{"id":1943,"date":"2025-11-14T21:41:41","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T21:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/?p=1943"},"modified":"2025-11-14T21:41:42","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T21:41:42","slug":"cinematographer-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/cinematographer-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Cinematographers on the Lessons That Shaped Their Careers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Cinematographers are the backbone of any film shoot, translating the director\u2019s vision through instinct, artistry, and technical skill. Here, we\u2019ve compiled the best\u00a0 advice from six DPs behind standout projects this year\u2014on process, collaboration, and the evolving demands of the craft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfreeway.com\/articles\/superman-cinematographer-interview\/\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">Henry Braham<\/mark><\/strong><\/a><strong> (\u201cSuperman\u201d)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m interested in the smallest physicality. Because of shooting on a large [Imax] format, we can shoot on wider lenses. If you think about some of the most spectacular films from the \u201950s, \u201960s, and \u201970s, in the period of CinemaScope, that\u2019s how those movies were shot: with wider lenses, closer to the action. What they couldn\u2019t do was move as freely as we can now.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You might think of handheld as quite disturbing. It\u2019s a very strong statement [that] of course has its place in storytelling. But by developing stabilization techniques that are bespoke to the way I work, we get the best of all worlds. We get the intuitive nature of being handheld without the audience being aware of the camera.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.backstage.com\/magazine\/article\/avatar-2-cinematographer-interview-75908\/\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">Russell Carpenter<\/mark><\/strong><\/a><strong> (\u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne thing I had to learn, because I wasn\u2019t a very social person, was that by going into interviews, I would just get better at communicating about myself. I think directors of photography are in the same position that actors are in. You go in for a lot of auditions, and you have to develop a thick enough skin to realize that if they don\u2019t pick you, it\u2019s not about you. Don\u2019t internalize it\u2014just keep having persistence.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.backstage.com\/magazine\/article\/banshees-of-inisherin-cinematographer-interview-75836\/\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">Ben Davis<\/mark><\/strong><\/a><strong> (\u201cHeads of State,\u201d \u201cThe Woman in Cabin 10\u201d)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen I started out, I went on a job and it was a very young director. We were shooting, and he wanted to shoot it a certain way, and I thought it was ridiculous and also terrible. And we fought about it. Not badly, but I thought it was a terrible way of going about it. And we filmed it and cut it together, and I saw it afterward\u2014and it was absolutely brilliant. So that was a huge lesson for me. Just because it\u2019s different doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not good or it\u2019s not right. Just because the voice isn\u2019t the same as yours doesn\u2019t mean the voice isn\u2019t worth listening to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re at the start [of your career], photograph or shoot all the time. Watch as much cinema as you can, but go out and actually photograph things. It\u2019s much easier now than it used to be. It was expensive\u2014you had to process it and cut it. And now there are so many mediums you can work in, and they\u2019re all immediate and low cost.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.backstage.com\/magazine\/article\/erik-messerschmidt-david-fincher-mank-cinematographer-72472\/\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">Erik Messerschmidt<\/mark><\/strong><\/a><strong> (\u201cBono: Stories of Surrender\u201d)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think the cinematographer is the director\u2019s appendage. We\u2019re in some ways the instrument through which the director can orchestrate the visuals in their film. Part of that is interpretation\u2014part of that is didactic construction, part of that is inspiration and our own personal stamp. It\u2019s different with every director, but I see it very much like that. I also think, to be honest, cinematographers probably get too much credit for the way movies look and not enough credit for the way the story is told. In actuality, the production designer and the costume designer deserve more credit for the way the movie looks, and cinematography has a lot more to do with editing than it does with photography. That\u2019s one thing that is just never fully discussed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.backstage.com\/magazine\/article\/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-cinematographer-interview-75933\/\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">Larkin Seiple<\/mark> <\/strong><\/a><strong>(\u201cWeapons\u201d)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTry to get a job on set where you can watch other cinematographers work and that can pay your bills and allow you to not have a 9-to-5. Try to crew up and get on set and watch other people. Also, the thing is, really, to find the director. The most talented directors have a cinematographer they\u2019re working with. That\u2019s rarely an open door; you have to build that collaboration from the beginning. Hopefully, they\u2019ll take you along for the ride if they find success.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.backstage.com\/magazine\/article\/power-of-the-dog-zola-cinematographer-interview-ari-wegner-74733\/\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:#ffffff\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">Ari Wegner<\/mark><\/strong><\/a><strong> (\u201cHoney Don\u2019t!\u201d)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s one of the most fun things, I think, about filmmaking: It\u2019s a team sport. You\u2019ve got these highly specialized creative people, and they\u2019re all going to come together under one director and do what they do best. And then when you look at a frame, it is all those elements that you see in front of you. What [colors] are the walls, and how do they go with the costumes, and how do we light it? We spend a lot of time taking all that into account: what costumes should be in which locations so they are both distinctive and bold, and they don\u2019t disappear. It\u2019s lots of conversations and lots of hustle. It\u2019s one of the most satisfying parts of filmmaking, that collaboration between the departments.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>These DPs shot some of the year\u2019s biggest films\u2014here\u2019s their timeless advice. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":1945,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cinematography Advice From 6 DPs of 2025\u2019s Buzziest Films<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"These cinematographers have solid advice for anyone wanting to get into the industry.\" 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