You may know documentary DP, Matt Porwoll, from his work on the gutsy academy award nominated documentary, Cartel Land. We also featured him last year at Sundance for his work on the movie The Trade. He’s back at the festival with a new film, Tigerland, helmed by veteran doc director, Ross Kauffman (Born into Brothels). Tigerland follows the fight in Russia and India to protect tigers from extinction. Image Credit: Discovery DP: Matt Porwoll FILMS: Tigerland (dir. Ross Kauffman) SUNDANCE CATEGORY: U.S. Documentary Competition CAMERA: Canon C300 MKII, RED Helium, DJI Osmo GLASS: Canon K35 Primes, Canon CN-E Compact Zooms DRONE: Inspire 2 w/ RAW license DP Philosophy: As a documentary cinematographer, I always try to soak in an experience and capture it in a way that best conveys the character’s experience. This is oftentimes difficult, but it’s also what I love most about vérité documentary. The more time you spend with your characters, the more you can relate to them, and ultimately the better insight you can give to the audience. So with that, I try to build relationships with the characters that are built on trust. In the moment, I don’t like to have a lot of people in the room. Ideally, just the director, camera and sound. Many times its just camera and sound with the director watching wirelessly outside the room. The less it feels like we’re making a movie and more that we are active participants in the moment, the better off it’ll be. This approach passes down to how I like to...
Published By: CineD - Friday, 1 February, 2019