I remember standing on a ridge in the Highlands three years ago, watching a kid try to pull off a sweeping cinematic reveal with a consumer drone. He was so focused on the joystick that he didn’t notice the wind shear or the fact that he was hovering directly over a group of hikers who…
I remember standing on a dusty shoulder in the High Desert, the heat coming off the asphalt in waves, watching a junior operator try to rig a gimbal to a moving chase car while staring intently at a monitor instead of the road. He was so focused on the dynamic range of the sensor that…
I remember sitting in a cramped edit suite in South London, twenty years ago, staring at a monitor that felt like it was vibrating. I had just spent six hours trying to fix a dialogue track that sounded like it was recorded inside a tin can, convinced that if I just bought a more expensive…
I once spent four hours on a location in North Wales watching a production manager attempt to coordinate a complex move using nothing but a high-end digital scheduling app and a frantic, misplaced sense of urgency. We had three grip trucks idling, a lighting kit that was costing us a fortune every minute it sat…
Read More “Stop Buying More Gear and Start Learning How to Manage a Professional Film Set.” »
I spent three weeks on a documentary in a coastal village last summer, and I saw more people staring at spec sheets for new LED panels than actually looking at the way the sun hit the subjects’ eyes. There is this exhausting, pervasive myth that if you just buy enough high-CRI gear, your image will…
I spent three weeks on a low-budget indie feature last year, sitting in a damp van outside a location in Wales, staring at a script that was technically perfect but felt entirely hollow. The writer had clearly spent more time studying structural templates and software than actually watching how people breathe when they’re lying to…
I remember standing in a beautiful, sun-drenched villa in Tuscany ten years ago, nodding along while a director pointed out the “vibe” of the rooms. He saw a masterpiece; I saw a nightmare. I saw a ceiling so low we’d never get a meaningful backlight, and a hallway so narrow that even our smallest prime…
I remember standing in a damp alleyway in Bristol at three in the morning, shivering under a single, poorly placed HMI that was blowing out every face in the frame while the shadows looked like spilled ink. The director was staring at a monitor, convinced that if we just bought a more expensive sensor, we…
Read More “Night Exteriors: Everything Takes Twice as Long” »
I spent three hours last Tuesday watching a kid in a coffee shop try to “fix” a muddy, flat-looking interview by scrolling through sensor specs on his phone. He was convinced that if he just upgraded to a body with more stops of dynamic range, he’d suddenly understand how to work with available light. It’s…
I remember a documentary shoot in a cramped apartment in South London back in ’04. We had three people, a heavy tripod, and enough cables to wire a small village, all crammed into a kitchen that barely fit a toaster. I spent half the morning apologizing to the talent for bumping into their bookshelf, while…