We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Spencer Ortega a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Spencer, thanks for joining us today. 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.
The most important thing I’ve learned is HOW to learn! We live in a wonderful era where we have so many resources at our fingertips!
The internet is full of tutorials for technique.
Many great cinematographers have podcasts where they share their wealth of knowledge and experience and trade secrets. (Check out the Wandering DP Podcast and the Team Deakins Podcast)
You can collaborate with other filmmakers though social media! You can post your work and get instant feedback!
If you come across a cinematographer or other artist that you like who lives in your city, reach out! See if you can get on set and help out for free!
Techniques that would take you days, months or years to discover on your own, you can learn in a day working for an experienced cinematographer who’s seen anything and everything.
Starting out I did so much crew work for free on short films, music videos, spec ads, and other passion projects for some really talented filmmakers in Milwaukee. I learned so much from those experiences and most of the paid work I have now comes from relationships I made while working for free.
Along with utilizing the full capabilities of the internet, I think it’s important to take a hybrid approach of working as a crew member on some projects, and as the cinematographer on others. At least when you’re starting out.
Working as a crew member like a grip, electrician, or camera assistant, you’ll learn so much when it comes to the tools of the trade; what lighting set ups are ideal for certain situations. What lenses and cameras pair nicely for the story being told.
All of this technical knowledge will help you when you’re working as a cinematographer. But there are some skills you need as a cinematographer that can only be learned just by doing the thing.
You can have all the technical knowledge in the world, but it’s worthless if you don’t know how to communicate with the director, the producers, the art team, camera team, and lighting team to bring it all together.
It’s also worthless if you don’t know how to manage your time effectively. You could have a the coolest shot ever, but if you don’t have the rest of the coverage needed for the scene it’s no good.
Managing all the different moving parts of a production, communicating effectively with you team, staying on schedule just comes with experience.
You will probably suck at it at first. I know I did! I’ve gotten a lot better though!
Like Jake the Dog from Adventure Time said, “Sucking at something is the first step to being sorta kinda good at something.”
So don’t be discouraged if it’s not clicking right away! A lot of this just takes time and relentless effort!
“The master has failed more times than the beginner has tried.” – Stephen McCranie
Spencer, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Spencer Ortega and I am a filmmaker based in Milwaukee WI!
Growing up, I thought my future was in soccer. But after a serious accident when I was moonwalking (the dance move), I had to get cartilage removed from my knee and that dream was over; Professional soccer AND professional moonwalking.
But when one door closes, another opens! I got into acting (was bad), and then took some video classes and fell in love with shooting and directing!
Early on I filmed A LOT. We had to make bi-weekly video announcements for our high school. We would essentially shoot short films, and mix the announcements into those narratives. We tended to focus 99% on the story and just 1% on the actual announcements haha
Looking back, it was so free and liberating to not be weighed down by the decisions I have to make today when it comes to lighting and lensing and the high standards I have set for myself when it comes to productions value.
I miss just running around with a little zoom camera, improvising off some stick figure story boards and turning on or off whatever lights were available in the space and borrowing some costumes from the theatre department.
Nowadays I primarily work as a cinematographer and gaffer doing a mix of commercial work to feed the stomach, and music videos and indie films to feed the soul.
In a small market like MKE, I’ve learned to become very resourceful to bring high production value to every project. I’ve built my own lighting system and lights I can control from phone and made plenty of trips to Home Depot to put together some funky camera rigs.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Something I’ve had to unlearn was the constant grind mentality. The feeling that I always had to be shooting something or working on something. I would say yes to almost every project. Go go go go go!
After awhile, no matter how fun filmmaking is, you can get burnt out and fall out of love with it. It’s important to rest and not force it if you don’t enjoy it.
As Banksy said, “If you’re tired, learn to rest, not to quit.”
Also, it’s important to take some time to reflect on the direction you are heading.
“It’s incredibly easy to get caught up in an activity trap, in the busy-ness of life, to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover it’s leaning against the wrong wall.”
-Stephen R. Covey, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People ”
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
Pizza Party! Just kidding!
I’m a strong believer in leading by example. Don’t ask your team to do anything that you yourself wouldn’t do.
Make sure your team knows how much you value and appreciate them. I don’t think I can ever say, “Thank you” enough! haha
But nothing shows your appreciation more than returning the favor! Especially on the passion project shoots where everyone is being paid little to nothing. If someone needs to borrow gear or needs an extra hand on their own project, I do my best to help them out.
Also, no matter how grueling the shoot is, it’s important to maintain a positive attitude and keep things upbeat.
The attitude of the cinematographer and other department heads tends to trickle out to the rest of the team.
Some of the days on set can be 10-18 hours. You don’t have to pretend it’s not miserable, but try to make light of the situation and crack jokes whenever appropriate.
A good sense of humor will power your team through some of the toughest shoots!
Contact Info:
- Website: spencerortegafilm.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spencer.ortega/?hl=en
- Other: Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/spencerortega
Image Credits
Katung Direktah Aduwak Taylor Wolter Veda Rose Xavier Schaetzke