Rajiv Menon Quotes

The way I work with my cinematographer is not based on general principles, but the ideas are triggered by the locations where we shoot.

It's one of the things I love about my job: it's my job to help a director tell the story, to just be willing to help.

The biggest difference for me was that I operated almost every frame on 'Mudbound,' and I didn't operate on 'Black Panther.'

As a DP who mostly does features, I'm normally in a director's pocket, 24/7.

Directing has completely changed the way I write and watch films.

You have to give directors and cinematographers a word blueprint for visuals, but I had to learn that from experience.

I design my shots. I walk the rehearsal as the camera and say 'this is where I want to be... I want this look.

I have considered the directing, actually. Not so much the writing. That is not really interesting, but the directing is really interesting to me.

I believe that filmmakers have to internalize the story and subtext so well that all of the departments can start to speak to each other - that music can speak to cinematography can speak to writing and back again.

Yes, if I had it my way I would do all the shots myself - I used to do that when I was just a cameraman, an operator - but there's no way; you can't do that anymore.

I really got into filmmaking through photography.

I like to just work with great directors.

I've always wanted to be behind the camera in some capacity.

I've worked with some really great directors, and I'm really choosy about them because they're telling the story at the end of the day.

One thing I learnt was that you don't have to spend all day shooting: you can get it done in half an hour if you're that talented as a cameraman.

As a filmmaker, I'm a collaborator first.

I like to work, and I worked for years as a camera person before I directed.

I've always been passionate about directing.

I have great people surrounding me and helping me out. I'm totally in love with directing movies and I hope to do more of it.

If someone were to hire me for a film they'd be getting a certain kind of package, that's for sure, a certain set of tools. But I would listen to the director.

Filmmaking is to me very similar to being in a café somewhere in Paris and looking at the people walking by.

I wanted to do a film for a while, but I never found a script that I felt I was going to be the right person for; because if you've never made a film, you're not taught how to make a film, and you feel like you lack skills.

A lot of directors in my experience are very receptive. They see what you do first, and then they want to find a place to put the camera, and they tweak you here and there.

As a director, you try to find what is creative.

Every cinematographer I worked with had his own way of solving problems.