VietNamNet Bridge – The Goethe Institute in Hanoi will host an intensive lighting workshop for filmmakers and cinematographers by cinematographer Jamie Maxtone-Graham from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 21 and 22.

A photo in the project “A Cross Long Bien Bridge” by Jamie Maxtone-Graham

Maxtone-Graham has a professional background of more than 20 years in commercial and narrative cinematography. As a guild cinematographer in both New York and Los Angeles, his works ranged from independent films, mainstream feature films, episodic television and advertising.

He first came to Vietnam in 1990 to shoot the feature documentary From Hollywood To Hanoi and returned a number of times in the decade following on other non-fiction and narrative films – among them the Sundance Film Festival award-winning feature Three Seasons – and for several personal projects as well.

In 2007-2008 he became a Fulbright Research Fellow, with a grant funding his proposal to photograph contemporary youth culture in Vietnam called State of Youth.  He has continued to live in Hanoi and published numerous photography portfolios in many magazines. He has shot commercial and other moving image projects, and produced an award-winning documentary.

The workshop will focus on real life shooting conditions and problem solving for filmmakers working on location. So, they will discuss lighting for interviews, creative framing and lighting, making the best of a bad location, and active and passive lighting techniques.

Participants will work in small groups and after a short morning presentation and demonstration, they will work to create their own set-ups with lights, diffusion and cameras.

The workshop will be in English and open to all camera people – particularly for those who would like to make cinematic documentary films. Anyone with basic to intermediate cinematography skills who is looking to improve the look of their work will benefit from this workshop.

SGT/VNN