fuzzynormal

FWIW, I do agree that right wing niche content creation is a more viable market. I think it's a psychological thing. Affirmations appeal to that sensibility more. This is neither good nor bad, just my impression. Then again, films like "Forks Over Knives" that tend to cater to certain left wing notions have done well too. As it happens, my wife and I are angling to create a niche film for a very specific market. Seems to me with so much digital content flying around, unless you're a creative savant on the genius level --and you can create a mass appeal film that's head and shoulders above all the other stuff out there, ( I know I can't do that ) you're not going to make successfully commercial products in today's market without catering to specific niches.

I've been using it for half a year now. I've got a modest 2016 PC and it creates the proxies in no time. From there, editing just flies. Smooth and easy. I make the smallest proxy available in the presets. FWIW, my assistant editor, on a 2009 iMac, does off line work via the network using the same proxies. No problems there either. Smooth.

Hey, America's excursions into the politics of the caribbean, central america, and south america have been awesome and usually turn out great. Cuba was an anomaly!

Agreed. Can the dials be programmed for, say, aperture and ISO? Those are the two I typically play with on the fly. When running and gunning, I like to lock my aperture and shutter on one setting and adjust exposure as needed via ND and a limited range of ISO. I'll change iris if a super quick exposure change is required, but typically like to open my manual lenses for a lot of my shooting. f1.2 - 2.8-ish. Adjusting ISO while filming with the EM5II? (without using the touchscreen) If it's possible, I'm still not sure about it.

Lightwave, eh? Can I make flying logos with it like I did back in the mid-90's?

But still wondering how easy (or not) it is to change certain exposure controls while actually recording. On the EM5II you can change iso during recording, but it's a PITA that involves the touchscreen. Punching the touch screen while recoding video? Yeah, that's pretty damn stupid. Is the EM1II different? Not sure about that yet. That said, I'm very much a potential buyer of this camera. Might fit what I'm doing rather well, I'm thinking. We'll see.

100K just lying around? I need to do weddings. Augh. I hate weddings.

I know the EM5II is annoying in this regard. Not too cool how they don't implement exposure controls during recording. I would hope that oversight is resolved in the EM1II.

I admit, even after all these years, it still feels odd to me to not have a 15 pound piece of gear on my shoulder during a shoot. (not to mention the 3/4" "portable" recorder) Started with 79a's Ikagami Tube cameras myself. You?

Great corporate video. What was the crew and your roll in it?

I will say this. For those that may think Trump is incapable of playing politics in the USA simply because he's not an insider, please look at what he did to Chris Christie. I'm not a supporter of Trump, but anyone that believes that a POTUS needs some finely honed public service experience to navigate the office just hasn't been paying attention to our history.

When someone tells you who they are, believe it. Eh, just like narrative movies there are a lot of people that can do it, but can't necessarily do it well. Don't give up on the genre simply because it's polluted with the mundane. Just search out the good stuff.

I'd say it's fair to assume we're going through the next "Gutenberg" moment. My opinion is that digital, in all aspects, is culturally revolutionary on a global scale. Having enough information is not going to be the problem anymore. Having reliable information is going to be next to impossible.

You're welcome to consider others, as I've also suggested, but the USA is not a bad model to start with. For what it's worth, the USA is a republic, not a true democracy. But our system is typically called "American Democracy" --and then there are some sore losers this election cycle complaining that the executive branch should be a pure democratic election. Point is, the system is designed to withstand the whims of the populism while also franchising it, and it's done okay in that regard for a few hundred years. Of course, the system never had to endure a phenomenon like the internet so maybe the system is breaking not bending. I truly believe the next 2 years will really test that inherent flexibility. We'll see.

FWIW, I'd argue that anyone using the phrase "Epic Takedown" deserves skepticism when complaining about the state of modern media.

Well, as a U.S. citizen I'm not going to poo-poo implementing our system of government elsewhere. The players within my system will range from benevolent to malevolent, but the ideas are noble and can overcome the former. What the U.S. did in the 18th century is a novel modern idea and has worked rather well and remained flexible within the the shifts of the industrial revolution. Granted, the U.S. is not always about implementing our brand of democracy. Most often those Americans involved in international politics just want something that gives U.S. businesses some sort of foothold to exploit things. So, yeah, ulterior motives. Of course, there's an argument I'd make that Western republicanism/democracy as defined by the U.S. constitution and Bill of Rights is a good thing, and those that can adapt to something similar have a real potential for societal advantage. Which I think is true. It allows liberal freedoms within structure; room for innovative enterprise too. That's a key component. I'd submit that certain cultures might even be able to handle it better than the USA. I don't think it fits everywhere, but neither do dictatorships. Basically, I'm saying the ideals of my country are kind of cool, so let's not bash the whole system because some people or elements in it suck.

