It’s important to keep in mind that a shooter today is more than just an adept visual storyteller. A shooter is also a horse trader, an educator, and at times an ardent cheerleader.  It seems that more projects are going this way and  frankly it’s not all bad. Lately I’ve been finding myself involved in feature productions from an earlier stage. I am being asked to read and consult on scripts and offer comments. In years gone by that would seldom if ever happen.

The reason for this development may be simply my age and the presumed wisdom I might bring to a project, or it could be more a function of who is producing and directing movies these days. More than ever there seems to be a demand for genuine camera expertise, especially given the burgeoning digital morass in which we currently operate.

There is a growing realization also that a shooter and director really do  share the same sensibility, and thus this core team today can form a much more potent collaboration. Just as the cinematographer excludes the superfluous camera movement and irrelevant object in frame the director in his or her way does the same thing, seeking out scenes to delete, dialogue to omit, and actors’ gestures to forego.

It wasn’t long ago that the democratization of the medium was thought to spell the end of craft as we knew it. Just a look around at a few of the shows with outstanding craft on HBO, AMC, and elsewhere, it seems to be having precisely the opposite effect.

The team of ‘Network’ brainstorm story ideas in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 25 June 2012.

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