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Information about Director Of Photography

“Cameraman” redirects here. For the Buster Keaton film, see The Cameraman (1928 film).


A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera (the art and science of which is known as cinematography). The title is generally equivalent to director of photography (DP or DoP), used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image. The cinematographer is sometimes also the camera operator. The term cinematographer has been a point of contention for some time now; some professionals insist that it only applies when the director of photography and camera operator are the same person, although this is far from being uniformly the case. To most, cinematographer and director of photography are interchangeable terms.

Responsibilities

The English system of camera department hierarchy sometimes firmly separates the duties of the director of photography from that of the camera operator to the point that the DP often has no say whatsoever over more purely operating-based visual elements such as framing. In this case, the DP is often credited as a lighting cameraman. This system means that the director consults the lighting cameraman for lighting and filtration and the operator for framing and lens choices.

In the American system, which is more widely adopted, the rest of the camera department is subordinate to the DP, who, along with the director, has the final word on all decisions related to both lighting and framing.

The cinematographer typically selects the film stock, lens, filters, etc. to realize the scene in accordance with the intentions of the director. Relations between the cinematographer and director vary; in some instances the director will allow the cinematographer complete independence; in others, the director allows little to none, even going so far as to specify aperture and shutter angle. Such a level of involvement is not common once the director and cinematographer have become comfortable with each other. The director will typically convey to the cinematographer what he wants from a scene visually, and allow the cinematographer latitude in achieving that effect.

On some shoots, a director may assume the duties of the cinematographer, especially when shooting nude scenes or in other physically intimate settings where the director wishes to have as few people as possible present.

Some of the crew who work under or closely with the cinematographer include:

Societies and trade organizations

Main article: List of societies of cinematographers
An elite group of American cinematographers are members of the American Society of Cinematographers; this organization represents the upper echelon of talent and is dedicated to the advancement of cinematography. Membership is by invitation only. Equivalents in other countries include the Canadian Society of Cinematographers, the British Society of Cinematographers and the Australian Cinematographers Society. Members of these organizations are entitled to put designatory letters after their names (i.e., M. David Mullen, ASC).

There are other similar organizations in many countries, including Argentina, Germany, Italy, Spain and India.

In some countries, cinematography is a unionized field. In America, cinematographers (and directors of photography, camera operators, camera assistants and still photographers) are represented by Local 600 of the International Cinematographers Society, a division of the labor union IATSE. In Canada, they are represented by IATSE Locals 667 and 669.

Noted cinematographers

See and Academy Award for Best Cinematography

Miscellaneous

The documentary film Visions of Light is an excellent look at the progression of the art of cinematography across film history, and includes interviews with many famous cinematographers. It is a good introduction for those interested in the field, and includes much in the way of archival footage, anecdotes, and famous cinematographers commenting on whom they looked up to.

See also

External links

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Film crew
Buster Keaton

Birth name Joseph Frank Keaton
Born September 4 1895(1895--)
Piqua, Kansas, U.S.
Died January 1 1966 (aged 72)
Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
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Story:
Clyde Bruckman
Lew Lipton
Titles:
Joseph Farnham
Starring Buster Keaton
Marceline Day
Harold Goodwin
Cinematography Reggie Lanning
Elgin Lessley
Editing by Hugh Wynn
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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Photography [fә'tɑgrәfi:],[foʊ'tɑgrәfi:] is the process of recording pictures by means of capturing light on a light-sensitive medium, such as a film or electronic sensor.
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movie camera is a type of photographic camera which takes a rapid sequence of photographs on strips of film. In contrast to a still camera, which captures a single snapshot at a time, the movie camera takes a series of images, each called a "frame".
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Cinematography (from Greek: kinesis (movement) and grapho (to record)), is the discipline of making lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for the cinema.
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film crew is a group of people hired by a film company for the purpose of producing a film or motion picture. Crew are distinguished from cast, the actors who appear in front of the camera or provide voices for characters in the film.
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Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects.
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camera operator is a person that operates a film or video camera for the purpose of recording motion to film, video, or a computer storage medium. Camera operators serving in an official capacity in the process of filmmaking may be known variously as a camera operator,
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Film stock is the term for photographic film on which motion pictures are shot and reproduced.

History

1889-1899

Modern motion picture film stock was first created thanks to the introduction of a transparent flexible film base material, celluloid, which was
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photographic lens (also known as objective lens or photographic objective) is an optical lens or assembly of lenses used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to make images of objects either on photographic film or on other media capable of storing an image
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filter is a camera accessory consisting of an optical filter that can be inserted in the optical path. The filter can be a square or rectangle shape mounted in a holder accessory, or, more commonly, a glass or plastic disk with a metal or plastic ring frame, which can be screwed in
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film director is a person who directs the making of a film.[1] A film director visualizes the script, controlling a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of his or her vision.
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In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light is admitted. More specifically, the aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane.
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rotary disc shutter, rotates in front of the film gate. As the mirror spins it reflects the image into the ground glass so that it can be viewed by the camera operator part of the time. The other part of the time the mirror allows the light to pass on to the film.
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camera operator is a person that operates a film or video camera for the purpose of recording motion to film, video, or a computer storage medium. Camera operators serving in an official capacity in the process of filmmaking may be known variously as a camera operator,
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In cinematography, a focus puller or first assistant camera (1 AC) is the member of a film crew responsible for keeping the camera's focus right during a shoot. This typically requires pulling
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A clapper loader, second assistant camera (2nd AC) or simply loader, is part of a film crew, whose main functions are that of loading the raw film stock into camera magazines, operating the clapperboard (slate) at the beginning of each take, marking the actors as
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In film, the second unit is a team that shoots footage which is of lesser importance for the final motion picture, as opposed to the first unit, which shoots all scenes involving actors, or at least the stars of the film.
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A gaffer in the motion picture industry is the head of the electrical department, responsible for the execution (and sometimes the design) of the lighting plan for a production.
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best boy: best boy electric and best boy grip. In the simplest forms, they are assistants to their department heads, the gaffer and the key grip, respectively.
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In US American and Canadian film-making, the key grip is the chief grip on the set. Like a foreman, the key grip directs a crew of grips, some with specialized skills such as dolly grips, crane operators, camera car operators, etc.
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best boy: best boy electric and best boy grip. In the simplest forms, they are assistants to their department heads, the gaffer and the key grip, respectively.
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In cinematography, the dolly grip is the individual who operates the camera dolly. He or she places, levels, and moves the dolly track, then pushes and pulls the dolly and usually a camera operator and camera assistant as riders.
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In the U.S. and Canada, grips are lighting and rigging technicians in the film and video industries. They make up their own department on a film set and are led by a key grip. Grips have two main functions.
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Production designer is a term used in the movie and television industries to refer to the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts.
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The term art director, is an overall title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games.

Advertising


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A costume designer is one who designs costume for a film or theatre, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the costumes. See Costume Design

Responsibilities

A Costume Designer creates the look of a character in film or television.
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Color grading is the process of altering and enhancing the color of a motion picture or television image, either electronically, photo-chemically or digitally. The photo-chemical process is also referred to as color timing
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colorist is responsible for adding color to black and white line art. Originally, this was done by cutting out films of various densities in the appropriate shapes to be used in producing color-separated printing plates.
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A

  • American Society of Cinematographers
  • Argentine Society of Cinematographers, aka Asociación Argentina de Autores de Fotografía Cinematográfica

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