Rise of the salesmen, Death of the artist

[Ninpo33]

9 hours ago, eatstoomuchjam said:

Sometimes I do, but in that case, I felt that 90 minutes of videos was more than enough time to come to a conclusion on a camera that I wasn't likely to buy.  I've repeatedly said that I think that people are being overly critical of it - it's a fine camera, I think.  It's just not for me.  At the point when I understand fully that something isn't, I don't invest more time in it.

Yeah, that's all fine but I wasn't really talking about your S1Rii video playlist and could care less TBH. I was referencing a specific video and account in an attempt to stimulate discussion and learning in a forum. But your general demeanor and needless stonewalling gets old real quick. Most others I feel would take 0.5 seconds to goggle a person mentioned in direct conversation. Instead you actually took more time writing out that you have no idea who that person is.

What's the point of that and who does it serve?

Why always the grumpy old man vibes? Is it really how you want to be perceived?

[maxJ4380]

I don't normally google people, but for the sake of science. It actually takes more than 0.5 seconds to google someone, i just tried it... Well it takes me longer... not sure what says about my internet skills. 

Hello, I'm Ed! I'm a director and DP based in London with a focus in socially conscious, factual work. yada, yada, yadda. I hope i googled the right person because that could be embarrassing. 

Likes dark colours obviously. Cant hold the beard or glasses against him either, as i have both too. I do worry that he goes dressed out at night in dark clothing, cause thats like, just asking to be run over, he should probably have some hi vis on...

Maybe Mr Reid knows him, however i don't and neither does eatstoomuchjam apparently.. Although i do watch media division and generally like their content. They do produce some pretty slick content, but at the end of the day their still selling something. Not sure how, there's no obvious affiliate links. I'd say 90 % of youtube are trying to sell you something. Perhaps the other 10% are approaching it from the other end and hoping to review stuff and and keep it. If i was cynical i'd then say, sell it on the quiet a few weeks later. However its 2025 and that kinda stuff wouldn't happen right ? 

Btw at what age can i justify grumpy old men syndrome ? (i feel like im almost there...)  I know its a small group and not everyone lives long enough to join. I feel like there should be a merit badge or button perhaps for when you do.  Being grumpy doesn't necessarily make you wrong either, just grumpy. Me being me, i tend to avoid the obviously grumpier ones (there's some real gold for you there ! )

eatstoomuchjam, may i suggest you add some Manuka honey, either Nz honey or Australian maluka honey.  Both have excellent antimicrobial and antibacterial characteristics.  affiliate links down below...😉

 

 

 

[Andrew Reid]

The big difference on a forum is the discussion is led by the customer.

On YouTube the discussions are led by sales people.

That's because the medium lends itself better to glossy marketing.

It's TV.

Of course you also have a mix of content, not all of it is marketing in disguise as editorial.

But I always ask myself, what is the main purpose of the big-name reviewers and what they do...

Is the main purpose client journalism, which pays their wages, gets them access, maintaining relations with the PR people at major corporations, going on the junkets and trips, getting your hotel paid for and so on, this is text book client journalism and it allows the camera companies to orchestrate all the good vibes you see in videos like this, by the usual slick operators.

Or is it real journalism from filmmakers, like on Vimeo in the early days when we had actual pros and enthusiasts, customers of the camera companies not clients of the camera companies, putting their own independent field tests and shoots up.

We have clearly had a bit of a pivot towards corporate propaganda since then unfortunately.

And that's not to say the info in these kinds of videos isn't informative or useful in some way or another.

But the purpose of it is to sell.

I prefer to get my information from other filmmakers and people who can shoot.

Chris is an actual real-life store salesmen.

There's a layer of gloss over everything he does because he's a good salesman.

That's his job, was before, is now.

He understands the product, that's also part of a salesman's job.

But he doesn't understand filmmaking or photography and that is a huge thing missing from a review of what's supposed to be an artistic tool.

There's no Art in it.

No cinematic language.

Missing are any kind of outspoken views or provocations.

There's a craft and grift but not so much any creativity or creative looking shots at a high level (not mediocrity or just eye candy)

And it's also quite dry like reading advertorial, not very much humour or insight.

Exhibit B: "Better than Sony & Canon"

Northrup likes to employ a strategy of playing the different camera marketing teams off against one-another.

