Does a Canon 5D Mark II Make You a Cinematographer?
Gail Mooney, who will be speaking at our upcoming HDSLR Expo, asks the question on her blog; “Does a Canon 5D Mark II Make you a Cinematographer?”
I think many times still photographers overlook the fact that there is a lot more to a large scale production than just the shoot and the camera. And most of the time it goes way beyond the capabilities and role of the individual photographer who is used to working in a solo manner as opposed to collaboratio
This is a good read and definitely something that needs to be said from time to time. Photographers tend to work solo and do everything from sales and bookkeeping to being their own tech and handling post production. This approach will not work very well for shooting motion. My friend Jeremy Thomas is a perfect example of someone who has the skills to do it all. He shoots, directs, writes, edits, color grades and can do some special effects and motion graphics. I envy his level of proficiency and admire his ability to do any filmmaking related job but even Jeremy doesn’t try to do it all himself. He usually has a sound person at the very least and will often bring in someone to shoot and light if he is directing. He works as a colorist and all around post guy at Neil Smith’s HdiRAWworks but he will bring in post help and visual effects specialists when needed.
The one man band shooting scenario is especially hard when you try to move the camera while shooting motion. It’s fine to shoot on sticks but sooner or later you will have to add camera movement to your work. This is where specialists come in on movie sets. The 3 or 4 man camera crew is supplemented by a grip crew to lay down dance floor (flat surface to roll across) and dolly track and to move the dolly in sync with the action and coordinated with the focus puller. If the movement is on a jib, the same specialty crew is needed and if using a steadicam, an extra camera operator and rig owner is usually brought in to shoot who is backed up by camera assistants and a focusing assistant familiar with remote focusing units.
Gail talks about having a dedicated sound team and tons of extra gear and hands for a large production. I think most people new to shooting video have this picture in their head of ENG style shooting and that it can be done by one or two people. She is doing just that on her round the world documentary project but I guarantee you that she will have a lot of help in post production and she’s drawing on years of experience shooting video. She’s also not trying to shoot a narrative with actors. There is a very big difference in directing action that has to be repeated than in capturing what is unfolding in front of your camera, even if you placed the camera and set up the situation. ENG guys usually have producers along with them and technicians in fully loaded rolling studios. They also generally shoot smaller sensor video cameras which means it’s easy to get everything in focus.
The point of my long coffee fueled rant, is that I agree with Gail that there’s more to being a cinematographer or filmmaker than owning and using and HDLSR. It’s great that these cameras have opened up the world of high end visuals to the masses but just owning a hammer doesn’t make you a carpenter.
