And Then There Was Light

"I light and lens scenes," explains Marritz. "In conjunction with a director or producer, I make a plan to shoot anything from an interview to a real scene. Will it be done in one shot or in cuts? Will the camera be moving or stationary? What colors work? I then communicate with a gaffer, grip, art director, prop-person, and sound-person. In reality, if one is working on a film [as opposed to a corporate video, for example], much of this has been planned in pre-production. Still, on many documentaries, a certain amount of improvisation is required because you're working with a smaller crew [than in feature filmmaking]."