GAFFER STORIES LIGHTING SPECIAL
A true all-rounder – cinematographer, gaffer, educator, racing driver and #GALSNGEAR mentor Saul reflects on her career A nne Saul’s career began by chance during her teaching tenure at George Mason University, when a student asked if she could light the film they were working on. “I told them – I don’t know much about lighting,” she laughs. “But I Googled it like crazy, showed up and fell in love. That was the beginning of the end…” From there, more people called in Saul’s services on their projects, helping her to grow her resume and eventually allow her to give up the day job and go freelance. “I’m in the DC area – and a lot of work is government, corporate, educational. I started heavily in that, before finding my way into the narrative world,” she explains. “A lot of that was due to the local Women in Film & Video group – we had an active local chapter. I used it a lot for finding jobs and resources. “That group is all about supporting and uplifting each other. That community base of support was highly responsible for me getting work, then moving across to work as a DOP too,” she adds. Off-set, she’s a keen racetrack driver, coaching future race drivers with BMW HPDE, while on-set, she’s now got eight years’ experience under her belt as a gaffer. In that time, she’s worked on films like Night Waking and The Girl Who Left Home , as well as stepping into the role of DOP on festival favourite Gloria’s Birthday and the upcoming The Other You . Educating and supporting the next generation is a passion, and she’s immensely proud watching her students flourish in their own careers. “Both at Mason and with any PA I’m trying to help bring up, I consider them my kids, my students – even if they’re older than me! Watching the work they do makes me so proud, and that’s why I’ve loved the
opportunity to work with #GALSNGEAR and mentor students. I can’t wait to see what they do in a few years – these kids are amazing!” Saul also makes sure she continues her own learning, encouraging others not to be daunted by the whiplash pace of tech in the industry. “It moves so fast, and you have to stay on top of things,” she comments. “I stepped away from specifically focusing on lighting for about a year while concentrating on pushing my cinematography role forward, and when I came back it was terrifying how much I’d missed! But at the base level: if you know the basics of how and why we do this, what affects what, even those changes aren’t that big. If you have the foundations, these are always there – so learn them and don’t forget them.” She also recommends pausing and taking stock once in a while: “We all make huge leaps and we don’t recognise it, and then we feel like we’re not growing up,” she reflects. “We forget just how far we’ve come. Be proud of what you do – and work hard at it. Put yourself out there, try new things and advocate for yourself, your friends and co-workers. Get that community base and technical base. Never stop working on those two… and everything else is gravy!” Surveying the industry now, Saul says one of the biggest issues is the lack of women in higher up positions. “We need women there to make hires and bring more women up. To leave the door open but, more than that, to reach through and pull others in. We need more women – and people who are more diverse in every way – in executive positions where money and hiring are being controlled. “As females, opportunities are not handed to us – we have to fight for them,” she stresses. “But there are women out there who are growing themselves, reaching out and bringing along people, so we can all grow together. That’s one of the coolest things this industry has going for it – the growth we can do together. I feel a lot of that in my area, through both Women in Film & Video and #GALSNGEAR. “There’s a lot of people working to bring the next generation up – or the current generation into new roles,” she concludes. “Helping each other along is the biggest opportunity we have to make this a better industry for everyone.”
45
definitionmags
Powered by FlippingBook