Inevitably, cinematographers have theoretical knowledge of film and practical camera skills. For many, it’s developing a better poor hand-eye coordination or a destructive inner struggle to collaborate with others.
What about you? Reveal your skill level, experience, or highlight the potentially weak areas you faced as a cinematographer. Let's get naked!
2 people like this
I could say it was something technical, there is so much that we need to learn and master well to do the job, maybe now I kind master the art of DIY :) but I think the skill that I developed the best was in the area of semiotics, translating ideas, words, and feelings into images, searching for meaning with the cinematographic language is something I enjoy studying to learn as much as I can.
2 people like this
WHEW! I love this question, thanks for asking, Lewis Martin Soucy! I've learned to find the best angle when using practical lighting (always shoot on the shadow side). I also love finding those moments to incorporate movement, especially into an entrance. It's not written into the script, but it elevates the moment.
I love lighting, though, so of the two, I feel like I really LOVE discovering new ways to change the setup first, and think about ways to change up the shot second. I'd love to learn more about color saturation.
2 people like this
Luciano Mello you nailed an excellent one: "semiotics, translating ideas, words, and feelings into images, searching for meaning with the cinematographic language." This is probably what helps directors the most. It's such a challenging couple relationship. I wish cinematographers and directors developed this aptitude more. I've suffered a lot from not being able to get what I wanted when I started. Sometimes from not being able to explain my ideas properly, sometimes from working with someone not getting it.
2 people like this
Yeah, you can never go wrong when you backlight Karen "Kay" Ross and Kyler Boudreau! But I like "shooting on the shadow side" better lol!
2 people like this
What a beautiful description Luciano Mello, I love that! Yeah, Kyler Boudreau I learned that from Full-Time Filmmaker himself LOL! This was one of the videos I used for my students: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ5hpcn6tIM
Seriously, learning how the camera interprets light versus Cameras or Lighting has been the biggest "AH HA!" of any of my cinematography!
I don't know if I would say that I developed any special skills for cinematography but as far as filmmaking in general I've developed a lot of skills in a bunch of different areas from cinematography, editing, sound and even writing.
The funny thing is that among other things I'm a salsa dance instructor and used to be a performer and choreographer. I think that the skills that I picked up as a dancer and instructor are actually the ones that helped me evolve into a better filmmaker because I developed the ability to communicate something to other people in order for them to understand what I wanted and at the same time present things to others in a way to get them to go along with what we were doing.
As far as I'm concerned every skill I learn is beneficial somewhere and I love learning new stuff.
Of course as mentioned above knowing how ti do something yourself or teach yourself a new skill is key when making films.
Just this Friday while shooting a commercial we were laughing with the producer how it's really funny when we disassembled two different display cases to get room to shoot in a clients office and at the same time disassembled a totally different display case just so that we could use a part of it to shoot trough the structure and get a great shot.
2 people like this
Vital Butinar that's such a great example of how any experience is good experience for something else. You never know when you'll expand your skills through something completely unrelated.
Lewis Martin Soucy exactly. I always try to look at things that way and the funny thing is that trying different things and knowing about different stuff is something that has helped me a lot in filmmaking and also in other places.