My friendly neighborhood DP!

F

FelixNZ

New member
Hi DVXUser!

I'm an aspiring DP - have had a bit of TV/DV training, and done some Camera assist work on no/low budget films, brought a GH2 - learning to use it. Through a series of events have come into contact with a local DP whose work I very much admire (Personally I think he makes the best images from my country!)
This guy has been great to me already (I get to borrow gear! :D) and he sounds like the kind of guy who does like to foster and help people learn the craft.
What questions should I ask him, and how best to absorb knowledge from him? (I am unlikely to be able to work with him as he's a professional with an established camera crew)

Thanks!
 
FelixNZ said:
Hi DVXUser!

I'm an aspiring DP - have had a bit of TV/DV training, and done some Camera assist work on no/low budget films, brought a GH2 - learning to use it. Through a series of events have come into contact with a local DP whose work I very much admire (Personally I think he makes the best images from my country!)
This guy has been great to me already (I get to borrow gear! :D) and he sounds like the kind of guy who does like to foster and help people learn the craft.
What questions should I ask him, and how best to absorb knowledge from him? (I am unlikely to be able to work with him as he's a professional with an established camera crew)

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Get lighting diagrams for shots in films that you can have on DVD/Bluray... One can learn most of 'framing', camera settings like F-stop, etc. from 'books', I think the things to ask working DP's is their lighting diagrams, that is placement of light to subject, lighting for 'depth' in the shot', various light modifiers, such as diffusion, flagging, etc.

These are things that are not well documented.
 
Work with him. Thats the best way to learn. Always room for a camera pa or something of the sort.
 
Love the thread title! My signature here on DVXuser when I first joined in 2006 was "your friendly neighborhood film student"

Yes. If you like his work, learn from him. Also, just as important, eventually earn his respect and have him introduce you around. Learn from him, but also have him give you a leg-up in contacts. Who you know is just as important as what. Sometimes more.
 
Thanks for the replies! I'd love to work with him, alas as he's a fairly well established DP, he already has an experienced regular crew, I have been chatting with him whenever I pop round for gear, so if he has a spot open up hopefully he'd remember me :P
 
Don't hope he will remember you...be proactive and ask if you can camera PA for free. Or straight up tell him you admire his work and would be interested in learning from him. Hoping he remembers you may have you waiting forever. I got the opportunity to BTS on a commercial shot in Jamaica with a Hollywood DP (he did horrible bosses) and I asked alot of stuff, and we discussed how he lit some scenes from various films he did. In the end I basically have a major link if i ever go to LA (and he's around) just to be on set and learn stuff. Pretty cool guy.
 
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