The full form of DOP is “Director Of Photography”. In short, it is also called DP. DOP is also known as Cinematographer. In the field of film-making, the head of camera and lighting in the production department is called DOP i.e. Director of Photography.
DOP is also called “Department of Post” which is called “Dak Vibhag” in Hindi, which is the government-run postal system in India.
DOP’s responsibility
A director of photography works with the director of a film or filming project. The director of photography aims to create scenes in keeping with the director’s vision for the film. A director of photography supervises the camera crew and other technical aspects of filming, such as lighting and other effects. The director of photography makes most of the decisions related to the cinematics and the technical part of the filming operation such as camera aperture, white balance, camera lenses and filters to be used, etc. In short, the main task of the director of photography is to convey the story to the audience through the right visual techniques to make the cinema experience more rich and complete.
Stages of Filmmaking by DOP
The production of a film is mainly done in three stages which are as follows:
1. Pre-Production
The work done before the beginning of the film i.e. shooting such as film-making equipment, script writing etc. comes under Pre-Production.
2. Production
Under production, important tasks like shooting of the films come, in which DOP plays an important role.
3. Post-Production
Editing of the completed films shooting is done under Post-Production, such as using VFX.
Functions of DOP
Following are the main functions of DOP:
- co-ordinate with the director
- Watching the Lighting While Shooting
- Selecting the lens according to the scene.
- cinematography
How to become DOP (Director of Photography)?
To become DOP (Director Of Photography) you need to have knowledge of all the essentials related to film making. For example, you need to have technical knowledge of camera and light, and apart from this, understanding the screenplay, understanding the vision of the film director, etc. Along with this, knowledge of camera angle, camera shot, basic video editing, sound is also necessary. For this you will need to do Camera and Lighting or Cinematography course. After doing Cinematography course, you do internship in Cinematography.
Eligibility and Fees for Cinematography Course | Qualification for DOP
For Cinematography course you must have 12th pass from any stream.
Certificate Courses:
Duration: 3 to 6 months
Fees: 40 to 70 thousand
Diploma Courses:
Duration: 1 year
Fees: 60 thousand to 1 lakh
Bachelor Courses:
Duration: 3 years
Fees: 80 thousand to 1.20 lakh per year
Other Full Form of DOP
Following are the other full forms of DOP:
Dioctyl Phthalate
Dioctyl Phthalate (DOP) is one of the most commonly used plasticizers in plastic processing.
Dominican Peso (ISO currency code)
The Dominican peso is the currency of the Dominican Republic.
Degree of Polarization (fiber optics)
Degree of Polarization is a quantity used to describe the portion of a light source that is polarized.
Dilution Of Precision (GPS)
Dilution Of Precision is a measure of the geometric accuracy of the satellites as seen by the GPS receiver. The lower the DOP, the more accurate the GPS position.
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