How should I talk to filmmakers on social media

The important thing about that linked video is to look at the images. They look great, they sound great and the camera is a very minor part of what that guy does. I'm totally with him - he uses the camera as a tool, and his skill at using it is obvious.

If you want to be a fil maker, then why are you in front of the camera too? Very few film makers do that, because theyre good at the 'lool' and acting is rarely a skill they have? Look how many actors make the transition to director successfuly? Not many.

You need to do a skills audit. What are you a natural at, what do you have to work at and what are you terrible at? Then you play to your strengths.
 
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Imamacuser said:
A couple other thoughts on getting the most out of your T2i.

The old Canon DSLRs used BT.601 rather than BT.709 for some inexplicable reason, so you might want to do a colorspace transform to BT.709 in Resolve.

Take a JPEG picture in the Standard profile and grade the video to match, this trick is very handy when correcting footage shot in a Flat picture profile that doesn't have a corresponding correction LUT.

If you do a project for a client and get all the fundamentals right, you might consider uprezing it to UHD (I can't remember whether the free version of Fusion supports upscaling). Here's a Nuke tutorial, but the principles apply to other software.

Are you still using the kit lens?
There's nothing wrong with using what you have, but that lens can be rather limiting with an f/3.5 maximum aperture at 18mm, not to mention it's very difficult to manually focus. I'd recommend a Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AFD with an EF adapter, as the Canon nifty-fifty has an extremely narrow focus ring.

P.S. Video gear is inherently expensive, but it's a faction of what it used to cost, so the barrier to entry is very low.
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I'm currently using 4 Olympus vintage lenses. The best part about these vintage lenses that I discovered is that I can use a tape measurer.
 
paulears said:
The important thing about that linked video is to look at the images. They look great, they sound great and the camera is a very minor part of what that guy does. I'm totally with him - he uses the camera as a tool, and his skill at using it is obvious.

If you want to be a fil maker, then why are you in front of the camera too? Very few film makers do that, because theyre good at the 'lool' and acting is rarely a skill they have? Look how many actors make the transition to director successfuly? Not many.

You need to do a skills audit. What are you a natural at, what do you have to work at and what are you terrible at? Then you play to your strengths.
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My brother and father do have to wear multiple hats for their jobs. It does happen in other professions. Construction I think is an example of it. I look at it sort of like starting a carpenter business; you get your business up and running starting to build then you hire more people to where you don't have to risk hurting yourself more often. I am not saying that you should do what I say, but what I am saying is that I am starting out that this is what I have to do at the moment. It makes things slower and more tedious for sure, but I get the house made along with that I am upfront with the person who told me to do the job.
 

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I recognise some traits from my time teaching, and this is a bit awkward, as I don't think it is my place to give advice in anything other than generic areas. Maybe I can use myself as a 'thing' for consideration. I have made my career in being good, but importantly not exceptional, at a large range of skill areas and creativity. I know my defects and accept them. Sometimes, I can, with effort, improve my performance - but, there are limits. What I lack are things that I know are my weak areas. I've learned that these are frankly best done by others.

When you look at the video of the guy with his camera, and then you look at your videos - so you see trends over and above the common point of the video?

I suspect you won't. Your simplistic view of the family business reinforces this. Your videos are weak in content, weak in performance and weak in technical standards - which is fine, but what is interesting is that you cannot contrast and compare. That other video has loads of positive components. For me, the manipulation of image quality, image stability and basic things like pan and tilt are very important. If this was college, and I was using educational criteria to assess them - that other video would be at the top and yours would sadly be at the bottom. I don't mean this in any negative sense, but it is critical to your growth that you understand how your work is viewed. I'm very poor with creativity. I know this and I think I may be just too late to develop it - although I have worked hard on a few areas and made some progress. I wonder what you see when you compare your work with that other guy's? DO you see what we do? I suspect you don't. I employ a young fella who has had Asberger's and his unique view on the world made him totally unsuitable for some thngs and a Godsend for others. He cannot instigate certain aspects of certain roles - so we don;t use him for those. He cannot see what it is drives us all mad. Some people react badly to things he does - strangers in particular.

