How many times have you picked up a cable only to find it tangled like an Octopus orgy? Or maybe you’ve grabbed a video cable and thrown it out on set only to have it tie itself in knots? You could even be the one who wrapped those cables causing them to get jumbled up.
Filmmaking Tips and Advice
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Comment Corner: Week of June 13th
Every week your opinions add tremendous value to this site and its articles through the form of comments. You have unique experiences that I could never share and so thank you to all who are willing to help us become better filmmakers by sharing what you know.
5 Situations That You’ll Want to Hire a Pro Camera Assistant
Too many productions cut their budget by cutting the camera assistant (AC). This is a mistake. When the director of photography (DP) worries about the lights, the grips, and composition, do you really want to leave them also shouldering the duties of lenses and filters?
Where to Place Your Video Village Monitor
Video village is a necessary part of any film set and as a camera assistant you will most likely be put in charge of it. You’re the town planner, so to speak, and the director is the mayor. Try your best to keep the traffic unclogged, the streets clean, and you will good to go.
Bridging the Gap Between Crew and Talent
As crew, we watch actors get all the perks, the fancy trailers, and the later call-times. The result of this is a perceived gap between crew and the talent; A natural divide of us Morlocks who toil away behind the camera and the blissfully beautiful Eloi who traipse in front of it.
Comment Corner: Week of June 6th
Comment Corner is coming fresh as ever today with five of the best comments from around the site including one from Facebook and another that dips into the archives of the site.
Robert Zemeckis on the Responsibility of Success
I can’t speak from personal experience, but what Zemeckis says seems true on so many levels. How many times have directors created great movies out of nothing only to fall flat when they can get anything they want?
It’s Alive! Keeping Your Batteries from Dying
You don’t always get as many batteries as you would like, or possibly even need, but you have to work with what is handed to you. If all goes well, there should never be a delay in shooting because of a lack of battery power.
The One Mistake that Cost Me $400
And getting paid to make films is about as good as it gets in this tiny world, so why would anyone want to screw that up? Well, to be honest, I didn’t mean to. I didn’t want to. It just… happened.
How a Basketball Defense Helps You Pull Focus
Pulling focus in handheld situations is tough. You have to make quick calculations in your head about distance and be ready to anticipate unpredictable moments. Today I want to share with you one of the ways I help make pulling focus while handheld a little bit easier.