Cinematography

A cinematographer is a person who makes the director's vision, reality. Using different lenses and positioning the camera correctly, film stock and lighting. These help to create the right mood and emotion through the use of composition, shade and light. The cinematographer tests different stock to find the best one for each individual scene, in certain cases film and digital formats are merged together to create an interesting effect.
They work closely with the director to conjure up images for the film. For every shot they must plan what angle, lens and distance will be most effective. It is useful to have two monitors, one on the camera and one separate so that the director and other crew can view when filming is taking place, obviously some small films will be unable to do this due to a small budget and access to resources.
When composing a frame, the cinematographer must be making choices about what will be included in the image. Space is organised to avoid positioning the subject in the centre of the screen as this can create a dull effect lacking visual interest. A more effective composition can be achieved by dividing the screen into three parts, vertically and horizontally.
The cinematographer, director and production designer all decide together on the lighting approach, based on the setting and mood of the film. Lighting effects are created through a variety of techniques, for example, the positioning, direction and quality of different types of lighting. Hard light, from a small and intense light source, creates crisp and clear images with bold and clearly defined shadows. Whereas soft light, from a large and diffuse source, creates softer images with less contrast between light and shade.
Different lenses are used for different situations and the cinematographer should know when to use a particular lens for a particular effect, and they will know which will benefit the film. When thinking about focal length the first thing that comes into consideration is how much of the image should be in sharp focus. Lens angle determines how much of a scene will appear in a picture, however in small scale films, lenses cannot be changed easily so this will be done in the editing process.