IMP Director Chronicles- Working with a DOP

As a director, it's your job to liaise with each department in-order to produce the best possibly final product. However, that isn't to say you don't work more with some departments than others. A great example of that is the director DOP relationship. A cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the chief over the camera crews working on a film. They work together with the director on shot lists and the over all look of the film. 

For our latest short film Scribes, my cinematographer was a very talented young lady called Maisie-Lee Walker.  Going into the project I was very excited about working along side her as she has a great track record with her photography, having some of her work displayed in art galleries. She has a great eye for the shot and I knew she would bring that creative flare into the project.

Far before action was called, me and Maisie worked together to hone the style that we wanted for the film. A key part of this was watching similar to films to the style which we were trying to reach, learning how the masters did it and then seeing how we can replicated it. This also dictated on what equipment we would be using during the shoot. We both agreed on a more cinematic look, opting to use the BMPCC (Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera) which creates beautifully clear images with that cine-look. 

However, Maisie wasn't experienced with the camera so we went out and did some test shots. We also used the opportunity to scout out some of the possible locations we wanted to shoot in. This time proved extremely valuable as it gave us the chance to see how the camera reacted with different lights and how a subject looked from different angles. 

 This also gave us the chance to experiment with how the camera behavior when being operated handheld and on a shoulder rig. Both of which we ended up using during production. 

After we had what overall style we wanted it was time to start storyboard. I am a huge believer in storyboard out the whole film, meaning then we can prioritize shots. You know what they say, "Shot lists save lifes". This also meant we could do some practice of certain, more challenging shots. One of these shots was going to require using a camera Jib, something that neither me or Maisie had any experience using. So we booked one out and started playing around. Here are some test shots: