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Knowing Canon, they will squash the shit out of the FHD. But I for one, like 'good' 1080. Let's see what comes. Happy to see you the site and forum still up and running... big thanks Andrew, and to the rest of you folks.

Thank you for the insight. I'm in a long hall edit with the material now. So looking back, I'd run with 850 ISO until I run out of light and then pump it up as needed. Shot the first night (of a 3 month period) in Clog and realized something was way off. Lensed everything after in WDR. Simple solution for a run and gun in a difficult situation. - Absolutely. Guilty as charged. Love the self deprecating levity. - Yes, this was my understanding as well. And I imagined pulling down the shadows to hide any buzz. But if there had been more time and support it would have been good to really tune the camera to the situations and light as necessary. - Exactly. And I like WDR. For what I do it seems the best of Clog, without limitations. Thanks for the refresh and insight folks... I'll remember the bring the white paper (so I have something to wipe myself off on in that infernal heat of whatever lays ahead)... onward.

Thank you. I asked because I always shot WDR at ISO800 on the C100MKII even on bright days as I had the idea that this was the native ISO and the best way to get the most out of WDR. Was this wrong?

Interesting. Is this exclusive to the C200, or does it also apply to a C100Mk2 as well?

Absolutely, these films have a solid place. But is it possible to move this forward? Progressive sociologists - and it's where we'd like things to go as doc makers - ask important questions on how we can move our collective selves towards higher states of consciousness through more thought provoking narratives. So in a way, we - though I'm not always so comfortable with this - have a responsibility as filmmakers and programmers. Or will it always be, as George Steiner puts it, "At the slightest possibility of provocation, the back of us takes over and the bestiality has its fun — which doesn't mean that the front doesn't have its fun also. We are basically a schizophrenic creature, part bestial, part profoundly artistic, cultivated, loving, responsive and so on."

Leaving camera gak on the side for a moment... Anyone who is working on long hall doc projects certainly understands the lack of resources available to them. https://roughcutservice.com/ is a lighthouse in what is easily one of the highest art forms within cinema: documentary film editing. Within the site, editing resources (talks/ links to articles etc) here: https://roughcutservice.com/?fbclid=IwAR0hFmAJP60ehpHfpVIzUE8ZHEokWZArfftRAxE1R9STvH0_z51m8YBz5WI#editing-resources Iikka Vehkalahti has loads of great insight. "The importance of imagination, create a multilayered narrative. Give a lot of space for the audience so in the end it is the audience that is actually creating the film in the heads. There are lots of docs that are so well made that in the end they are boring and forgettable. The ones that stay with us are the 'imperfect' ones. So the question is: how to achieve 'imperfection?' He answers by saying: 'By creating curiosity and not confusion. And giving space to the audience.'

All good and I'm happy for you remarking on the film... I guess I had higher hopes that the director would offer a more original take. It felt as though I'd seen all this in other films....albeit in slightly different ways. And at one point, with all the earnestness, I was actually hoping for some kind of Mars Attacks or Men in Black satirical moment that would take things off a cliff. Ah well.

Exactly 😉

Forget everything else and start here... you'll be glad you did:

I watched The Vastness of the Night... and I'm hoping someone can clarify... was this film really just about the protagonists hearing a sound only to later walk out into a field to see a space ship? Was that it, or did I miss something? And yeah ok it was the 50's but, the earnestness of the characters had me levelling comic levity insults at the half way mark. Hipster eyewear on the move. If this film garnered a bunch of raving critical reviews... then the bar has been significantly lowered. Camera ok, story bah.

I've got $25k into my own finance structure... but 700k is quite a feat. Great that paid off. Seems like a reasonable amount to wager for a shot at the big time. The trick - as we know - will be to pull this off again... with someone else's money. Good problems to have. Fool me once... shame on...?

