Philippe Rousselot’s long career in cinematography has earned him awards including three Césars, an Oscar, and a BAFTA, and FEST was eager to welcome his for his Training Ground Masterclass “The Art of Preparation: Shaping Film” on 27 June. 

Drawing from decades of experience, Rousselot sat down with FEST participants to discuss the importance of preparation in the work of the director of photography. “How do you get prepared for things you’ll never be prepared for?” This question set the tone of the masterclass, and Rousselot’s insights offer a framework for preparation that accommodates the chaos of filmmaking. 

While magazine features about DOPs and their process give a “very sleek and organized” view of what DOPs do, Rousselot quickly established that this has not been his experience. Far from being a well-oiled machine that takes the input of the DOP and director and pumps out a cinematographic vision, when it comes to cinematography as a process, Rousselot mused, “All I can see is chaos.”   

Rousselot elaborated on his work as a DOP with a striking metaphor: “It’s a bit like the Bible. I start, and there’s chaos. And then the light comes. And like the Bible, the light comes up, and chaos remains.” Critically, each film is unique, demanding different things at different points in the production process. Many of these needs emerge unexpectedly.   

There are a few concrete steps that can make the chaos slightly more ordered. The first of these, Rousselot noted, is to read the script. In fact, the DOP should not just read the script, they “should read it as many times as needed until you know the script better than the director,” taking notes and teasing out where incoherences arise that can disrupt shooting.   

“Find things that been put in place without thinking of reality,” Rousselot recommended. “Booby traps” in the script, such as scenes set at sunrise or sunset that have pages of dialogue, create unnecessary complexities for shooting that are not worth the trouble if the scene is not foundational to the story. 

Other vital components of the preparation process are location scouting—understanding precisely where shooting will take place and how to adapt those spaces to what the shooting will require—and establishing “the boundaries of your work versus the director’s boundaries.” Maintaining communication with production designers can also help to avoid clashes later on between the DOP’s requirements and the production designer’s vision. And, of course, anchoring work in a team that is reliable and enjoyable to work with will make a DOP’s job that much easier. 

Cinematography must work in tandem with the other components of the film in service of the narrative. The decisions made for each of these components are defined by coherence with the story. To create frames that serve this purpose, Rousselot explained, “You have to shrink the image to what is important and eliminate everything else.” 

• ⁠  ⁠Alexandra Rongione