For a successful film production, the Director of Photography (DOP) or Director of Photography has to work in coordination with the Director of the film in several stages. To do this, the PDO must have a high knowledge of film shooting techniques and concepts. In addition, if a director knows the cinematographic techniques, he could be successful in using all the talents of a cinematographer. His true strength is using the full potential of the team to make the film a huge success. The role of a cinematographer in this is to act as the director’s eye.
The main purpose of this article is to highlight the importance of the interrelationship between the roles of the cinematographer / director, as there may be a situation where sudden clashes of ideas and thoughts can become problematic for the film. So, for the proper functioning it is necessary that the director feel satisfied with what he is looking for. If there is a problem in the principle photograph on the film set, it is the duty of the DOP to handle and fix it. It is true that verbal narration is not easy than visual narration because in verbal we only need sound, but in visual we need to handle light, camera and a suitable place for filming, but nevertheless, visual narration is more interesting and impressive.
While the director gives instructions to the crew, the cinematographer is responsible for the filming, lighting, subject, mood, color scheme, etc., which clearly means that he / she is responsible for the smooth and proper implementation of the given creative brief. It works as the administration in the government; While the government prepares schemes and plans, the Administration implements those plans. The full DOP team including the Gaffer, 1st cameraman, 2nd cameraman, best guy, electricians and gripping team support to fulfill the artistic vision of the Director through their technical knowledge.
PDOs have some duties that are purely technical, just like the film director has duties with the Talent and the script, but in between they are both involved in common tasks such as, location scouting, on-camera storytelling practice, background, costumes and any other aspect that may affect the scene to be filmed. Film education can improve basic communication between director and cinematographer so that they can achieve a common goal. The main objective of a filmmaking course is to teach students what points a director should know about the camera and what the cinematographer needs to know about directing films for their coordination to be smooth and fruitful.