It's clear that the web is changing the nature of how and what we watch. And it is here, in the stats, that funding decisions can be made in the indie realm where there is the perception of avant guard. I'm closely watching outfits like Cinereach (doc funding) A24 and Dogwoof (distribution) as I know they have their finger on the pulse of mostly original ideas that can 'actually' make money. That's important. And I like to think that most of us can appreciate it when far out media artists cross over into this area with something fresh and right off the rails - this is a highly coveted space that only a select few can crack - but when they do, you know it's going to be good. Truth be told, the most exciting material I'm witnessing these days is security camera footage from largely 'failed states.' But I digress

- Khalik Allah is one name that comes to mind with his film Black Mother. Not to say that his approach hasn't been done before... but this film is fairly recent and funded by some bright folks outside the mainstream. - Good question. But of course it's reasonable that the answer depends entirety on the level of audience sophistication. And in an age of bean counters foisting Spiderman 10 etc.... it's hardly been dumber. The good news is that we can now vote with a click... and that has shaken things up quite nicely.

The legend grows. Looking forward!

The only thing that is proven here is the rot of your continued unconsciousness. Now please, go hump someone else's leg.

The problems of the mind can not be solved on the level of the mind. Tell that to George Floyd. And all the others like him. By living and making experiences in the world beyond the insular small minded place that I was born into. I also live, work and travel across the world (including the U.S.) and can previously be found flying over places like Mosul... peering down on the long arm of exploitive military operations that serve the fat and stupid who no longer (if ever) deserve it. At times. Is that the only measure? No. Who reads Fb and Twitter as news? I'll tell you... people who are so fucking lazy that they should be rounded up and sent off world to used as sexual bait for an arriving species. The trouble with this is that the aliens would be easily bored and then come here... which could be both good... and bad. Let's see.

There is more than one kind of 'news.' And, since when is 'news' the only yardstick? Come on, you're going to have to step up here.

Lucky? "In many cases, incompetence does not leave people disoriented, perplexed, or cautious, Instead, the incompetent are often blessed with an inappropriate confidence, buoyed by something that feels to them like knowledge."- David Dunning Careful my emotional friend.

I sometimes run the original 24-105 on my C100MkII, and although getting focus (even with peaking) can be a challenge on this lens, when things are right, the images are fantastic.

Nationalism isn't just confined to the U.S. But yes, what a mess. Years of selling itself out by its own people, the glory days or certainly over. The future is Mandarin. Ugh.

Hilarious. It's actually staggering how little I live on to do the work I love... with food being my main luxury these last years. If I can just keep it together enough to cover my living expenses over the next 6-8 months and I'll be able to bring forward this decade-long deep dive double phd on one of the most fascinating cities in the planet! Let's see what comes.

Thank you for bring this to our attention Dimitris.

I agree... and it's also resistance against a culture of apathy, indifference and ignorance that helps bring perspectives that can offset the singular voice of corporate media empires and unethical self-serving governments. Carry on amigo, we need you, let us know how you proceed and... vive la revolucion! I didn't inform that nation's government of what I was doing, otherwise they would have simply refused and I would be forever marked as a journalist (which has consequences). So shooting the doc wasn't really the problem - despite continually being taken off the street for police questioning (where I would feign ignorance, silly tourist etc). The trick is going to be releasing it and somehow remain 'anonymous enough' so that I can continue to travel there after release. How that will be done, I've haven't quite worked out yet. The easiest path is to just use another name, but the weird part is that part of me wants my work to be correctly associated with my name and perspective... because like you've mentioned, this has a certain 'brand appeal'. However, one thing for sure is that I ain't no big brand... so what to do? I wonder what Banksy or Josh Oppenheimer would say?

- Bread and butter... it can take you there. Or at least buy you a meal when you get there.

I chose the topic because I like projects that are difficult to capture and convey. And yes... my wish is to make more docs in the future, despite how terribly challenging it is. I've passed over a decade in that country and love the people and culture and it was always my plan to retire there... so I don't want some government stooge denying that. To give some perspective, a previous top commissioning editor for a very forward thinking European country was blacklisted because she commissioned a film about an extremely uncomfortable even that happened there. The director was also blacklisted. The film caused a necessary stir and was immediately banned and blocked from Youtube there. The good news is that the film was added to a growing voice of social media and consciousness that has brought important discourse, and change. My project doesn't mine this hard ground... it's more of a deep dive into the outlandish absurdities of daily life with some far out and tough characters who tell the story... but still, I don't want any issues from the 'high-minded' conservative keepers of cultural integrity. Managing another identity sounds like a pain if you are trying to leverage other peoples money... which the other cinema traveller I mentioned, is most probably not. But I quite like this... the freedom part.