The document discusses the role of the cinematographer in filmmaking. It explains that cinematography involves photographing the movie and is led by the cinematographer or director of photography. The cinematographer works with camera, electric, and grip departments to set up shots using lighting and camera movement. Choosing shots and keeping the camera steady and in focus can be challenging. The document also provides an example of allowing an actor to hold the camera to capture better facial expressions for a scene.

1. By Chris Phillipou

2.  What is cinematography?
 Well, the name comes from combining two Greek words: kinema, which
means movement, and graphein, which means to record. In film,
cinematography refers to the photographing of the movie itself. The person
in charge of this is the cinematographer, also known as the director or
photography or the DP.
 In the hierarchy of a film set, the director's two key creative people in the
crew are the art director and the cinematographer. The art director is in
charge of the art department and the cinematographer is in charge of the
camera, electric and grip departments. The camera department maintains the
camera and has it ready for the shot while the grips and electrics handle the
lighting. Electrics set the lights and run power to them and grips shape the
light by using flags and diffusion. Grips also provide support to camera
department when there is camera movement for the scene. An example of
this is a dolly shot.
 Cinematography is the art of capturing a moving image, which is the
opposite of photography.

3.  During filming I found it hard to keep a steady hand, and focus the
camera correctly. Despite this I was able to film efficiently with the
help and guidance of my fellow group members.
 Choosing correct shots was tricky for example in the toilet scene
with Arran and the girls that walk in. I wanted to use the shots of the
girls looking in the mirror and getting their reactions in their mirror
reflections, as well as Arran on the toilet. This was hard to get
correctly because of the angles the girls were standing at and also
the lining of the camera and the timing took a while to get perfect.

4.  To film I used the Sony Z1 camera. This camera was quite a hefty bit of
equipment, which was accompanied by a tripod to help with stability.
 All in all the equipment was pretty self explanatory on how to use it, however
when it came to filming certain parts for example tracking Arran on his
voyage to find a toilet, it needed fitness and endurance to carry the camera
efficiently.
 Arran himself in the scene where he enters the school main building on his
search, actually holds the camera himself. This was the right thing to do, and
we got a better more steady shot of Arrans sweaty face as he came to terms
with laxatives.

5.  A major decision that I decided to make whilst filming was to give
Arran the camera to film himself in the scene where he enters the
main school building. Initially we was going to use a wide shot of
Arran entering the school desperately in his search. We tried the
wide shot and the camera lining was a bit jumpy and we couldn’t see
Arrans facial expressions properly. So with this we decided to let
Arran hold the camera, in effect it was a panning shot with the
camera in Arrans hands, which was invisible from the audience,
which was a good effect and made it look more professional.