President’s Desk — December 2023
“There is no right or wrong way to do this job — there is only your way.”
Here at the ASC, we’re preparing our Master Class session that specializes in shooting motion-picture film, and the discussions with our instructors regarding our plans have got me thinking. In the days of photochemical shooting, the cinematographer truly was the only one on set who knew where the shadows were going to fall and how the image would carry the weight of the story in the most expressive way. To master this ability took years of trial and error — the timing of which could only be accelerated by the amount of risk the cinematographer was willing to put into play.
Forty-plus years ago, if you were a cinematographer in your 20s, you most likely got there by being adventurous with your choices and exploring the outer edges of what was acceptable, allowing the images to speak as loudly as possible. Opportunities materialized because a cinematographer developed a fearless nature and saw stories in a unique and personal way. That sort of bold conviction, applied to image construction, certainly gave the DP a key to the creative strongbox. Along with everyone else’s limited understanding of silver-halide crystals, dye couplers and temperature-controlled chemistry, this authority positioned the cinematographer as the only collaborator who really understood how a captured and processed photochemical image departed from what our eyes saw on set — and came to life onscreen in a new and expressive way. Even then, film sometimes presented hidden surprises.
When shooting film, a cinematographer needed to previsualize a desired tone and feeling — which required developing the thematic “reasons to be” for these elements during preparation and imagining the results of all technical steps needed to achieve that feeling. Waiting too long to cultivate a visual plan may lead to countless mundane choices, which can easily steer the film toward the safe center of a creative road well-trod by others — and away from any sort of resonance that can touch an audience.
I feel that it’s important to develop this kind of authored and previsualized intent even when shooting digital formats, where it’s all too tempting to simply wait and respond to an image that boots up on your monitor. That said, there is no right or wrong way to do this job — there is only your way. No matter the working method, cinematographers should endeavor to create visual authorship, and challenge themselves to take chances and do things they have not yet attempted — to create their own onscreen persona, which can empower a career of stories told with truth.
Best regards,
Shelly Johnson
ASC President
