Cinematography in Canada Since 1957

#emmadjwa #AssociateMemberCSC @emmadjwa

@416cw says not too take myself too seriously, and I don’t! But boy do public posts heat up the imposter syndrome!!

1. I worked for a lamp op for 2 years in the midst of my camera work. Not enough to be great, but as a chance to learn what it takes to light a set, and how to host an 18k party.

2. I own an fx6, and it’s brilliant. My Monday - Friday is focused on operating union work, but my fx6 kit allows me to trust my setup when I take on docs, something I underestimated until this camera. It also allows me to do EPK work, which has been a fabulous part of my income and my work.

3. Hiring techs for skill is the only way to do it. Femme techs are often fantastic at their jobs. To hire properly, you have to have the context of the industry. Hiring crew means supporting them and creating an environment they succeed in. I back my crew through contracts, learning and being clear what environment the set is.

#femaledp #cinematography

#emmadjwa #AssociateMemberCSC @emmadjwa

Lovers (2024)

This was a fun one! Director @joywebs and I played with reflections at the cinematography intensive. By visually trapping the characters in a reflective surface we helped to emphasize their emotional turmoil.

A satisfying first for me was mixing anamorphic and spherical lenses. I was worried the difference in lenses would pull the audience out, but it was seamless!

Dir. @joywebs
Produced by. @cfccreates & the CSC
Starring. Golden Madison & Bella Cabellero
Cam Op. @claire.sanford.cinematographer

#emmadjwa #AssociateMemberCSC @emmadjwa
Are We Done Now (2023)
Feature
Couldn’t find my overheads so here’s a spec sheet because we had 2 time periods and 3 different looks.

Starring: Gabrielle Miller, Favour Onwuka, Elliott Ramsey, Nathalie Farrow, Giacamo Baessato, Jennifer Spence & Camille Sullivan.

Executive Producers: Jack Ong, Gosha Wen, Ben Immanuel, Ben Lu, Richard J. Lewis, Franco Pante, Pieter Stahtis
Producers: Ben immanuel, Kimi Aledandra Bernie Yao, Troy Mundle
Writer/Director: Ben Immanuel
1st AC: Sabrina Burnett
2nd AC: Nathalie Taylor
Gaffer(s): Mike Lightfoot & Libby Olson

#EmmaDjwa #AssociateMemberCsc @emmadjwa

Spent this past week on an NFB doc with a brilliant team.

I love documentary because it gives me the chance to step into someone else’s shoes. I get to sit and learn about unique lives, sometimes ground breaking, terrifying, heartbreaking, and sometimes just plain odd. It’s always an honour to sit with other’s lived experiences.

Documentary is crucial. In a different way than unscripted work is. Documentary brings an honesty and sincerity. It’s crucial for DPs as well. Our lenses have power. Beyond learning how to work with small crews and budgets, it’s crucial for learning about the heart of cinematography. It’s easy to forget how big our cameras are, and how biased our lens placement is. Documentary, done properly, demands attention to the real world.

To shoot documentary you have to make space beyond what space you need to make in narrative. when you’re shooting documentary you can be relieving anything from the best to worst day of someone’s life. If the team behind the camera are tuned in, then the audience won’t be either.

Kirsten Johnson talks of being withy people as she films them, she interviews them while operating and what remains of the viewer is complete humanity. When interviewing someone for a documentary I think of Kirsten Johnson, I make sure I am present with the subject and with the content of the film. Of course, I fail, things must be organized and our job demands stupid amounts of phone time, but the goal is always presence.

#EmmaDjwa #AssociateMemberCsc @emmadjwa
Hello! My name is Emma Djwa and I’m a cinematographer and camera operator in Vancouver. I live on the unceded territory of the
xʷməθkʷəy’em (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwəta /Selilwitulh (Tsleil- Waututh) Nations, and I’m grateful to be here and to continue learning about and supporting reconciliation and decolonization.

I love the csc and I am so honoured by the chance to share my work. Thank you Carolyn for keeping guest hosting running all these years 💕 @416cw

Being a cinematographer has been a dream and a mainstay and a burr and a blur and above all, a driving force in my life. It’s been a privilege to earn a living telling stories. And playing pretend ;)

Few facts.
1. If it’s a strange shot I want to shoot it.
2. Real black licorice > other candy
3. My partner and I have a massive extended family and I love them all.
4. I worked at CBC News as a videographer in Nunavut
5. If not working, I will be making art or reading.

I’m an ICG 669 operator, a CSC associate member, the events lead for West Coast CSC, and I’ve been holding cameras since I was 2. Swipe to watch me Benjamin button.

