No one ever chose to hire a cinematographer because they were good at technical things. But no cinematographer ever kept their job if they couldn’t master the new technology that permeates the cinema today.

This book will teach you to do both.

Learn How to Master the Art of Digital Cinema Cinematography!
Really understand the new technology. It’s about the art of making images and what you, as a cinematographer, know about lighting and controlling digital images.
Whether you are a film Director, or a Director of Photography, it is both your knowledge and your art that will build your future success. But having ideas is simply not enough: You must be able to create the artful images that your vision inspires. And, to do that, you will need the methods and technical knowledge that is provided in this new book.

Everything that you need to know to make deliberate controlled images with any current or future digital cinema camera is covered in: The Death & Rebirth of Cinema: MASTERING THE ART OF CINEMATOGRAPHY IN THE DIGITAL CINEMA AGE, by Harry Mathias, (Waterfront Press, Published Dec. 2015, ISBN 978-1943625147, https://www.amazon.com/author/harry_mathias.)

In his completely original latest book, Harry Mathias emphasizes, “Cinematography is about making visual art, it is not about mastering more new and daunting technologies. But often mastering technology is what you have to do to make art. And at those times, your technical knowledge can free your imagination. Cinema is, after all, technology in the service of art, not the other way around.”

Having devoted his career to making powerful film images by understanding both the technology and the art behind filmmaking that emotionally impact audiences, Mathias is a highly respected feature film cinematographer as well as a pioneer of digital cinema cinematography. What is rare and special is that this seasoned cinematographer is able to translate his life-long experiences and knowledge into this book that clearly communicates the practical and creative nuances of cinematography.

Mathias advocates concrete plans to advance to the future of digital imaging, without leaving behind the photographic skill and lighting art of the great films of the past. The world’s cinema has mostly left behind its 100-year tradition of cinematography on film, and is searching for a new visual foundation. Successfully navigating this transition of the world’s cinema is what this book is also about.

Mathias examines the big questions of the future of cinematography, in a cinema world that is increasingly preoccupied with new technology and not with artistic moving images. Where are the new digital cinematographers going to come from? Learn from this book what you need to know to be a cinematographer or a director in the new digital cinema world. It’s not that this book isn’t technical, but it’s about film art as well as the technology. When it comes to the future, there is a lot we can learn from the past.
This book hones the skills needed in cinema image making and teaches the art of cinematography. It describes why those skills are the same whether you are using film or digital cinema. If a cinematographer’s methods aren’t the same for both formats, then they simply aren’t doing it right. This book is about making images the right way.

About the Author:

Harry Mathias is an experienced Director of Photography of feature films. He is schooled in the classical Hollywood movie traditions of cinematography and lighting and has collaborated with some of the greatest names in the cinema industry. His feature films have included drama, comedy, action, and special-effects movies. Harry Mathias was nominated for an Oscar in 1980 for Solly’s Diner. He is a pioneer of digital cinema, holding three film and digital cinema patents, with two more pending, but he primarily thinks, and writes, like a cinematographer in a world where few people do.
He is a Life Fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and is a founding member of the American HDTV Production and Digital Cinema Standards Committees. Mathias has been a design consultant for both film and digital cinema cameras for some of the world’s major camera companies.
He shares his passion through teaching the next generation of cinematographers by giving invited lectures and seminars on film technology and digital cinema worldwide, in addition to his past teaching at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design (Professor and Cinema Department Chair), UCLA, American University, USC, American Film Institute, and the Swedish Film Institute. He is currently a professor at San Jose State University in California. This is his fourth book.

The Death & Rebirth of Cinema: MASTERING THE ART OF CINEMATOGRAPHY IN THE DIGITAL CINEMA AGE, by Harry Mathias,(Waterfront Press, Published Dec. 2015, ISBN 978-1943625147,https://www.amazon.com/author/harry_mathias.)
Available from Amazon in print and on Kindle, Barnes & Noble, many fine local bookstores, and from many University Book Stores.