How to Effectively Collaborate with Your Cinematographer
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About this Live Online Course
You understand the basics, but now you want a deeper understanding of how to tell your story visually. How do you pick the right lens for a scene? How do you know where to place the camera or when to move it? What should you know about working with a colorist and how do you prepare for color grading/color correction?
In this intermediate four-week online course, you will build on your understanding of the language of visual storytelling and how to effectively communicate your ideas with your collaborators.
What you bring to the course:
- Some experience in filmmaking in an academic or professional setting, or a certificate of completion from Sundance Collab’s Directing: Visual Storytelling. (You do not need to have a screenplay or active project to participate.)
What you'll get from the course:
- The vocabulary needed to collaborate with professional cinematographers
- Methods to create a visual language that engages your audience and effectively brings your story to life
- The ability to create a visual strategy rather than just shot-listing
- How to break down a screenplay from both a creative and logistical standpoint
- How to make choices in pre-production: aspect ratio, camera (resolution), and more
- How to pick the right lens for a scene
- How to place the camera purposefully to tell the story
- How to prepare for color grading/color correction and what to know
This course will:
- provide tools and techniques to apply to your project.
- connect you with other creators via discussion board where you can discuss core concepts and share your work.
- follow each stage of a film production: from pre-production through filming and post-production.
- demonstrate concepts through lectures and examples, with opportunities to pose questions to the instructor in an open forum. Interaction with the instructor will take place only in the classroom.
- not require outside class work.
A limited number of need-based scholarships are available and are considered on a rolling basis as they are received. Those who apply earlier will have a greater chance of getting support. To apply for a scholarship, please complete the registration form and follow the instructions on the left side to fill out a scholarship application.
Sundance Collab provides accommodations and support services to participants with disabilities. Accommodations and services are designed to meet the needs of each participant. Please email us at accessibility@sundance.org to arrange for services.
Scholarships
Sundance Collab offers a limited number of full and partial need-based scholarships for individuals who need assistance.
Due to limited scholarship funds available, we prioritize one course scholarship per participant in a 12-month period. Scholarship applications are available up to one week before the registration deadline and do not stack with discounts or promotions, including early registration.
Outline
Topics covered include:
- Breakout session: small group peer discussions of “Story Within a Frame” exercise
- Main group presentation of each group’s “Story Within a Frame” exercise
- Finding your story and differentiating it from your plot or theme.
- See through images into their effect on an audience and the mechanisms behind them
- Prepare for an in-depth conversation and interview with a cinematographer
- How to interview a cinematographer
Topics covered include:
- Building a visual style and how it’s different than shotlisting
- Reading the screenplay like a cinematographer
- Kickstarting a successful collaboration with a cinematographer
- Lighting - how to see it and talk about it like a cinematographer
- Camera tests and the director
Topics covered include:
- Filming the change in your characters
- Placing the camera purposefully
- Using lenses in an interpretive way and picking the right focal length for a scene
- Camera movement, its purpose and methods
Topics covered include:
- On set workflows that flow into post-production
- Dailies, on set monitoring and LUTs
- The director and color grading, how to prepare and participate
- The next steps and how to stay updated
Team

Tal Lazar
Instructor
Tal Lazar is a filmmaker and educator who served as a faculty member at institutions such as the American Film Institute Conservatory, Columbia University School of the Arts, and Berklee College of Music. As a cinematographer, Tal's work spans diverse genres—comedy, thriller, action, and drama—and is available on streaming platforms worldwide. As a producer and director, he led MiLa Media, a New York-based production studio. His podcast VISIUM dives into what makes images work, and his forthcoming book CINEMATOGRAPHY BEYOND TECHNIQUE is set to be released at the end of this year. His workshops and articles can be found online, as well as on Sundance Collab.
FAQ
In Sundance Collab’s Live Online courses, participants attend live, virtual class sessions on the same day and time for a specified period. These sessions are led by an instructor and in some cases, supported by a team of advisors. In some courses, you are given assignments with submission deadlines to help you take the next step with your work.
- Each week you will be able to attend live lectures via Zoom video and ask questions of your instructor.
- In some courses, you will receive individualized feedback from your course advisor on elements of your work.
- In some courses, you will have the opportunity to have a 1-on-1 session with your advisor. Depending on the course, this session may be included or may be purchased separately for an additional cost. Check the course description for specifics.
All members of the Sundance Collab community are welcome to register for Sundance Collab courses. Please review the course description and any eligibility requirements to ensure the course is a good fit. If you have any questions about a course, please email collab_courses@sundance.org.
Note that space is limited. If the registration window is open, you will see a “Register” button on the course page. If there is an application, applications are considered as they are received and applicants are accepted on a rolling basis until the course is full or the deadline has passed, whichever comes first.
We do not allow creative partners to do our live online courses as a team. However, both creators can individually register for the course.
Part of Sundance Collab's unique educational approach is to create a teaching team for every course. Each class is led by an instructor who may be accompanied by additional course advisors. This allows us to keep an intimate ratio of participants to advisors and to provide a diversity of voices and approaches to the course content.
We often offer a limited number of need-based, full or partial scholarships. Check the course description to see if that course currently has scholarships available. Scholarships are prioritized for one per person per year (from the date of issue). Scholarship applications are available up to one week before the registration deadline. To apply for a scholarship,complete the registration form by clicking the REGISTER button and selecting the option to apply for a scholarship, if available.
Applicants will be notified about their scholarship decision prior to the first day of the course. Due to the volume of applicants, we are not always able to provide a scholarship, but we may still offer a spot in the course. In this case, depending on the course, payment plans may be available and can be selected at checkout.
Yes, we offer two or three-part payment plans for Live Online courses, depending on the length of the course. In all cases, the first payment is due at the point of registration. The remaining payment(s) are spread out throughout the course term. For specific payment plan dates for a course, please reach out to our team at: collab_courses@sundance.org.
Yes, you are welcome to take a live, online course even if you can’t make the live sessions. Recordings of each class session are available online by the following day so you can keep up with the course lectures. For courses that include a 1-on-1 session with an advisor or instructor, the meeting is scheduled according to your (and their) availability.
All sessions are recorded and usually made available within one business day. The videos will also contain the chat and transcript from the class session, viewable in the video playbar.
Participants will have access to the recordings for one year following the last class session.
All participants will receive a Certificate of Completion. The certificate will include the name associated with your Sundance Collab account.
You can find any courses that you are enrolled in or have already completed in the profile section of your Sundance Collab account under “Courses.”
You can join a course via a computer or mobile device. All of our live, online courses are conducted via Zoom.
Download and set up the Zoom software (https://zoom.us/download) and make sure you have the latest update. Here are some great resources from Zoom’s Knowledge Base to take a deeper dive into using Zoom:
- Watch Zoom's Video Tutorials or review training materials on the Getting Started page
- Join a Live Training from Zoom
If you have any further questions, please email collab_courses@sundance.org.
Sundance Collab provides accommodations and support services to participants with disabilities. Please contact us at (435) 776-7790 or email us at accessibility@sundance.org to ask any questions or to discuss your specific needs after you have been accepted into the course.
No currently scheduled sessions
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