fuzzynormal

Over the past decade I've been a part of thirteen independent micro or no-budget budget films.  Five of which I'd actually feel comfortable enough to show to strangers and say, "I've done this."  It's weird because I've never been too precious about IQ.
My personal-tech-craft-sloppiness-indifference does show in the final product, but only if you're looking real hard (at least I think so).
I kind of want to be better, but I also don't really feel a strong pull to eek out that extra little juice, you know?  I'm more interested in trying to shape a story by putting a bunch of note cards on the wall in the writer's room.
Anyway, I've held tight to my LUMIX cams since the 20-teens.  Also have an Oly cam.  Haven't bothered to upgrade much.  I know I'm missing out on the latest and greatest, but when I look at stuff a decade old vs. the film I just finished, and I think they both look a-okay, I guess I'm just not the type of filmmaker that's eager to change gear.
Anyway, if anyone wants to see those five films I mentioned, let me know.  I've posted them here before, but can share anew.

Over the past decade I've been a part of thirteen independent micro or no-budget budget films.  Five of which I'd actually feel comfortable enough to show to strangers and say, "I've done this."  It's weird because I've never been too precious about IQ.
My personal-tech-craft-sloppiness-indifference does show in the final product, but only if you're looking real hard (at least I think so).
I kind of want to be better, but I also don't really feel a strong pull to eek out that extra little juice, you know?  I'm more interested in trying to shape a story by putting a bunch of note cards on the wall in the writer's room.
Anyway, I've held tight to my LUMIX cams since the 20-teens.  Also have an Oly cam.  Haven't bothered to upgrade much.  I know I'm missing out on the latest and greatest, but when I look at stuff a decade old vs. the film I just finished, and I think they both look a-okay, I guess I'm just not the type of filmmaker that's eager to change gear.
Anyway, if anyone wants to see those five films I mentioned, let me know.  I've posted them here before, but can share anew.

I have an outdoor shoot coming up and have been meaning to roll over my ND stuff.  Might give it a go.
https://shorturl.at/RWJJi
https://shorturl.at/TE7qr
 
 

In general, when shooting video you don't really want SS, fstop, and ISO changing.  Best if they stay where they're at.  The ideal way to control exposure, as others have said, is to work with ND filters.
I absolutely hate the look of fast shutter speed video.  In fact, if I'm shooting, say, 30p, I'll even slow the shutter to 30 as well.  It's just a look I like.  180 rule?  No thanks, not for me.
OTOH, if that high speed shutter judder doesn't bother you, then you can always allow that to be the variable that changes your exposure.  It's the default variable for phones shooting vid so it's kind of a 'thing' now anyway.

In general, when shooting video you don't really want SS, fstop, and ISO changing.  Best if they stay where they're at.  The ideal way to control exposure, as others have said, is to work with ND filters.
I absolutely hate the look of fast shutter speed video.  In fact, if I'm shooting, say, 30p, I'll even slow the shutter to 30 as well.  It's just a look I like.  180 rule?  No thanks, not for me.
OTOH, if that high speed shutter judder doesn't bother you, then you can always allow that to be the variable that changes your exposure.  It's the default variable for phones shooting vid so it's kind of a 'thing' now anyway.

Man, I lost my GX7 years ago --and when I look at that 1080 footage I still find myself coveting it.

Man, I lost my GX7 years ago --and when I look at that 1080 footage I still find myself coveting it.

The irony being that that 80 inch TV has frame interpolation and computational image enhancement engaged on it by default.
Anyone on this forum have people in their lives that bother to adjust their "smart" tvs beyond accessing their channels?  I'm guessing not many.
Home TV sets are now literally built to destroy the original image.
And here are all of us hobbyist technicians trying to maintain the most pristine IQ.  Might be an Exercise in futility.

Weren't a lot of the most influencing and creative films ever made done with equipment significantly less sophisticated than all of this modern stuff? 
So... I don't get too wrapped up in the new fangled gear. It's all rather incredible, realitvely, tbh. 

I just worked with a "director" on a mil+ budget doc that completely failed at this fundamental.
God, what a waste of time.
Got paid, but it was soul crushing trying to make an edit out of a pile of crap. Bleh. 

I just worked with a "director" on a mil+ budget doc that completely failed at this fundamental.
God, what a waste of time.
Got paid, but it was soul crushing trying to make an edit out of a pile of crap. Bleh. 

Anecdotally, I'm not experiencing it getting better in my neck of the woods.

Anecdotally, I'm not experiencing it getting better in my neck of the woods.

Dark Enlightenment is a thing. 
 
Sure, you get a bigger number for selling used, but the money you get for it buys less as inflation screams upward.  Hooray.

