Ed_David

​Same with me. As a big fan of Chris Marker, I love this thoughtful, streaming-consciousness-like poetry. I realize I understood ALL (in essence) just by getting tuned to the voice, almost music by itself (BTW: What was that music?).
New Yorkers don't have a difficult dialect for foreigners to understand, they just speak (and think?) too fast. The same is said of Berliners, where Andrew lives. They also create the most new idioms. 
I particularly liked the editing. And how you treated sound(s). 

​here's the last script I wrote - it changed a little in the final version but still it's mostly this plus some adlibbing.  About rolling shutter - yea - I wish I shot at 180 shutter but what can you do?  Also shooting the footage I had no idea I was going to turn it later into a short film - I started it just for fun. - 
 
The Quiet Escape
by Edward C David
 
I do want to leave
this city but I’m
always half in or half out with it
but I really want to leave it
but then I don’t but I do
then I don’t then of course I do
 
when i’m here i want to be there
but the truth is when I’m there 
in the country
I don’t want to be here, the city
it’s a drug to get off of
 
 
its safer now this city,
new york city
but it’s
more crowded and, noisier
and very very expensive
even a single subway ride costs way too much
 
ten years ago I came here
from college straight to here, no where else
I didn’t like manhattan, I liked living in brooklyn more,
cheaper and smaller and more like 
my suburbs where I grew up
more peaceful  - 
but maybe not as much now   
 
And of course it’s my fault and other young turds like me
who gentrified areas like in williamsburg, brooklyn
 
I remember before those luxury condos on the water there 
it was kind of dangerous or maybe i was just a young kid and scared of everything
but it was more dangerous and cheaper 
 
i lived here and worked and worked and worked
just to move forward financially, my art on hold
I had a script I never made
about a man walking 
through the city 
and all his thoughts
mending, fluidllike 
the war forever fought in our heads
 
But I didn’t finish the film
and now I’m 33 years old 
 I can’t remember that much
the last 13 years at all really
just having some low rez photos
 
 
here I am
now talking into my phone mic recorder
out in the country
with my wife and my dog
and her family and I have time, 
finally,
to do my art.
 
And finally for the first time
well I’m being a little bit dramatic 
but  here I can see
what a waste it all is
to live in that city
 
to fight to survive
when you can just as the cliche goes, work to live
or is it work to live?
 
Unlike that city , I have time here
and peace and nature,
it’s not all candy land - i’ve been
confronting my flaws and 
my pain 
all bottled deep down in this well - 
ten years of tartar and plaque in my head.
but god I needed to do this.
 
I hope I can remember it
 
The precious luxury of all. Boredom.
The luxury to be bored, jesus that’s where
our lives have gone?
or maybe it’s just me and this city virus in me.
 
the constant stimulation
makes you numb
you tweet away as the world fades and burns
 
I have so many good memories of New York
because 
New York is such a 
romantic place, those lights at night.
how could anyone not love that
those walks thru the west village god it’s so charming
Riding my bike on and on and on thru brooklyn
god those nights are good but dry up the next day
and with the trash out  and that smell
and the loud noises
you start to realize you’re
paying an incredible amount of money
for a little plot of land you rent from
some slumlord far away
(not talking about my current landlord
who I love, he’s awesome, seriously)
 
I’m done self-sacrificing myself, thinking it’s
making me a better artist.  no, 
Great art only comes if your brain is clear
and your neurons and heart are firing properly.
 
I got this unique chance to get out of this
shithole and I’m going to take it.  
but still gotta be near some city
and those wackos are pretty lovable
but I see less and less of them
as those suits and young rich bastards
move in, with  their hands always on their phones
posting photos of themselves with their friends
when I think I know they go home at night
and are really secretly sad, a lot like me.
 
We humans spent a zillion years in nature.  With low noise, 
not in a city with  bus’s tire stretching or the sound
of a police siren.
My dog knows that.  
 
We lived in small communities, maybe tribes of 100 or so.
Not six million strangers
None of which are allowed really to care about each other
because there isn’t time.  Our heads would blow up. 
 
Getting smaller and quieter
increases quality of life.
I should put that on my fridge.
I don’t want to wake up tomorrow, ten years later,
in my little prison
with my noise canceling headphones on.
No, thank god for that little dog, he would never let me.  
 
DEDICATED TO MY WIFE LILY FRANCES HENDERSON
 

Thank you so much for this Andrew - what an amazing write up you did.  Yes the small technology can empower all of us to tell stories and bring so much -to not worry about costs - just to worry about creating and telling as good of a film as we can.  What an exciting time we live in!!!

​Modern Televisions have such poor contrast ratios and such heightened highlights and milky blacks and weird motion cadence that I rather have my stuff seen on an ipad or iphone or the web than ever on TV.  I watched Better Call Saul on my macbook pro - first 3 episodes then ep 4 on a samsung 30' hdtv and man the little 15' display looks so much better.  I have lost my faith in most HDTV displays.  It's sad.  The contrast and motion  on tube tvs used to be quite wonderful and organic.  Thank goodness for Apple making good looking computer and phone displays the norm.    Kind of sad of all companies Sony that help pioneer digital cinema cameras makes such poor HDTV displays with soap opera frame doubling the norm setting.  How many TVs have I fixed?

