Just had to share...

L

LCD

Member
As a little background, I'm about to be a complete newbie to DSLRs and video in general (buying my camera this weekend), but I've been into audio all my life... last night, one of my friends took me over to another one of his friend's in-home studio. I get there and immediate notice a diffused lighting setup upstairs.... my friend says "Oh yeah, they got some camera stuff here too..."

Long story short, I was able to actually SEE and touch a lot of the equipment that I've been looking at online.... they had several Canon 5Ds, various rig setups, follow focuses, etc. They also had a sweet dolly system that I've never seen online but I could tell probably set them back a couple grand at least.

Basically... I felt like a kid in a candy store lol...

Now its off to the bank to deposit some money and then to call B&H!

-D-
 
"From Still to Motion" - do not pass go, do not wait. If you've been making films forever nothing in it will be new to you - if not, it's a very concise look at what all that stuff you see on a film set is for, how to use it, where to get it, how to make it... great layout, hundreds of big color pics, a CD full of extras, and very very well written.

If you want to get a leg up on the non-technical stuff that most people ignore, get "The Visual Story - Seeing the Structure of film and new media". It goes very deep into the design of shots - not like "this is a medium close up", but more of how energy and tension is created with color, space, contrast, and layout. A 100% secret weapon of a book.

"the eye is quicker" is a great book on editing theory.

The best thing you can do is start collecting a folder of reference - film stills, paintings, photos - that excite you creatively. And try to replicate them with what you have on hand.

And whatever you do, try to ignore the "don't get the kit lens" and "your first lens should be the 50mm" crowd. Unless you have a very big glass budget. (Actually, if you need a fast lens, a 20 - 28mm 2.8 is a good start for the small Canon sensor). You really can't shoot much stuff at 50mm (about 75mm equivalent really) at F1.8 unless you really love a zero-DOF/mild telephoto look.
 
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