At No Film School, we enjoy diving into both the hard skills and soft skills required to be successful in this industry. For example, we enjoy the technical talk of cinematography. We also like diving into things like leadership skills, collaboration decisions, and how to hire or fire. These are some of the things we discuss with a roundtable of cinematographers whose films premiered at Sundance and Slamdance this year.

In today’s episode, No Film School’s GG Hawkins, speaks with cinematographers Bruce Francis Cole, Alejandro Mejia, and Sean Mattison to discuss:

How all three DP’s got connected to their respective projects
Thinking of the setting as a “character” in the story
Working with light and figuring out tone
The benefits of using multiple cameras
Allowing your team the freedom to express themselves
The importance of picking your team
Cutting off stressful energy before it spreads to the rest of the crew
How they decide what projects to work on
Choosing personality over technical ability

Memorable Quotes

“We chose the lenses that had the character built into them.” [24:51]
“What elements can we bring into it visually that will bring the audience into this world?” [26:53]
“If you can pick your team you truly trust in, you can easily allow everyone to do their job.” [33:32]
“We’re sensitive people. We work in a creative field.” [48:17]
“It’s a very New York thing that I learned when I moved there. People either like you or not.” [48:39]

Mentioned

Suncoast

Connect with Bruce on IG

In the Summers

Connect with Alejandro on IG

Petro

Connect with Sean on IG

Find No Film School everywhere:

On the Web

https://nofilmschool.com/

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/nofilmschool