Story Development in Cinematography

First off, I’ve got to argue for the use of the word “cinematography” over “camera”. One is to utilize a word I would like to further unpack. Another is to utilize a word that simply implies a relationship to another art form entirely – photography. I often say to my students that some cinematographers initially come from the lighting point of view and some come from the camera, but ultimately what great cinematographers do is understand a story (not just a moment that tells a story – there is a significant difference) – and tell it. If I say that storytelling is the most and primary function of a cinematographer, then how do we teach storytelling to our students in a classroom? Obviously it is possible to teach them tools of “photography” – lenses/optics, composition, chemistry, sensitometry etc. and lighting – this is an HMI, this is flicker, memorize WAV, etc. However, how do we teach them how to tell a story with these tools? I have been working the last few years on teaching my students story development tools that are appropriate for cinematographers. Tools which as they go forward into their own practice have begun to give real results in terms of not only storytelling, but in the students creating their own relevant visual styles. For them to utilize these tools they need to engage not only in pre-production time, but in story development time – which is a period rarely engaged in at the student level, but is crucial if we want them to become anything other than the takers of pretty pictures.

http://nahemi.org/nahemi-bfi/talking-shop-2011/