To be a cinematographer...

[Andrew Rieger]

As a USC reject (almost officially now!) who's proud of his reel given its super micro-budget origins (I know it's not great by any other standards), I have to set the record straight a bit: I've recently learned that most grad schools don't require a good reel (or good academics, even) so much as just good storytelling abilities and a good eye. AFI, it seems, is the only school that wants you to have significant prior experience as a prerequisite.

To be honest, this seems fairer to me. If you have the ambition, drive, and potential, why require something that the schools want to teach you in the first place?

You are totally correct. I want to be a DP and later transition into directing so I am most interested in the technical aspect of cinematography and thus, AFI would be my school of choice. USC is more interested in a more broad filmmaking course and often do not segment students into specific areas of study, as AFI does. Thus, they consider script writing as a major aspect of the admissions process. AFI is the school that takes the experienced dp's which makes me wonder why you would need AFI at all considering how expensive it is. Imagine needing to be an experienced automotive designer to get into design school. I understand that these schools are more about fine tuning and perfecting but they are unbelievably expensive. Add up all the costs and you are approaching the six figure range for 1 year. Don't get me wrong, its probably the best cinematography program in the nation if not the world but many top dp's did not go there or even to film school so I wonder how much of a benefit it is other than making industry connections, which you can get simply by working on set for long enough.

 

[Matt W.]

I'm looking at moving out west and applying for grad school myself... What is it they look for? Should I not even bother if my last name isn't Gonzales or Ramirez?

Maybe we need a "Why you're not getting into grad school..." thread.

I could fill that thread on my own.

Send me a PM if you're considering applying; I've learned a lot from the process, especially about what NOT to do, and have talked with a lot of people who have been accepted so I can pass along their advice.

 

[Andrew Rieger]

Going back to Kevin's original post.

The best thing to do is not view yourself as a specialist. Try to gain knowledge in all aspects of filmmaking. Understanding editing, color correction, scripts writing, acting theory, fx work ect. can really benefit you in becoming a dp. You must understand all these aspects in order to get the most out of your camera work.

 

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Ian Bloom and David Mullen's advice is spot on. Do great work and try to get it noticed. It's slow going and it can be disheartening until someone notices but if your work is good enough eventually people will start to pay attention.

It's important though to make sure you're putting yourself out there. If you find a great project make certain you become a part of it. Work the weekends to get on board.

I've never put together a formal portfolio or a resume. Every job I've ever had has been from someone recommending someone else to call me or someone just stumbling across something I'd done. People like to hire people they've worked with and had good experiences with in the past. So the more people you do a great job for the more that are likely to give you more opportunities to prove yourself.

That's why I think it was great advice Ian gave about payed vs unpayed. There'll be a lot of swindlers "hey man just work for free for a few months and then I have this big multimillion dollar project lined up." They don't. Take every project for its own merits. It's not a 1:1 rule but it's true that projects you do for free often are more interesting than projects you get payed for. Especially in the low rungs. Eventually you can get payed to do interesting work but initially the only real paying jobs are low-rent used car commercials so to speak.

 

[Andrew Rieger]

The internet is a great resource as well. Post test films and clips on sites like Vimeo. This is how Philip Bloom and Macgregor became well known.

 

[Kevin Stokes]

Thanks for the growing thread. I've been off learning to become a Maintenance Test Pilot. I hadn't had much time to dedicate to the forums.

Alas that gets to continue, as 12 days from now I will be attending the Instructor Pilot course for 2 months.

Great training in the Army, but there is only so much room in someone's short term memory banks!

Does your question contain the answer? Is there anything in the Army?

I’ve looked, no Warrant Officer positions in Visual Information (military speak for all things video, graphics, etc.) Army has too much $ spent on me as a pilot so they wouldn’t let me switch, unless I lost my wings. THAT”S not happening.

I’ve made some progress though, over the last year I’ve become close friends with the Idaho Director of Visual Information (retired after 12 yrs working for AFN Europe in the 80’s & 90’s). He has a very small staff supporting the entire state, video hasn’t been supported in the past.

That recently changed as they were just outfitted with a $500K upgrade. The list of equipment is astounding! 5 8-core HP workstations loaded with Adobe CS4 Master Collection, 2 Nikon D3s, 2 Panasonic HPX500’s, and every piece of support equipment needed to make it happen (lights, gels, matteboxes, etc. etc.) They also got an HD TriCaster. I’ve pretty much been given free range to do what I want with this equipment.

Imagine, if you will, I have access to all this production equipment AND access to every piece of hardware the US Army operates. It’s almost overwhelming to think about. I’ll have to start with things beneficial to the Guard, but the possibilities are endless.
I’ve got plans for a couple projects (training related), now I have what I need to pull it off. Just need the time.