Oliver Daniel Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 In my experience of browsing these forums and others for information.... everyday I come across a battle between fellow posters that Content Is King vs Oh My God This Camera Will Make Me Spielberg, and other similar variations. Its bugs me, as I'm trying to find information about a specific subject and not walk into a debate... just because someone has dribbled over a new technology and someone else says 'focus on your content.' So i thought I'd start a new thread, and knock this on the head. My opinion is.... that there is really no fundamental argument, that everything goes together and that each specific person should be able to focus on their own creative needs rather than being slated by people they don't really know. It is true, ideas are the most important aspect of filmmaking. Without them, you have nothing to paint. You could be an expert (Mr. Arri) on an Arri Alexa yet have no ideas to film of your own. The guy with his smartphone (Mr. Smart) could have an amazing idea and something really interesting to show, yet the smartphone quality has poor dynamic range and is really noisy in the blacks, hampering the final quality. Then we have Mr. Talent, who decides to shoot a video on a kids toy camera and pulls off an amazing video, as he understand the camera limitations and designs an idea to get the best out of his gear (as he is super skilled and talented and awesome). We then have Mr. Wannabe who has took out a loan for a Red Epic, thinking he will become the next Roger Deakins. But Mr. Wannabe has unoriginal ideas, amateur skill and needs a lot of practice. He should of got a Nikon D5300 and bought lenses too. Then we have Mr. Master.... who has just won an Oscar for cinematography, shooting on the Alexa and credited on a production crew of 1000 expert professionals My point is... you could go on forever.....there are so many different types of people with strengths and weaknesses.....so why is this debate so large on the internet? My conclusion..... your content is all based on you and your decisions. Your idea, your learning and practice, the gear you select, the subject you put in front of the camera, the crew you have selected, the location you have chosen to shoot in...and everything else. Everything is the content. As some of us maybe imaginatively gifted, or we maybe scientifically gifted, or technically gifted... maybe all of those, but many of us are much stronger in some areas than others. And that will dictate the work you do and choices you make....your content as such. As an active creative person who makes videos for a living, I would say my strengths are in the ideas and imagination, but I'm also technically comfortable too. Not very scientific at all. I believe in ideas, but I get excited by new technology as there are more tools, better tools to bring these ideas to life. Some people spend everyday making amazing content. Others are happy to pixel peep their 4k footage of a tree. Whatever eh? Its your own needs, and not anyone else's. Lets give it a rest I say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael1 Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 The debates will continue ad infinitum. Go on any forum, and you will find similar debates. Go on a car forum, track times will be "the driver" or "the car". It never ends. The reality is, performance of anything is a combination of factors, not one or the other. As you mature into adulthood and beyond, you see life is not so black and white. So the debates will continue, and the forums will thrive. You always have the option of not reading them. Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oliver Daniel Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 Hi Michael, you do make a fair point. My topic post is actually hypocritical, as it may start a debate, and thrive, (or not) like you say. The point of the post is not everyone understands it like you do, it's either one or the other. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzynormal Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Yeah, but we can kinda tell when some folks are going down the rabbit hole, right? Extreme beginners worrying about a purchase because of sensor debayering? I'll disagree with Michael1 insomuch as the tech is now so good and so ubiquitous that such a debate really shouldn't go on forever. We all drive some form of sports car these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael1 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Hi Michael, you do make a fair point. My topic post is actually hypocritical, as it may start a debate, and thrive, (or not) like you say. The point of the post is not everyone understands it like you do, it's either one or the other. ;) This is true. It's a bit of a minefield out there. Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael1 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Yeah, but we can kinda tell when some folks are going down the rabbit hole, right? Extreme beginners worrying about a purchase because of sensor debayering? I'll disagree with Michael1 insomuch as the tech is now so good and so ubiquitous that such a debate really shouldn't go on forever. We all drive some form of sports car these days. Yes, we are all a bit spoiled these days, but you know what happens to spoiled people. :) Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quirky Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 In my experience of browsing these forums and others for information.... everyday I come across a battle between fellow posters that Content Is King vs Oh My God This Camera Will Make Me Spielberg, and other similar variations. Its bugs me, as I'm trying to find information about a specific subject and not walk into a debate... just because someone has dribbled over a new technology and someone else says 'focus on your content.' So i thought I'd start a new thread, and knock this on the head. Feeling extremely bored? Way too much idle time to spend one way or another? :P My opinion is.... that there is really no fundamental argument, Well... duh. ;) My point is... you could go on forever..... ...and it will. Don't worry. Online arguments are the closest thing we've got to an actual perpetual motion machine. there are so many different types of people with strengths and weaknesses.....so why is this debate so large on the internet? Because there are so many different types of people around. Especially all the geeky types. The internet also tends to amplify the differences, as well as expectations, both reasonable and unreasonable. It's a social amplifier of a sort. Lets give it a rest I say. A fair request, but unfortunately not likely to happen. Not on the internet. That's just how the cookie crumbles online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Weston Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 You're never going to create good art without strong content. Content is primary. Good art gets a higher ceiling with good technology. The end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tone13 Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Content is king? I don't know. I've seen many films that have made decent money that have been very lacking in the content department. I like to use the builder building a house analogy. The end result may be an architectural masterpiece and the quality in workmanship may be exemplary but if the builder was using poor quality tools that made his life difficult and meant that the build took longer, wouldn't he want to upgrade his tools to make his life easier? I'm sure that if content really was king and our tools were unimportant, studio accountants would have started to insist that films were shot on handycams long ago. Both are important. Its a pointless argument etidona 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ebrahim Saadawi Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 It's a great idea to start a separate thread for it, and spare the other threads the waste of off-topic wars. Content is king. But my idea is that, content is not just the story, the content I produce as a filmmaker, the content my clients sit in front of and consume, is made of both image quality, and story. The technology used, the image quality, the aethetics, are content. Both story and technology are equally important. If my image quality is better, my content is better. If my story is better, my content is better. It's 50/50% relationship. What makes this subject specifically a sensitive one, is because every time we try to address it, we're faced with a pretentcious moron claiming it's a 90/10% relatioship. I mean, it's absolutely fine to believe the story is 90% of your content and that image quality doesn't matter, it's just you don't have to be so pretencious, and rude expressing it. Rudeness is not good for all of us. Let's just discuss our thoughts decently, with respect and understanding of eachothers opinions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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