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Dear 2020,

happy and merry everything guys

Happy Holidays! Since Covid-19 has made shooting possibilities pretty limited, I've decided to shift to micro short films. Here are some test frames using the Canon FD 50mm 1.2 L...

Here's my review of 2020 in cameras / filmmaking. Doesn't make for easy reading so take a stiff gin with you to this article... https://www.eoshd.com/news/a-review-of-the-year-2020-by-andrew-reid/

It's been a weird year but I can't complain. We once again how incompetent our governments were, and that it's "do as we say, do as we do" as we saw plenty of them break the rules, which would result in fines if they were just regular citizens. I'm no tinfoil hat person, but in many places (mostly speaking about Europe) the coronavirus is used to monger fear and some of the new regulations have nothing to do with Corona anymore, just a wacky power trip to take away our freedoms (can't film cops anymore in France) and getting as much money out of people's pockets. All you see in the news is covid, covid, covid although in Belgium three times more people died from cancer and heart attacks. We don't see banners pop up every ten seconds about how bad smoking is, or one newspaper article out of 2 that obesity kills. Our hospitals don't have the capacity because the same minister of health that is imposing drastic lockdowns and huge fines and other crazy stuff cut through health budget years ago, something he will never mention. Also, old people die, that's how life has worked since ever. The news feels rigged. Social Media is rigged. I got fact checked on facebook about a comedy sketch about Covid and blocked for 7 days. I don't share conspiracy bullshit, this was, pure comedy. Everywhere on social media there are banners about Covid, if you mention it in on facebook, there will be an extra warning in a window. If a video is about covid on youtube, it's surrounded by banners and also has a mention of "learn more about the WHO vaccine trials". Yup, I know it's there, no I don't wanna be sick, but I also don't wanna be spammed/attempted to be brainwashed 300 times a day. Where did the hot milfs in my area go? At least they sounded fun. Youtube is an advertising platform with content, not the other way around. But as influencers are afraid to speak up about shortcomings, we only get "awesome" "focus on the good things" results as they are part of the marketing ploy of the big companies. That's why on the release day of a camera, suddenly you will see 50 different tech reviewers review the same products, clickbait titles and filling the air with as many possible words to have their video as long as possible. Oh, and plenty of them don't know half what they're speaking about, are mediocre camera operators at best, and some are literally worse than dogshit.

I love the texture of film and always try to get some aspect of into all of my projects. I think the camera matters less these days as almost all the dslrs out there can give you a filmic image if one bothers to learn resolve and a bit of color grading. I used the GH5 for years and one can get beautiful images from that camera. Adding an OLPF effect in post with some blur helps getting that digital sharpness down that many DSLR sensors have. There are also so many good resources out there now for getting a filmic look without much work. Juan Melara's Kodak 2393 FM Powergrade is great for getting filmic colors and if you want halation, grain and colors that are as close to film as possible I think Dehancer has that down, very impressive plugin. Also Tom Bolles is releasing Cineprint 16 powergrade for sale soon (video below was shot on GH5). and VFX artist Miguel Santana has Spectra coming out next year and they both look great. Learning some color grading and buying the powergrades/plugins of those that truly understand film emulation will give you better results than buying a blackmagic pocket 4K and slapping their standard lut on. Once you tailor your grade a bit to your camera just save it as a powergrade to use on future projects and then it is as easy as adding a lut to get a good starting point on any project. )

@Andrew Reid, I agree. 2020 was a behemoth of a challenge. Mentally it’s been awful but I think I’ve done well to persevere and pursue a change in direction. 2021 doesn’t change anything, it’s just a number. I’ll just continue and crack on. You’re right about Youtube. Anything that becomes oversaturated starts spitting out trash so it’s harder to see the better layers underneath. Many camera “reviewers” spend half a video giggling and skateboarding. They don’t represent the industry and make it feel glamorous. It isn’t. We don’t have to watch them. I don’t anymore. The A7SIII is definitely my camera of the year. But now I’ve used it, I’m not sure how much better they can get. I feel like they have plateaued. How will the GH6 appeal now? I see it being the last one in that series. I feel the camera companies should focus on quality of the image. Not resolution, just the “meat and sauce” of the image. The codec quality. The user experience quality. .The connectivity options. But all in all, although us users crave the next gadget, we don’t absolutely need them to make great stuff. I hope more people seek their inner creative, improve their skills and speak own their voice - instead of licking their lips over an iJustine advert *cough*, I mean review. Also, I hope more people spend less time online. It’s mostly not good for you and can be counter productive, and damaging to your mental health. Get out and shoot @Andrew Reid, show your voice and ignore the commodity that plagues your mind. Maybe change your editorial for EOSGD a bit, and focus on the inner creative aspect.

