I remember sitting in a rental house in London back in ’04, watching a kid walk out with a brand-new Arri package that cost more than my first house, only to see that same kit looking like a relic by the time the next tech cycle rolled around. It’s a cycle that drives me mad:…
I once spent three days on a documentary set in a rain-soaked valley, waiting for a single, perfect sliver of light to hit a subject’s eyes, only to spend the next week fighting with an editor to make the silence feel meaningful. Fast forward a month, and I’m in a windowless Marriott conference room, staring…
I spent three hours last Tuesday watching a kid unbox a $4,000 cinema camera just to film himself talking about how much he loves “content creation.” It’s the same cycle I’ve seen for twenty years: people think a higher bit rate or a sharper sensor is going to fix a boring story or a poorly…
I spent twenty minutes last week watching a kid on a set try to “fix” a vertical shot by swapping a prime lens for a more expensive wide-angle, as if the glass could somehow compensate for a complete lack of spatial awareness. It’s the same old song: people think they can buy their way out…
Read More “Composing for Vertical Without Ruining the Wide” »
I remember sitting in a dimly lit rental house back in the late nineties, staring at a battered Arri package that looked like it had been dragged through a gravel pit, only to realize it produced a better image than the pristine kit the studio had just bought. People today act like there’s some sacred,…
I once spent three days in a windowless basement in South London, staring at a waveform that looked more like a mountain range than a human voice. I had the best shotgun mic money could buy, but I’d ignored the hum of a faulty refrigerator just ten feet away, and now I was paying for…
I spent three weeks in a damp basement in South London back in ’98, waiting for a light meter to settle while a landlord yelled through the floorboards about a leaking pipe that wasn’t my problem. It’s funny how people treat the decision of where to live like a high-stakes gear acquisition syndrome—as if owning…
I spent three hours last Tuesday listening to a kid in a studio apartment explain why he needed a $5,000 cinema prime lens to make his vertical clips “pop” on Reels. It’s the same old song: people think they can buy their way out of a fundamental lack of understanding regarding aspect ratios and eye…
I once spent three days on a documentary shoot in a coastal village, obsessing over the way the morning light hit the salt on the pier, only to realize during the first assembly that the dialogue was a hollow, echoing mess. I had the right lens, the right aperture, and a sensor that could see…
I remember a shoot in a cramped, humid studio back in ’04—we had the perfect backlight, a soft wrap on the subject that looked like something out of a classic noir, and a take that felt like magic. We spent six hours chasing that specific glow, only to have the entire project mothballed three months…