Niav Conty: Cinematographer, director and camera operator in New York City, New York.

Thanks for the welcome Richard. Shall do.

Very welcome, Niav. Good to have you here, my friend.

Thanks Derrick.

"Vertigo" "The Shinning." "True Grit." "Third Man"

"Beasts of Southern Wild" photographed by Ben Richardson

Any given Sunday, Pride and Prejudice, Titanic,BLOW,..wow

Gare, if you want to insult me I encourage you to try harder. I have taken it from the best but I respect your effort. As for my being all over the place- I clearly combined both anecdotal and personal habits and beliefs about storyboards, as well as respect for the art in acknowledging it was becoming a lost art- that does not mean it's going away. It means it is used less. Just like clip art- it's a non-thing now; people just use Google Image. As for tent pole and commercials being an exception- that is exactly what I inferred. Go re-read. If you think I don't know where the line is from a shot list you are correct. I ESTABLISH THE LINE with the director on the location scout or after based on the shot list that I create. There is also opportunity for scriptie to get involved or at least director and I establish screen direction continuity chart scene to scene. I may have overheads for crew or a scriptie consult. I know screen left and right and eyelines and don't need a stickman or a Rembrandt or an animatic to tell me that. Cheers !

Royce, I don't think its the storyboard artist's place to tell the cinematographer how to do his or her job. I expect you are good at what you do. You and I are merely there to help the director. Nonetheless, it is only a foolish cameramen who ignores the board man.

The relationship between the DP and the director is the most concentrated on any set. The DP creates the images – based on the conversations with the director and the script itself. DPs will make a shot list for each days shooting with the director that will become the guide for scheduling. Vary from it and you will throw off the schedule and the budget. Directors need to understand that lighting takes time, getting focus marks take time, rehearsing camera moves take time. When a director gives the DP this time, the shoot moves faster and on schedule and the footage looks great. When a director, producer or AD changes those times, comes up with new totally different ideas or wants to rush things to accommodate an actor wanting to leave or some other reason – the day will actually take much longer and have less usable footage shot. Location scouts with the DP and gaffer and key grip with the director and AD are a must. Including the DP in the scheduling of the days weeks before cameras roll will avoid many potential problems and set-backs. Directors should also not rely on the DP to think about how the entire film will be edited. That is the director’s job. The director needs to know what is the base minimum he/she needs to tell the story. The DP will come up with additional or sometimes more creative visual ways to do it, but the director is the starting point. Directors don’t have to pick the lenses, filters or know anything about lighting. They do need to understand shots and coverage and they need to be able to make a fast and firm commitment on whether what they see works for them or not – and if not, explain clearly why not.