fuzzynormal

When you do that, you'll be so far ahead of other content creators, you'll be amazed. Get into the nitty gritty of crafting the stuff, enjoy that aspect of it. That's where the magic happens. Honestly, when done right, it really is like a magic trick. It's the illusion of effortlessness.

I'm talking about motion pictures. Judging exposure while rolling. I'm also assuming the operator has some skill and can compensate with wisdom for various scenarios. If a shooter is bad at using a camera, well...

Manual exposure only. To do otherwise is ridiculous. You're at the mercy of an algorithm. If a shooter is adept at manual control, they can easily anticipate proper exposure. The human brain is far more capable at situational context than any lines of code will ever be.

I would hope you're aware that the reasons why your video isn't good has almost nothing to do with the camera or the settings. Based on your OP, I'm not sure you're the type of person that understands that. Is that honest enough for you? Basically, you have no shooting or editing chops. Luckily, learning how to have a foundation of shooting and editing skills is easy. Who the hell cares about skin tone, color, or slightly underexposed footage when there's no watchable content to begin with? Would you rather hear a novice play "chopsticks" on a Stienway grand piano or hear Franz Liszt do something with a Casio? First, don't give a damn about the nuances of what your camera can do. Put it on one setting and forget about it. You need to concentrate on composition and montage shooting. Heres the shortcut to learn how to do that: Basically, find a video of the exact same subject matter that you like. Now, watch it shot by shot. Storyboard what you see on a bunch of paper. Take these pieces of paper to your next shoot. Get the shots you've drawn on those pages. Think about what the original shooter had to do to get the shots in the first place. Where he had to be, why he got low, or high, or close to capture those shots. Try to think like he did. Emulate that. Once you've captured all the shots on the paper, start over and shoot all the shots again. Once you've captured all the shots on the paper, start over and shoot all the shots yet again. Okay. Now go into your editor. Lay down the example video you liked on your timeline. Put your "copy" shots right above the shots from that video. There you go. After you do that (and probably fail at it) you might start to see what's actually required to craft a watchable video. Learn. Enjoy the process of shooting interesting frames and building an edit. Once you know that, start worrying about the other stuff. Cameras are just a damn tool. It's like a hammer. If you're not skilled enough to drive a nail, it doesn't matter a bit what kind of hammer you're using.

I like the longer side of things, so my old 55mm FD @f1.2 on a speedbooster would be a lot of fun --and it would be around a f.08 equivalent, which ain't shabby. I've pushed 4K video on my GX85 to the limit by shooting 24fps, 25 shutter, f.08, and 6400iso. That's the realm of useable exposure with a single candle type of stuff. The glow from a drag off a cigarette can illuminate a face. 6400 is a little noisy, but when you downconvert to 1080 and clean it up with some post processing, it holds together quite well. Not ideal video, but when you're shooting doc stuff a nighttime, it's helpful to know you can push things that far. Honestly, the aberration from the lens wide open looks worse than the grain of 6400. But, yes, a set of voigtlander lenses for doc work would be pretty great.

I also try to keep in mind that those that strive to be creative and curious probably want to be mused by the limits of society and culture. If one accepts that, then it's not too difficult to understand why LGBT would appeal to those that fancy themselves as libertines...but that puts us back to the identity politics side of things... at any rate, it's easy to see why queer films have currency among the "arts." Maybe it's just like paintings. You know, in the end, some people are just going to like a Mark Rothko and some people can only stand to look at a Thomas Kinkaid.

Oh no doubt about it. You're spot on with that. A lot of young LGBT filmmakers have a sense of entitlement about their struggles, and it seems they feel that inherent conflict about LGBT life is good drama. And it is in a way. But the problem is, bad filmmakers lean on that crutch way too much. And (as a guy on the inside of a local film festival with a bunch of regular-joes) I can tell you that many festival selection committee members do go into a mode wherein they champion films that support their ideals rather than honestly evaluating a film. I've watched numerous creative and crafty films get ignored simply because they don't tickle a selector's self-important interests. That's just the way it is. Don't even get me started about the pretentiousness of "serious" films on the indy circuit. Docs are the worst. So dour and stern most of the time. Blah. Anyway, identity politics is powerful. It truly bugs me how mediocre films are elevated because they decide to carry water for some sort of cause, social justice or otherwise. That's across the board... and nothing new, really. I suppose that's been true throughout human history. Some write prose, others write poetry. The films that endure are the ones that transcend that sort of nonsense and actually have something compelling to say, something that we as viewers have to reckon with in a truthful way. Bowl me over with a feather, don't hit me with a hammer, you know? Then again, some folks like to get pounded.

FWIW, I do agree that right wing niche content creation is a more viable market. I think it's a psychological thing. Affirmations appeal to that sensibility more. This is neither good nor bad, just my impression. Then again, films like "Forks Over Knives" that tend to cater to certain left wing notions have done well too. As it happens, my wife and I are angling to create a niche film for a very specific market. Seems to me with so much digital content flying around, unless you're a creative savant on the genius level --and you can create a mass appeal film that's head and shoulders above all the other stuff out there, ( I know I can't do that ) you're not going to make successfully commercial products in today's market without catering to specific niches.

