Ed_David

​I love this.

I think the switch from 35mm to Alexa really hurt the aethetics of Mad Men - but then again the show lost me midway thru season 2. But I still will argue any day that film still looks the best - the most organic, the most natural, the best motion. And it handles tungsten light sources much better than the Alexa - it's golden and richer color.

This is what I propose - when you shoot digital, treat the set like it is film. The director should follow these rules: 1. Do not roll on rehearsals 2. Only allowed 10 takes max per day 3. Have camera reloads and breaks every 15 minutes 4. Keep shooting ratio down. Following the principles of film can be followed in digital. I think you need to request that if you are a DP on set, also, if you don't like rolling on rehersals. I personally don't either. I like shooting something then thinking, then shooting again. Not doing 100's of takes. But also Fincher likes digital more than film. He likes doing hundreds of takes. To break down the actors. So go figure. The look of film can be replicated digitally. Have you guys seen Birdman? Or the Age of Adeline's trailer? Or American Sniper? Or Whiplash? How many people go away from that knowing that they were shot digitally?

​This is what we call a *mic drop.

I find "cinema" and "pro" color gamuts to be much more pleasing skintones and red color rendition than sgamut. play with the color gamuts.

I tried it - I didn't find it that much different than shooting with contrast all the way down. I told Samsung that - they said they are on it. But I haven't hooked it up to my monitor yet. anyway now I have my a7s and the Odyssey 7q+ cranking - I am back in love with the Odyssey 7q+ - i need to do a shootout between it and the NX1. who wants to help?

Back to why the Sony F35 may be the most closest to film from a digital camera. How it handles highlights. CCD - global shutter. I have 2. I love them. But it's all subjective/ Just like in the film days we would be having these same exact arguments over fuji vs kodak - which one did you like better? Same shit, different decade.

this looks like a real winner

from http://eddavid.tumblr.com/ This happens to me all the time. I create something and I upload it immediately, like in a great rush. I'll post a video or even a blog post and then I regret it - I sent it too soon. The color is off. There are typos or grammar errors. Why am I always in such a rush to post things? My latest short film about leaving the city for the country has taken a lot longer, because I'm not rushing - I'm stopping to think - sitting on something for days or weeks - and thinking about it. Even though honestly I already posted it for 6 hours, and then I regreted it and pulled it from vimeo.com. I think now more than ever for all artists it's so tempting to just hit the "upload" button like never before. Before youtube and vimeo, you made a film, you had to show it publically and not as easily - so you had time to tweek it and prepare it more. Now it's so different and maybe that's why so much art I feel is becoming more and more disposable. There is still so much good art happening, especially in films (2014 was an excellent year) but there is so much more trash since the democratization of filmmaking. So much more content, and so much of it needs more revisions and revisions. Authors always have their editors. Films have their executive producers. But now more than ever there is little financial need to be cautious - you can just make a film on your own and upload. And I am guilty of that. The limitations and people's voices can sometimes lead to a greater piece of art. And that's kind of why I enjoy working in commercials - because there are so many voices and opinions and the end goal is to make the best film possible. I like this collaboration - it interests me to see how directors work with this - and how to keep their vision in this difficult field where there can be up to 20 different voices. The classic example of art taking its time vs rushing is Star Wars. I could use Woody Allen, but it's time for me to not be pretentious at this one moment in time. When George Lucas had to fight and fight and fight to make Star Wars in 1977, he made a beautiful, challenging, relatable film. When Phantom Menace came, he had complete creative control - and it was less than ideal - poor story poor acting, poor editing, and even kind of racist. No one questioned him. Not even about the racial implications of the aliens and Jar-Jar Binks - what was he thinking with this guy? And the man had some of the best actors of the time and they gave wooden performances. Interestingly enough too, Star Wars 1977 was shot on film, Phantom Menace was shot digitally. Not to open up that bag. There is a hilarious youtube video about figuring out what went wrong with the Phantom Menace. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI But anyway now more than ever artists really need to take a step back, and be wary of that, "instant gratitude" button. Sure you get a few 100 likes or some comments, but you're going to look back in 10 years and go, "man , I wish I took a little more time on that one." Because at the end of the day, we should all be making art for the betterment of the world, and making art that lasts. And the best film I have seen in recent years was made in 1968 - Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One - and definitely feels like Bill Greaves really took his time on it. It's polished - it's a perfect run time, it's challenging, it has no fat in it. It feels like someone really took their time, and it stills captures the essence of life, so flawlessly, so breezily. And that takes a lot of work.

