Special Skills
Cinematographers must possess a good photographic eye and know
how to light a scene properly to achieve their vision. They must be good
technicians, with an understanding of cameras, lenses, and film stocks.
"You have to have the technology down," says cinematographer Allen
Daviau. "You have to have it at your fingertips so that you don't even
think about it."
Richard Crudo, another cinematographer, agrees. "Study as hard as
you can," he says. "The technology is evolving constantly; it never stays
still. More so than ever before, the technology changes every week.
"Study film," Crudo adds. "You've got to go back and look at old films;
look at the work of the masters. It's never been easier. You can go down to
Blockbuster and get practically any movie that has ever been made. Take
it home and look at it back and forth. Study the work of great directors
and cinematographers. Break it down. Understand why you like that and
why this works and that doesn't work. You have to be relentless.
"Look at light in your real life, in your house, in your car, on the street
at daytime and nighttime; in the bank, in the supermarket, in a restau-
rant--you have to look at light. You have to see how light creates feelings.
It's a thought process that goes on constantly if you're engaged in it."
Crudo says that these technical skills can be learned, but what sets the
best cinematographers apart from others is their innate taste. "Taste, and
application of technical facility. It is an art form. We all use the same
cameras and lenses, film stocks, and laboratories, but if you take one scene
and have 100 people shoot it, it's going to have 100 different looks . . . some
will innately be better."
"This is the world's most collaborative art form," says cinematogra-
pher Clark Mathis. He discovered his people skills an asset for "being
able to assert my own creative ideas in a nonthreatening way."
"The most important skill that you need to be successful in the film
business is to be able to play well with others," says cinematographer
John Schwartzman. "It's probably the single most important thing."
Daviau echoes the charge that "The most important thing is how you
deal with other people. Getting their trust and becoming their partner in
what they're doing. That, to me, is what is really gratifying about film.
Your colleagues are so important . . . One of the most wonderful things is
simply the appreciation of the variety of people there are in this world
and that they all can work together for some amazing results."
"The next skill is that you bring yourself to the job," says
Schwartzman. "Bring whatever it is that you have to offer that makes you
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