Things I've Learned of Recent for the Camera

[Ed_David]

1.  Trust your own opinions.  Don't follow what someone likes, even if they are a big shot DP.  Do tests.  Use your eyes.

2. Don't be lazy.  Being lazy is the worst.  Get low on the floor.  Move that light higher or try something different.

3. Be prepared.  Be organized and think before the shoot as much as you can.  Make diagrams and lists.

4. Do not overlight.  Trust yourself in the moment.  Step away from the monitor then come back.  

5. Bounce the light.  Try that first, then direct.

6. Use a capture device like the odyssey 7q and then take screengrabs and you can compare your lighting and blocking.

7.  Communicate as much as you can with your crew ahead of time of how you work.

[squig]

8. You won't look like an idiot when you remember to pack your CF cards.

[Fritz Pierre]

I would add, shoot as if you're rolling film, not digital onto a memory card....read a comment somewhere recently about a producer mumbling about digital cameras always rolling on set...it causes confusion....an overload of data and I think creatively causes fatigue...that goes for the entire crew and the talent...but especially for the talent....they peak at the wrong time and mistakes get made by the crew, so you may miss that shot...and you land up shooting the same scene again the next day.

[mercer]

7 minutes ago, Fritz Pierre said:

I would add, shoot as if you're rolling film, not digital onto a memory card....read a comment somewhere recently about a producer mumbling about digital cameras always rolling on set...it causes confusion....an overload of data and I think creatively causes fatigue...that goes for the entire crew and the talent...but especially for the talent....they peak at the wrong time and mistakes get made by the crew, so you may miss that shot...and you land up shooting the same scene again the next day.

Interesting. I think this thread and the camcorder thread can go hand in hand. What I've noticed from reading this forum for the past couple of years and being involved in digital filmmaking, mostly as a hobbyist, for the past decade or so... is that a lot of filmmakers use digital and its cheap media as an excuse to collect footage. Grab a thousand takes with coverage and construct the film in the editing room. Unfortunately, this is how Hollywood bean counters... I mean studio heads want films produced. It's an A+B=C method. Just because digital is cheap doesn't mean you should shoot a hundred hours for a 90min film. The fact that a filmmaker can now take a camera and shoot a feature handheld in their hometown and it can look good enough to show on a big screen is amazing, so I'm unsure why these cameras get rigged up like they're an Alexa, then shoot a thousand takes with a full crew? It makes no sense to me. I have found in most instances, art is planned through craft and an artful eye. Sure spontaneity occurs, but the best takes I have ever recorded from the talent usually occurs by take 5 and usually goes downhill and gets masturbatory from there.

[AaronChicago]

-Throw the 3 point lighting technique out the window and try something different.

[mkabi]

3 hours ago, Fritz Pierre said:

I would add, shoot as if you're rolling film, not digital onto a memory card....read a comment somewhere recently about a producer mumbling about digital cameras always rolling on set...it causes confusion....an overload of data and I think creatively causes fatigue...that goes for the entire crew and the talent...but especially for the talent....they peak at the wrong time and mistakes get made by the crew, so you may miss that shot...and you land up shooting the same scene again the next day.

Double edged sword aint it?

-Let the camera roll (and having to sift through endless amounts of video and sort it out) vs. missing that shot because you weren't rolling.

[Oliver Daniel]

1. Think about the light before anything else. 

2. Change that lens, it may look way better on different glass. 

3. When the talent is in thought, or simply just waiting for a direction, roll the camera without their knowledge. You can get some really useful, very natural moments. 

4. Don't do the shot once. You may pull off the technique better on repeat. 

5. Bring 634 lens cloths to a shoot, because you will lose 633 of them. 

6. Never settle on a grade straight away. Look at it again tomorrow. Those skin tones might be green and you had no idea. 

7. If you're not sure if it's right, it's definitely not. Trust yourself. It's got to feel right, always. 

8. Adjust the light again. It will look better.

9. Eye lights. Make the effort.

10. Buy a RED cam. Send it back. Read EOSHD and get confused. Get a GH5. 

[Fritz Pierre]

46 minutes ago, mkabi said:

Double edged sword aint it?

-Let the camera roll (and having to sift through endless amounts of video and sort it out) vs. missing that shot because you weren't rolling.

In the case of working with kids, having say a 5 min  loop system on a camera where the camera starts rewriting over the previous data at a chosen time period  can be fantastic (HVX 200 for example)...for any other professionals/actors/crew I don't think it works...but everyone has their own method of working...the greatest skill and perhaps the hardest thing IMO is for any artist to know when something's finished....be it a take, a painting, a book or a sculpture for example...you cannot lose your nerve....look what happened to Cimino after Deerhunter and Year of the Dragon...started doing 30 or 40 takes....sometimes higher...no idea what the backstory was in fairness, but he vanished into obscurity!...

[basilyeo]

Always have extra lens caps on hand.

[Tim Sewell]

11. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists

[hansel]

1 hour ago, Tim Sewell said:

11. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists

For that creamy dreamy look, I love it :D also keeps the focusring lubricated when manically racking.

[jcs]

1 hour ago, Tim Sewell said:

11. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists

The chemicals in sunscreen can accelerate cancer. Extra time in the sun without burning can lead to melanoma (see the studies from Australia). Best to cover the skin or use zinc. A few minutes a day are very beneficial for vitamin D!

All this info available online

[Tim Sewell]

Quote

The chemicals in sunscreen can accelerate cancer. Extra time in the sun without burning can lead to melanoma (see the studies from Australia). Best to cover the skin or use zinc. A few minutes a day are very beneficial for vitamin D!

Whoosh?

[Cinegain]

I'm so white, on certain shoots I've used myself as a reflector.

[Liam]

Best sunscreen for low light on a $5 budget?

[Bioskop.Inc]

If shooting a Doc, always roll the camera when speaking to a subject/contributor, even if it's just to run through what they're going to say - people come up with moments of clarity when they don't think they're being recorded, which they won't be able to recreate later. Also, have loads of cutaways so you can splice up an interview, which leads to the next point of making sure the sound is as even as possible throughout & get some room tone (the sound of the room with no one talking etc..).

I really like the David Fincher approach of splicing up different takes to make a perfect take - he uses this when he has 2 characters on screen together & makes sure that there is space between them so he can use Take 2 of Character 1 & Take 7 of Character 2.

[jcs]

11 hours ago, Tim Sewell said:

Whoosh?

Maybe it can be used to clean sun screens too?  https://www.amazon.com/WHOOSH-Award-Winning-Screen-Cleaner-Antimicrobial/dp/B00DOPW5L0.

[Fritz Pierre]

14 hours ago, Bioskop.Inc said:

If shooting a Doc, always roll the camera when speaking to a subject/contributor, even if it's just to run through what they're going to say - people come up with moments of clarity when they don't think they're being recorded, which they won't be able to recreate later. Also, have loads of cutaways so you can splice up an interview, which leads to the next point of making sure the sound is as even as possible throughout & get some room tone (the sound of the room with no one talking etc..).

I really like the David Fincher approach of splicing up different takes to make a perfect take - he uses this when he has 2 characters on screen together & makes sure that there is space between them so he can use Take 2 of Character 1 & Take 7 of Character 2.

What's particularly remarkable about Fincher films is how little movement he uses with the camera...he's films feel very dynamic exactly for how he cuts...the camera is virtually stationary all the time...