What is Cinematography and what does a cinematographer/DOP do? | Complete explanation
Hello everyone. Welcome to photographycinema. Today we going to see about complete explanation of cinematography/cinematographer and DOP. By reading this blog post you will understand and get a clear vision on this topic.
Without wasting time, let's get into it!
What is cinematography? What does a cinematographer do?
Who is DOP? Are DOP and Cinematographer the same?
Some will be like, I'm going to be a director, actor, why should I know all these?
If you're into filmmaking, you should have basic knowledge about every department. So I recommend, all aspiring directors, actors, editors to read this article.
Come, let's get into the point.
First, let us know the meaning of the term " cinematography "
Cinemato - graphy.. What does this Graphy means?
Graphy means " a field of study ". We know Geography, Geo means Earth, Earth is a field, so studying about Earth is geography. Like this, Cinematography is a study of lights, we can also say writing with light. I didn't mention video or photo here, I'm mentioning light.
Why LIGHT is important. We'll discuss it later in this article.
In early times, whole cinema was called as cinematography. Later, over a period time, camera department alone was recognized as cinematography. So, the point here is, the term CINEMA is derived from the word CINEMATOGRAPHY.
Light is the most important element in the Cinematography. To know why, we'll discuss the evolution of camera over these days. There's a concept called, PIN HOLE CAMERA. That's where this thing started. Without lens but with tiny aperture. Light from a scene passes through the aperture and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box, it can't be recorded at that time. Later, scientists came with some chemicals to record the image, that's how film rolls and the concept of films are introduced. photos and videos are recorded and printed with this chemical.
Now, lets discuss the concept of "motion pictures"
In a film roll, you would've seen boxes in it. Each one is called as frame.
Now, what is frame?
Normally, we would have heard of 24 frames per second. Which is, in every video we watch, there are 24 frames in a second. The meaning is, this film roll will record 24 photographs for a second, the light which exposes for a second will be recorded. When these 24 photos are played in a speed motion, it would be read by our mind as a video. The reason behind this is , presistence of vision.
Don't get tensed with these names, these all are basics. If we are strong with these basics, it would be helpful in understanding techniques and complicated concepts. Persistence of vision is nothing but, Human eye will have a memory of image it sees for a while. When more images are seen with a continuity, it will be understand as a video by our brain. Only because of this optical illusion, when more photos played, we understand it as video. This is more like a flipbook, many pictures are drawn in a note and when turned rapidly, it would be seen as a video by our mind. This is how cinema works from then to now.
This is the basic.
Now, you would have got a idea about cinematography.
Now, the reason I said light important is, whatever the light exposes is only recorded.
This is why I said light is important.
Before getting into techniques, we'll understand who is a cinematographer and the difference between him and DOP
Dop and cinematographer
In India, DOP and Cinematographer, more terms are used interchangeably. But in Hollywood. DOP is different from Cinematographer. The difference between them is, DOP is the chief. He is the one who's gonna decide the look and feel of the movie. He will also decide the light pattern of the whole movie and also how to light up each shots of the movie.
The man who helps in achieving the output would be a cinematographer. In a large scale movie, there might be even 2 to 3 cinematographers in a movie.
So now, you might get a clarity of who is DOP and Cinematographer. In our industry, DOP acts as Cinematographer, so they use this word interchangeably.
What decision a DOP make? What decision a DIRECTOR make?
After writing or adopting a story, a director will get an idea on how to visually tell this story. DOP will help him in achieving the output by deciding the lighting, shot divisions etc.. So, first DOP will decide the lighting of the film. Somemovies will be bright some may be lowkey, like this, he'll decide the look and feel of the movie and also how to light up each shot will be decided by DOP.
Aspect ratio
Choice of lens
It's not only just prime lens or zoom lens. Spherical lens or anamorphical lens, each has distinct characteristics which is used in story telling. Mostly Directors wont interfere here or else it would be a collaborative work, in cinema it wont be a single person's thought. Both will have a mutual understanding and decide accordingly. Other than this, camera placement, camera movement, shot size (close, medium) are decided by DOP or Cinematographer.
In a shooting spot, more than a Director, DOP seems to be a Chief, though Director stages the scene and extract acting from artists, more responsibility and workload would be on DOP. That's why we should have a good technician in our team. DOP will have work in pre production for planning the shoot and also during the shoot (production) without DOP nothing would be done, In post production, they will be in color grading as they decide the look and feel of the movie. So, DOP would be there in the project from start to end.
These are the basic things you guys need to know.
I hope this blog post will help you to understand what is cinematographer and DOP. Thank you spending your valuable time to read this article. If you have any questions or doubts please contact us or comment below. Subscribe our blog with your gmail account to get notification by your gmail application.
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