Film & Television vocabulary · Film Crew and Roles
Cinematographer
Meaning in film & television, with examples
/ˌsɪnəməˈtɒɡrəfə/nounCore term
In film & television, cinematographer means: The head of the camera and lighting departments, who decides with the director how the film will look: framing, lenses, camera movement and light.
In Turkish: görüntü yönetmeni
How it is used
Also called the director of photography, shortened to DP in the US and DoP in the UK. The cinematographer leads the camera operators, focus pullers, gaffer and grips, and is credited with the film's cinematography (its visual style).
Example sentences
The cinematographer wants to shoot the whole film with natural light.
She worked as a camera assistant for years before becoming a cinematographer.
Common collocations
award-winning cinematographer
director and cinematographer
work as a cinematographer
director of photography
Related terms
directorThe person who leads the creative side of a film or TV episode, guiding the actors and the crew and deciding how each scene should look and feel.
gafferThe head of the electrical and lighting crew on a film set, who carries out the cinematographer's lighting plan.
lightingThe use and arrangement of light sources on set to show the action clearly and to create the mood and look of a scene.
frameThe edges of the image that the camera records, and everything inside them. It also means one single still image of a film.
camera angleThe position and direction from which the camera looks at the subject, such as from above, from below or at eye level.