Off we go! 🎥🦒

#cinematographer #cinematography #cameraoperator

#MattIrwinCSC @irwincine

Well, that’s enough outta me!
Thanks a million to the CSC and @416cw for having me, and to all of you for reading and engaging… I hope it was at the very least entertaining.

I’m going to leave you with a pile of favourite crew family photos, along with proof that I once had no beard and wore colours other than black. While I don’t want to turn this into a retrospective of a very much in-progress career, I do want to thank some formative mentors for all you taught me: @mwicscasc @gaffdaddy @hollywood.1964

Come say hello sometime @irwincine or better yet, in real life! In the immortal words of every cinematographer ever, probably: “I’m available.”

See ya down the road.
🫶🎥

—————————————
📸 Known photo credits:
1- @nimrabucha 2,13,17- @mwicscasc 5- @thefawz 6- @thecoffeeman71 7- Ryan Zaragoza 16- @squashfalconer 19- patty_bamber_bonelli_photog 20- @gzoz

PS, I hit the tag limit! Sorry if I missed you!

#MattIrwinCSC @irwincine

Turning on the way-back machine here, along with the not-too-long-ago machine, to revisit some favourite music videos and shorts. I love short form for how easy it is to throw caution to the wind and try something weird with a far lower chance of making a CLM (Career Limiting Mistake ™️). For the longest time I would force myself to use a new major piece of equipment- like a camera, lens, lighting tool, or movement tool- on every shoot to gain some new experience. The habit started in film school, and though I now have favourites it honestly still continues.

1-5 - Julian Casablancas + The Voidz “Human Sadness” - Dir @nicholausgoossen . I had a long run with Nick shooting music videos and Comedy Central series. This one was one of my favourites, and one of the most experimental. The song is a 13 min epic shot on several formats with a kaleidoscope of imagery. The band’s aesthetic at the time involved all analogue acquisition, so for the performance section (which was recorded live as we shot it!) we ended up on- if you can believe it- standard def BetaSP. VER had to source 3 old Sony bodies from across the country and bring an old video engineer out of retirement to prep and match them. It softens a lot with the upres but I gotta say, the analog output viewed on an SD analogue reference monitor looked beautiful, like dated 16mm. It was roughly ASA250 and we used a lot of med/large tungsten on that set. Other segments used Alexa, 5D, C300, and a whole pile of of lenses.
6 - ‘Trevor Moore: The Story of Our Times’- Dir Nick Goossen again. RIP Trevor, you unfiltered genius. This was a comedy special, but his style is all music videos and skits. Early days of Panavision’s DXL and Primo 70 lenses, detuned to reference speed panchros.
7 - ‘Fresh Meat Mom’ - Dir @emilyoqcode - An unhinged and witty commentary on the early years of mothering
8 - ‘Happy Hour’ - Dir @andrearamolo - I have fog juice for you @cinepapa_ !!
9 - ‘Crazy Like Me’ - Dir @leahmckissock

Continued in comments …

#MattIrwinCSC @irwincine

Shooting 2nd unit and additional photography are subjects that DP’s seem to rarely talk about but most of us have experienced at some point. I have theories as to why, but it does kind of feel like the First Rule of Fight Club. Regardless, it can be a real test- and a chance to get inside another DP’s mind during a show and learn something new. I’ve by no means made a career of this, and I’ve also never once regretted taking 2nd unit work. Sometimes it’s cleaning up a feature’s worth of inserts (aka forensic cinematography), other times it’s whole scenes with the cast or added coverage, or a whole car chase with explosions. It all teaches you something.

Nobody ever taught me “how to 2nd unit” so I just figured it out on my own. It requires you to keep your instincts and bury your ego, can be very technical, political, and full of dualities— equally low and high stress, requires quiet observation and absolute decisiveness.
My own rule is that it has to be indistinguishable from main unit or I’ve failed. Anyone know that story about Haskell Wexler shooting pickups for Nestor Almendros on ‘Days of Heaven’, and the guilt he felt for using lens diffusion?

I admittedly have a technical head and I want ALL the information— scripts, dailies, rough cuts, DIT stills, lighting plots, what lenses when, what fixtures and fabrics when and why. It’s like a psych profile. The more you know not just tech specs but the thinking behind choices made, the easier it is to be autonomous, confident, and faithful to the show’s look. Best scenario is to spend time in main unit prep or on the set and make detailed notes, pictures, ask questions. Sometimes you can’t and have to scrounge it all together on your own. Make friends with the Gaffer and ACLT, Key and Best Grip, SFX key. And it can be really fun- and never short on weird rigs, jugaad, fireballs, and technology low and high.

Anyways, here’s some recent favourites from fight club.

(Descriptions in the comments)