John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:22:46 AM)
Hell, my name is John Flinn. Happy to be here and hope that I can answer a lot of questions. Let's go!

Moderator (Jul 9, 2005 10:23:09 AM)
Can you talk about how you managed to get into the film business… and at such an early age? It's quite an interesting story.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:24:30 AM)
I was working as a bit actor and extra, doing stunts, but I was always watching the camera and I really enjoyed seeing how a motion picture was put together. I watched the camera movement, gaffer, lights, watching the rehearsal with one little work light and watching everything come to life. I just really got a kick out of how a 100 people can make that all happen.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:25:01 AM)
They do that every day and really enjoy it. I went into the head of the camera department at Columbia studios, Bill Whitmyer, and asked if they were interviewing for an assistant camera job.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:25:20 AM)
I told him I could learn like everyone else. In those days, it was fortunate that it was so busy in town that 2 weeks later they were looking for people and called me.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:26:04 AM)
Of course I was more scared than happy because I didn't know what was going on. I went out there and told them that my name is John Flinn, I showed up on the set, and I don't know a thing. This cameraman, Freddy Jackman, was up on a crane and told a grip to lower the arm. Then he said, you're the first son of a bitch to tell me the truth.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:27:31 AM)
That was my first day and it was a day I will never forget -- being the youngest guy on the set and the way people reacted. It was great. 8 days after my first day I was sent to Hawaii to do the first spin off of From Here to Eternity, Bernie Guffey, another great cameraman, and that was a pilot for TV with Tom Nardini and Darren McGavin. That was really something to go to Hawaii and I couldn't believe that I had the opportunity.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:28:10 AM)
In those days they had so many shows at each studio and they had their own steady people. I wasn't popular because I was the young kid and there were all these lifers who wanted to get off the lot and go to Hawaii. After only 8 days they were sending me to Hawaii, it was incredible.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:30:47 AM)
I worked with Connie Hall for a couple days on Divorce, American Style, and in just 2 days what you learn from people is unbelievable. Now, I've got about 17, 18 days in the studio in the union and then was sent over to Alvarez Killy, where Robert Surtees, another great cinematographer (he had just taken Joe McDonald's place). I walked onto that set and Surtees was incredible. Here I'm looking at Richard Whitmar, Bob Crawford, William Holden -- huge stars, I can't believe how lucky I am. "The luckiest man in the world." I was 18. Emelio Colori was the 1st assistant cameraman for Surtees and he came to me and said Mr. Surtees, after a couple days on the show, wanted to make sure I got my 30 days with him. It was an honor. I was so excited that I can't believe I got my 30 days and that's how it all started. From there it's just been the greatest ride of all time.

jcfiv (Jul 9, 2005 10:30:52 AM)
What do you think is the biggest change in the Motion Picture Industry since you started?

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:31:04 AM)
Less clothes.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:32:58 AM)
As far as equipment goes, let's go right to the dollies that we put the cameras on. J. L Fischer, who also designed the sound booms, and in those days in the 60's those booms were prehistoric, monster things that people had to wheel in and out and everybody made room for. Fischer made booms with a 3 wheel, move in move out, half the size and less than half the weight of the old ones. That was for sound so it progressed. They came up with a Fischer 8 and 9 dolly and they were big but better than the old ones that looked like half a car.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:33:34 AM)
Then came the Fischer 10 and 11, one's a pretty broad size, heavy duty, and one's like a doorway, smaller dolly. We've been using those for years, they're very efficient in the business.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:35:09 AM)
Then there are cameras, we started with the NC and the Blimp (BNC) with Paralax and finder. We would use those, pack ‘em on our shoulders and carry ‘em up and down hills. Mitchell NC and the Mitchell B was the blimp camera. The NC was called a new camera. The Blimp New Camera. They used that dialog in those days. That was a studio camera, very quiet on the set, and we could use it today. I was an assistant for many years and could still load it blindfolded.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:36:40 AM)
As time progressed we went to reflex cameras and that was interesting because every studio was doing their own thing and making adaptations. Then panoflex and aroflex came in and the competition was pretty strong. It's been ever since I can remember, that competition, because everybody is trying to make things better for the cinematographer every day. The quality of lenses, cameras, movement, overall structure and beating that these cameras take day in day out, it's absolutely unbelievable that we can do what we do around the world without major problems. They come up but are fixed that day or the next.

stan (Jul 9, 2005 10:36:51 AM)
How did your grandfather get into the business? Did he tell you any stories about Cecille B. De Mille or any other stories about those times?