Which makes them put more effort into satisfying his need to be happy, and his need for access.

The troll headlines also have another purpose, to excite the masses in the comments section - most of whom are Sony and Canon users.

It's not a one off.

He tried it with the S5 II review as well "Better than Sony"

If Northrup genuinely thinks Panasonic are a better option than Canon or Sony now you wouldn't know it from his Sony and Canon hype pieces!

I know I am at risk of repeating myself here but I really do think all of this should be looked at by the FCC.

YouTube is supposed to be part of the open web, not a haven of client journalism under the thumb of a small cartel of suppliers and their PR people.

And the camera companies should realise that their modern marketing strategy is going to fall off a cliff pretty soon.

People are getting a bit sick of it.

People want honesty, journalism and independence, not a circus of shilling.

Yes entertainment as well.

And it is rare these days I am entertained enough to sit through their social media influencer marketing pieces.

[MrSMW]

43 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

I prefer to get my information from other filmmakers and people who can shoot.

This ^

43 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

And it is rare these days I am entertained enough to sit through their social media influencer marketing pieces

And this ^

44 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

People want honesty, journalism and independence, not a circus of shilling

Plus this ^

At least for me anyway.

[Ninpo33]

The problem is that the artists are loosing in this new world of social media.

I recently caught up over coffee with a few filmmaker friends here in LA. All of them work pretty regularly shooting commercials. They told me last year that roughly 60% of their content was shot vertical with 40% horizontal. Even for the "traditional" spots, many times the clients didn't like the look of the sample video and asked if it could be made to look more like a "mobile phone" They claimed that they were going for a reality based, "Tik Tok" look. This made all of us sad.

I've been working with a client that has slowly been moving away from anything on his company website or YouTube and now I'm just shooting reels for him. I used to do nice little 3-6 minute mini docs and now he just wants 12-15 short 15 second clips. 

[PannySVHS]

They expose a puppet head right before clipping, then underexpose by abc stops and bring it back in post. @eatstoomuchjam

Compared to the R5 which it shares a readout of about 15ms with for 6K/4K60p, it performs better regarding latitude. It is also better than a Z8 at 8K, which was slightly better than a S1H at 6K which was slightly better than a R5 in Canon 8K Raw. S1RII bests all Dslms in their latitude test in regular mode. Extended dr mode performed the same.

S1RII is looking very nice so far, plus great AF, exellent lowlight image quality, superb ibis and ok battery life.

As an artist's tool I want to test the GH5S some time. I did two cute clips with my S1H in december. I still find the color in natural light to look kinda like ENG, whereas og Bmpcc and BM Micro look magical with little effort in Resolve. I had a lot of fun with my og pocket this summer. No need for me to follow youtube shills without any artistic thrills. We used to share our own work and findings on this forum. Would love more of that.

[IronFilm]

10 hours ago, Ninpo33 said:

I recently caught up over coffee with a few filmmaker friends here in LA. All of them work pretty regularly shooting commercials. They told me last year that roughly 60% of their content was shot vertical with 40% horizontal. Even for the "traditional" spots, many times the clients didn't like the look of the sample video and asked if it could be made to look more like a "mobile phone" They claimed that they were going for a reality based, "Tik Tok" look. This made all of us sad.

This is why there is interest in open gate (which thankfully this is an area where Panasonic is leading the charge on), not because of a huge increase in anamorphic shooting (although this is partially a factor, it's become massively more affordable!) but because they want to be able to to create multiple aspect ratios for delivery at once. 

[Ninpo33]

1 hour ago, IronFilm said:

This is why there is interest in open gate (which thankfully this is an area where Panasonic is leading the charge on), not because of a huge increase in anamorphic shooting (although this is partially a factor, it's become massively more affordable!) but because they want to be able to to create multiple aspect ratios for delivery at once. 

Yup. Can’t say I’m happy about vertical shooting but I am happy about lots of anamorphic options. Although it’s really the super 35 anamorphic crops that have the fast readout speeds to really support shooting scope as opposed to the slower 6k and above open gate flavors. 

 

[cosarth]

Okay but speaking of shills, this one might be the best I've ever seen 😆
 

 

[Andrew Reid]

Nightmare fuel