Two Cinematographers Tell Students Their Job Is About Why, Not Just How

Cinematographers Sam Levy and Jamie Ramsay spoke to students and up-and-coming filmmakers at the Camerimage festival in Toruń, Poland, a festival that honours the craft of cinematography. They shared how they got into the trade, and what they think matters most on set, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

A cinematographer, also called a director of photography or DP, decides how a film looks through the camera. That means lighting, lens choice and camera movement, all worked out with the director.

Levy was born in Boston and studied comparative literature. He once considered a career as a diplomat before he turned to film. His first job in the industry was as an assistant to the cinematographer Harris Savides. He later worked with Noah Baumbach on Frances Ha and While We're Young, and with Greta Gerwig on Lady Bird. He recalled working as a camera loader, the crew member who loads film into the camera, on a commercial directed by Gus Van Sant and shot by Savides. The crew filmed in the New York subway without a permit.

At Camerimage, Levy told the room: "It's less about the how than about the why." He also said, "Your greatest weapon as a DP is your intuition." His most recent credit is Noah Segan's crime thriller The Only Living Pickpocket, shot in New York.

Ramsay grew up in South Africa. He was accepted at the Academy of Film and Dramatic Art in Johannesburg, a film school. Early on he worked as a camera operator on Neill Blomkamp's District 9, the crew member who physically runs the camera during a shot. He has since partnered with the director Oliver Hermanus on Beauty and Moffie. He has also shot Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers and Anthony Maras's Pressure.

His latest film is Being Heumann, directed by Sian Heder. It is a historical drama set in the 1970s.

What stands out from the two careers is how different the routes were. One started with a literature degree and a plan to work abroad for a government. The other started in a film school in Johannesburg and on a large science-fiction set in Vancouver. Both ended up behind the lens, making choices that audiences rarely notice but feel every time a scene looks right.

For students in Toruń, the message was simple. Know why a shot is there, and trust your instincts when the answer is not written down.