo in college, unfortunatly i wasn't able to finish my reel...therefore ditching my future as a animator for that matter. Getting to know all the camera stuff qinda scares me and i wish i could be more close with the actors...anyhoo, i'm going to post some more stuff. There's so much to talk about...how does a cinematographer presents his/her work? Demo Reel? Would just a slide show of pictures do?? I'll need to search for that also. Thanks for your comment guys.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Sebastien,

 

So you live in atlantic Canada huh? Thats nice i live in louisiana quite a different place im guessing but still not a big hub like new york or cali.

 

Im an aspiring director myself but like you i wanna know more about Cinematography. On the shorts ive done so far ive kinda had to have been everyone at once. the director, the dp, the sound tech, the actor sometimes lol.

 

i wish i could get some of my shorts on the comp. i have one music video ive done on my desktop but does anyone know how to get it online at least?

 

Anyways welcome and welcome George and everyone else, its good to be here with yall.

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Humm Dorian,

 

I'm not sure how to actually load a big movie file on a web server. I doubt you can find places to load something like that for free. I dont know...maybe with kazaa heh? Or with messenger if its under 50 mb. But to drop it somewhere online...i never tried anything like that myself. You should go bug webmasters about it, sometimes they reply! Hey...maybe you could...pretend its a porn video and have it upload somewhere for free?

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Would I be making a good career decision here, or am I just thinking more like a Director? I don't know. I've never been on the set of a film.

That is a determination that will take you time and experimentation to make.

 

As they say, everyone's a critic. When I'm directing on my set everyone always has an opinion about something, and some of them have absolutely zero experience in film. We are all an audience, you might say.

 

But there's quite a difference between being an audience with an opinion, and being a director who's able to formulate a concise vision and then have that guide the making of a film. We're talking about being able to have not only a vision and articulate it understandably in a way that is practical, but most importantly, make intelligent decisions when confronted with several (or sometimes less than several) choices. That is where the work comes in.

 

Being a cinematographer/DP is being an artist who works with a director. A cinematographer has his or her own opinions as does everyone else. Some directors will occasionally even ask their DP how a performance went, because DP's are up front with the action and often have their eye in the finder during a take (although I discover that it's hard to be a director and camera operator at once - operating takes away a lot of energy and attention). But the biggest input is of course visual, and this is where your taste is critical.

 

Yes, the "technical stuff" is pretty important, without that you can't do the job of a DP - period. You really should take a bit of pleasure in it too. Notice how much we talk about equipment and things like lighting ratios, film stock designs (photochemistry even), and with the advent of digital video - horizontal lines, compression ratios, color space, formats, etc. This banter is a normal part of what we do, its a marriage of science and art, and we depend on the technology to practice our art. By far none of us are rocket scientists (although some people have me wondering here), and I personally did poorly in math when in high school, but we all, pretty much, have an interest in the "technical stuff".

 

Anyway, sounds like you gotta do some soul searching and get on a few film crews as an assistant. You gotta get a taste of what it's like and then try it on a small scale on your own perhaps, if you're feeling bold enough to try. Just be aware that this is a hell of a lot of work, and most important, it's practice, practice, practice.

 

- G.

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Yes, the "technical stuff" is important. I would suggest learning how lamps work, the parts, the science. Also the chemical changes film undergoes to light. Learn the properties of light and lights (lamps). Learn about the diffrent lights used for film. Learn about processing and the changes film undergoes to the developer chemicals. Learn about the diffrent processing methods (cross process, skip bleach, etc). Also familiarize yourself with the brands of filters, cameras, lights, light metes. I reccomend buying a cheap spot meter.

 

And visit the Kodak website. They'll fix you up real good.

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Yeah, thanks for all of that george...lol lets say that one more time...technical stuff, hehe. In the long run, i'll get more in the field, i still need to buy myself a freaking SLR, hehe. For now i'm just a 2D artist living in nowhere trying to make a living. Anyway, my mom is calling for supper later guys. lol.

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@Sebastian

 

Hey, I used to live in Maine, not too far from you. You can get a crew and the experience anywhere. Shoot, I still have a nice 8mm short I made with my ex-fiance that's just the novel sights you'll find in Maine, like the Oldport or Arcadia Park. Just relax, it will come to you.

 

Shoot, I *wish* I could draw worth a damn. For storyboards I use photographs and stick friends into spots where the actors would be.

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Hey thats fine if you can't draw a damn Downix, storyboards are already garbage after they're made its the final shot in mind that matters right?

 

But thanks for the kind words, i never ear too much..well actually i never ear at all about Maine. Kinda like NB. Just simple folks living out their lives and never gets influence too much by the rest of the world. Sounds like rock solid to me...makes me think, when i was a kid i was just dreaming about living in the city..am i ever glad i didn't. Ex-fiance? ouch, plenty of fishes in the sea...

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