We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Adriana Serrato a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Adriana, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I didn’t start off wanting to be a Director of Photography or dreaming of being on set or being in film at all. I wanted to be an illustrator and worked very hard to become better at drawing. While in art school, I had a drawing professor tell me how much my drawings reminded them of storyboards for a film. They convinced me to try telling a story, frame by frame, but with a camera. At first I didn’t want to, thinking that camera work was too technical. I felt unprepared to tackle that aspect of the process. It took a few weeks of getting familiar with the new medium but I accepted the challenge and the fear of failing pushed me to master this new medium.

Ever since then, I redirected my efforts into becoming a filmmaker. While my passion was strong, my technical ability was limited at best. I went on to get my masters in film production to learn the basics, but I truly honed my skills by working on set. When first starting out I took any opportunity to work on as many film project as I could. As much as I appreciated my time at school, what really sped up my learning process was working with and learning from other filmmakers and seeing the craft unfold in real time.

Looking back, I sometimes wish I had been open to exploring filmmaking so that I could have started working at it earlier. I was too stubborn and not open to learning a skill that I found intimidating. And while I wish I hadn’t let that fear get in the way of me getting my start, I do strongly believe that there is something important about taking your time and learning the craft at your own pace. Everything comes in due time and trying to speed it up won’t help you be better or achieve your goals faster, it will just burn you out quicker and you’ll miss out on all the fun parts of growing creatively.

Adriana, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Adriana Serrato and I’m a Director of Photography and Photographer. I am an Italian-American. I spent most of my life growing up and living in Europe, but now reside in Los Angeles where I primarily work. My main focus is working as a Director of Photography on set, I’ve had the incredible opportunity to work on an array of projects, from narrative feature films to music videos, commercials, and documentaries. I’m proud of everything I’ve been a part of and consider myself lucky to have been able to help tell so many incredible stories in the last ten years of my career.

When I started working in film nearly ten years ago I took any gig that came my way. I started off as a PA and worked until finally someone gave me the opportunity to be a Camera Assistant. That first project as an AC is what really solidified my desire to be a Director Of Photography. I’m so thankful for those days working as an assistant, I got to observe DP’s and learn from them. Eventually, when I was given the opportunity to DP my first short film, it was rough. It was not as smooth as I thought it was going to be. But over the years the nerves subsided and now I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.

It’s the DPs responsibility to create the visuals, to help the director translate their script visually in the best way that you can and provide solutions to visual problems or scenarios. I love that element of the job but what I also love is managing my team. It’s an often overlooked, but enormously important part of my job. The thing that no one ever teaches you about this job is managing. Making sure you give all the necessary tools and communication for your team to succeed, because when your team succeeds well the visuals look incredible. As the DP you come up with the ideas but I can’t execute them physically by myself. A major part of my role is to make sure that my team can. If there is one element that sets me apart from other DPs, it is my leadership of a team. I’m proud of how well my teams work and what we can accomplish on tight deadlines or with limited resources.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect is when the lights come up at the end of your film, you look around the room and see the emotional response, the reaction from the crowd. There’s nothing more rewarding than someone having an emotional connection to your work.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I’ve always been creative so I don’t think you can strip that of me, I think what pushed me to continue down this journey is my want to share stories. Being able to help other creatives realize their visions and create something people can respond to fuels me to keep going.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.adrianaserrato.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adrianalserrato/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianaserrato/

Image Credits
All photos labeled twodressesbts are credited to Ali Schiebel