Abstract
The intention of this article is to identify some challenges that have marked the work of cameramen and camera operators who acted in the film São Paulo, between 1920 and 1940. During this period, non-fiction production, known as "natural", intensified as result of the "digging". This occurred, in part, to meet the demands of an economic elite and government propaganda, which sprouted needs to register symbols and practices of power. The clipping of the analysis will depart from some of these films and first experiences of documentaries produced between the 1930s and 1940s, to the Municipality of São Paulo. Related to these objectives, texts of classical historiography of Brazilian cinema and reviews published in newspapers and magazines will be analyzed, that characterized and classified this production, identifying the good movies, determining aesthetic standards, and especially censoring the work done by many men of the São Paulo film camera.
cinematographers; Natural (film); digging; São Paulo movies