Thomas Parker

Creative Platforms BlogThe Creative Platforms unit requires me to blog my work regularly on Tumblr in

preparation for the my chosen industry. Research into my chosen sector Director of photography (DOP) will aid my sense of direction in employment and support my ability

to showcase my work.

I will be blogging progress and research of the following:- Showreel- Business Cards- CV- Website- Logo Design- Critical analysis of my work- Industry and University related work

What IndustryI already had a rough idea of how to break into the industry so I conducted further research to support my thoughts to expose ‘how to climb the ladder’. As I wish to be a Director of Photography (DOP), in the Television and Film industry, the key to

everything is contacts. Running and work shadowing experiences pose the opportunity to gain contacts through communication skills.

I came across a range of sites that offer a variety of work experience and jobs, using keywords you can narrow down exactly what you’re after. For example mandy.com and The Unit List provide post jobs with

their pay rate.

The creative skillset page states what the role of a DOP involves. A DOP is

essentially the chief over the camera and lighting department who creates the

visual look of the film. This role works in conjunction to the director in order to

achieve a successful overall outcome, in regards to drama and visuals.

Director of Photography (DOP)To be a good DOP you must have a good sense of creativity, knowledge of the digital and technical processes, making quick choices, paying close attention to detail and having great communication skills. Their job is essentially to discover the photographic heart of a screenplay which is what draws my attention to this role.

The desired skillset for a DOP follows competent use of a wide range of cameras and lens’s with a mature understanding of how lighting contributes to cinematography. As posted on my blog, the best route in is by working your way through the camera department to learn the traditions of working.

In film, the DOP’s tend to work closely with the Gaffer, who runs the lighting team, they also tend to have ‘best boys’ who do further running work for them. Being at the top of the job chain, DOP’s also have a first and second camera assistant (AC). The first assistant would support the camera by focus pulling, adjusting camera lens’s when prompt and maintaining the camera equipment. The second assistant operates the clapper board and must be prepared at all times to jump into the first AC’s position for whatever reason. The DOP is the chief over all these roles.

Becoming a DOPRoger Deakins in my opinion is a very successful DOP, winning more than sixty awards nominated for eleven

Oscars and winning three Baftas, he is known for movies such as Shawshank Redemption, No Country for Old Men and Skyfall. His route into the industry began with film school , after that he moved onto documentaries

which then gave them the skills to work on a feature in cinematography in England then later in the United States.

In this video, posted on YouTube, Roger explains how every cinematographer he has met has reached this level in the industry in a different way. He notes how back in his day everyone would work their way up the grades but nowadays most of the younger cinematographers go to film school and go straight out shooting on music videos, commercials and documentaries rather than becoming assistants.

This scene from Shawshank Redemption (1994) was shot in a prison, the majority of it was completely blacked out. The importance of lighting is crucial in this department. Roger was given remarks about how it was nicely shot although no lighting in it, when in fact there was, Roger lit this scene so well that professionals believed it was all natural lighting.

Emmanuel Lubezki, known for Children of Men, Bird Man and Gravity recently winning an Oscar for best cinematography with Gravity is another great example of a DOP. Like Roger Deakins, Emmanuel attended film

school with teenage friend and director Alfonso Cuarón. The pair set off and collaborated to make many movies together straight after film school, like Roger suggests; it’s important to also know who you work best with.

I love Emmanuel Lubezki’s employment of camera movement in Children of Men (2006), I see it as a good

example of the skills a DOP requires in conjunction to lighting. A car was modified to fit cast and crew to drive

about safety with actors chasing the car, the movement of the camera is influenced by movement or objects on the

screen. This is a lesson to when working in the camera department you must learn to adapt to your surroundings

at all times especially when working with new equipment.

Birdman (2014) was filmed in such a way that gave the impression it was a continuous shot, proving the film to have something unique about it. This was all done through the camera panning and post production of the film so Emmanuel didn’t have to worry too much about where the camera cut as the shots would be composed together throughout the pan. Techniques like these are a great contribution to what I could potentially do.

ShowreelAs part of the Creative Platforms unit I am required to create a showreel, this is more likely to be completed at the end of my

academic year when my projects are finished so I can add them to my showreel. I have both corporate and university projects I can select parts from, however my university projects may prove more effective. This completed showreel will be showcased on

my finished website.

I want my showreel to be as professional as possible, to portray this I must select the most

interesting shots from my work and audio that will really support it. Shots with good camera technique

and movement will definitely be added in, shots that sell myself as a Director of Photography. The

shot taken on the right was a project that involved a lot of rigged camera, I feel influenced camera

movement should definitely be put in my showreel.

As cinematography is the direction I aim to head in, it only makes sense to add scenes of my Cinematography unit in, The Great Gatsby reinterpretation. I really enjoyed working on this project as it gave me a chance to experiment more with lighting. We integrated a lot of CGI into this film too, this particular shot was actually shot during sunset, colour grading assisted the darkness and a vignette to keep the focus on the central character.

Showreel ResearchI’ve been searching Vimeo for DOP showreels as an example to what I’m yet to produce. The screenshot on the right is a video from DOP Jimmy Boutry and I noticed he uses an awful lot of portrait shots in his showreel, the majority is cut to the beat of the music which transitions each shot. Like most cinematographers he has also selected expressionistic parts of his work to put in place, this shot of breathing fire for example. I feel that when it comes to putting mine together I should have an idea of what sort of track to use so I can cut my chosen shots to it.From research I’ve also found the majority of these showreels are around one to two minutes in length, depending on what material you have to offer, keeping in mind a person tends to stay fully focused for only a short period of time, it’s important to gain their attention.