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:38:58 AM)
The story that my grandfather --- he passed away when I was pretty young so I didn't have much one on one --- but a distant cousin, 88 years old, named John Roache, told me that Cecille B De Mille and my grandfather were on a train with other people coming to Hollywood and that my grandfather got real sick, so they stopped in a town, got a doctor on the train to deal with my grandfather and the train took off with the doctor. They brought him all the way to Hollywood and did some movie about it. The gentleman got his family here, stayed here and made a movie about it. I just know that my grandfather was involved with Cathay Studios, Paramount, Cecille B. De Mille. There's a history but I don't want to go into it because I don't have all the paperwork to get all the facts.

stan (Jul 9, 2005 10:39:05 AM)
The way that you became a camera assistant and moved up in the business and getting to work with all these amazing cinematographers, do you think that's still possible today?

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:41:28 AM)
It's a good question. I believe that it could happen again, absolutely. My son is a good example. He's been on his own for ... he was with me for a couple years and for the last 10 years he's been moving around with different cameramen and shows. He's been doing Deadwood, 6 Feet Under... he's been working with great cameramen. I think everybody has the same opportunity that I had. If luck is there.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:43:47 AM)
That's what's so exciting about this business. You never know what is going to happen tomorrow. You have to have an open mind, keep a reality check and this one job may not be what you do for the rest of your life. It's all aces full. There are ups and downs, times you go for months without a phone call. You have the opportunity to go into our field which is changing every day and learning something every day, whether it be on the set, reading, going to the houses where they have this equipment, new lenses and opportunity to look at them through a camera, shoot a test. We all have these opportunities, but you have to have the faith and if you love it, keep going. Again, I absolutely believe that it could happen today, you can have the same opportunity that I had because there are so many people who are doing the same thing that I did, it's just that we don't get to hear about them everyday. And in my time of starting, there were a lot of cinematographers but not as many as today. There are just a huge number of excellent cinematographers, so yes, I believe that you can.

stan (Jul 9, 2005 10:44:04 AM)
You moved between movies and TV a lot when you first started? Was that usual, or were most people just TV or just movies?

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:45:49 AM)
In the days when we started you only had your 5 or 6 major studios, so when I first started, I was bouncing around. I would work at Columbia and somebody would hear that there was a 2nd assistant at Columbia that wasn't working there so Paramount would call me and I would go over there. I'd be working on a series at Columbia for Screen Gems as a day player maybe and then Paramount would find out that there was a 2nd assistant available -- me -- and they would call me up and I would go onto a movie, and my job would last a couple weeks. Because you didn't have all the independent studios, we didn't have the opportunities to work independent.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:46:35 AM)
I think that in my time, we were given and opportunity that was really special because we did work on a series because we saw how it worked, how it had to be a well oiled machine, do 10-12 pages a day and turn out a show in 6-7 days.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:47:22 AM)
You went on a feature where I would watch a 2-3 hour lighting setup, sometimes 6 hours, and they would shoot 2 pages. As a student I was able to really watch the cameraman and gaffer bring all that to life and to this day I still see those incredible cinematographers working with those actors and director.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:47:46 AM)
Especially when I see those movies 30 years later I remember where I was standing, what it looked like with that one work light on.

Filmers (Jul 9, 2005 10:48:28 AM)
From what I've read, you spend a tremendous amount of time on preparation -- before and during a shoot. Can you talk about that and why you believe in that?

