Cinematography

Make haste slowly. Good for you for reconsidering.

Shooting with multiple cameras and including reverse angles makes the setups and lighting tricky indeed. Further complicated by the wide lenses inherent in phones. Sounds great but lots of alligators in that swamp.

Carolyn Lovie Davis I wouldn't want to stop you from trying. You'll find that matching frame rates will be tricky in editing along with what others are mentioning about lighting. Iphones tend to account for ISO and shutter speed (Not an expert) but DSLR's can be adjusted for more unique storytelling in my opinion. If I were you I'd stick to one. If you feel that more equipment allows for different angles then go with the 2 iPhones (Watch Searching, a great movie shot on mobile device POV). If you're practicing camera adjustments then it's better you go with the single camera and practice setting up your actors before you start shooting (Blocking).

Hello everybody, thank you for your time and help. But I realize that I’m in waaaay over my head, I mean, What was I thinking with multi cameras, reverse shots AND editing?!!! Tbh, I haven’t mastered exposure yet. So without further ado, I will now bow out gracefully... Thank you.

Hey, Carolyn Lovie Davis! I'm grateful you decided to listen to your own wisdom and honor your instinct. That will serve you and your mental health well! I would like to encourage you to keep the seed of this alive, however. Sometimes we get overwhelmed about the reality of filming because we are simply not prepared yet - experience, resources, or just time commitment. But for me, the commitment is shown "in its own time". Shelve this project, by all means, but maybe take on another little something that puts you one step closer to saying "yes" to this. If you feel like this series needs a "masters" touch, totally wait. But if your audience needs to experience this story NOW, then consider how you can make it anyway. Nothing allows you to practice your craft like a project!

Carolyn, passing on the decision to bite off shooting with 3 camera that do not match while also doing so much else is a good one. However, if you are comfortable with the camera you use, shooting with a single camera may help you to focus on directing your show and actors. One camera is far less daunting than three. While I’m obviously in favor of bringing n expert creative contributors and the ensuing collaboration, there is much to be said about doing it all yourself as a learning process. Yes it is a lot, but doable. This is a decision you can finalize once you are closer to starting production.

Hi, Artemus. Perhaps post on the Jobs board: https://www.stage32.com/find-jobs. That's where members post various "want ads" or a search for creative partners, paid or not paid. The Lounge craft and business forums are intended for topic discussion. Best to you, and best wishes on your project!

Oh, you could also utilize "Browse" found in the upper menu bar and search our membership by location and occupation. Perhaps reach out to a cinematographer in your area. ;)

Thank you so much I will definitely do that!

Can anyone in my network help Hannes Famira?

You might want to check out the Tilta Nucleus-M Facebook group. I have one myself but I’m not sure fully what your trying to do so maybe someone on there would help!

Thanks Henrikas!

Just for clarity sake, neither Tilta nor Atomos have been able to answer this question: Can I make my Ninja Assassin start/stop recording from the button on the Nucleus-M hand grips? Thanks!

Thoughts in red

Hey Matthias, this is Karen from the Stage 32 team. I just wanted to let you know I moved your post from Anything Goes to Cinematography, as it fits much better there. Let me know if you have any questions, and all the best to you!

It's like I subconsciously remembered your question when I posted this video: https://www.stage32.com/lounge/cinematography/How-to-Make-Your-Webcam-Footage-Look-Better

Enjoy!

The 10,000 hour “rule” is taken from a book written by journalist Malcom Gladwell, based on anecdotes about success. “Rule” greatly overstates its scientific accuracy and applicability Actual research questions this “rule” time after time. It is a useful consideration but not a rule. A person doing something wrong for 10,000 hours will not correctly master the skill they think they are doing.

There are lots of so called “rules”. Apply thought and scrutiny to understand every “rule” before you apply them to anything you care about.

I think this has two sides, sort of. As in: Yes, I think directors, especially when first starting out, should not DP their own projects, but get a CamOp/DP who's willing and able to film I instead. The thing with no- and lowbudget films is that you often work with inexperienced cast & crew in general and many filmmakers simply want to get their stories out there, regardless of quality. It's more a thing like: "I know did lots of things wrong, and there was only a small bit of actual collaboration, but at least I can prove that I can make an entire feature film!" And that small step of a feature film will have given the director and many other people lots of educative moments to reflect upon.

I'm a DP myself (shooting commercials, music video, etc. mainly), but I know that if I would write/direct, for instance, my own first feature film, the camera department is one of the first things that I would put last on my list.

The first thing would be 'the story' (it better be great!), the second thing would be 'the talents' (they should be good enough to at least be convincing in their roles and their developments/journey/change and pull you inside the story, etc.), the third thing would be sound, and in this case I mainly mean the dialogues (if we can't understand what they are saying, no one is going to watch the rest of it) and next comes the actual cinematography. You'll have to take a lot of consensus, and whatever you do it will never be great with a near no budget. And quite often, that can be okay, if the filmmaker in general knows what s/he is doing. There's a lot of people out there however, that simply decide to make a feature film and in some way they succeed. Often with a very poor result, but they succeeded nonetheless. And I kind of feel like they deserve some credits for actually pulling that off! If they loved the experience, they'll grow into their role, they'll get some more money for their next film and hopefully some more after that, etc.

We all gotta start somewhere! :)

No one should ever shoot a film on a phone. First off, what fucking focal length is that? Who even knows? There is a reason directors are very picky about using 35 / 50 / 85 for different shots. Second, thats going to be garbage for the grade, least of all if you have to green screen something the compression will be absolute trash, might even make it unkeyable. I mean dude if those things don't even go through peoples minds then they shouldn't be making films they should start from the very beginning because they obviously need a 101.

Thats not to say things can't be shot for super low budget and still look amazing, we have tons of great cheap cameras, a whole new world of affordable LED lights and gimbals, i just bought an H1N and a great lav for a little over 150 bucks, so sound is not a big deal either. And you got these crazy drones that can get you aerial shots you used to have to pay out the ass for. Just because you CAN do something low budget doesn't mean you know how to... I'm sure if rocket science was more affordable to people they'd all be blowing themselves up just the same. Like damn at least learn how to use the equipment first

The big budget films look like shit too

Book number 5 in the series near fruition. Will be done before thee end of this month. Best wishes to all and prayers for everyone's safety and best of successes! Gotta get back to writing. Ciao! :--))

I still haven't watched Kubrick's BARRY LYNDON, but it's shot entirely with natural or candlelight.

@Karen your right natures own light can work wonders, get the location and time of day right and it’s happy days for a particular scene. An atmosphere can be purposely created by natural direct light without reflectors, eye lights etc etc. Little tricks can help Eg just having a water hose handy on a night shoot, wet ground reflects more light. Nature can be harsh too eg Flares from a moonlight shot but luckily now good editors can paint or shadow these out. Never forget weather forecast, if they get it wrong an outdoor scene may become a war zone amongst irate crew. Rain has dissolved friendships on set.

@Nick I must watch Barry Lyndon the lighting sounds fascinating probably a different kettle of fish to Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange.