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…
I spent three weeks on a documentary in the Highlands once, shooting on a camera that felt like it was held together by prayer and electrical tape, only to realize in the suite that the footage was practically useless because I hadn’t thought about the rhythm of the scene. People keep searching for a “complete…
I remember a shoot in a cramped, unventilated basement in South London, twenty years ago. The light was terrible—just a single, flickering work lamp—and the crew was exhausted, irritable, and looking at me like I was the one who’d decided to ruin their lives. I realized then that you don’t win a crew over with…
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 last Tuesday watching a kid on YouTube explain how to use a $3,000 plugin to “fix” a shot that was clearly underexposed by four stops. It’s the same old song: buy more bits, more dynamic range, more expensive sensors, and somehow you’ll stop making mistakes. But here is the reality that…
I remember standing in a rainy alley in South London fifteen years ago, watching a rental technician carefully pack a battered Arri kit while I stared at my own cracked lens, wondering if my career had just ended with a single trip over a loose cobblestone. Everyone wants to talk about dynamic range or the…
I spent three weeks on a documentary in the Highlands once, shooting on a rig that cost more than my first house, only to realize the footage was absolute garbage because we hadn’t planned for the rhythm of the scene. You can spend your entire life chasing a “complete guide to cutting technique” through YouTube…