Cinematography and the camera assistant

Chris’ story

Chris’ career progress so far has been a busy ride of hard work and dedication. From 6 hour round trips to work in London, to accidentally standing on Jessica Alba’s hand in a strip club while working on a feature film, Chris has a great story to tell.

Brief debating studying accounting at University, Chris quickly released that was not the career path for him and set out to get a job in the film industry.

Northern Film and Media would provide Chris with hands-on experience across every role of the film crew, from the director of photography to spark. He’d go on to gain training and mentorship from some of the UK film industry professionals, like cinematographer Kyle Heslop

Fast forward a few years and Chris is now based in West London working as a loader (clapper loader, second assistant camera, 2nd AC) represented by Vision Artists. He works on commercials, music promos, and feature films.

Talking points

• How Chris took a pro-active approach to find work in the film industry in the North of England

• Networking and building genuine friendships within the industry

• Learning first hand from an experienced cinematographer

• Working as director of photography on side projects while still working full-time as a camera assistant

• Knowing when to step up in the camera department - trainee to clapper loader to focus puller (first assistant camera, 1st AC)

• What’s expected of you as a camera trainee

• Having an end goal and creating steps to reach that goal

Resources

• Vision Artists

• Follow Chris on Instagram

• Northern Film and Media

About the podcast

On the show cinematographer, Carter Hewlett takes a holistic look at life as a working director of photography.

Through conversations with directors, producers, DPs, actors, and everyone in between, you'll gain insight, knowledge, tricks, and tips on all things cinematography.

Being a successful cinematographer is more than just the art, more than just the photography.

Discussions about lighting, cameras, lenses, and photography are a given for any cinematography podcast. On this show, we aim to go beyond the surface level camera chat and take a holistic look, and deep-dive into every aspect of a DP.

• Lighting, cameras, lenses, photography

• career management

• Investments

• marketing

• networking

• personal and professional development

• branding

• work-life balance

Whether you’re already a career director of photography or still trying to get your foot in the door, the Holistic DP Podcast aims to provide value, knowledge, and insight to help you become better at what you do.