Meet Benjamin McClain | Cinematographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Benjamin McClain and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Benjamin, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I think I chose a career in art for the same reason everyone does… I couldn’t imagine a life without creating. That and the money, artists are known for their absolute lavish income.

Seriously though, filmmaking is what I did before I even considered careers, money, or my future. From the moment I realized I could make people laugh or gasp from what I put in front of a camera I was hooked. I just kept at it. I think I reached a point that many do in creative positions; the point of no return when you peer into the well of knowledge, skill and experience and are faced with the decision to keep it a hobby or dive into the darkness. I had to see what was at the bottom of that well and I’m still falling through but loving every second of it.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Visual storytelling is just so fascinating to me. The fact I can change the direction a light is coming from or the height and angle of the camera to augment an actor’s performance and make the audience feel something. It’s the nuance and infinite that drives me to experiment more and keep learning what works and what doesn’t.

I am drawn to cinematography because of it perfect blend of creativity and technicality. You have to know the ins and outs of the science of light and photometrics. The optic qualities of lenses and filters. All of this AND have the creative eye and artistic language to use the underlying technical knowledge to put it in practice.

I got my start with my mom’s Hi-8 vhs camcorder when I was in middle school. My friends would stay at my house the entire weekend and we would make little comedy videos and action movies. I never thought of it as filmmaking until much later. I started to transition to Youtube sketches after high school, and the always gravitating towards the camera. I would wonder what made my dumb little videos not look like hollywood movies. I would read articles about lighting, lenses, camera movement. It wasn’t long before I left the childhood ideas of being stupid on Youtube behind and just wanted to take my new found knowledge to art and make films.

I set out to produce and direct my first film. I had such high ambitions. With my new camera and lenses, the lights I made myself from components I got at a hardware store, I was going to make a short film that would shake the world. Surely it would launch my career to L.A. where I would be making “real” movies. Spoiler Alert… It was bad. It turns out the first time you do something, it isn’t going to be very good. However as I look back on that film, I am very proud of it. It is the first mile marker with a clear progression to the filmmaker I am today and it is still on my Youtube channel as a testament to what the start looks like and how far I have come.

I moved on to shooting any film that anyone would let me shoot. If someone wrote and directed a film I would ask them to shoot it. I would be proud of each project but never settle for what I had made. After each one I would ask myself what I could do differently to make it better, more impactful, or tell the story better. It was this strategy that put me in my current position.

I made tons of connections working for all these directors for free, and the whole time used these opportunities to sharpen my skills and continue improving. This allowed me to take the projects and use them in my reel which helped find more directors, more projects, more practice and I never stop asking myself how to make each one better after the last.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love Cincinnati so much. It is such a rich cultivator of art and creativity without the constant hum of a ginormous city. I certainly would have to show them OTR. My favorite restaurant is Che, an Argentinian Empanada place and then would have to absolutely catch an FCC match. This year is my first year as a season ticket holder. I watch every match religiously.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are too many to list here. I want to thank ever person who stepped on a film set with me for an unpaid passion project. To the people who believed in what we could achieve together. To every person that came up to me after a screening at a festival and told me they loved my film.

Website: www.benjaminmcclain.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ben.mcclain.film

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benjaminmcclain

Image Credits
behind the scene photos of Benjamin are taken by Joe Palmer