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:50:05 AM)
Key word: preparation.  Preparation is the key to success. When you walk onto a set, you're scouting locations, the reason you are scouting is to check out where the sun is, where it will be at morning noon and night, seeing the look for the place exterior, interior of a set that's on location. You want to know if you have the opportunity what time would be good. You go out on your own whether you're with a company or not. You look at the time of day, the angles, what would be the best time to shoot this and what would be the prettiest time. This is if you have the time, if you are working off the cuff you make the best of what you can.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:51:11 AM)
Getting that experience is preparing for it. When I get a script I read it to read the story. Then I read it as a director, because I've directed and I always wanted to. Because I worked in front of the camera, I read it as an actor and pick it apart. Then I read it as a cinematographer. By going through all that it gives me a real good idea of how I'm going to put those images on film with the producer, director with his collaboration.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:51:29 AM)
Anything we do, the words preparation is the key to success. That's it.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:51:50 AM)
If you're going to take a trip you prepare you car because you want the best performance. I prepare myself on and off set to make the best pictures I can every day.

Wide Angle (Jul 9, 2005 10:51:57 AM)
You mentioned that on Jake and the Fatman, you and your crew would go through an average of 34 camera set-ups in a day of shooting. How could you keep that up? And how many would there be, say, on a movie of the week, or theatrical feature?

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:53:44 AM)
Jake and the Fatman -- all the shows I've done, you're doing that every day. A lot of times you're working 2 cameras so you're up to 50, 60 setups a day and it's a long day. But, you'd be surprised how great things fall into place when all the sudden I'm seeing a great opportunity to bring in a 2nd camera and get a great shot when somebody refers to it later and they have a memory.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:53:53 AM)
That's using that camera for seeing something that's going to stand out.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:54:37 AM)
MOWs (movie of the week), because their schedule can be 14 days to do a 2 hour movie. I did the last Hunter MOW in 15 days. I was having a ball. We were getting 40, 50 setups a day. We were cooking. It was a great crew.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:55:31 AM)
I worked on a mini-series. You're not doing that many pages but you have time to try different angles. In today's world, as fast as everybody's going and the way money is, I found that MOWs, mini-series and TV, they want to cook, they want to get going. Our shows shoot 7-8 pages a day and that's normal. I've worked on shows with 12-14 and you've got to get it done.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:57:01 AM)
For example, on Babylon 5, Joe Straczynski, executive producer, writer, creator, spent 8 years writing this 5 year novel. That show, with all the cast, ensemble cast and all the prosthetics, everybody knew we had 12 hours ad ay to get the work done. Every day, 12 hours, get the days work. We never went into overtime. In 5 years, maybe a handful. That was our job, to get the work done, and everybody worked like a well-oiled machine. That was a fun show to work on.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:58:03 AM)
There are shows that have so many great opportunities that if you only had 2 cameras sometimes you wish you had 4 because there are so many great pieces to get. If you can see it -- back to preparation is the key to success -- and see the rehearsal, see the opportunities on how you can work 4 cameras, it's not a challenge it's an opportunity to make the film better.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:58:46 AM)
In TV if you're on a series and you're shooting 22 episodes a year you're making 22 of the best movies you can make and accept nothing less. With MOW, it's the same. They have to be all big movies. I'm not going to do anything less because it's TV, mini-series or MOW. Everything has got to be as important as the 250 million dollar feature.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 10:59:20 AM)
When you look through the camera and you make the decision with the light, and what you've created with your knowledge and feelings, expressing your feelings with the writer's words, nothing less than the best is acceptable.

Kim K (Jul 9, 2005 10:59:24 AM)
Were there any women cinematographers when you started?

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:01:12 AM)
Great question. Breanne Murphey, I think was doing documentaries, and I didn't have the opportunity to meet her until the mid-70's when I was operating. But, she was one hell of a woman. A very good cinematographer, and thanks to Breanne, she opened up the doors for all the ladies that we have with us today in all fields. I think that Breanne Murphey was an absolute hero to the women in the business today. She was honored more than anybody I know of in the business today for those doors that she helped open for the younger ladies.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:02:01 AM)
I remember talking with her crew and they always looked at me and said how much fun they had and how much they enjoyed working with her. She had a great way about her, a great presence.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:02:37 AM)
She was a super lady but just one of the guys. You could sit there one and one and learn, ask questions. She never gave up. She was a fighter.

Alli (Jul 9, 2005 11:02:40 AM)
You grew up in the middle of the business -- in Hollywood. Is there a different sensibility between cinematographers who have a background like yours and those who don't? Does it make a difference if you grow up back East and aren't part of the Hollywood scene?

