Film Craft 105: The Cinematographer - 1. Introduction

Welcome to the essentials of cinematography. I'm Michael Wohl and I'm gonna be your host. Now this is gonna be an extremely practical and useful guide, geared at getting you super comfortable with all of the fundamental elements of working with a camera. And it's gonna be filled with easy to remember nuggets and tips that are gonna improve your skills in many different ways. And we're not just gonna focus on one camera. We're gonna show you a lot of different cameras so you can get a feel for how to work with whatever camera you might be using. Camera technology is changing so rapidly that we don't want you to just limit yourself to learning this month's hot model. Instead we're gonna focus on the aspects that will always be true no matter what camera you may be using. From iPhone to Phantom. So try to keep that in mind as you watch this course. Don't get too focused on learning to master any particular camera. But rather set your sights on the bigger picture. Telling stories visually. Or put more pragmatically, focus on getting on screen the images that you imagine in your head. And the more comfortable that you get with the equipment and the options available to you, the better you're gonna be able to achieve that. Before we get too deep into operating the camera, I wanna give a brief rundown of the camera department on a typical movie. Now I actually go through this in a lot more depth in the producing course where I talk about all the different crew on a film. But specifically as it relates to the camera department, here it is again in a nutshell. The cinematographer or director of photography is head of the department. She defines the overall look, approach, and equipment choices and manages all the people on her team. The camera operator physically holds the camera and is responsible for framing, pans and tilts, and basic camera movement. The first assistant camera helps to move and handle the camera between takes, changing lenses as requested by the DP, and is also in charge of everything to do with keeping the camera in focus during the shots. The second AC also helps to move and prep the camera and is usually the one who operates the slate and keeps a detailed camera log of everything that's been shot. The lenses, focal lengths, F-stops, distances to the subject and so on for every single shot. The digital imaging technician or DIT, in many crews will also hire someone to manage the digital data generated by the camera and also to manage the complex menus full of options to make sure that you're filming with the optimal settings. Now naturally you don't need to have a four or five person camera crew and we're not even talking about lighting. But these are all jobs that need to be done even if it's only one person doing it all.