Careers A–Z · Camera
Director of photography
The DoP is the head of department for the image. Written DoP in the UK, not DP. You are responsible for how the film looks, and for the camera, lighting and grip departments.
A creative job that is mostly management, negotiation and preparation.
The basics
Also known as, and where the grade sits.
| Director of photography | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | DoP, director of photography, cinematographer. BSC after a name is society membership, not a qualification. |
| Level | Head of department, working directly to the director and the producers. |
| Reports to | The director; on budget and crewing, the line producer. |
| Comes after | Camera operator, gaffer, or your own work. |
| Leads to | Bigger jobs. Some DoPs move to directing. |
The job
What does a DoP do?
You read the script, talk to the director until you both mean the same thing by the same words, recce the locations, and design a look you can deliver in the days available.
You crew up: operator, 1st AC, gaffer, key grip. You choose cameras, lenses and stock, run tests, and set the workflow with post. On the day you light, set the stop, and protect the look while the schedule attacks it.
The unglamorous end: prep is underpaid on smaller jobs, recces are long, and much of the work is defending an idea in a room rather than shooting.
The requirement
What is a DoP good at?
Judgement, taste and the ability to run a large group of people who are tired.
Light
Reading it, shaping it, and knowing what you can leave alone.
Storytelling
Knowing what a scene is about before deciding how it looks.
Leadership
Three departments, long hours, and the tone is set by you.
Budget sense
Designing a look that survives contact with the schedule.
Colour and workflow
LUTs, exposure, and what the grade can and cannot recover.
Kit
Tools of the trade.
| What | The actual items |
|---|---|
| Cameras | ARRI Alexa 35 and Mini LF, Sony VENICE, RED. On film, 16mm and 35mm bodies and a stock choice. |
| Lenses | Spherical and anamorphic primes and zooms, filtration, and tests that prove what they do. |
| Metering | Incident and spot meters, waveform, false colour, a calibrated monitor. |
| Lighting | Whatever the gaffer rigs: HMI, LED, tungsten, and the shape you make with flags, nets and bounce. |
| Prep | Shot lists, floor plans, lookbooks, camera tests, recce photographs. |
The unit
Who does a DoP work with?
| Who | What passes between you |
|---|---|
| Director | Intention, coverage and the film you are both making. |
| Gaffer | Lighting design, power, rig order and how long a change takes. |
| Key grip | Movement, mounting and support. |
| Operator and 1st AC | Frame, lens, stop and the department’s day. |
| Colourist | The look through the grade, from the first test to delivery. |
Routes in
How do I become a DoP?
No queue, and no single route. Most DoPs shot their own work first.
Shooting your own
Most careers are built on a body of work, not a promotion.
Commercials
Fast, high-value, technically demanding, and it pays for the shorts.
A degree is not essential. Film school helps more here than in most grades, because it buys years of shooting and directors who keep hiring you — but plenty of working DoPs never went.
What is not optional is a body of work somebody can watch.
Nearby
The grades either side of this one.
The DoP job is the sum of three departments. Read all three.
Camera department guide
Everything free and worth paying for in this department, in the order to take it, with the books.
Never been on a set? Start here. Offered a first day? Read this first. Want to know where this grade leads? Where people have gone names people who trained here and the productions they went to.