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:05:45 AM)
In today's world, there are more opportunities all over the country, especially with tax incentives. Hollywood is coming to all these places and giving opportunities to people -- which is great for the graduated film students and to get with a company working in Louisiana, NC, NY, Illinois -- people are getting the opportunity to work in their own state and town, unlike when I started. Hollywood was where it all began, it was the birth.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:07:50 AM)
We would go on locations and would teach electricians how to be on the set, grips how to grip, we would pick a crew up and teach guys how to do each craft. We did a show and tell. Now all these people who we did the show and tell for have jobs. But, it's just a sign of the times. Building beautiful studios in Texas, Hawaii where I worked for years – all my crew guys on Hawaii Five-0, Magnum PI, all those guys that were my crew, their kids are head of departments and the union in Hawaii.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:09:42 AM)
Donavan Ahuna was making coffee 20 years ago and now he's a business representative for the Hawaii local. Back to the actual question, do they have the same opportunity? It's nice if you can start where you live and get an opportunity. Now you can get into a film festival and show your work where you can express yourselves and get that shot at coming to Hollywood. I think there are more opportunities now for a cinematographer than there was when I started because the business is absolutely huge now.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:09:56 AM)
When I started they didn't have MOW, cable movies, 200 channels.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:10:08 AM)
The opportunities are there, go for it.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:10:09 AM)
P.S.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:10:20 AM)
If you get something big, call me.

Filmers (Jul 9, 2005 11:10:34 AM)
Long hours -- a very hot topic among crew on the set. Some people think it’s a blessing, other a curse. What are your thoughts on it? Is there a way to strike a balance between the need to get the work done and preservation of health and safety of the crew?

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:12:22 AM)
It's very tough ... I'm very concerned about too many hours and people having to drive. Here in Hollywood, so many warehouses have been turned into studios, 40-50 miles away from where people live that they have to drive to everyday. 14-15 hours on the set plus driving for 1.5 hrs each way makes a long day and breeds trouble, danger for our working crews. Camera, grips, electrical are the first ones on the scene and you can add another hour of their setup time and wrap time. Their days are ... if they're lucky they get 5.5, 6 hrs sleep.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:13:12 AM)
I've personally been in an ugly situation because of long hours. I worry about my kids, my crew, every one of them driving how. Sometimes we work all night and fall asleep at the wheel. We have fought for years to try and control this, get people's attention, but it all boils down to money money money. Here's what we have to do and we do it.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:13:23 AM)
I worry about the ladies with kids at home and to see their kids, and the guys too.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:13:37 AM)
The other ugly part is that everybody is doing 100 miles and hour on the freeway and nobody does anything about it.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:14:04 AM)
You cannot be sharp after working 18 hours 5 days a week, 70-80 hours a week. Believe me, people are doing that today.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:14:10 AM)
We have a saying, “No shot is worth a life.”

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:14:32 AM)
We have stunts where people are put in very dangerous situations. Our people driving home every night, that's the toughest stunt in the business.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:14:49 AM)
I don't have the answer as to how it's going to change.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:16:38 AM)
When I started, you shoot a master of the scene, then you'd do a 2 shot, a 3 shot, and close up close up close up. We weren't going into all the technicalities from an eyeball seeing something to the ear hearing something to a 360 to another face. All these things take time and a lot of energy. An 8^th of a page can go 2 -3 hours because it had to be perfect and was an intricate shot for the show.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:16:49 AM)
But you can't keep writing a script that's asking you to do that page after page after page.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:17:07 AM)
When I started you got the days work, you get there at 7, got home at 7. Work, 14 hours total.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:17:25 AM)
I look at Hill Street Blues, we were shooting downtown, skid row, 15-16 hours a day and I saw the days get longer from there on.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:18:02 AM)
It was well worth it, incredibly written and acted, something you really lived day to day with the words and look because you were involved with those people on skid row. The hours really were longer than what they were on paper because of what you were dealing with all day.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:18:40 AM)
That's where things really changed. Sometimes you would spend 3 hours going downtown, making a move, and then you still have to get you12 pages. Sometimes traffic, sometimes poor planning, and nothing's changed.

