director of photography

[tali122]

what does a director of photography do?- i assume he is not involved with photography but perhaps lighting- is he the cameraman?

[RogK]

Yes, he lights every scene, sometimes taking hours until it's right. He's in close touch all the while with the Gaffer, who's in charge of all the electricians. They move the lights around until the DoP is satisfied. It's a very specialised job and the best DoPs are stars in their own right. The cameraman is called the 'camera operator' - and that's what he does.

[tali122]

thanks for info - i thought movie industry had cameras expensive and sophisticated enough to the "capture the mood
and automatically get the right amount of lighting"

[Hippy]

It is an axiom of photography that, "If you don't light it, you don't see it." You wouldnt expect the actors to come onto the set in jeans and tee-shirts and then expect the "expensive" camera to capture proper costumes!

[JOEYSHABADO]

If you get the enhanced DVD of the movie 'The Phone Booth' (ie with the "making of" in it), there's a very good expose' of the DoPs work. They had to shoot the movie over several days, but to look as if it was 1 day. Quite a job they had...