Cinematography thread: No film vs. video talk, dammit

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > Cinematography thread: No film vs. video talk, dammit

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Steadiman: Jan 31, 2006; Hey...what kind of party is this? there's no booze and only one hooker!

_{silly sevens}

For an out of the box shoulder camera I'd easily choose the Amira any day. It's really designed for shoulder mounting/documentary style shooting and the shoulder pad has great range of adjustment. Once you add the battery it becomes a very sweet system and certainly the equal of any old-school ENG camera. Slap on a nice zoom and you're good to go! The F5/F55 is decently balanced but really only becomes comfortable with some more weight behind it, especially with a zoom, it's a bit too small and forward-balanced by itself. So yeah, with the RAW deck and a battery it's pretty good, maybe a bit too much weight in the front still, depending on the lens, but perfectly doable. Personally I prefer a self-contained system where I don't need to add crap to make it balance well so, like I said, I would choose the Amira. By itself, without additional stuff, the F5/F55 is still better than anything else in its class (Epic, C-whatever-00, Blackmagic, etc.) but it could be better.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2014 15:42

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 05:39

Steadiman: Jan 31, 2006; Hey...what kind of party is this? there's no booze and only one hooker!

_{silly sevens}

I was the DP on this video a while back, quite pleased with the result for the little budget/time we had. Simple performance piece, shot on a C300 with Compact Primes. The band is called Chef'Special, I'd never heard of them but I'm told they're pretty popular in Holland. Very nice guys and fun to work with, one of the few videos I've done where I didn't mind the song and didn't want to blow my brains out after hearing it hundreds of times. Hope you like it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmQ3QXqxZMw

# ¿ Oct 22, 2014 10:54

Steadiman: Jan 31, 2006; Hey...what kind of party is this? there's no booze and only one hooker!

_{silly sevens}

JohnSherman posted:

I'm curious, how did you guys get to the point where you billed yourself as a cinematographer/DP/cameraman? I'd like to see if I could do production work as a hobby/side job, but I'm at a loss as far as how to get experience.

e: More specifically, it doesn't seem like there are a whole lot of opportunities to get on a film crew without experience. If Craigslist is anything to go by (and if it's not, what are the alternatives?), even people asking for volunteer PAs on their student films want prior experience.

I just sort of fell into it when I got unwittingly upgraded from operator to DP on a feature (that was a weird first day, I can tell you!), I think there's no real set way to do it other than just going out and selling yourself as DP and waiting for people to hire you as such. Anyone can call themselves anything in this industry and try to get hired in that function, there's no certification or anything, but the proof is in the pudding so keep that in mind. Everybody's story is different in that regard. I would definitely recommend getting as much on-set experience before you start advertising yourself as a DP though, being a DP requires a lot of politics and knowledge of how sets operate (outside of the normal duties of being a DP obviously) so experience really is important here. As far as finding work, I can't imagine Craigslist being a good way to do it. Word of mouth is everything so you need to get your name out there, start coldcalling production companies and offer your services, maybe find an internship or see if you can get work at a rental company (great way to meet people). Just keep working that network and eventually you should be able to find your way onto a set. However it requires a lot of time and dedication and I'm not sure if your ambition of doing it as a hobby/side job will cut it, especially if you want to DP. I obviously have no idea of your background so maybe you already have a lot of experience but I'm basing this general response off the assumption that you don't.

SquareDog posted:

Yeah but how many K's does it have? Yeah that's what I THOUGHT. No thanks, I'll stick to my Canon Red Epic.

Can I borrow some of your K's? I promise I'll give them back when I'm done.

Tiresias posted:

Every time I see this camera, I keep wondering how to get rid of that ENORMOUS slab of empty space between the dovetail and the actual camera body. That shoulder pad gap is lovely for handheld maybe (assuming ENG lenses, because like with the Alexa, I feel CG is closer to the sensor plane), but on my rig? I fear the gap.

Don't fear the gap! The gap gave me no problems, it looks like a weak point but there were no vibrations that I could see. It's spread out pretty well because it attaches to the plate in front and back of the pad itself, just like an ENG camera, so it's not just all mounted on a single point (which would probably create vibration if that point wasn't exactly under the CG). Longest lens I had on it was a 70mm and that seemed fine during fast moves so I think the construction is very solid. Didn't check if the shoulder pad could be removed but I would assume that you can remove it if needed.

# ¿ Nov 1, 2014 12:06

Steadiman: Jan 31, 2006; Hey...what kind of party is this? there's no booze and only one hooker!

_{silly sevens}

Hey guys! I have some news for the thread....I made an app! Figured this was a nice place to share it too, so far the response has been overwhelming (it got released a few hours ago). It's called "Shot Assistant" and it's basically the app I always wanted. It's like a multitool for people who work with cameras, at its most basic it shows you level/pan/tilt but it has a few extra features that I think make it pretty unique and useful for on-set use. For one thing it does ranging, basically you store whatever angle your shot is currently at and the app will guide you back there with a bunch of visual cues including colors (useful for peripheral ranging). Also it has a seismograph which can be used to hunt down vibrations in shot. Finally it's made to be used with multi touch, the whole screen is a button and the functions change depending on how many fingers you use to touch it! This allows you to set it and store ranges without even looking at your device

. Already have a bunch of stuff planned for the next version too but first I'm taking a few days off because the last month has been insane

So yeah, I'm pretty proud of it and I'm sharing it all over the place! Hope some of you find a use for it too

Have a link:

https://itunes.apple.com/nl/app/id961651001

# ¿ Feb 4, 2015 13:14

Steadiman: Jan 31, 2006; Hey...what kind of party is this? there's no booze and only one hooker!

_{silly sevens}

Thanks guys! It's been one hell of a ride into something completely out of my comfort zone so I may stumble along the way. So far the feedback I've gotten from hundreds of ops around the world has been amazing and overwhelming and it's already in use on at least three huge productions and several commercials and tv shows so I am really excited! Also incredibly anxious because it's my baby but I am hoping it will be of use to a lot of people

# ¿ Feb 4, 2015 16:51

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > Cinematography thread: No film vs. video talk, dammit

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