1 The Director of Photography – an overview

32 Practical Cinematography
be left to light the set as you see fit. Alternatively, the director may
have very firm ideas as to how the film should look and it will be the
DP’s task to fulfil these wishes.All these different ways of working are
just as enjoyable; a little guidance on the set is very fulfilling, but working
to a director’s wishes and giving what is wanted, and hopefully
more, brings much praise and loyalty from the director.
As the senior head of department, the DP is looked to to set an
example to the rest of the unit. It is often the personal style of the cinematographer
that will get further work just as much as the quality of
the photography.Time keeping, crew behaviour, dress and manners all
come, at least in part, from the DP and so they set the standard for the
professional approach of the crew.
DPs are responsible for all matters pertaining to the photography of
the film – lighting, exposure, composition, cleanliness, etc. are all, ultimately,
their responsibility. DPs will more often than not nominate the
crew – that is, they will have put into the production office a list of first
choice and second choice people to be offered the job. If a crew member
is nominated by the DP, then the DP is responsible for them and
will in all probability have to decide whether they are to be fired if
they are not up to the required standard.The upside of this is that DPs
usually get the crews they want.
It should be said that it is quite common these days for the DP’s
contract to include the requirement to provide a ‘full negative’. This
means that underexposure as a route to providing a certain look is
unacceptable to the production. You may find this offensive or
restricting, but I am afraid that many producers have had a considerable
amount of trouble producing first-class release prints.Though the
rushes may look excellent, cinema release prints are usually made
from internegatives, as the original negative is far too precious to use
for final printing of the large quantity of prints needed by the distributor
(see Chapter 8). It is very difficult to make a satisfactory internegative
from a thin or underexposed camera negative.
It is not at all uncommon for an appreciable part of the production’s
budget to come from pre-selling the video rights. A full negative is
vital in these circumstances, as the telecine machines used to make the
master tape are very intolerant of a thin negative.
I am including all this because cinematographers should get used to
producing a correctly exposed negative – bad habits formed early may
lead to considerable periods of unemployment later.
The grip or dolly grip
The grip is primarily responsible for the camera dolly and all the
movements made by it. They are also responsible for moving the tripod
to the next set-up; the focus puller will usually take the camera.
Never move a camera while it is still on the tripod. I have seen one fall
off in these circumstances – not a pretty sight and very embarrassing.
The grip is responsible for building, or supervising the building of,
any construction needed to support the track or boards the dolly is
going to run on. The levelling and smoothness of the dolly’s working
surface is vital to the success of a dolly shot.
Front-line maintenance of the dolly and its kit are down to the grip.
Very often, they will have built or had built many special bits to enable