CINEMATOGRAPHY
The director desires to express,
Cinematography gives him the expression.
What is Cinematography?
Cinematography can be defined as the art of photography and camerawork in film-making done with the director’s vision. It is not just a matter of capturing videos, but doing justice to the Director’s imagination. As the name suggests, it is directly related to cinema. It is not likely to be said that a cinematographer is also the person handling the camera, but the one who supervises the camera operator and is said to be the Director of Photography.
The importance of Cinematography.
The cinematography is the most important and sensitive part of film-making as it is the only way to portray the director’s vision from his mind to reel life. The feel of the film depends on the creative work of camera that is on the cinematography of the film. It brings in the mood and feel of the script on screen.
Cinematography and Videography: Confusion!?
While talking about cinematography, we normally get confused between cinematography and videography. The two terms are certainly different. In simple words, Cinematography is the camera work in Film-making and videography is simply videography. Videography that is a video production is very different from a film production. In Cinematography, the cinematographer works with the film stock, all the technical aspects such as Exposure, composition, color-grading and much more as per the director’s vision that too not handling the camera himself that is done on a large scale, whereas, A videographer works with a video only. As a whole, it can be said that a Cinematographer handles the whole idea of the film, whereas a videographer is a camera operator on a small crew or solo.
Who is a Cinematographer?
Once we are clear with what is cinematography, the next question arises in our mind is who is a cinematographer? A Cinematographer is a person in charge of lighting crew and camera on a movie or other production. A Cinematographer is also known as the Director of Photography. Perceiving the vision of the Director and bringing out the best of his imagination is the main motive of a cinematographer. He is solely responsible for the film’s cinematography, the art, and science of motion picture photography that includes Exposure, composition, color-grading, camera lens and many more aspects. He is responsible for bringing the Director’s vision and the writer’s words to a visual presentation. Usually, on a big production, A camera operator handles the camera under the supervision of the cinematographer.
A career in Cinematography.
If you are a good Cinematographer, then you have a fruitful career in the cinema industry, whether talk about Bollywood or Hollywood, you are in. You are most likely to be the most chased individual by the directors and producers as it is more about art than technique that is required. So, if you find yourself good enough to stand up to the director’s as well as the audience’s expectations to portray the film as the director’s vision and bring the feel of reality, you are on the right track.
Cinematography as a career is the most entertained and one of the most opted career these days.
As being in demand, there is a good competition and when there is competition there is good money. In India, a freelance DP can earn up to 10 k or more per day and an assistant DP can earn anywhere between 15 – 20 k per month and once you are experienced, money wouldn’t have a limitation.
Now we have a lot of options once we decide to look forward to pursuing Cinematography as a career.
| 1. | After 12th | Experience is always a good thing when it comes to any sort of career option, but a basic education is always required. Opting to gain experience immediately after school is not a good idea to pursue rather it’s always better to get a basic knowledge and join a film-making school as a person with knowledge always preferred. |
| 2. | A course in Cinematography | If you have pursued cinematography or any film-making course before, going for experience for a year or two is never a bad option but a specialization in the field is always better. So, if you have already done a graduation course in film-making it is recommendable to go for a specialization course and let freelance cinematography go hand in hand for the initial level of experience. It will not only increase the chances for selection but will get you a better salary too. |
| 3. | Course in a different field | If you have studied a different field, it is recommended to go for the specialization in film-making whether a diploma or a degree and have freelanced experience too. |
Without quality education, experience does work but is not chosen and without experience, education is just a stage. Hence, both should work hand in hand.
Best Schools to pursue Film-making in India:
1) Film and Television Institute of India, (FTII) Pune – http://www.ftiindia.com/
2) Satyajit Ray Film Institute, Kolkata – http://srfti.ac.in/
3) Film& Television Institute of Tamil Nadu, Chennai – http://www.tn.gov.in/miscellaneous/mgrinstitute.html
4) The Whistling Woods International Institute for Film, Television & Media Arts, Film City, Goregaon, Mumbai – https://www.whistlingwoods.net/
A Dream career is always a good career to opt, if you dream to be a cinematographer, nothing can you.
ALL THE BEST!
source: internet
