Entertainment Booking: Director Of Photography
The director of photography is without question the most important of all the crew members, and if you are one, Im sure youll agree. It is the director of photography, or DP, who operates the camera and selects and frames the shots. The DP will work very closely with the director and must have a plentiful amount of both technical knowledge and talent. Becoming a DP requires extensive training, but much of it can be self-taught.
Becoming a Director of Photography
The beautiful thing about the movie business is that nothing is ever impossible. If you have a dream and the drive to achieve it, it can be done. The first step in becoming a DP is to shoot something–anything. Pick up any camera that you have available to you, a video camera, a Super-8 film camera, and start shooting. Pay attention to framing and composition, and read books and watch movies to learn the proper techniques.
When you get a little more advanced you can start working with things such as color and light. You will never learn it all, and some of the greatest DPs of all time learned on the job, so never get discouraged. It is the directors job to bring the writers vision to life. It will be your job, as director of photography, to bring the directors vision to the screen.
Director of photography is one of the most rewarding and respected entertainment jobs there is. It requires the patience of a priest and the vision of an artist. Your reward is that your vision will come to life on a giant celluloid screen for all the world to see and admire. If you can see the world through a lens the way others cant, then this is the job for you.
