American Cinematographer - May 2020 - 30

One on One

Cinematographer Tey Clamor receives long-distance mentorship from Lieberman.

The Subcommittee started with
a list of ASC members who had previously volunteered to serve as
mentors. After this, Lee says, "We
ended up putting out another call to
the membership, saying, 'We're starting this program. If you are interested, please let us know and sign up.'
We got a pretty heavy response -
much more than I expected."
No less enthusiastic was the
response of would-be mentees. More
than 200 cinematographers submitted
personal statements, résumés and, of
course, reels of their work. "We had a
couple of committees of people do
some pre-vetting," recalls Lee. "It's
kind of like a film festival, where you
narrow down the field and then make
your selection. In the end, we paired
73 mentors/mentees."

A global reach
Although the mentorship
program is open to all cinematographers who meet the requirements, the
Vision Committee hopes the program
will promote inclusivity. The final mix
of mentees is a remarkably diverse
bunch, including cinematographers
May 2020

from around the globe. "The ASC is
an international organization, and
having mentees that are not from Los
Angeles, New York or anywhere else
in the U.S. should not faze us," Dos
Reis says. "We are willing and
honored to share our knowledge with
people from around the world.
Cinematography is a global art; it has
no borders."
The mentorship program specifies two in-person meetings between
mentors and mentees, but for mentees
based outside of the U.S., email,
Skype and telephone calls are encouraged. Lieberman did not find it an
impediment corresponding with
Clamor via email. "The largest group
of people I mentor comes out of the
[ASC] Master Class, and although I
meet them in person, that eventually
turns
into
email
exchanges,"
Lieberman says. "I think all those
forms of communication are just fine.
We're used to them now."
And, as Clamor sees it, it's the
quality of the mentorship that
matters, not where and how it takes
place. "I've always believed in the
value of mentorship and learning,"
American Cinematographer - 100 Years

she says. "I was taught by some of the
greatest DPs in the Philippines, and
having an ASC member teach me is a
dream."
India-based cinematographer
Prakash Velayudhan, another mentee,
learned about the mentorship
program from the ASC website and
immediately recognized it as a way to
boost his career. "I always wanted to
study cinematography at a film
school, but [due to my financial situation] I started assisting and learning
on my own," Velayudhan says. "This
mentorship program is a perfect
[way] for me to advance in my career,
become an even better DP, [and] get
[more] technical knowledge."
After he was chosen for the
program, Velayudhan was paired
with Mark Irwin, ASC, CSC. They
first spoke on the phone and then
began an intensive email correspondence. "I ask Mark for technical and
creative input, career advice, how to
manage producers and directors, how
to collaborate with crew - actually,
my questions [are about] all aspects of
my career," Velayudhan says.
Fortunately for the mentee, Irwin is
an open book when it comes to tips,
suggestions and hard-won guidance.
"Mark is always inspiring me to ask
questions," says Velayudhan.
Irwin says, "Prakash had questions [that had been agonizing him
about his career], about how to deal
with producers, how to converse with
the director on a [meaningful] level.
In many ways, I look at this as tech
support on a creative level - creative
support."
In fact, Irwin found mentoring
Velayudhan through virtual means
was more fulfilling than an in-person
encounter. "You can get into a huge
amount of detail in an email," Irwin
says. "The latest one was yesterday;
he asked about split-field diopters,
and I copied and pasted all these
images of shots that other people had
done, including what I had done on
Scream, and said, 'This is what to look
for, and this is what to look out for.'"

American Cinematographer - May 2020

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