It's more than half, just not by enough.  Minority rule.  As all totalitarian states are.  Plus, there's a lot of the sane ones that like to claim they "don't do politics" Well, politics is about to "do" you.
And, you know, this fascist playbook we're seeing here in the USA is a book that is wide open.  It's easy to read because it's simple. 
The ones that are attracted to that are insatiable. And the book has been used numerous times by bad people because it works.  What's happening here is neither new or abnormal.  These folks and their followers are ridiculous people that are gross, small, mentally horrible, and should be shamed for their terrible attitudes, but they've built political momentum and they're very close to reaching their orbit.  The journey leads no where good.  
Not even for them.
Finally, I like shooting f8 on an M43rd sensor.  It's "Spielbergean cinema"! (gotta stay relevant to the website after that rant; cleanse the mental palette)

Some do it like this:
https://www.instagram.com/vanessahorabuena/reel/DFaxsz3IAjD/
Hope that helps give you some context.

Genie. Bottle. Too late. 
No, in my opinion, from here it's a national existential crisis for the change to happen.  Like, mid 19th century stuff.
We got the monied power in the USA angling towards city states. Their ship has a pretty strong wake.  
Media is the rudder.  And the USA is more of a business than a country. 
If there's enough people here to lay down their lives to claw back the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, I kinda doubt it.  Most don't even understand the founding concepts of this nation much less respect them.
Trump is the idiot that will help speed run this thing, but if not for him then it would be some other puppet. Our culture demands it.

You would be wrong.  See, no one admits that they're poor here, they're just temporarily not wealthy.  They'll eventually be wealthy.  Somehow.  Have to support the rich to be rich, you see?  Plus, it's really hard to grasp just how truly stubbornly ignorant many people are.  There's a culture here of owning that ignorance like a badge of honor.

Nope.  Are you an American?  I feel anyone with a grasp of the culture here wouldn't be quite so obtuse.  Then again, weird times.

Nope.  Are you an American?  I feel anyone with a grasp of the culture here wouldn't be quite so obtuse.  Then again, weird times.

Are you a senator from New York?

"I'm getting too old for this shit.  I'm only two weeks away from my retirement."
I'm gonna be one of those craft people that refuses to use AI. Damn the consequences.  This all sucks.  
As a documentarian, even something supposedly innocuous like audio transcribing is causing more inadvertent issues than it's solving.  It's really getting in my way holistically -- although it "feels" like it's helping in the moment.
It divorces me from the nuances and intimacy of the material.  How can I be expected to make anything meaningful to the audience or to myself if I allow an algorithm to make crafting determinations, even the simplest ones?  Tools are tools, but when the tools diminish rather than enhance?
That's a recipe to being superficial.  I don't think I want to be superficial.  Unless I'm doing corporate bull shit for the pay day.  But then, the corporations using AI can now (or soon) cut me out of that calculus anyway.
Get off my lawn you damn machines.

"I'm getting too old for this shit.  I'm only two weeks away from my retirement."
I'm gonna be one of those craft people that refuses to use AI. Damn the consequences.  This all sucks.  
As a documentarian, even something supposedly innocuous like audio transcribing is causing more inadvertent issues than it's solving.  It's really getting in my way holistically -- although it "feels" like it's helping in the moment.
It divorces me from the nuances and intimacy of the material.  How can I be expected to make anything meaningful to the audience or to myself if I allow an algorithm to make crafting determinations, even the simplest ones?  Tools are tools, but when the tools diminish rather than enhance?
That's a recipe to being superficial.  I don't think I want to be superficial.  Unless I'm doing corporate bull shit for the pay day.  But then, the corporations using AI can now (or soon) cut me out of that calculus anyway.
Get off my lawn you damn machines.

"I'm getting too old for this shit.  I'm only two weeks away from my retirement."
I'm gonna be one of those craft people that refuses to use AI. Damn the consequences.  This all sucks.  
As a documentarian, even something supposedly innocuous like audio transcribing is causing more inadvertent issues than it's solving.  It's really getting in my way holistically -- although it "feels" like it's helping in the moment.
It divorces me from the nuances and intimacy of the material.  How can I be expected to make anything meaningful to the audience or to myself if I allow an algorithm to make crafting determinations, even the simplest ones?  Tools are tools, but when the tools diminish rather than enhance?
That's a recipe to being superficial.  I don't think I want to be superficial.  Unless I'm doing corporate bull shit for the pay day.  But then, the corporations using AI can now (or soon) cut me out of that calculus anyway.
Get off my lawn you damn machines.

"I'm getting too old for this shit.  I'm only two weeks away from my retirement."
I'm gonna be one of those craft people that refuses to use AI. Damn the consequences.  This all sucks.  
As a documentarian, even something supposedly innocuous like audio transcribing is causing more inadvertent issues than it's solving.  It's really getting in my way holistically -- although it "feels" like it's helping in the moment.
It divorces me from the nuances and intimacy of the material.  How can I be expected to make anything meaningful to the audience or to myself if I allow an algorithm to make crafting determinations, even the simplest ones?  Tools are tools, but when the tools diminish rather than enhance?
That's a recipe to being superficial.  I don't think I want to be superficial.  Unless I'm doing corporate bull shit for the pay day.  But then, the corporations using AI can now (or soon) cut me out of that calculus anyway.
Get off my lawn you damn machines.