Climbing mountains while filming an unbroken shot, scaling the sides of skyscrapers, hanging out of moving cars trying to grab footage…
These are only some of the feats that cinematographers have to face in the line of duty, and the three DPs on this episode of the No Film School podcast have lived to tell the tales—barely.
At SXSW last month, No Film School host Liz Nord spoke with three cinematographers with three very different films in the festival. Autumn Eakin shot Jessica M. Thompson's realist, contemporary The Light of the Moon, which won the Narrative Feature Audience Award at the festival. James Axel West shot Adam Keleman’s stylish, ‘70s-referencing drama Easy Living, and Shane King shot Jennifer M. Kroot’s feature documentary The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin, which won the Audience Award in the festival’s Documentary Spotlight section.
The guests share candid tales about their favorite gear, what DPs can do to stand out off set, how directors can best communicate with their shooters, how the best DPs make room for their actors or subjects to do their work, and of course, the shoots that almost killed them.
Listen to the episode by streaming or downloading from the embedded player above, or find it on iTunes here.
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This episode was produced and edited by Jon Fusco. Featured image from Jessica M.Thompson's 'The Light of the Moon.'
