Cinematography in Cinema: Relationship Between Teaching Contexts And Its Application

Abstract

This paper approaches the two situations by being part of a conference on teaching cinematography and the real experience of shooting in a remote area in Africa with very few resources and conditions to do so. This article divides itself into two distinct moments: 1) one where an account of the teaching of cinematography is elaborated against the backdrop of the conclusions of the Teaching Cinematography Conference of 2017, of which the author was one of the organizers; and 2) a concrete case study of the author’s experience as a cinematographer for the film A Ilha dos Cães [The Island of Dogs], which premiered in theatres in Portugal in April 2017, and which corresponds precisely to an illustration of what the exercise of cinematography is today, in the European context. The articulation between these two cases allows us to understand how, while the essential nature of the relationship between artistic practice and teaching has not changed in the case of cinematography, a very significant set of transformations requires a rethinking of the methods and processes in which this relationship might be built.

Keywords

• cinematography
• teaching
• artistic research
• director of photography