In India, a career in cinematography can be established in various regional film centers and by becoming active members of professional trade organizations. An aspiring cinematographer of Tamil films can look for cinenatographic jobs in Chennai, while those looking to work on Marathi and Hindi films have to bring their skills to Mumbai. The other regional film centers are in Hyderabad (Telugu films), Kolkata (Bengali films), Kochi (Malayalam films) and Bangalore (Kannada films), which is just to name a few.
Indians who have completed a bachelor’s degree in cinematography from institutions or technical schools that offer cinematography theory and techniques, have to start from scratch in order to have actual work experience as a cinematographer. That way they can hone and develop massive skills that will earn them the reputation of being a well-polished professional cinematographer..
Basically, as a cinematographer, they need to have good vision combined with a strong eye and hand coordination. In addition to having adeptness in handling digital cameras and various photography technologies, working as an assistant cinematographer requires having an artistic sensibility and a deep understanding of capturing shots in different dimensions.
Who is a Director of Photography?
While cinematography can simply be described as a job that requires recording motion, a cinematographer’s main responsibility is to capture such motions in ways that will make the film director’s vision of each scene a visual reality. That is why a full-fledge professional cinematographer is referred to as a Director of Photography or DOP, a distinction gained through years of experience, additional knowledge and excellent cinematographic accomplishments.
Cinematographers must have clear grasps of the technical elements that work toward capturing the best motion pictures, such as the on screen visual effects, lighting, angles, lens and camera movements, focus, colors, filters, focus, colour and exposure. As the cinematographer, he must be able to relate such elements to different shooting techniques that would best portray cinematic views and scenes to the audience.
The overall effect of his cinematic work can greatly impact how viewers will react to the scenes, as they will be a reflection of the director’s job and other technical work contributed by members of the film outfit.
Little Things Season 3 – An Example of an Acclaimed Cinematographic Work
In 2019, Movierulz reviewed Little Things Season 3, the 4-season Indian TV romantic comedy series purchased for streaming by Netflix. The movie review’s overall impression is that Season 3 was “more talkative” than was necessary.
The series starred Dhruv Sehgal and Mithila Palkar as a couple whose marriage was initially affected by long distance separation. In Season 3, the couple are back together in Mumbai, in which episodes are riddled mostly with flashbacks of the lives they spent while separated. Not surprisingly, Little Things 3 cinematographer Aniruddha Patankar won the 2019 MTV IWMBuzz Digital Awards for her excellent work in putting together episode-long montages depicting the individual experiences, fears and dreams of the couple.