6 things other young cinematographers say that I hate
- Thread starter Andrew Luczenczyn
- Start date
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Andrew, I agree with most of what you write on your blog post, though I don't entirely agree with your "5) needing to "own" it" point, as I feel that every film-maker should own a basic production package that includes camera/audio/lighting ( does not have to be high-end gear ) so that you can:
1- Experiment when you have no-money budgets to work with
I definitely buy into the Lawrence of Arabia line "big things have small beginnings", where sometimes you stumble across a tiny idea that leads to something visually substantial, which you might have never found if you weren't free to f*ck around with experimental ideas.
2- Learn how to master the fundamentals of camera, audio, and lighting
I meet so many inexperienced film-makers that don't know how to obtain good sound in typical locations. ( so many Indie films with absolutely horrible audio )
People that have no clue about the fundamentals of lighting, so when you show them a photo/video and ask them "How would you duplicate this look?" their eyes glaze over because they really have no idea how to recognize lighting when they look at a photo or video.
3- Be able to shoot spec samples that will help to land jobs that are beyond the content of your current DOP resume
...I think "wannabe-ism" is one of the biggest sins that new film-makers make, where they try and copy the look of a successful film and it almost always comes off as half-baked because they really don't understand why the original look worked in the first place.
Know your fundamentals ( no sh*tty camera / audio / lighting work allowed ) and always try to be original with your ideas.
1- Experiment when you have no-money budgets to work with
I definitely buy into the Lawrence of Arabia line "big things have small beginnings", where sometimes you stumble across a tiny idea that leads to something visually substantial, which you might have never found if you weren't free to f*ck around with experimental ideas.
2- Learn how to master the fundamentals of camera, audio, and lighting
I meet so many inexperienced film-makers that don't know how to obtain good sound in typical locations. ( so many Indie films with absolutely horrible audio )
People that have no clue about the fundamentals of lighting, so when you show them a photo/video and ask them "How would you duplicate this look?" their eyes glaze over because they really have no idea how to recognize lighting when they look at a photo or video.
3- Be able to shoot spec samples that will help to land jobs that are beyond the content of your current DOP resume
...I think "wannabe-ism" is one of the biggest sins that new film-makers make, where they try and copy the look of a successful film and it almost always comes off as half-baked because they really don't understand why the original look worked in the first place.
Know your fundamentals ( no sh*tty camera / audio / lighting work allowed ) and always try to be original with your ideas.
Andrew Luczenczyn
Active member
Thanks for pointing that rule out David. I posted this to other forums and it's just easier to link it but next time I'll post the text directly into the thread. It wasn't intended to fish for users and I actually prefer to rely in this forum.
To TheDingo: I see what your getting at. And I completely agree, and in fact I own such a thing.
Im more referring to larger projects; for example in a lot of Indiegogo or kickstarter campaigns I see in their plans to buy a scarlet or something. But renting is perfectly viable.
I know lots of my filmmaking friends that are intimidated by the rental houses and when they think they need a piece of equipment it seems they think to either buy it, or go without it.
To TheDingo: I see what your getting at. And I completely agree, and in fact I own such a thing.
Im more referring to larger projects; for example in a lot of Indiegogo or kickstarter campaigns I see in their plans to buy a scarlet or something. But renting is perfectly viable.
I know lots of my filmmaking friends that are intimidated by the rental houses and when they think they need a piece of equipment it seems they think to either buy it, or go without it.
I also see a lot of crowd-sourcing campaigns where I don't see anything of quality from the film-makers in their past work ( they don't know the basic fundamentals ), and yet they hope to throw lots of money at the project so that it will magically fix things.
I've also seen at least one $200K+ Indie feature where the final product looked like something that could have been shot by my 10 year-old nephew with a few hours of production training. ( a big chunk of Indie money flushed down the crapper on a junk project )