If you’ve got a passion for film and hope to create your masterpieces one day, you probably want to get to work building your career as a director of photography (cinematographer). To get started with this, you’ll have to learn everything there is to know about camera work and attend film school, but that’s only the beginning of your career.
Learn All Camera-Related Roles
If you want to become a critically acclaimed British cinematographer, you need to become a master of the camera. Therefore, you should start learning about the different types of shots, lighting, angles, movements, and anything else involved with filming. If you hope of becoming successful, don’t wait until you’re studying to become a dop in filmmaking – even getting your smartphone camera working is a good start.
Attend Film School
You won’t need to have a certificate for every role as a cinematographer, but a quality education in dop filming will boost your chances of success. When you attend a cinematographer London school, you’ll have the opportunity to learn and practice different shooting techniques and other equipment you’ll come across during your career.
Constantly Learn
Film school will equip you with the necessary tools to start your dop director of photography UK career journey, but you have to commit to constantly learning new methods. After all, the film industry changes rapidly, meaning those that hang to past techniques will fail to break through the modern age.
Start Shooting Films
Once you’ve received dop films training, it’s time to start shooting your own films to improve your craft. Even if you can’t afford to buy a fancy camera, the majority of modern smartphones are capable enough to start shooting at an amateur level. The most important part of this is demonstrating your work and improving on your techniques, which will help with strengthening your portfolio.
Watch Movies
Everyone watches movies, but you need to start watching with a different perspective than the average viewer. For example, instead of watching with enjoyment in mind, you need to see through the lens of the camera to work out what’s going on. How has the director used light to reflect mood? How are dramatic shots captured? What angles are being used during action scenes? These are the types of questions you should be asking yourself whenever you watch a film.
Network and Grow Your Portfolio
A large part of cinematography is networking, as you need to have quality contacts to bring your projects to fruition. Therefore, if you’re not actively engaging on social media platforms, you should start now. As well as this, you should create a website containing your reel, which will showcase the versatility of your work.
The journey to becoming a cinematographer isn’t as clear-cut as some career paths because it’s not as simple as gaining a qualification and becoming employed, but that’s what makes the dop world so much fun. When you’re starting out, everything is about building your skills, watching plenty of films, and getting in as much practice as possible.