We were lucky to catch up with Louis Mellinand recently and have shared our conversation below.

Louis, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Cinematography is a craft in which you never stop learning from. It is something that takes a lot of effort to master, and in that regards, I am still very much learning and have a long way to be where I am. I got to where I am today by practicing this art form on a daily basis, taking risks, asking questions and exploring similar mediums such as photography. Moving from France to Chicago, I arrived determined and knew that I had to take any opportunity that was thrown at me. I knew that to become better, I had to simply create films. I rapidly became friends with Carlos Lerma, whom I met the first week of my Freshmen year. He and I had very similar ambitions, and to me I saw not only a great friend, but someone who was willing to grow with me within this art form. My first film that I have ever shot was “Wish We Never Met”.

I think that if took it to a next step, I would have wanted to be more courageous in putting myself out there. I was still getting used to the school, and attending more formal and big film student sets was very much intimidating. It would have been great to take more opportunities with those sets, and bigger positions.

The most important skill to have and to develop were to be determined about any obstacles that would arise. You have to be persistent and patient with the whole process. As a cinematographer, maintaining a stress free set will reflect itself upon the rest of the team, and the production as a whole, to ensure that we all bring the best of ourselves. Being a problem solver is definitely a big skill to have too, and being observant of daily life to inspire myself. The next skill I would love to develop would be that of being a better leader.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I used to do a lot of street photography in my home town, Lyon, France. I really loved the process of going out and making something out of everyday life that people often ignore. There are a lot of visually amazing things all around us and it was immensely satisfying to be able to capture what I thought was interesting using my camera. I was always interested in film, I actually wanted to be a director at some point. But I quickly realized that this was not something I would enjoy as much. Therefore I tried to combine my love for photography and film, and realized that what a cinematographer does is captivating. I am a cinematographer, I essentially enhance the a director’s vision to make a coherent and hopefully, moving story through moving images. Being a cinematographer means you have to adapt to a location you are given every time, and pull through with something unique that will transform into a message to the viewer. Having to adapt to a new environment is a very tough aspect of the job, but that makes it fun and never boring. I like to create movement with the camera with my work. In the end, not every shot will make the final edit. so knowing what will work within a series of shots is essential, whilst also keeping the audience attach to what is happening in the film, to never bring them out of that experience. The most recent piece of work I directed and shot was an AirPods Spec ad. From pre-production to production, I am incredibly happy with how the work turned out.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

My creative journey is still very much young, however in the last few months, I have been using Milanote and Frameset to help me with my pre-production process. I am a very visual person. I like my ideas and my life to be organized, and so Milanote has helped me create a efficient way to plan out my ideas. Frameset is a website which curates thousands of still images from movies, music videos and commercials for filmmakers to acquire inspiration from. I sometimes go on the website without the intention of making anything, but to simply look at how many talented people have created stunning and moving images. I have used this resource to help communicate the look to my team members, since communication is a huge factor of filmmaking.

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

I don’t think the word “end” can benefit from this question, as I don’t see an end to my creative journey. While there are milestones and goals I would love to achieve, being a cinematographer is a constant learning process so I think no matter how successful and knowledgeable you become there is always something knew to know about. For instance, technology in the film industry just keeps growing, and you have to grow with it.

Eventually, I would love to be shooting feature films or commercials. I particularly love melodramas and thrillers. My favorite movie is “Her”, directed by Spike Jonze, which I strive to accomplish to shoot such a moving film myself one day. Commercials have always been in my heart. I think what sparked this was growing up with YouTube and watching montages with my older brother. A particularly striking moment is when my father was to be in a advertisement for the company he worked for. I remember seeing the crew in our house working effortlessly, and watching the final product many times as a kid, even today. The whole commercial was powerful, with the music, editing and of course, cinematography! This is also what heavily motivated me to do my AirPods Spec ad. A milestone I am determined to achieve would be to work for a production company and have my own agent, and I hope to be able to work alongside my the friends that I have today, all wanting to create great films!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://louismellinand.wixsite.com/mysite1
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/louis.h.m/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@louis.h.m

Image Credits

Louis Mellinand