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…
Read More “Composing for Vertical Without Ruining the Wide” »
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…
I remember a shoot in a cramped, windowless studio in South London back in ’08. The client had just dropped fifty grand on a cinema camera that could supposedly see in the dark, but we were staring at a flat, lifeless mess because the lighting rig was too big for the room. We spent three…
I spent three hours last week watching a kid on a YouTube tutorial explain how to achieve “cinematic depth” by recommending a $2,000 specialized LED panel with a specific color science. It was exhausting. He spent ten minutes talking about bit depth and none of it on the fact that he was lighting his subject…
Read More “Moving the Key Light Changes Who They Look Like” »