You may want to stay clear of absolutes. The vaunted "4th Estate" in U.S. media really only held sway post WWII when you had an entire generation tempered with the global context --and that was combined with the rise of broadcast electronic media, which embraced an earnest seriousness for legitimacy. Before that the U.S. media has always been a mess. Print especially. I seem to recall Orson Wells made a decent film that touched on that a little bit. Also this: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/05/15/life-is-horrible-syrias-christians-fear-total-genocide.html

Fair enough, but honestly if you think the "media" is effectively corralled by the government, you should see what some of the media does around here. It's all information chaos right now, as always.

You presume too much, because many citizens in the US that pay half a mind to whats going on in the world are well aware of all that. In fact, I grew up 15 miles from one of the chemical plants that made Agent Orange and remember numerous and continuous protests at the plant throughout the years as a result of that notoriety. Moreover, AgentOrange was so widely known and understood it was integrated into numerous popular culture narratives throughout the years. The reason citizens can find out about this stuff is because U.S. media is free to disseminate that information. Never mind that over half the people in the country opposed the Iraq war - during the Iraq war. You might have an antagonistic itch to scratch regarding U.S. Americans, but we're not all idiots walking lockstep in some homogenous ideological blob. We're a blob, but we seldom agree about anything and are willing to let our government know it. In fact, that's exactly what our government supposedly is: a bunch of disagreeable people sharing the responsibility of making it up as we go along.

Oh yeah. Sanctimonious entitlement is a little too common among the urbane. That attitude drives me nuts even though I agree with many of the libertarian aspects of identity politics. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2016/11/18/the_return_of_american_nationalism_396097.html PC can fade as far as I'm concerned.

When it comes to some voters, it's perception, not always reality. You're talkin' identity politics. I think that's important, but don't motivate a lot of voters. The Dems focus on that stuff has cause and effect. Economics are immediate and more important. A lower middle class rural midwesterner has a pretty good standard of living compared to many other places in the world. The place where a lower middle class rural midwesterner's standard of living is less than? Their hometown 40 years ago. Do bathrooms matter more to a majority of voters than not being able to hold down a good job? I know my answer to that question. All that said, Clinton lost WS, MI, PA by the slimmest of margins. MI I think was 11,000 votes? An simple empathetic outreach giving inspirational reasons to MI citizens could have given them a reason to stay away from Trump. She failed to do that. Let's not defend Clinton. She would have made a more stable status quo president, but god she was a lousy campaigner. Yes, the article is a strawman that deserves skepticism, that's why I linked to it. I was very close to my Grandmother. She had stories about the Hoover administration and great depression that always fascinated me. I see parallels, but whether or not they can unfold in a global economy remains to be seen. Or, perhaps it's even more traumatic because of globalism. I don't know. I do know I have property investments and debt that's currently at risk more so now than two weeks ago and I don't like that anxiety so much... but, whatta gonna do?

Thanks. I think it illustrates how warm and engaging personalities are the more fundamental aspects of a doc. Craft is good and appreciated, but if you have a "Mark Borchardt" type, that's more than half the battle. As for the camera(s). I think ultimately I probably could've shot this on a GH1 (hacked) and got the same results. Which is to say that cameras have been suitable enough for me for quite awhile. Btw, the Oly 45mm 1.8, the pany 20mm 1.8, a Nikon 24mm 2.8, and a Nikon 50mm 1.4. Preferred the Nikons.

I don't know what the big deal is in regards to understanding this phenomenon of a Trump presidency. Go to the damn Midwest and see how it is. It's really that simple. Just see the reality they live in and understand their perspective. The lower middle class rust belt communities are sorrier than the 3rd world. Believe that. It's true. What the heck do you expect from people in that situation? One candidate spoke to that reality, one did not. And that was what tipped the scales. I cant for the life of me imagine a scenario where Trump is a good president, but when voters are trying to give a big "F-You" to the establishment, they don't care about the outcome as much as they care about giving the middle finger to Washington. Of course, I'm speaking in context of the states that flipped the vote for Trump. The red states? They just confuse me in general. I mean, look at Kansas for goodness sake. http://thefederalist.com/2016/11/16/its-completely-ridiculous-to-claim-trumps-voters-are-no-good/

Well, as it happens, he wouldn't have to.