Breakfast in Hollywood, Filmmaker Style

The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) finished off its 2011 schedule with the monthly Hollywood ASC Breakfast Club on Nov. 29.

Filmmakers, directors and dreamers filled the ASC Clubhouse to capacity.

Breakfast on the lawn kicked off the event. The guests ate, mingled and exchanged business cards before stopping to hear from the speaker of the hour.

Rodrigo Prieto, a highly sought-after cinematographer, explained how he began filmmaking and revealed a few secrets of the craft.

Prieto stood behind the lens filming the movies Water for Elephants, Broke Back Mountain, and We Bought a Zoo.

The audience, full of creative minds, listened in for about an hour and a half and then was given a chance to speak directly with Prieto about more technical information.

Questions ranged from, “What lens should I use for this?” to “How should my lighting be in a scene like that?”  Such questions were answered with a very simple and intuitive answer, “Just go with whatever feels natural.”

Moviegoers appreciate it when a movie looks like real life and not just special effects.

“It’s magical for movies to not look like movies,” Prieto said.

The ASC is a non-profit organization by invitation only.  Cinematographer Robert Richardson (Hugo), Jeff Cronenweth (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) and Matthew Libatique (Black Swan) are all apart of this association.

The Breakfast Club event was open to the public and most of the guests heard about it through e-mail.

The next ASC Breakfast Club is tentatively scheduled to take place in April after the Academy Awards and the Oscars.