If you want to make films - I'll ask again. You dodged the question first time. What skills do you have at the moment? I can only base my opinion on what I have experienced so far. Your opinion of your views and abilities is important if it diverges from how other people see it. Your first post indicated you have trouble interacting with others. Did you really expect a Director to become a teacher? Their job is captain of the ship - they expect everyone to excel in their own role, and add to the pot, not take from it? The fact you were surprised by this is interesting. if you go to the DVI forum and read years and years of posts by Ryan Elder - you will see a similar soul. Ignore what he asks and concentrate on the advice people give him - and have done for ten years or more. he makes NO progress because he does not learn and evolve. You do not want to be remotely like him if you can. Study all his interactions and see if you can see similarities and differences. Growth is the aim.
 
paulears said:
I recognise some traits from my time teaching, and this is a bit awkward, as I don't think it is my place to give advice in anything other than generic areas. Maybe I can use myself as a 'thing' for consideration. I have made my career in being good, but importantly not exceptional, at a large range of skill areas and creativity. I know my defects and accept them. Sometimes, I can, with effort, improve my performance - but, there are limits. What I lack are things that I know are my weak areas. I've learned that these are frankly best done by others.

When you look at the video of the guy with his camera, and then you look at your videos - so you see trends over and above the common point of the video?

I suspect you won't. Your simplistic view of the family business reinforces this. Your videos are weak in content, weak in performance and weak in technical standards - which is fine, but what is interesting is that you cannot contrast and compare. That other video has loads of positive components. For me, the manipulation of image quality, image stability and basic things like pan and tilt are very important. If this was college, and I was using educational criteria to assess them - that other video would be at the top and yours would sadly be at the bottom. I don't mean this in any negative sense, but it is critical to your growth that you understand how your work is viewed. I'm very poor with creativity. I know this and I think I may be just too late to develop it - although I have worked hard on a few areas and made some progress. I wonder what you see when you compare your work with that other guy's? DO you see what we do? I suspect you don't. I employ a young fella who has had Asberger's and his unique view on the world made him totally unsuitable for some thngs and a Godsend for others. He cannot instigate certain aspects of certain roles - so we don;t use him for those. He cannot see what it is drives us all mad. Some people react badly to things he does - strangers in particular.

If you want to make films - I'll ask again. You dodged the question first time. What skills do you have at the moment? I can only base my opinion on what I have experienced so far. Your opinion of your views and abilities is important if it diverges from how other people see it. Your first post indicated you have trouble interacting with others. Did you really expect a Director to become a teacher? Their job is captain of the ship - they expect everyone to excel in their own role, and add to the pot, not take from it? The fact you were surprised by this is interesting. if you go to the DVI forum and read years and years of posts by Ryan Elder - you will see a similar soul. Ignore what he asks and concentrate on the advice people give him - and have done for ten years or more. he makes NO progress because he does not learn and evolve. You do not want to be remotely like him if you can. Study all his interactions and see if you can see similarities and differences. Growth is the aim.
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I have learned how to use a camera for a long time, but skills have not been developed too well to where I'll consider myself a pro. Acting there is some ability there as I have gone to college in acting courses, but not to where I can express a lot of emotion and character. As for writing, I'm good with writing but storytelling I have issues with. Editing there is some, but not to where I can perform magic on a performance.

My strongest ability is writing.

In reality though my real strongest ability is using a computer and doing math.
 
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Well - I'm not quite sure how to say this, but you don't have the acting skills you think you have. College acting courses are NOT about acting, despite what students think. People who pass with glowing grades can often not act to save their lives. You said it yourself - emotion and character are important, but so is presence, believability, accuracy and realism. I see your current state as beginner - which is fine, but again, you've sidestepped the skills audit. what can you do now? What skills do you have. You don't need to publicly reveal them, but what are you good at? You can't be good at writing of your storytelling is weak? Why do you think successful editing is the magical bit? Editing is a skill based ability that some find easy, some find hard - and it too needs storytelling. This is what I am detecting just from a few things you write. You say using a computer is your strong point, along with maths - so what kind of applications are you master of?

