OUAN502 - The Role of a Cinematographer / Director of Photography

For a long time now I've been quite interested in the different roles involved in the film making process. One of the roles that I'm intrigued by is the role of a cinematographer or 'director of photography' (sometimes shortened to DoP). A cinematographer or director of photography seems to be a a position within the film making industry that isn't very prominent and more often than not the director is seen as the individual responsible for setting up shots and operating the camera. This is however the role of a cinematographer. The director of photography is exactly what the title describes. It is the person in charge of the camera crews who work on a film, television production or other live action piece, but can also be applied to animation and other mediums. The DoP is responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image. In other words, they need to possess a technical understanding and an artistic vision that will allow them to dictate how certain pieces are shot, and ultimately what the audience of the piece will see. The study and practice of this field is referred to as cinematography, and some film-makers will argue that the 'cinematographer is the chief over the camera and lighting, and the director of photography is the chief over all the photography components of film, including framing, costumes, make-up, and lighting, as well as the assistant of the post producer for colour correction and grading' - so the titles are in some ways interchangeable but can hold different responsibilities depends on the film maker. A cinematographer may have a huge impact on the success of a film, not just in terms of returns at the box office but from a story telling stand point and being able to communicate a story effectively to an audience through the use of cameras, lighting and a range of other considerations. Having the correct lighting or shooting a piece in a certain way can heavily alter the way a story comes across, and this is one of the most difficult aspects of being a cinematographer in my opinion, because there will be an infinite number of ways to shoot a scene but you can only choose one and hopefully after the scene has been shot it will be the best version of that scene.

In terms of what kinds of considerations a cinematographer has to make, they select the camera to shoot with, the type of film stock, the lenses and filters to use etc, all to realise a scene in accordance with the intentions of the director, and making sure their story is told in the best possible way or how they would like it to be told. The relationship between a director and a cinematographer can vary greatly. In some instances the director will allow the cinematographer complete independence and complete creative control over how a scene is shot, on the other hand there will be some instances where a director will allow little or no creative control at all. Two examples of director and cinematographer pairings that have been extremely successful and have worked together on multiple projects include, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Emmanuel Lubezki - both have won the academy award for best director and best cinematography respectively for the past two years. Also, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Richardson who have worked on a number of highly successful films together. These are examples of the two roles working together but not infringing on each others creativity. A level of involvement such as this relies on the director having a lot of trust in the cinematographer and vise versa, to the point where a director will convey to the cinematographer what they want from a scene visually, and then allow the cinematographer the freedom to work to achieve what they want.

The Hollywood Reporter featured a 'cinematographers' round table in which some of this years Oscar nominated cinematographers discussed their careers, ideas about film making and plans for the future. I specifically liked the section where they took about the challenges they've faced as cinematographers - having to talk it out with directors about the best direction for the film and technical challenges when lighting a set for example. Something else that I found not only interesting but quite inspiring is at one point they were asked what they would be doing if they weren't cinematographers, and the answers ranged from illustrators to travellers to baseball players. This segment in itself showed the range of backgrounds everyone has and demonstrated to me how common it is for individuals to fall into a career they hadn't originally planned to pursue. Finally, there was a recurring mention of the idea of collaboration when it comes to film making and that people working together in pursuit of the directors vision is essentially what film making is and how important it is to remember.