Trent Opaloch is easily the most talented and sought after cinematographers in the world today. He has DP’d for director Neil Blomkamp  on “District 9”, “Elysium”, and “Chappie”,  and director’s Anthony & Joe Russo on “Captain America: Winter Soldier”, and the upcoming “Captain America: Civil War”. It was an honor to sit down with him to chat about his career and the art of cinematography.

Mathew Toffolo: You first worked with director Neil Blomkamp on the short films “Tempbot” and “Yellow”. How did you two meet? What makes your director/DP relationship so successful?

Trent Opaloch: I met Neill shooting low budget music videos. We shot a handful of videos & short films while I was working at Clairmont (camera rental house) & he had just left a vfx house here in Vancouver.

He used to do all his own vfx work back then so it was really interesting to…

It was a blast sitting down with the Director of the Photographer of the hottest show on television: “The Bachelor”. Chad Griepentrog reveals a lot of funny behind the scenes moments, including shooting in the “fantasy suites” and trying to hold back his laughter with his fellow camera-operators so the shot isn’t ruined. Shooting reality television is a very difficult job. Enjoy the interview: 

Matthew Toffolo: What is your job as the cinematographer on a Reality TV Show set? From being in studio to on location?

Chad Griepentrog: My job is to basically try to make chaos look as good as possible without slowing down the production schedule or disrupting the cast. For the most part, reality shows are produced fast and cheap. Every shoot day is packed with locations and content that must be captured. The story is created through the actions of the cast members, so the mentality is…

Once upon a time there was a show called The West Wing. It was about a fictional devout Catholic liberal who was the President of the United States, and his staff of idealistic but extremely intelligent individuals. The show ran for 7 seasons, mostly in the W. Bush era. As the righty Bush team of Chaney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Powell and all governed a nation, there was a parallel universe happening weekly on NBC lead by the lefty Jed Bartlet and his team of Cregg, Lyman, McGarry, Zeiger and all. Right away, I was on team Bartlet and it wasn’t even about politics for me as I was just beginning to understand things.

And around 50% of the North American population was on team Bartlet as well, which is what made The West Wing so popular. Josiah “Jed” Bartlet was a brilliant man who tried to govern as much as he…

To watch Spirited Away feels like a special gift. It is a film of such startling imagination, originality, intelligence, and emotion that I feel inexplicable joy when the opening title card fades in.

Christopher Runyon, Movie Mezzanine

Animation movies are so much fun to watch as most of them attempt to tell a story that crosses generations. It’s the art of showing a kid and their parents the same film and each loving it for something different when the lights go up. Easier said than done.

War movies. I guess this is a genre that will always be around because there always seems to be war in the world.

Most war films are either based on a historical war with a fictionalized setting, or about a biographical situation and character(s) setting.  Almost all war films are really anti-war stories as they bring the viewer into a world of pain, horror, or a political agenda stating a “what was the purpose of all of this” type theme. Sometimes it’s about war itself, or about a specific war like the Vietnam or Iraq war.

Many of the great films of our generation have been war films, which is why I came up with this list.

Top 50 to 26 War Films of the 2000s –

http://www.wildsound-filmmaking-feedback-events.com/2000s_war_movies.html

Top 25 to 1 War Films of the 2000s –

http://www.wildsoundmovies.com/top_25_2000s_war.html

The Hurt Locker (2008) and The Pianist (2002) are basically the…

I was working late last night, flipping through the channels and the film Sideways (2004) came on. I haven’t seen Alexander Payne’s film on life, wine, and legacy since it was in the theaters over 10 years ago. It’s a pretty solid film that still holds up today.

One of the great speeches for a female character in the 2000s is Maya’s speech on wine. I’ll assume many actresses have performed this speech when they have to prepare a monologue for an audition. It’s terrific:

…I like to think about the life of wine…How it’s a living thing. I like to think about what was going on the year the grapes were growing; how the sun was shining; if it rained. I like to think about all the people who tended and picked the grapes. And if it’s an old wine, how many of them must be dead by now.

What an honor it was to sit down with Director of Photography Julio Macat. Julio has DP’d most of the top comedy films in the last 25+ years. His list of credits include: Home Alone 1, 2 & 3, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective,  The Nutty Professor, The Wedding Planner, Wedding Crashers, Winnie the Pooh, Pitch Perfect, and the upcoming comedy The Boss, starring Melissa McCarthy.

Matthew Toffolo: You have worked in the Hollywood Film Industry scene for the last 36 years. What has been the biggest change in the filmmaking process from 1980 to present?

Julio Macat: The biggest change in our industry has been the choice of material that studios and most independent financing companies green light, as what films are made. It used to be that a film like ORDINARY PEOPLE would have no problem going forward, especially with a good director attached. Now, great films like that…

AIRPLANE was one of my favourite movies growing up as a child. It was a film that our 1980s household owned on VHS, so it was an easy pop-in to the VCR whenever I wanted to giggle. (The other films we owned: Steel Magnolias, Lethal Weapon 2, and Big.  I have no idea why we owned these four specific movies.)

This scene from the film always made me laugh and still makes me laugh today:

Interesting enough, as a child I had no context to the spoof of the comedy. That is was making fun of the 1970s AIRPORT franchise, plus other iconic and pulp cultural references of the time. I just liked the comedy. How these actors were performing in a thriller/drama, while the audience was the only ones in on the joke.

Take a look at this scene. No actor is “trying to be funny”. They are just…