Lastly - look at your camera work - look at what you captured and compare it with that other fellas. Yours is er, not really in the same league - and it's NOT equipment, but use and skill.
 
paulears said:
Well - I'm not quite sure how to say this, but you don't have the acting skills you think you have. College acting courses are NOT about acting, despite what students think. People who pass with glowing grades can often not act to save their lives. You said it yourself - emotion and character are important, but so is presence, believability, accuracy and realism. I see your current state as beginner - which is fine, but again, you've sidestepped the skills audit. what can you do now? What skills do you have. You don't need to publicly reveal them, but what are you good at? You can't be good at writing of your storytelling is weak? Why do you think successful editing is the magical bit? Editing is a skill based ability that some find easy, some find hard - and it too needs storytelling. This is what I am detecting just from a few things you write. You say using a computer is your strong point, along with maths - so what kind of applications are you master of?

Lastly - look at your camera work - look at what you captured and compare it with that other fellas. Yours is er, not really in the same league - and it's NOT equipment, but use and skill.
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Have you ever seen the movie Apocalypse Now? Whoever was the editor of Apocalypse Now really saved it compared to the director's cut; that is someone who is magical with editing.

As for maths the most I got was As in all my maths and 1 B in Calculus 2. The editing programs I use are Hitfilm Express, Shotcut, a phone app, and now I am using Virtualdub to add some spice to my footage. Hitfilm Express is the most like Adobe Premiere. You should really try Virtualdub though. Hardly anyone uses it, and it is free.
 
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Zachadoodle said:
Have you ever seen the movie Apocalypse Now? Whoever was the editor of Apocalypse Now really saved it compared to the director's cut; that is someone who is magical with editing.
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There are multiple versions of that film: the original theatrical release, Coppola's bloated Redux cut, and many years later the Final Cut. Coppola was involved with all of these. In virtually every instance of a studio film ,the released versionis the result of many, many notes and choices regardless of whose hands are actually wielding the razor blade. There are documented specifics for certain films where the editor made the specific suggestion to change up the timeline of scenes etc. and they deserve all that credit. In the case of Apocalypse Now, it does appear that Coppola's vision included scenes that were better left on the floor, as no-one seems to regard Redux as the definitive version. But I'd be hesitant to say to give all the credit for the first version solely to "the editor" (although, Walter Murch...guy knew what he was doing)!
 
Have you tried the free version of Davinci Resolve? The free version has most of the features of the paid version, with a Cut page & Edit page for editing, Color page for color grading, Fusion page for VFX/compositing, Farlight page for audio mixing/editing, and Deliver page for encoding exports.

You could bounce between Hitfilm, Gimp, Blender, and Audacity, but it's nice that you can do most anything in one program with Resolve.
 
You kind of summed it up here.
The editing programs I use are Hitfilm Express, Shotcut, a phone app, and now I am using Virtualdub to add some spice to my footage. Hitfilm Express is the most like Adobe Premiere. You should really try Virtualdub though. Hardly anyone uses it, and it is free.
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If it has to be free, then DaVinci Resolve is a no brainer. Hitfilm Express looks interesting - and even looks like Premiere, but I don't need it - I have paid for products I like a lot.

I can edit, and have done it for years, but I'm not one of these natural storytelling editors. I'm functional. I can make commercial video products, I would be a rotten feature editor. There's art and there's craft - craft is me, art is somebody else. Listen to Charles - he is somebody who really gets the art side of the industry, and his Director of Photography title is duly earned.
 
I tried Hitfilm once because I edit on a Mac at home and only had a PC laptop. I had this client wanted me to edit at their location and was looking for a cheap or free solution. It was over a year ago so I can't remember the details but I didn't care for Hitfilm, the free version has all these ads. Resolve is ok but the hardware requirements high...
 
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