Cinematography

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part of Video Production · tier 2 · Video · 1,842 pieces of work carry it · 4 crafts it is confused with

The craft, and who hires it

Hired for brand films, commercials, and experiential videos where the photographed image itself carries the brand feel — the DP craft inside 'Live Action', the market's ubiquitous peer term for this territory.

The image-making craft of live-action work: camera, lensing, lighting, composition, and movement that create the photographed look of a piece. Refines the prior text: crafting the visual aesthetic and camera work for live-action content.

Tag it when…

Tag when deliberate camera craft is visible on real photographed footage: controlled lighting, composed frames, intentional lens and movement choices. A testimonial or vlog with crafted camera work is still cinematography by craft — the content label never blocks the tag.

Never tag it when…

Never tag AI-generated footage that merely looks photographed — the ai_generated⇒strip-cinematography rule (CD4): no camera existed, so the craft claim is false; that goes to Generative AI Production with origin scoping it. Rendered/CG 'camera' work goes to Animation/3D craft. 'Photoreal' is a LOOK (visual_style facet), never grounds for this tag by itself. Note: this row is pending the chunk-7 per-credit refile (the CN12 merged 'cinematography' group; credit-graph role; one of the 3 chunk-7-chipped VP refile rows); define and tag as-is until then.

Easily mistaken for 4 other crafts

Every other page suggests neighbours by similarity. This one navigates by difference: each line names the craft this is confused with, and the rule for telling them apart.

• video production live action direction — Cinematography crafts HOW the image is photographed; Direction stages WHAT happens in it. Co-tag both on crafted live-action.
• disc generative ai production — A Sora-class clip that looks shot is NOT cinematography — origin=ai_generated strips the tag (CD4). Check provenance before crediting the camera.
• visual style / execution facets — 'Photoreal'/'cinematic' describe the LOOK (facet vocabulary); this leaf asserts a real camera craft was exercised.
• disc photography — Photography is stills; cinematography is motion. Campaign stills from the same shoot tag Photography.

At what size it applies

Asset tag when the whole piece is photographed craft. Moment tag when a crafted live-action beat sits inside an otherwise animated or mixed-media piece.

Pieces that settle the definition

• According to Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas, success comes down to commitment. #shorts — Real photographed athlete footage with controlled lighting and composed coverage
• Hello GPT-5.5! [video 1] — Live-action launch film — crafted camera and lighting carry the piece
• What's your favorite accent to use on ChatGPT Advanced Voice? — Photographed real-people piece where deliberate camera craft is the visible signal

Where to look next

• The whole services tree — the services index.
• Every other vocabulary — the vocabulary index.
• How work gets credited to a craft — the entities chapter.