Thanks for the interesting video. I think this is the same in any line of work, there are certain job titles that carry certain weight and therefore people use them both appropriately and inappropriately and the latter may hollow out the job title. I work in the maritime industry. There, you are only a 'captain' when you have the license, experience, and the trust of a shipowner to be in command of a merchant ship. And that license expires too 5 years after you stop sailing, which is when you formally stop being a 'captain'. If you then look at the operations departments at shipping companies, or at ship or cargo surveyors etc. there is suddenly a suspiciously high number of 'captains' none of who have being in command of a merchant ship on their resume. You can call yourself captain of a dinghy, that is not exactly the same. Being a DOP is the culmination of years of experience, being able to operationally and economically run a film set, which you can only learn from the bottom up. But these days you can be the DOP of the shorts for your TikTok channel, not the same. This issue will stay, people love overselling themselves with a facade of nonsense titles.
I've begun to realize that some of the most important things I do in creating my videos are not technical but some of those intangibles and not stressing over what you can't control.
I appreciate the approach to create an objectionable checklist of what a DP does/skills needed as a DP.
Thank you for the wonderful comment!
Thanks for the interesting video. I think this is the same in any line of work, there are certain job titles that carry certain weight and therefore people use them both appropriately and inappropriately and the latter may hollow out the job title.
I work in the maritime industry. There, you are only a 'captain' when you have the license, experience, and the trust of a shipowner to be in command of a merchant ship. And that license expires too 5 years after you stop sailing, which is when you formally stop being a 'captain'. If you then look at the operations departments at shipping companies, or at ship or cargo surveyors etc. there is suddenly a suspiciously high number of 'captains' none of who have being in command of a merchant ship on their resume. You can call yourself captain of a dinghy, that is not exactly the same.
Being a DOP is the culmination of years of experience, being able to operationally and economically run a film set, which you can only learn from the bottom up. But these days you can be the DOP of the shorts for your TikTok channel, not the same. This issue will stay, people love overselling themselves with a facade of nonsense titles.
Thanks for this wonderful anecdote and comment, Edwin! It takes many years of sailing to learn to captain a ship... no question. :)
I've begun to realize that some of the most important things I do in creating my videos are not technical but some of those intangibles and not stressing over what you can't control.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Robin. 🙏