This screen shot from DOP Tommy Olsson exposes the lens flares in his shot, this is a good influence on what shots I’m going to select to show my lighting skills. The music used in this is very subtle and holds a lot of emotion, what I love most about it is that the video supports the song. It’s important not to go too crazy with the audio as the visuals are more important.

CVMy current CV is yet to be improved, I have further work experience

to add to it. The feedback I’ve gathered will definitely help me improve it, my name being the first thing to rework. Making my

name bigger for a start will express more ownership over what I do, I’m contemplating whether to integrate my name as the logo.

My email could be more professional with a domain name, it currently stands as twparker@outlook.com and could be something along the lines of me@thomaswparker.com. I shall place my name on the bottom left, telephone number in the middle and my email on the right on both pages so employers don’t have to search too

hard to find my contact details.

The introduction to my CV, about me, should be reworded as either in first or third person and the skills I’ve learnt from university can

be cut back. I’m certain employers are more interested in what experience you’ve had more importantly than just studying and this

should space my CV out a little more so it’s not so crammed.

The skills and interests section portrays a personal side of me to employers, to contribute the information I already have I feel

industry skillsets would sell me a little more. Noting down what cameras I’m capable of operating and software I’m competent with.

CV ResearchTo articulate ideas for my CV I researched other DOP CVs online. I found a strong trait in these, the more

experience in DOPing one person had, the rest of the information would be decreased. For example if you worked on thirty strong productions you would most probably note all of them down, that’s the most

important parts employers need to see. However after seeing these CV’s I began searching for some with less experience like myself. Nevertheless, I’ve learnt how to portray my CV once I have built more experience.

Individuals who are loaded with experience tend to map out what they’ve done in a table of contents. They may have a box for the type of production and another for the camera equipment they’ve used: this shows employers what they’re capable of operating. Turning my name into something or enlarging it is certainly something I should do on my CV too.As shown below, DOPs with less experience tend to go into detail about each of their jobs to compensate, this exposes their skills more.

Business CardI am focusing on my logo design before I start designing my business cards, there are companies who allow you to upload your own designs as a Photoshop or jpeg file as long as you’re using the correct dimensions. Moo.com seems like a promising site to start working with as shown in this photo.

I also discovered another site, plasmadesign.co.uk that sells a range of unique cards, like this translucent one for example. I’m currently in search for something that’s different but simply effective. I definitely want my card to have curved edges like this one

I recently ordered a sample pack from instantprint to see what their printed cards

are like. The texture of some of them is good to my liking however I’m determined to find

better as it would be worth paying extra money. Ideally I’d like my card to have contrasting colours, icons for contact information and a different texture

Logo designI’ve researched a variety of business cards I could potentially use to impress future employers, these should be designed to inform them of my skills and contact information in a creative manor that outlines what I do with

an appropriate logo throughout all my media that expresses me as an individual.

Using Photoshop I had the idea of using my name in the Harabara font. I want to keep my name/logo nice and simple so perhaps only using my name without other images

will work best. I played around with a camera lens a little and this was the

outcome.

As well as viewing what logos other DOP’s had on their CV’s I decided to throw my name into a variety of logo generators just out of curiosity to give me more ideas. The one on the left was designed on http://www.hipsterlogogenerator.com/ I think it’s extremely simply but if employed in the right way potentially effective.

Strengths in my workI like to think I have a creative eye. I know a shot

when I see it and line the frame up nicely so nothing looks distorted or uneven, I tend to get a tad OCD

about that knowing the potential errors when playing back and have a mature appreciation of all

roles in the industry.

As well as filming my other strength lays within editing, I love piecing together something I’ve shot

and seeing the overall grade. I make sure everything is done in good time so there’s time for

improvement and of course the edit.

Looking back on previous work, as an individual I’m pleased that I put my all into my work, I do my best to stay intact with the industry and always pick up

extra projects when I can and like working in a team.

I learn and get satisfaction from sharing my skills or technical knowledge, I know when teamwork isn’t

quite on cue so when required I tend to pull people together. This all has an effect on the outcome of a

project as after all it’s group work.

Weaknesses

There’s always room for improvement and learning. I believe that when it comes down to TV and Film there’s only so much in my control and I have to except that, not everything can or will go

perfect and all I can do is my best! Things tend to be a little more mature in the industry as individuals are paid to do a job.

I guess when it comes to working I don’t often switch off, I take on a lot of work at once as I have high ambitions of working at a high level in the industry as quickly as I can. Sometimes it’s

important to take a break.

I like to be very planned and organised, when being a DOP it’s important to be on good terms with the director and to go over shots to gather a clear vision what you both set out to achieve. I’ve been fortunate enough the last year or so to be working with a solid team(s) and would feel uncomfortable if I was teamed with someone lacking motivation or determination to get a job

done.

Pending Work

My current outstanding work will be a gradual process over the next few months to update my blog in regards to documenting my work.

I will be designing my logo first as I will then be able to place that on my platforms such as business cards, CV, website and showreel. A rough idea of what I’m searching for is located on the

other slides. Further research into decent business cards will be taken.

My CV will be renewed with new information and improvements to release it as industry standard once my logo has been completed.

My Showreel, as mentioned earlier, can be started to some extent but there are more pending projects I wish to select from too. As my Fiction unit deadline is next week that gives me the

opportunity to choose what clips from that I want to add and audio would be an essential asset.