User:Erkanumut
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born on March 04, 1967 in Istanbul, Erkan Umut is a Turkish cinematographer (Director of Photography - DoP) and lecturer of cinematography at the Istanbul University (cinematography courses) and at the Yıldız Technical University (specialized lighting courses).
He has served as a technical consultant at the Dirlik Film company (Istanbul) dealing with motion-picture equipment rental and lab, and as an importer. Also he was a trial representative for sound projector manufacturers in Japan (Tokiwa Co., Ltd., Tokyo), China (Tianjin Cineprojector Factory, Tianjin) and the Czech Republic (Meopta prerov a.s., Prerov).
Since early school years (ca. 1979) he has dedicated himself to home movies, cinematography and motion-picture equipment. He began to collect catalogues of home movies and brochures on amateur equipment. Projecting home movies with a simple plastic silent projector CINE MAX K5 (Super8) - which always gave him trouble - leading him to explore the cinematographic process. His first camera was a LOMO 216 (Super8).
In high school, despite his family's insistence that he earn a degree on engineering or medicine, he decided to become a cameraman. It was during this time that he transitioned to being interested in professional filmmaking and equipment. At the same time he began to collect brochures on professional equipment.
At first, he wanted to become a motion-picture engineer by studying precision engineering, but then he decided to study photography as he had come to appreciate his artistic ability. In 1988 he graduated from the School of Photography at the Mimar Sinan University, Faculty of Fine Arts in Istanbul.
After a very short time as a camera assistant, dolly and sound operator period he began to act as a cameraman, and worked for many music video, commercial and documentary projects. During his military service (1989-1990) he worked as a cameraman and shot some military educational films, which have gained him official recognation by the TSK - Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri (Turkish Armed Forces).
He was the senior cameraman for Turkey’s longest running and most popular TV show project "Barış Manço ile 7den 77ye" ("from 7 to 77 with Barış Manço") which featured the famous Turkish pop singer Barış Manço and has been in more than 50 countries.
Although his first music video was shot on 35mm film, he was the first DoP in Turkey to lead the music video industry to convert from 35mm to 16mm, which is more fitting to broadcast televisions limited resolution. After that, older 16mm cameras are replaced by the most advanced ones, and a wide variety of 16mm film stock became available in Turkey.
He has been a collector of technical documents on motion-picture, audio and photographic technology, techniques, equipment and materials in many languages, as well as equipment for more than 20 years. He is the curator of motion-picture equipment for the Communications Gallery at the Istanbul University.
He visited many companies and museums dealing with motion-picture technology, and was an active member of the Society of Motion Picture and TV Engineers, New York (SMPTE). He has published technical papers for Journals (especially on the ex-Soviet, Japanese and Chinese motion-picture technology, companies and equipment), and has provided informational resources for web sites, some of which he created himself.
[edit] Countries visited for the TV show and other projects (as of Year 2007)
Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Crimea, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, French Guiana, Georgia, Germany, Greenland, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Mauritius, Mexico, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, Panama, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Tatarstan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkistan, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Yugoslavia, Zanzibar, Zimbabwe.