Fill er up (Jul 9, 2005 11:19:18 AM)
What about 10-hour turnaround time? Does that get tough by the end of the week on a series?

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:21:18 AM)
Well, the cinematographer has 11 hours. I've been fortunate enough that our turnaround is 11 hours in town. Can be 10 hours on location. You can come in Monday 7 o’clock, work until 9 or 10, take your next day's call and you're working till 1 o'clock the next morning, so by the end of the week you're tired because it's throwing your whole system off and you're working into sat to finish the week's work. That's not much time to put together everything in your life in a day and a quarter. That's what they do and demand from themselves.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:21:23 AM)
We try and make it all cook.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:21:28 AM)
It's never a 9 to 5 job

Johnny (Jul 9, 2005 11:21:41 AM)
What makes a good operator? Do those traits also make for a good DP or do you need something more?

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:23:33 AM)
I feel that, having been an assistant cameraman for years, one hand on a zoom control and my other on a focus knob and visualizing in my head -- we didn't have video assist back then -- the man who was operating the camera had the instructions from the director and you better get that on film or you wouldn't be there the next day. The trust we have in the operator is because he has experience as an assistant. He probably has the biggest responsibility on the set because of focus, lens movement, zooming, running his crew of 2nd assistants.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:23:57 AM)
Once he feels comfortable with that, if he's had the opportunity to visualize what the lens is seeing, what it is doing with the movement of the camera, but that takes a long time.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:24:46 AM)
That was, for me after years of doing it and visually seeing it and doing it, was a great experience. I think that in today's world, if an assistant who wants to become an operator he can see what that guy is doing today, not just visualize or feel it, because they have the monitor right there.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:26:28 AM)
The key as an assistant cameraman, listening, watching, learning form the operator and seeing how he is letting the words and subject take the frame, when to get in and out of the frame. All these things you've got to know as an operator you should be learning as an assistant so that when you do make that choice to move up you are pretty secure because you know from your experience as an assistant, the composition you learned from the assistant and operator.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:27:23 AM)
And yes, the operator, if he can make that camera flow with the words, and not interrupt it with camera movement, it's having that finesse and feeling for the scene, with the scene and the movement of the actors. There are a lot of 1st assistants who don't want to go up to being an operator.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:27:49 AM)
It's a huge responsibility, and some people love what they do where they are. I call the assistant cameramen technicians because they are. They're very happy.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:28:22 AM)
The responsibility  of the assistant cameraman has is so huge, but nobody knows it unless you're a director who has really been around. If it is one, two inches back and out of focus, it becomes that assistant cameraman's fault.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:28:45 AM)
Anybody who knows what they are doing and wants to follow it can certainly step into a cinematographer's shoes.

winston (Jul 9, 2005 11:28:55 AM)
The cinematographers you worked with like Richard Rawlings, how would they deal with video assist? What would they think of some of the new technology?

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:31:33 AM)
Richard Rawlings Sr., one of my mentors, one excellent cinematographer, I think that in today's world, he would be slightly reluctant of video assist, as I was, at first because it is so foreign to us. Not only in the beginning did it create a crowd around 2 monitors and one monitor, people who really didn't have much to say about a scene now were talking over a director and cinematographer about maybe it should look like this. All the sudden we had to direct by committee. Producers came down, etc... It really interrupted the work. There's nothing like working for years as a director and saying action and an operator who said that's great and everybody not seeing that video assist saying, if that operator's off on that one he's not going to be here tomorrow. You had to have confidence.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:32:45 AM)
There wasn't play back, let's do 20 takes, because video assist sometimes can be used the wrong way. Some directors look at the background first, then set, then movement. They're not really looking ... They will do 20 takes and then take print 2 and 15. I'm not saying all of them, but video assist does have its good points -- blue/green screen, matching, things like that, if you're recording and doing visual effects with the day's work. That would be another day or two or three when I started.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:33:13 AM)
Now you have these things, you can record, playback, also have an actor act in front of you what you shot green screen an hour ago. That's the advantage in today's world. That day, on the day, on the set.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:34:45 AM)
Rawlings would eventually, take him about a day, to say okay, this is what it is. I'm not going to change it. The advantage of the video is that everybody saw it, there were no excuses. But before, you had to be on the money and that is why your job was so crucial, important and demanding. That operator and assistant went home every day knowing the shots they did were on the money and were acceptable and responsibility was huge. That's what they had to do.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:35:54 AM)
In today's world, you have a videographer who calls himself a cinematographer or DP. If they came onto a set, and I said, here's your situation -- I want to see how you're going to make that transition. How are you going to light that?