Another year over and what a shit one it was, to be quite frank about it. We all deserve a bit of peace and happiness at Christmas after this, to get our spirits up so that's my hope for all of you - have a good one, and cheers for your EOSHD-ing all year through thick and thin, keep the passion and let's keep our heads above water! And I hope all your front rooms look as great as this...

Well, in the UK, as you can see from this ad, they were as equally associated with tobacco as they were with booze. I don't know whether it was just a random selection that determined if they turned up to rescue you with either brandy or tobacco or whether it was a more bespoke service depending on your needs like a forerunner (or pawrunner in this case) of Ubereats or Deliveroo.

Yeah I hope to shoot again in 2021, as 2020 has been a dud shooting wise. Allthough 2020 was not a bad year for me, got way more time for the family, got to work from home saved me a countless hours of travel/traffic/getting ready. I do kinda agree with Tom Cruise though, I think you would be pissed off as well, if you are investing millions into a movie, changing heaven and hell to work around the virus and then some people neglect the safety rules, which could end up shutting down the movie, putting a lot of families in financial trouble. I get annoyed as hell from watching TV where the speakers are not respecting the covid rules. Sitting too close togheter, not wearing any masks etc. Its not that hard.. Dont do it for yourself, but do it for your family, your friends, the healthcare, your job. Each infection has the potential to create a new lockdown, its a vicious circle. If everybody just took necessary precautions we would already be out of this mess. When in the future an even more super deadly virus breaks out, I will not wait on the goverment or anybody else to take action, as it turns out A LOT of people are unresponsible (including friends, family, coworkers, goverment,...). And the only option is to isolate yourself completely. I don't want to sound like a prepper nutjob. But I think everybody can take their own conclusion about human kind in general.

You are correct in your research. Let me rephrase what I said. I believe that if you're after that overall softer / filmic look, the bmpcc will get you there easier and quicker. There's no sense shooting with a GH5 if you can get that look with less work. A colorist friend of mine often says, "the least amount of moves wins.

I haven't seen any footage from a hybrid camera that can match the filmic look of BM. Yes Fuji's have nice color but BM just has the most organic look. Plasticky?? nope.

So, here goes a Musikvideo to our shortfilm we shot this summer, Christmas in summertime:) I was DP with a friend of mine. Additionally I did the lights and my buddy will hopefully exchange the favour in doing a splendid edit. Nothing interesting about lensing in this video, besides one lens I had mentioned before and which Andrew bought afterwards as well. We filmed with C300II and Walimex lenses and my S1 with the beautiful Unitor 35-70 2.5-3.5. Really love this lens only thing to dislike is the vari aperture. Soe even filming in 3.5 it will change on the long end. S1 was running the slim 10bit h265 codec with 420 colour and 75mbit. The lens is a real keeper. Used in FF and APSC crop. It has nice resolution and colour and a soft quality to it, very nice mechanically. It was pretty high regarded back then under the labe of Soligor. You can find them also under the Hanimex and other labels. So here we go and Merry Christmas, dear friends!

But what are necessary precautions? No one Country or Health department can agree. I've had relatives catch the virus just shopping for food. You either shut down the World and ruin the Economy or accept the deaths. Or choose the balance in-between, which does damage to both. Its an easy get out by so many to think that following the rules could defeat a virus. Especially as the rules differ depending where you are. There was only one way out and thats with a vaccine. Lockdowns and restrictions are simply short term remedies but not by any means an end to the mess.