Anna Carrington didn’t have to start at the bottom. She studied cinematography at university and could have gone straight into a cinematography job, as her classmates did. But, rather than step into the position that she’d been trained for, she decided to take the most junior position in a film crew: clapper loader. This is the person who loads and unloads each roll of film, in the dark, every ten minutes.

“I noticed that cinematographers who went right to the top did not seem to work very well with their crew,” she says. “They seemed not to understand the difficulties of the jobs that their crew were doing, and I didn’t want that. I wanted to understand the job right from the bottom all the way through so that when I am a cinematographer and my clapper loader comes to me with a problem I can say ‘I’ve been there, I can fix it’.”

At first Carrington struggled to find work, but as she got more experienced she began to get enough jobs (all freelance) to make decent money. Then her director of photography on one job suggested that she retrain as a focus puller (the person who keeps the camera in focus during a shoot); although a promotion in the film crew hierarchy, it meant facing another financial slowdown while she built her reputation in this new job.

This done, she expected to remain a focus puller for a good ten years or so before considering whether to move up the ladder again. This changed when she was contacted by people from Women in Film and Television about the Audio Visual Entrepreneurship Development Partnership’s technical change project, a mentoring scheme. “They told me that they wanted a camera assistant who wanted to be a cinematographer. I told them that I wanted to be one eventually but not right now, but they persuaded me to fill in the form.”

Cinema pulls a career into focus

Anna Carrington tells why she started out as a clapper loader despite having a degree in cinematography

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Several months (and meetings) later, Henry Braham, a cinematographer who has worked on films such as The Golden Compass and Flyboys, took her on as a protégée with the aim of preparing her to become a cinematographer – even though she was comfortable staying a focus puller.

One of the first things that Carrington discussed with her new mentor was her insecurity about whether or not she was ready to take such a big step up the ladder; he convinced her that if she didn’t try now, she might face bigger barriers in the future. Working with Braham also gave her the opportunity to learn more about postproduction and big-budget special effects.

Since the project ended, she has worked as a cinematographer on music videos, documentaries and – fingers crossed – maybe even on a film this summer. “There’s just no way I would have made the leap this soon without the programme,” she says. “I don’t know if I would ever have done it without this, despite having the degree.”

www.diversetalent.co.uk
www.annacarrington.co.uk

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