šŸ“’ The Student Cinematography Masterclass

How this SCAD student went from 0 experience to a professional in 4 years

Meet Katie LeCluyse: a recent graduate from Savannah College of Art and Design and a budding young cinematographer.

Katieā€™s work is undeniably incredible, but even more incredible was her speed to learn the craft of filmmaking. She entered SCAD with no experience with filmmaking and left shooting professional-grade shorts.

Today, We Dig Into

  • šŸŽ„ Katieā€™s path to shooting a western epic

  • šŸ¤ SCADā€™s secret to taking students from no experience to professionals in 4 years

  • šŸ’µ What Katieā€™s story teaches us about becoming a professional cinematographer

PRIVATE WORLD

Notice how Katie oscillated between a shallow depth of field and fish-eye shots to create a frenetic and tense feeling in the room.

Katie learned the value of pre-production on this project. As their time on set was quickly waning, Katie had to move quickly to get sufficient coverage. Luckily, she had a shortlist that she could pass to her assistant director, so the crew understood the speed between shots they would have to move.

A FLAMEā€™S REACH

While Private World is a terrific early project, A Flameā€™s Reach shows how Katieā€™s mastery of cinematography grew dramatically through her time at SCAD.

Pay attention to:

  • Color & Skintones

  • Lighting & Shadows

  • Film Grain

A Flameā€™s Reach is a western epic working its way through the film festival circuit.

WHATā€™S THE SECRET?

Katie recently graduated from SCAD with a BFA in Film and Television. Her peer group, scrappiness, and SCADā€™s secret weapon are the 3 biggest factors in her success.

From Student to Student

In Stuudeoā€™s hundreds of interviews with film school students across the country, there is a common throughline at the best schools.

Students teach each other more about the craft of filmmaking than their classes.

Scrappiness

Sometimes, all you need is helping hands, a camera and lots of tape to get the job done

Scrappiness is speed. The faster you can produce projects, the faster you will grow.

SCADā€™s Secret Weapon

After multiple interviews with SCAD students, Stuudeo found a common pattern: the most talented SCAD students spend most of their weekends on sets.

SCAD has a crew culture. They expose students to what set life may be like as they move into the industry.

While writers and directors can get away with only going on 5-10 sets per year, young members of the camera department live can expect to crew on 15+ projects annually.

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