New York Film Academy [Sponsor]

My thanks once again to the New York Film Academy for sponsoring the candler blog this past week.

Has cinematographic technology made the art easier or harder in recent years?

The relative challenge of cinematography is of course dependent on the demands of the filmmaker, the producer, the director, funding sources and the cinematographer. Also, the nature of the film, whether shot in studio or on location, or involving green-screen computer-generated graphics, present their own unique challenges. Which helps illustrate the real question: Is the cinematographer trained to work in a broad variety of situations, able to adapt to the needs of any particular production?

The New York Film Academy offers a one-year Conservatory degree as well as a two-year Master of Fine Arts degree for the individual who is a serious school of cinematography student. The program combines classroom study, self-directed projects, production workshops and collaborations involving NYFA students from other disciplines (producers and actors among them). The first challenge, therefore, for the cinematographer is perhaps the most difficult challenge of all: working with other people who are just as important as the quality of the photography.