Sam Levy, Cinematographer

This episode of Zack's Film Talks at SDSU is hosted by Libsyn.

My guest is cinematographer Sam Levy. As DP for Greta Gerwig's 2017 film Lady Bird, Sam here gives a master class in his craft.

Using Lady Bird as a case study, he talks about each step of his job: from making a 110-page shot list for the film to screening the rough cut in Technicolor and doing the color timing—going frame by frame to make sure all the colors are set.

He also touches on:

• the tools of his trade, including graph paper for drawing the set and shot-blocking diagrams
• varying the grammar of shots in a film
• coming up with a blueprint of the emotional arc of the story being told
• the differences between shooting in color and black-and-white
• the work of cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revenant)

Sam studied comparative literature at Brown University and took Leslie Thornton's 16mm filmmaking class there. 

Episode edited by Chris Burke.