Agent Provacateur, that Andrew Reid. "Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One" is one of the most honest, beautiful films I've ever seen -that captures life and what happens on and off set so much better than any other movie I've ever seen. Shot in 1968 on the Eclair to film stock. I have never seen another movie so similar. It's not flim that's limits Chris Nolan, it's Chris Nolan. Memento was a wonderful film. A lot of Dogma '95 films were shot on film. As Shane's test shows - film has perfect motion - has a certain softness and sharpness that feels natural, not cold or clinical. It renders highlights better - shadows better - tungsten stock much better - richer colors. Film is still the best. Until a digital camera comes out that is superior, I still will love film. It's a struggle - it's a pain in the ass. But sometimes doing things the easier way is not the better way.

thanks for this - even more happy that I owe 2 f35s. now I have to learn how to shoot well and grade well.

I agree with everything said about the grade - yes I should have matted it black. I was regrading a graded version and it may be too sharp as well. I'll try regrading it - thank you for the feedback - these are good opinions. I think I made it too sharp. I really appreciate this feedback - this helps me grow as an artist.

I like your opinon Danyyel - yes - softer for faces can many times be better. I went opposite - I used neatvideo to sharpen everything up. I like sharp. But that's just me. We all have different opinions about art and that's what makes the world diverse and important and we can all learn from each other! And it helps me grow a lot. So thank you for your honesty!

GH4 aeriels mixed with Sony F55 on steadicam. The little GH4 is a wonderful camera. And Yonder Blue Films do awesome aeriel cinematography.

yes a lot of times you can reach out to companies and express your thoughts on how to improve their product. You are doing them a huge favor by being out in the field testing them. Samsung is showing a great precedent for being so receptive to user feedback. Panasonic is also very good at this. But this is pretty much unheard of - how quickly they responded to user feedback. I think the OS the camera works on allows this. It's very exciting news and puts the NX1 definitely in a hotter category. I am very excited to test it with the new log like setting.

i don't know. I guess to get it back into video mode quickly or something. it's pretty intuitive. don't worry. you'll have yours soon.

yes in manual mode just hit the red button the right and it goes. you can keep your still mode in 16x9 with your metering on so it's pretty simple. You won't regret your purchase.

Shot this tonight - frame grabs: http://eddavid.tumblr.com/post/107859567039/screengrabs-from-upcoming-film-shot-on-samsung-nx1 http://eddavid.tumblr.com/post/107859626819/screengrabs-from-upcoming-film-shot-on-samsung-nx1 http://eddavid.tumblr.com/post/107859682869/screengrabs-from-upcoming-film-shot-on-samsung-nx1 Very excited by it's night capabilities. and in two weeks with the new firmware - will be even more amazing. added grain and heavy grading.

this looks terrible - 12 stops of dynamic range! Wait, this is shot on kodak 5219 film. but the skies blow out - but wait a second - look how they naturally blow out - how smooth the gradiation is - wait how unsmooth it is. what do we do? Do we accept dynamic range or do we fight it?

this is amazing. and h.265 will be supported by everything soon. I'm waiting for resolve to enable it.

some screengrabs from an upcoming film: http://eddavid.tumblr.com/post/107472414954/cape-cod-samsung-nx1-with-nikon-17-35-f2-8

well you know a lot of film stocks only had 10 stops of dynamic range. it's not about detail in the shadow which I could have shown you the raw stuff -there is a lot more - for me I care about how it handles dyanmic range over middle grey and highlight handling. how it overexposes. this is quite pleasant.

I did write it - or rather speak it then listen to it then revise. The audio qualty needs work - it's just me into my android phone. I come at it organically - it's something in my head floating that I am trying to capture organically. Of course I know the more one revises -the more someone second guesses oneself. So its a fragile balance. But I am kind of workshopping it online - it's an experiment.

it is the nikon nikkor 35mm ai-s

JCS that is a good idea - on my next pass of the grade on it I will try. I got lazy - I should have created a more desaturated look for NYC and richer look for the country but yea I got lazy.