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:36:03 AM)
It's not just a light over the camera, let's turn it on and shoot it.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:36:31 AM)
If he's a true artist that's going to school to learn and looking at the great cinematographer's work and is searching in his soul for a look.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:37:01 AM)
He's watching a great old b&w film and studying it and see things that give him ideas for his own work. I see things like that and it just floors me.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:37:16 AM)
If you study it and feel it, you can take those words and make it happen with the light, shadows -- that's how it is.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:38:57 AM)
I think it's good in today's world that people are moving fast. What I don't think is good is that they haven't had time to understand the huge responsibility as a loader to the 1st assistant cameraman. What it means to the cinematographer to make sure that everything across the board goes smooth... everything is going too fast. I want to see people pay attention to that lighting, see questions on the set. I want people to ask me why am I doing that? If I haven't got the answer, I want to go look it up> I demand of myself every day to learn something new and I want to share that with somebody else.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:39:32 AM)
Even if I walk into a restaurant and see a great look, what would I have to do to enhance it and put it onto film. What would I do to make that look so real and so good? because I like that look right now, I want here, and that's what I fight for.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:39:42 AM)
I know it's easy to say, but it's not about the money and you've got to love what you do.

Whimsey (Jul 9, 2005 11:39:52 AM)
I read that you were both a director and a DP on some shows that you shot. How did you manage to do both jobs? And would you do it again?

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:41:09 AM)
I directed on Magnum P.I. and only directed. On Jake and the Fatman I shot and directed because the schedule we were under, I was just cooking with the camera and I found it took more time to explain what I wanted to see so I just did what I wanted to do. It's your show, the actors knew you, they stayed on the set because they wanted to know what you were going to do through that lens. It was just easier for me.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:41:36 AM)
I had time to prep, I brought people in -- I would bring in another cinematographer. But when I shot, I shot and directed because I had the actors with me and I would take them with me. It was fun.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:42:57 AM)
On Babylon 5, I did the same thing. I prepped and had somebody come in, only because, again, I found it hard to collaborate. I knew how I wanted it and that's what I did. Because it was a show with family it made things run quicker, smoother. I would not do it on MOW, or another show. It was just because it was at that time convenient and it worked for me to do both. It worked for the producers. I didn't like taking a job away but I did have somebody prep and shoot an episode while I was prepping my episode.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:44:14 AM)
Do I need a relationship with the cast first? It's something you develop because you know enough about the story, enough about the characters and everybody feels secure with you as a cinematographer and the way you're putting them on film, you're more confidant. It just worked in those situations. If I had the opportunity again on another show, I would just ... unless it was a 12 hour day, gotta go like Babylon 5 and I was asked again, I would do it.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:44:41 AM)
Question: You're doing the Gilmore Girls in super 16 not 35. Are there any compromises?

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:45:57 AM)
I think the final image is great and would love to shoot 35, but in today's world 16 is quite good. I've had people in the timing bays look at it and say, wow, that's pretty good. I'd tell them it's 16 and they would be floored. If I'm a little short because of the negative, I know how to compensate with the right light and the right stock. It's interesting, the tech in these labs, what they can do today- -- how they can enhance that film with their tools.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:46:11 AM)
It's amazing what we can do today, in all fields.

John Flinn (Jul 9, 2005 11:47:08 AM)
This has been really fun, I'd like to thank everybody for writing in and I hope that I gave everybody a good Idea what I'm about, what I care about, and hopefully the students that want to become cinematographers understand that it's not something that will happen overnight, you have to work hard for it, and the rewards are huge. There're ups and downs, keep with it, stay positive and you'll win.

Moderator (Jul 9, 2005 11:47:15 AM)
Thanks for attending today's chat. You can check back on the website later this week for the full transcript. Have a great weekend.