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Cinematography in narrative filmmaking is always (sure, nothing is “always” or “never”) about the story, the characters, the setting, and serving the director’s intentions in bringing those elements to the audience. I don’t think there’s any such thing as a situation in which “aggressive color” or a muted palate is a must or is forbidden. You could tell a modern western noir lit in pulsing neon or in sunbaked sepia. You could tell a mind trip fantasia in swirling pastels or in black and white. It all depends on how the team of creators from writers to production designers to actors to the director and cinematographer agree they want to approach it.
2007 YouTube would not have been a major marketing platform yet. Not even 720p for another two years.
Of all the wheelchair dollies I built on no-budget shoots, my favorite set up that surprisingly worked was sitting in the wheelchair on a hardwood floor, wearing thick socks with the camera nestled on my feet sliding along the hallway, for an eye-level, low angle view of our mortally wounded protagonist crawling away from his assailant.
I’m sure this topic is long past finished, but I’m reminded that Woody Allen (when working with Gordon Willis or otherwise) famously wanted to only shoot exteriors on flat grey days with no strong shadows and no details in the skies. He just found that the most flattering and beautiful way to see New York (or London or wherever).
I notice it’s more common to add a mild softening filter for an actress’s closeup than to change the lighting, but then I work a lot on TV where that’s just a faster “solution” to something that should probably not be described as a “problem.”
Not Roger, but I liked it very much. If I were to offer a first impression suggestion, I missed a rim light to separate your subject’s dark hair from the background and more define her shape in that space.
On the union productions where I AC, the DP and/or DIT have monitors calibrated at the rental house, and the ACs and OPs and other monitors on set are usually left at factory settings for everything but brightness and contrast, which we dial in to suit the conditions on set or location.
I’m in the middle of shooting a project in 2.39:1, cropped from a 6K 1.78 recording. We made the decision to frame that way to always include our characters’ surroundings even in the most intimate closeups. It also allows us to set a broad stage on which to let our characters perform in wide shots. In conjunction with this framing decision, we’ve greatly limited our handheld camerawork to only two or three specific moments. Everything maintains a very formal presentation, which (we hope) is suited to the story.
No film school experience here, just one night school class a decade after my undergrad degree in English. I interned, then PA’d, then eventually joined the union as an AC, all while shooting or assisting on any project that would have me (student, corporate, advertising, music video, whatever).
About half my colleagues are film school grads, half had family or family friends in the business, and half came from theater or music or event production or a zillion other similar but not quite the same fields. I know that’s 3 halves, but hey.
Your enthusiasm, spirit, attentiveness, dedication are all much more valuable than any “expertise” when you’re starting out. Be willing to take on (and learn from) ANY job on any set, but once you’re on set (and killing it) at whatever starting position you find, don’t be afraid to introduce yourself to the people doing what you really want to do.
