My ASC Master Class: Sara Garth

Program participants discuss the impact of attending this intensive five-day program in the art and science of cinematography.

Photos by Nick Mahar

“What I gained from the Master Class was the same thing that I ended up getting from college, which was confidence. I am very school oriented. I was always good at school. I’m a great test-taker. But that doesn’t matter in real life. What does is having the balls to say, ‘Yeah, I am good at my job and I will be an asset to your production and I can achieve these things.’ That’s how I felt when I graduated from school, and I had not been feeling that in my life or in my work, so I decided to do the ASC Master Class in the hopes that it would reinforce what I knew, set me on a path to learning bigger and better things, but then also make me feel like I have the right to say I’m a cinematographer. And it’s been awesome. It’s done all of those things. And I came home yesterday, and my husband was like, ‘You’re different since taking this class.’ And I’m like, ‘Goddamn right I am! Let’s go make a movie!’

“The most surprising thing I learned was the car stuff — the Bill Bennett [ASC] stuff. I’ve worked with cars on a very basic level, and I’ve seen other people work with cars on a basic level, and there’s always issues. There’s always hot spots. You always see the lamps. And the people never want that. And you don’t know what to do. And now I do! 

“The most important thing I’ve learned is that everything I thought was true. There is no right way to do this. Not everyone is going to like your work. But somebody else is. You will always be behind the learning curve. And that’s okay as long as you know how to build a team and take the initiative to ride the wave. — Sara Garth

You’ll find Garth’s personal site here.

Click here for complete course details for the ASC Master Class sessions coming up on September 17–21 and October 22–26. Register now here.