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Cinematography · Stage 1

How to Become a DOP

From Day 1 to Getting Paid

Nobody advertises for a Director of Photography. Here is the department you start in, the two routes up, and where the first day rate comes from.

The DOP owns camera, lighting and grips, and is chosen by a director rather than recruited. This course takes you from never having been on a set to the first paid camera job: what the department really does, the ladder from trainee to DOP and the shooting route beside it, where the first credits come from, and the pay and tax arrangements that catch people out in year one.

2 hours · 6 modules · 26 lessons

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What you’ll learn

  • Be able to describe what a DOP does across prep, shoot and the grade, name every role in the camera department, and use the words you will hear in your first hour on set.
  • Have priced the two routes up, the department ladder and shooting your own work, against your own life, and chosen a primary and a secondary on purpose.
  • Know where the first camera credits come from, what to check before agreeing to any of them, and what a trainee is actually expected to do all day.
  • Understand the BECTU rate card, why trainee grades are paid PAYE, the seven-day rule and the Lorimer letter, and how DOPs are really hired.
  • Have a one-page plan, and be able to say the five Stage 1 statements honestly.

Where this leads

By the end you will have written your own Stage 1 plan, checked yourself against MFJF's five Stage 1 statements, and know exactly what to do next: a mentor clinic, an Academy workshop, and Stage 2, the HotList.

Finish the course and you can build your personal plan: MFJF's three-stage planner for this role, ticked from Your Profile and your CV, with dated next steps and the CV line each one becomes.

Module 1

What a DOP actually does, and how DOPs get made

20 min

Nobody is hired as a Director of Photography on their first job, or their fiftieth. Start with what the job really is, who is in the department, and the words you will hear on day one.

  1. readThe job: prep, shoot and post6 min
  2. readThe department, top to bottom3 min
  3. readWhat the trainee actually does all day4 min
  4. readThe words you will hear on day one2 min
  5. checkCheck: the job and the department5 min
Module 2

The routes up, and what each one costs

20 min

There is no single way into this job. ScreenSkills names three routes through the crew and there is a fourth outside it. Understanding all four, and choosing on purpose, is the most useful thing you can do this year.

  1. readThe department ladder, and how long it really takes4 min
  2. readThe other three routes: lighting, the AD floor, and shooting your own work4 min
  3. readYour CV and your reel are two different documents3 min
  4. taskTask: price both routes for your own life5 min
  5. checkCheck: the routes4 min
Module 3

Day 1: getting onto a set

20 min

Camera is one of the hardest departments to enter, because everybody wants it. This is where the first credits actually come from, and what to check before you agree to any of them.

  1. readWhere the first camera credits come from4 min
  2. readThe schemes and companies that exist to let you in4 min
  3. taskTask: find three routes this month7 min
  4. checkCheck: getting in, and getting through the day5 min
Module 4

Getting paid

20 min

Camera has clearer pay structures than most of the industry, and a set of tax arrangements that catch people out in the first year. This is the part almost nobody explains.

  1. readDay rates, and who sets them4 min
  2. readWhat the first paid work is, and what it is worth4 min
  3. readHow DOPs actually get hired3 min
  4. taskTask: price your first year honestly5 min
  5. checkCheck: getting paid4 min
Module 5

The craft, the kit and the library

20 min

What to actually learn while you are getting your first credits, what you will find on a set, and the things worth reading and watching.

  1. readWhat to learn, in what order4 min
  2. readLearning on somebody else's set3 min
  3. resourcesThe cinematographer's library9 min
  4. checkCheck: the craft and the kit4 min
Module 6

Your plan: Stage 1 to Stage 2

20 min

One page you can act on, and an honest reading of where you are.

  1. plannerYour camera plan12 min
  2. readHow you know you are moving3 min
  3. checkCheck: ready to move?5 min
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Sources and references

Where this course comes from. Open any of them yourself.

What this course was written from

  • MFJF careers guide: Camera Trainee the site has no DoP guide, so this is the MFJF guide the entry-route material is built from: the department, the two-year trainee stage, the rental-house route, the rate figures and the PAYE, seven-day rule and Lorimer letter material
  • ScreenSkills: Director of photography (DoP) job profile read 22 Sep 2026: the job itself, the six skill areas, the three routes in (camera, lighting, assistant director), Trainee Finder, the named rental companies, the school and college qualifications, and the portfolio advice
  • Guild of British Camera Technicians read 22 Sep 2026: the camera trainee scheme, how productions book trainees, and the three-years-in-grade membership route
  • Bectu ratecards and agreements read 22 Sep 2026: branch ratecards, and the Pact/Bectu Major Motion Pictures agreement covering budgets of 30 million pounds and above from 2 April 2018
  • Mark Milsome Foundation free on-set safety training aimed at new entrants
  • GOV.UK: employment status the authority behind the PAYE and self-employment material in module 4

Every link checked 22 September 2026.

You are not doing this alone

You have your own personal career mentor

That is us, the MFJF team. Book an MFJF Mentor Session with us every month: we guide you through this journey and answer all your questions, from which job is yours to your CV and your next application.

Book my MFJF Mentor Session

Where next

Your recommended next steps

Picked for Cinematography. Signed in, they follow your stage and the roles your answers point to. See your whole MFJF journey, step by step →

  1. My MFJF JourneyOne page for everything MFJF has built, in the order you need it.
  2. My Reading ListThe books, blogs and bodies you have saved, in one place.
  3. Start the Stage 1 course: CinematographyTwo hours on what the job is, how people get in and what to do first.
  4. Get on the HotListPut yourself in front of productions looking for crew.
  5. Join MFJF DayPlayersDay work on productions for crew with the credits and the skills.
  6. Find your role in the career plannersEvery entry-level job by department, with a three-stage planner for each.
  7. Read the career guidesWhat each job is, the day, the way in and the pay: one guide for every role.
  8. See how it all fits on the career maps17 maps of how films get made: the people, the process and the departments.
  9. Who works whereEvery department on a shoot and every kind of film company: who is in each and what they do.
  10. Industry EssentialsThe books, industry bodies, websites and blogs worth knowing, department by department.
  11. Read the MFJF Survival GuidesStraight answers to what everyone starting out asks: how long it takes, what you get paid, and what to do every day.
  12. MFJF Academy workshopsLive sessions with people who do the job, and the monthly career clinic.
  13. Build your CV with the CV BuilderThe industry's format, built from your profile and your current CV.

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