TV helped me understand camera angles, close-ups, master shots.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Everything that I've done on television has helped me to get the exposure that I need.
I was doing well in TV as a freelance cameraman, but it wasn't the direction I wanted to go in. I directed videos and tried to put something cinematic in every one. Dialogue, action sequences, helicopter, Steadicam.
I also know what looks good before the camera, how to move the camera, and how to get a story on the screen.
I really learned how to act on camera through 'Power Rangers' because I hadn't done a lot of film and TV.
Because I come from that old-school optics environment, I know stuff about depth of field and camera movement and things that are not necessarily a part of the curriculum for people who started on a box and have never done anything that wasn't on a box.
I don't devour huge amounts of television. I'm more naturally inclined to watch movies, but given my job, I need to have an understanding of what's on TV.
For an actor working in television or film, I think it's important to understand how the medium works - how the camera and lenses work and how the sound and the editing works.
The problem for me is that I've never actually studied photography, so it's quite a steep learning curve. Cameras these days do so much for you automatically but I still think there's a point where you should actually know the technical side.
What I'm still grappling with and learning how to do is to be looking and thinking cinematically, having come from television.
This thing called the camera, that takes everything in equally, taught me a lot about how to see.