"The director of photography, also known as the DP or the cinematographer, assists the film director by establishing the visual look of the movie. As a DP, you'll help tell the story through the artistic and technical decisions you make regarding lighting, film stock, shot selection, camera operation and other elements."
There is no simple way of describing what a DP does as they're multi tasking with the director, trying to emulate world from either a script or the directors vision for the project.
HOW CINEMATOGRAPHY HAS DEVELOPED
Cinematographers live in interesting times, with technological developments offering more options, but also opening the door for others to meddle with the image.
“It’s a changing time and that’s not a bad thing because we have new tools. The bad part is that our influence is diminishing,” Steven Poster, who is a former president of the American Society of Cinematographers, said recently at a session organised by Technicolor at Camerimage, a festival dedicated to cinematography.
Poster, whose credits include “Donnie Darko,” said that this decline in influence started when crews stopped watching film dailies and switched to lower-quality video dailies. With film dailies, everyone could appreciate the look the cinematographer was trying to achieve. “It gave a sense of the scope, the look, the feel and the emotional output of the movie,” he said. “It created a kind of gestalt that made everybody work in a particular direction.” With the technological advancement of recorded equipment, it's now possible to shoot in 4K, and crop to reframe sequences, this is a excerise that David Fincher does with his D.P Jeff Cronenweth, as it can give a really original, clean & crisp shot.
WHAT ARE FILM DAILIES?
Dailies, in filmmaking, are the raw, unedited footage shot during the making of a motion picture. ... In animation, dailies are also called rushes or sweat box sessions. Film dailies can refer to the viewing of dailieson film in a theatre.
WHAT ROLES DO D.O.Ps HAVE CONTROL OF
DPS, take control of the lighting, composition, camera movement, colour and tone of the piece. This is not their sole responsibility though as they share these components with the director, the director in charge of the subtext & why the visuals look a certain way, where as the DP is charge of making them a visual reflection of that of the directors vision. Lighting is key in producing what kind of mood & aesthetic the DP is going for, it says a lot about the individual style of a DP if they use low key lighting/practical lighting or high key lighting. It all depends on what angle you're going for & what is needed to be depicted throughout a certain scene.
CONCLUSION
To summarise, DPs have a fundamental part to play in filmmaking and TV. They offer support, creative ideas & solutions to struggling directors with a mixed vision of their script. DPs are the visual storytellers, with using all of their functions, they're able to convey a narrative with tones & themes by creating the world with the usage of lights, colours, camera movement & composition. The role is not a straightforward one, but it's extremely rewarding.
Links -
https://work.chron.com/director-photographys-duties-responsibilities-during-film-production-15918.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dailies
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