I remember sitting in a cramped studio ten years ago, watching a kid spend three grand on a high-end cinema camera just to shoot against a wrinkled, poorly lit piece of polyester. He kept asking why his edges looked like they’d been cut out with kitchen shears, as if a better sensor would magically fix…
I remember sitting in a dark edit suite at three in the morning, staring at a timeline where the audio and video were drifting apart like two ships in a fog, and realizing I’d spent six hours trying to fix a disaster that could have been prevented with ten minutes of discipline. People love to…
I remember a shoot in a cramped basement in Bristol, back when I was still lugging heavy Panavision cans. We had three cameras, a director who thought more angles equaled more magic, and a lighting setup that was essentially a prayer. Everyone was obsessed with the tech—the bitrates, the sync protocols, the glorious new sensors—but…
I spent three hours last week watching a kid try to explain how live streaming production works by pointing at a spreadsheet of bitrates and encoder specs. He looked like he was describing a particle accelerator, but all I could see was a guy who didn’t realize his subject was being washed out by a…
I spent twenty years waiting for the “right” sensor to arrive, thinking that once I had enough dynamic range, the image would finally stop fighting me. Now, I see kids scrolling through feeds, convinced that the secret to how to shoot for social media is a $4,000 mirrorless body and a specialized gimbal that makes…
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…
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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 remember sitting in a dim edit suite in 2004, watching a junior colorist try to “fix” a scene by slamming a heavy teal-and-orange LUT onto a sequence that clearly needed warmth. He thought he was being profound, but he was just masking a lack of intent. People spend thousands on high-end sensors and expensive…
Read More “Colour Choices That Are Not Just Orange and Teal” »
I spent three hours on a documentary set in a basement in Dublin once, watching a kid try to fix a muddy, underexposed shot by cranking the ISO until the sensor looked like it was covered in digital salt. He thought he could buy his way out of the gloom with a higher spec, but…
I spent three hours on a documentary set in a rented villa outside of Naples, watching a kid with a brand-new cinema camera try to “fix” a flat, washed-out face by adding a third light. He was convinced that more lumens equaled more quality, but all he was doing was drowning the subject in a…