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BMPCC aka BLACKMAGIC POCKET CINEMA CAMERA, a Super 16mm contender -pt2

 

All right, here we go with the geek stuff. One word of caution before you go along and read this.
There is a lot of grief around the web on this camera, but you have to remember this is a Cinema Camera and not in the way Canon is marketing their own… bar the C500, which is the one and only that deserves the title.

BMPC aka Blackmagic Pocket Cinema, a Super 16mm contender -pt1

blackmagic pocket cinema camera

 

Could I miss to review the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera. I could not, as this sub $1000 technical achievement is something you have to talk about. There are tons of reviews on the net, but the point of view of each own of us brings some valuable discussion over the table. The BMPCC hasn’t yet been superseded by Blackmagic Design, so a mature evaluation can still be written up.

BEST NOTEBOOK OR LAPTOP FOR VIDEO EDITING

 

dell xps 15

I guess that some of you guys might be in my same shoes, looking like crazy to find the right mobile solution for editing. I can just hear some of you go “hey you, Mac does it”. I know that for sure, but I am a PC guy for many reasons and I want to stay in that land.

I found a solution that works beautifully, so read on to find out more.

Nikon D5200, D7100 and Panasonic GH3

panasonic GH3

 

I am hired as a Director here at Pattaya Chanel, www.pattayachannel.com, a TV station in that country often called “Amazing Thailand“. One of first things I had to do once on duty was to take care of the equipment. The quality of the footage was not top notch, and they wanted me to take it to the next level. What a great chance to give a go to what I have learned so far, and put it into practice.

Story of a Producer

 

hong kong dslr

 

Here I come again writing, it took so long it’s unbelievable. I missed it, very much. I have been travelling hell of a lot, to China, Africa, India, Dubai, Thailand, Indonesia, Italy and Hong Kong. I mostly have been alongside Director Mauro Salesi, www.maurosalesi.com; he is a top commercial director and he has 25+ years worth of experience, starting as an editor and moving his way up.

You certainly know what a commercial advert is about, but you probably do not know much about the making of, so let’s have me telling you more about it.

 

Ultimate still lenses choices for DSLR FILM-MAKERS

stanley kubric

 

Sorry for not writing any sooner, been busy, lots happening in my life! I will update you folks with some major news pretty soon, hopefully. In any case I am always experimenting, testing, story boarding, creating, learning and sharing experiences. Cinematography is a never-ending story, a master art and you will never master it all. So intriguing.

I believe that lenses are important in any production, but definitely lighting has the edge. It sets a mood, it creates your cinematography, better still it’s the eternal fight between the shadows and the light that rules the world out…. as the Chinese would say, by drawing a Tao logo. So lenses are no more than boys’ toys? No, they are not. They are meaningful, but do not get too crazy about them, try to focus more on directing or DP-ing… lenses are just tools.

My Rode Rockumentary entry, part 2

 

This part will focus on post production, usual step for any kind of video work you would like to present to your audience.

The very first bit of the whole chain is to have all  your clips matched in terms of luminance. In the IRE scale the blackest point has to be set to 0, while the whitest to 100.
This way you know that anything below 0 will be totally black and anything above 100 will be pure white; both 0 and 100 are the threshold to get any detail in your picture. You have to do this work for all the cuts in your final editing, plus balancing out the RGB channels. It’s quite a tedious work, but once it’s done, you’ll know that the whole piece will be like one.
The next step would be to fix any issues, like under or over exposed areas of your footage… hopefully you will not have to deal with it, but chances are that it might happen if you are shooting solo or on a very small production. Especially doing exteriors, it’s difficult to control the action and the tech part as well. Never mind if you are shooting manual as well, we film-makers mostly do.

My Rode Rockumentary Entry, part 1

rode microphones rockumentary

 

The good news is that this video got the 3rd prize in this great competition engaged by respected worldwide manufacturer Rode.

I guess it cannot be called “news” anymore as it was awarded a month ago, but I have been shooting something else,  I had little time to write this behind the scenes (BTS) post.

I saw this opportunity on Philip Bloom’s website  http://www.philipbloom.net just a month before the actual competition deadline and the main idea behind it came to me pretty quickly, while I was driving along the motorway.
I tried very hard to have other people on board to help out, but for whatever reason they had, no one was able to make it.
In end I was on my own expect some little extra help I had in the final scene of the short movie, in which a baby is featured.

I thought I should have dropped it, at first. Too much to shoot, too little time and a one man band, tough I felt the idea was great, I really wanted to shoot this and what the hell I already shot something all by myself.
So I took the plunge, and went for it.

DSLR film making

cinematography

 

In this post I would like to spend a few words on how cinematography was a gift to me, in the same way DSLR film making has been.

I guess I was born in a very judgmental family. Back in the days my mum and dad used to chat a lot about how things should have been done, how they would have done stuff, how this or that was entirely wrong and so on. Call it fate or Karma, but in the end I ended up being a super critic for a long part of my life. Just because I did not realize I was critic, to me it was just being “normal”. Apart from the fact that it’s hard to draw a line, and say what can be considered normal and what can’t,  I guess it’s just how you feel about your world.

Doing some group therapy, getting a partner and having a baby…. well, that changed my life. Even more doing what most might call “spiritual” work, rather I would rather call it just food for your soul. The path ahead of me it’s rather long, mostly you will never end walking,  again that is just “normal” now.

How to become a cinematographer

DSLR film making

 

It safe to agree that taking pictures and film making differ but the term “motion picture” is somehow strongly related to photography.
In other terms, we could say that making films is taking pictures with a motion camera. This art is also known as Cinematography.

What difference is there between the term “cinematographer” and “director of photography” often abbreviated in DP or DoP ? To many, both terms seem quite interchangeable. Some insist that a cinematographer is a DP sitting behind the camera, but this is far from being universally accepted.