Dan Parsons - Cinematographer

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Dan Parsons - Cinematographer This page features the cinematography of Dan Parsons.

18/09/2025

It’s not in the latest update; it’s not even in your favorite gear. It’s not just in your time on set or that refresher course—or even that class you want to take.

It’s in you.

It’s in the down time: the time when you are a son or daughter, a friend, a spouse, a brother or sister, and aunt or uncle. Lean in to those times and discover the depths of what it means to be human. And then you have a wealth to draw from when you “speak” creatively and powerfully with your next production.

When it comes to designing shots with a director, I find it most helpful to begin by asking what we want to *say* with a...
21/05/2024

When it comes to designing shots with a director, I find it most helpful to begin by asking what we want to *say* with a particular shot rather than what it is we want to *see.*

Once the intent of the shot is established, it is much easier to discuss the specifics of what we want to see and how we will reveal what is in the frame.

An on-screen explosion can bring resolution, it can evoke fear and anxiety, awe, satisfaction, and an explosion can even convey a sense of beauty. However, if we don’t understand what it is we want to say with an explosion and what it must accomplish for our narrative, we can find ourselves hitting a proverbial bullseye but on the wrong target.

Just because I point my lens at an explosion doesn’t mean the results are saying what I think they are saying. Composition, frames per second, camera movement, lens choice, point of view, exposure, and lighting are only a few of the tools in my toolbox as a cinematographer that, in specific combinations, will articulate ideas on screen with remarkable fluency and universal translation. (And we haven’t even opened the discussion of how production design, performance, sound, and the sequence and pacing of the edit will affect the overall viewing experience.)

02/05/2024
19/04/2024

Looking for a Houston-Local DIT first week of June.

A dolly grip once asked me to give him a speed and starting point for a dolly move. Perhaps I didn’t have a second cup o...
18/03/2024

A dolly grip once asked me to give him a speed and starting point for a dolly move. Perhaps I didn’t have a second cup of coffee that morning, but for some reason the question sounded odd to me. We were shooting on 35mm, and since I happened to have a framing monitor on the dolly, I turned it so he could see the shot and said, “You’re an actor in the scene now. I want you to react to the performance.”

Granted, there may be times when a more technical approach works to better achieve a certain effect, but in general, I prefer the camera to be “acting” and “reacting.”

The question is “What moves the camera?” From my point of view the operator is rarely the one “moving” it.

Raise your hand, filmmakers, if you checked your calendar today to make sure it wasn’t April 1st.
07/03/2024

Raise your hand, filmmakers, if you checked your calendar today to make sure it wasn’t April 1st.

TOKYO - Nikon Corporation (Nikon) hereby announces its entry into an agreement to acquire 100% of the outstanding membership interests of RED.com, LLC (RED) whereby RED will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nikon, pursuant to a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement with Mr. James Jannard, its fo...

01/02/2024

Work from a place of wisdom gained from all your experience and mistakes, but work like it's your first day on a film set.

Just as the sun rises every morning, but a day never repeats, a lens aimed from a sense of wonder can reveal the deepest meaning even in the mundane.

30/01/2024

Catch the trailer for a micro budget feature I shot in Virginia this past summer.

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Visual Storytelling through Cinematography

I grew up without a television. That’s probably not something you would expect a cinematographer to say, but it has certainly been a shaping influence in my career. When I discovered what cinematography was for the first time, I realized it was a way I could take the pictures I had always seen in my mind and bring them to life for others to see.

While I don’t adhere to any number of visual styles--every story is unique and deserves a unique telling--lighting has always been a signature of my work. Years of listening to radio dramas built up a catalogue of images in my head that are as indelible to me today as they were to me as a child. A side benefit to these images is that I have learned to “see it before it is.”

Watching a vision unfold in reality never gets old. Sitting next to a director when they see their vision come to life in ways that they might not have even imagined--these are magical moments that never get old.