What is Cinematography in Film?
What is cinematography? Well, the name comes from combining two Greek words: kinema, which means movement, and graphein, which means to record. In film, cinematography refers to the photographing of the movie itself. The person in charge of this is the cinematographer, also known as the director or photography or the DP.
In the hierarchy of a film set, the director's two key creative people in the crew are the art director and the cinematographer. The art director is in charge of the art department and the cinematographer is in charge of the camera, electric and grip departments. The camera department maintains the camera and has it ready for the shot while the grips and electrics handle the lighting. Electrics set the lights and run power to them and grips shape the light by using flags and diffusion. Grips also provide support to camera department when there is camera movement for the scene. An example of this is a dolly shot.
The cinematographer is one of the most important people that will be hired for a film. The visual look of your film is heavily dependent on who you hire. If you ever find yourself in a hiring position, then make sure that your potential DP has a reel for you to see. You want to be absolutely sure that you're hiring the right person.