I've been using it for half a year now. I've got a modest 2016 PC and it creates the proxies in no time. From there, editing just flies. Smooth and easy. I make the smallest proxy available in the presets. FWIW, my assistant editor, on a 2009 iMac, does off line work via the network using the same proxies. No problems there either. Smooth.

Hey, America's excursions into the politics of the caribbean, central america, and south america have been awesome and usually turn out great. Cuba was an anomaly!

Agreed. Can the dials be programmed for, say, aperture and ISO? Those are the two I typically play with on the fly. When running and gunning, I like to lock my aperture and shutter on one setting and adjust exposure as needed via ND and a limited range of ISO. I'll change iris if a super quick exposure change is required, but typically like to open my manual lenses for a lot of my shooting. f1.2 - 2.8-ish. Adjusting ISO while filming with the EM5II? (without using the touchscreen) If it's possible, I'm still not sure about it.

Lightwave, eh? Can I make flying logos with it like I did back in the mid-90's?

But still wondering how easy (or not) it is to change certain exposure controls while actually recording. On the EM5II you can change iso during recording, but it's a PITA that involves the touchscreen. Punching the touch screen while recoding video? Yeah, that's pretty damn stupid. Is the EM1II different? Not sure about that yet. That said, I'm very much a potential buyer of this camera. Might fit what I'm doing rather well, I'm thinking. We'll see.

100K just lying around? I need to do weddings. Augh. I hate weddings.

I know the EM5II is annoying in this regard. Not too cool how they don't implement exposure controls during recording. I would hope that oversight is resolved in the EM1II.

I admit, even after all these years, it still feels odd to me to not have a 15 pound piece of gear on my shoulder during a shoot. (not to mention the 3/4" "portable" recorder) Started with 79a's Ikagami Tube cameras myself. You?

Great corporate video. What was the crew and your roll in it?

I will say this. For those that may think Trump is incapable of playing politics in the USA simply because he's not an insider, please look at what he did to Chris Christie. I'm not a supporter of Trump, but anyone that believes that a POTUS needs some finely honed public service experience to navigate the office just hasn't been paying attention to our history.

When someone tells you who they are, believe it. Eh, just like narrative movies there are a lot of people that can do it, but can't necessarily do it well. Don't give up on the genre simply because it's polluted with the mundane. Just search out the good stuff.

I'd say it's fair to assume we're going through the next "Gutenberg" moment. My opinion is that digital, in all aspects, is culturally revolutionary on a global scale. Having enough information is not going to be the problem anymore. Having reliable information is going to be next to impossible.

You're welcome to consider others, as I've also suggested, but the USA is not a bad model to start with. For what it's worth, the USA is a republic, not a true democracy. But our system is typically called "American Democracy" --and then there are some sore losers this election cycle complaining that the executive branch should be a pure democratic election. Point is, the system is designed to withstand the whims of the populism while also franchising it, and it's done okay in that regard for a few hundred years. Of course, the system never had to endure a phenomenon like the internet so maybe the system is breaking not bending. I truly believe the next 2 years will really test that inherent flexibility. We'll see.

FWIW, I'd argue that anyone using the phrase "Epic Takedown" deserves skepticism when complaining about the state of modern media.

Well, as a U.S. citizen I'm not going to poo-poo implementing our system of government elsewhere. The players within my system will range from benevolent to malevolent, but the ideas are noble and can overcome the former. What the U.S. did in the 18th century is a novel modern idea and has worked rather well and remained flexible within the the shifts of the industrial revolution. Granted, the U.S. is not always about implementing our brand of democracy. Most often those Americans involved in international politics just want something that gives U.S. businesses some sort of foothold to exploit things. So, yeah, ulterior motives. Of course, there's an argument I'd make that Western republicanism/democracy as defined by the U.S. constitution and Bill of Rights is a good thing, and those that can adapt to something similar have a real potential for societal advantage. Which I think is true. It allows liberal freedoms within structure; room for innovative enterprise too. That's a key component. I'd submit that certain cultures might even be able to handle it better than the USA. I don't think it fits everywhere, but neither do dictatorships. Basically, I'm saying the ideals of my country are kind of cool, so let's not bash the whole system because some people or elements in it suck.

You may want to stay clear of absolutes. The vaunted "4th Estate" in U.S. media really only held sway post WWII when you had an entire generation tempered with the global context --and that was combined with the rise of broadcast electronic media, which embraced an earnest seriousness for legitimacy. Before that the U.S. media has always been a mess. Print especially. I seem to recall Orson Wells made a decent film that touched on that a little bit. Also this: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/05/15/life-is-horrible-syrias-christians-fear-total-genocide.html

Fair enough, but honestly if you think the "media" is effectively corralled by the government, you should see what some of the media does around here. It's all information chaos right now, as always.