The place to discuss, share content and offer advice and tips on all things lighting, framing, cameras, lenses and technique
Somewhere around 1980 my family got a VHS video player/recorder. Near us was a video store called Flicks & Pics that soon became one of the best on the west coast. I rented thousands of movies from there over a number of years, especially as I became aware of both film history and world cinema. I sa...
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Hi all,
Recently, I have been slowly upgrading my lighting kit. I am currently researching and looking for advice on building a good and solid general lighting kit for small indie features, documentary shoots, and occasional corporate shoots.
Erik Baczay, I recently saw this video praising this newer brand's unique kit and it seems like a pretty great choice for an all-around on the go option: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdiGmnQDb_s...
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I still like the kits that Lowel makes for indie interior shoots but they're "classic" bulb kits -- if I was starting over I would build an LED kit. - GVM and Nanlite have some great lights for indie filmmaking.
Stage 32’s founder and CEO, Richard “RB” Botto, shares two videos in today’s blog.
In the first video, you’ll learn about the finances that go into marketing a project in hopes of winning an Academy Award.
In the second video, “Ferrari” cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt breaks down how he worked on...
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Wow! An incredible article for DPs to study! Thanks for sharing, Nick Phillips.
Loved this article, thank you Nick Phillips!
The following video shows how one highly accomplished cinematographer gets fantastic images while shooting on an iPhone. But there's a lot more is this video than just that. Lots of valuable info and wisdom from masters of their craft.
https://youtu.be/yFbz1h29sE4?si=zpI1DYKenpA-enOr...
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Great share, Tucker Teague! They kept talking about lighting in the video. I hear a lot of directors and DPs talk about lighting. It seems like lighting is really important no matter what camera is us...
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Maurice Vaughan I learned a long time ago that if one focuses on lighting, people will say, "Amazing shots, what camera did you use?"
Crazy news! RED will now be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nikon. What are everyone's thoughts on this?
Hahaha, I love "Nikonian" Gareth Taylor.
Jed Power, RED is a very popular and established cinema camera company.
I take this as welcome, or at least very interesting, news. My wife and I have been shooting still photography with Nikon for decades. I love the brand. My hope is this means Nikon has hopes of becoming a big player in the feature film cinematography space.
Another small but mighty fish gets swallowed by the giants. Should be a good connection if done correctly.
Has anyone else seen this flick? Looks really good. And they used a Panasonic GH2 with mostly natural light and I believe Voigtlander lenses. I remember filming my first projects on a Canon 60 D with a vintage 24mm Nikkor lens. The camera would always overheat and it was a pain in the butt to nail focus with it.
I haven't seen "Upstream Color," Stephen Folker, but I just looked it up on IMDb. It reminds me of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."
I LOVE Upstream Color, mainly for the way it was shot but also a big Amy Seimetz fan, glad to know others have seen the film!
Stephen Folker I don't, but I plan to watch it.
Great post John January Noble! yeah that type of subjectivity can be powerful depending on the scene and how it's used. Love this discussion!
Sam Sokolow Well remembered!
Nick Phillips Great ! It was a hook after your penultimate post that talked about INARRITU AND TOM. It was next door.
wow this was such an eye opening read thanks for sharing this John January Noble
Sam Rivera your welcome !
Crazy! Returning Atomos CEO Jeromy Young recently revealed that the company is entering the lighting world, not in a conventional way, but in a more high-tech way. You will now be able to control lighting via the Ninja, in order to allow better image capture.
What do you think about this news DPs? W...
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I'm not sure what to make of this. We'll have to wait for NAB to get a concrete sense of how this concept will play out.
I had the same thought, Gareth Taylor! We'll just have to see how it works once they can actually demo it.
I'm not a DP but i think this is pretty darn cool! : )
Nick Phillips Thank you !
The use of both black-and-white as well as color was one of my favorite things about Oppenheimer! I loved how both styles were used to tell the story and passage of time visually.
Hoyt is one of the top guys working today, what a collaboration he and Nolan have!
Just got this note from a potential DP for my psyche thriller - shooting in April. What’s your fancy when it comes to camera? and why do you prefer it?
“Sounds good to me, which day do you need me? I can shoot in Red Komodo, Red Epic or Blackmagic 6k and I have my own lights.”
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That's a very long answer which involves personal taste, creative intent, locations, shooting style, type of camera support, budget, and a lot of technical considerations.
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Incredible share, Tucker Teague! I never knew ratios were such a big part of filmmaking and cinematography.
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Great share, Tucker Teague. Fascinating to hear this perspective from side of such great filmmakers.
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Tucker Teague I love this share, Tucker. When I visited the US, an American friend of mine, many years ago, he joked that NTSC stood for Never The Same Colour!
I love the fact that James Cameron think...
Expand commentTucker Teague I love this share, Tucker. When I visited the US, an American friend of mine, many years ago, he joked that NTSC stood for Never The Same Colour!
I love the fact that James Cameron thinks through the whole viewer experience and plans ahead for each type of release. It also shows that these are high budget projects, ones that the indie film producer won’t be able to shoot. Unless we write something for a studio, I suppose.