Cinematography : Cinematographer vs. Videographer: What's the Difference? by Brandi Thomas

The Vanilla Video article is pretty much correct. Cinematographers generally lead a group of operators, assistants, electricians and grips to capture a performance as part of a bigger production team, while Videographers are usually a one-man-band (or small partnership) capturing live events. There is an overlap in the ultra-low budget non-union world that is a little confusing. But as the article noted, the designation does not necessarily bestow or deny any skill or talent. I have seen an amateur with a Canon 5d DSLR capture an amazing looking scene all alone and I have seen a pro with a 35mm Panavision and a team of thirty technicians turn out a muddy mess. That's generally the exception to the rule, but a good eye and good lighting sense trump most equipment differences any day. Good article. Thanks for sharing.

Other than the spelling, it is a stretch to find almost anything in the article I agree with. This seems to be someone wanting a job title and just inventing justifications. Titles are only names. Who cares? At a time when everyone is a DP (just ask them) the importance of the position has not diminished but a title just taken by just anyone is now meaningless outside of a union structure. There are those who will know what to do because of experience, knowledge, skill and creativity and those who will not. The childish importance placed upon a title will do nothing to accomplish a professional result. Perhaps anyone spending their time demanding a title has demonstrated why they are not ready for it.

Historically, a videographer was a perhaps much lesser and very different thing than a cinematographer, though both by definition cameramen. Videographer was more a news shooter, an infomercial shooter, a wedding shooter, maybe a documentarian; a cinematographer was more an image auteur, department head, studio or network shooter, master of light and lens, creator of intentional images and perhaps specifically master of photochemical imaging rather than electronic. In this era when almost all moving images are digitally acquired, and almost anyone with a hankering for power and a camera calls themselves a cinematographer, the terms are moot. I like to hear people say "filmer" ... it's ridiculous, but it also is in direct rebound to all the newbs who claim a title that traditionally took decades to attain ( it used to be said one couldn't really become a cinematographer until their vision started to fade ).

Since I take on videographer work to pay for my gear to make my movies, I can tell you the practical difference. When someone is looking for event documentation, they are typically looking for a videographer. Weddings, speeches, ballgames, athletic try out/highlight videos, plays, ballroom dance recitals and Quinceaneras are all jobs I was hired as a videographer. Most people making a movie, music video, commercial are looking for DPs or cinematographers. Most of the people looking for cinematographers or DP, in my experience, are looking for the guy with the large crew that is going to create something cinematic. For me these titles were used for music video and some shorts. **After reading what I have written below, I came back to warn that the rest of this drifts more into titles not just the differentiation of videographer and cinematographer. ** The titles in and of themselves, as mentioned earlier, don't carry the same weight as they once did outside of the union structure. Personally, I am not concerned about the title any further than it lets the person paying the tab know that I can do the job that they have in mind. I have a small crew that has worked with me on several shoots. But to call one a gaffer or another a grip is misleading as we are small and all wear a lot of hats. And I think that is where the breakdown is. It is kind of catch 22, but I would prefer to list everyone behind the scenes of my creations as "Crew". Because everyone works so hard and contributes so much. But for those that want to go on to work on other projects, they will need to be credited properly in the old world manner. I have been in electronics and electrical since I was 12. So I often end up doing quite a bit of gaffer work on our small sets. (Including replacing a circuit breaker on the main panel in a house where the circuit breaker was flaky.) But I am still running the rest of the crew...and sometimes doing craft services, wardrobe (yes I can sew), and all of that on top of directing and sometimes having to direct and operate the camera. Not to mention it could be my own screen play. So I prefer the title "film maker" if I must have a title. Otherwise I am okay with simply being listed under "crew" with everyone else on films.

I spent almost fifty years as a "Sprocket Jockey, I think the big difference is that when I shot movies, I had to wait to see my dailies. You would wrap, send all the cowboys and Indians home and have a number of stiff drinks and the next morning with your heart in your throat you would sit with the director in the screening room and the lights would go down and you were a hit or not depending on judgements made blindly.

I always kind of think of it as cinematographers being the creative side of things, and videographers on the practical. Wedding videos and event footage is done by videographers, while films and music videos and artsy things are shot by cinematographers. It's kind of a broad way of looking at things but it's still a good way to tell the difference. The article is good. And I still use the terms interchangeably, depending on what project I'm working on.

I would say it depends on the project. I got my start in wedding videography. I learned a lot because it was a higher end video company that was stretching the term cinematographers. We did short films for clients even which had great cinematography. I still would say my wedding experiences carry weight into how I shoot and edit my films. If the guy is just standing around shooting, that's videography. If they are taking a shot of something but make it look bigger and better, that's cinematography