​I do big commercials.  I'm on one right now.  I also have an Emmy and just was in American Cinematographer.  And brand loyalty is a big thing.  We mostly use Arri HMI lights.  Joker sometimes but Arri because we know Arri makes a damn fine light with the M90 or M18 - Joker 1600s never took off.  I use the best camera for the job - but I have to have long talks with the producer sometimes about that.  For instance, I just did a Lincoln commercial in Dubai and we shot on the Sony F55 - not the Arri Alexa or Red Epic Dragon.  Why?  - Got that question so many times.  Alexa was too heavy - it was 16 hr steadicam days in the 110 degree weather - and Red Dragon - not good in heat - but I got slack - because Alexa and Red have better names.
I also shoot dog videos on smaller cameras.  I own the NX1 and the Sony A7S - and I work with film and own 2 f35s and red one mx and use alexas and red dragons and arri 416 and 435 on jobs - and there is so much goodness to come from using a small lightweight camera.  So much wonder and beauty from using these little guys - it reopens wonder and ease and has improved my color grading knowledge so much.  It's such a pleasure to have a lightweight camera where it is fun again, where it's not physically exhausting to reframe.  
So there is a differing opinion from me.  
Traditional DPs are now dealing with the new era, where young upstarts like me can rise up without being a loader, 2nd, 1st, , cam op, then DP.  Or electric, best, gaffer then DP.   I became a DP in just about five years.  I was an assistant editor for 5 years going down the editing path and I switched because I was already shooting docs.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  My sense of lighting took longer to develop but my sense of the emotional space was more developed.  Getting smaller moments.  
There is no right way to be a DP.  Because I am so unconventional, I bring a childlike wonder to filmmaking.  I bring a different perspective and wonderment to how I work - more innocence, more in the moment.
There is no one right path.
Older established DPs I have nothing but respect.  Maryse Alberti, Gordon Willis, Raul Coutard, Jordan Cronenweth, Storro, Michael Chapman, Conrad Hall, Lance Accord, Nestor, Wexler - nothing but respect.
Also the DP of IDA - the most beautiful film I saw in the past 4 years, was a cam operator - first time DP.  The director said he was so good because he had no ego.
So next time you watch an unlit video of a dog - think about how much fun the DP was having.  How casual it was, and how beautiful that can be.  

My latest short film!!!  "The Quiet Escape."  Shot on the Samsung NX1 with 35mm Nikon AIS f2 lens and Leica R 100mm lens - one shot.  Used Filmconvert and Gorilla Grain to treat it in Davinci Resolve.    Came out so nicely.  THANK YOU EOSHD and Andrew Reid for this camera!!  
Minus 5 contrast
Minus 3 saturation
Minus 12 (all the way) sharpness
 
Before Gamma DR existed.  The olden days. 
 
 

My latest short film!!!  "The Quiet Escape."  Shot on the Samsung NX1 with 35mm Nikon AIS f2 lens and Leica R 100mm lens - one shot.  Used Filmconvert and Gorilla Grain to treat it in Davinci Resolve.    Came out so nicely.  THANK YOU EOSHD and Andrew Reid for this camera!!  
Minus 5 contrast
Minus 3 saturation
Minus 12 (all the way) sharpness
 
Before Gamma DR existed.  The olden days. 
 
 

​here's the last script I wrote - it changed a little in the final version but still it's mostly this plus some adlibbing.  About rolling shutter - yea - I wish I shot at 180 shutter but what can you do?  Also shooting the footage I had no idea I was going to turn it later into a short film - I started it just for fun. - 
 
The Quiet Escape
by Edward C David
 
I do want to leave
this city but I’m
always half in or half out with it
but I really want to leave it
but then I don’t but I do
then I don’t then of course I do
 
when i’m here i want to be there
but the truth is when I’m there 
in the country
I don’t want to be here, the city
it’s a drug to get off of
 
 
its safer now this city,
new york city
but it’s
more crowded and, noisier
and very very expensive
even a single subway ride costs way too much
 
ten years ago I came here
from college straight to here, no where else
I didn’t like manhattan, I liked living in brooklyn more,
cheaper and smaller and more like 
my suburbs where I grew up
more peaceful  - 
but maybe not as much now   
 
And of course it’s my fault and other young turds like me
who gentrified areas like in williamsburg, brooklyn
 
I remember before those luxury condos on the water there 
it was kind of dangerous or maybe i was just a young kid and scared of everything
but it was more dangerous and cheaper 
 
i lived here and worked and worked and worked
just to move forward financially, my art on hold
I had a script I never made
about a man walking 
through the city 
and all his thoughts
mending, fluidllike 
the war forever fought in our heads
 
But I didn’t finish the film
and now I’m 33 years old 
 I can’t remember that much
the last 13 years at all really
just having some low rez photos
 
 
here I am
now talking into my phone mic recorder
out in the country
with my wife and my dog
and her family and I have time, 
finally,
to do my art.
 
And finally for the first time
well I’m being a little bit dramatic 
but  here I can see
what a waste it all is
to live in that city
 
to fight to survive
when you can just as the cliche goes, work to live
or is it work to live?
 
Unlike that city , I have time here
and peace and nature,
it’s not all candy land - i’ve been
confronting my flaws and 
my pain 
all bottled deep down in this well - 
ten years of tartar and plaque in my head.
but god I needed to do this.
 
I hope I can remember it
 
The precious luxury of all. Boredom.
The luxury to be bored, jesus that’s where
our lives have gone?
or maybe it’s just me and this city virus in me.
 
the constant stimulation
makes you numb
you tweet away as the world fades and burns
 
I have so many good memories of New York
because 
New York is such a 
romantic place, those lights at night.
how could anyone not love that
those walks thru the west village god it’s so charming
Riding my bike on and on and on thru brooklyn
god those nights are good but dry up the next day
and with the trash out  and that smell
and the loud noises
you start to realize you’re
paying an incredible amount of money
for a little plot of land you rent from
some slumlord far away
(not talking about my current landlord
who I love, he’s awesome, seriously)
 
I’m done self-sacrificing myself, thinking it’s
making me a better artist.  no, 
Great art only comes if your brain is clear
and your neurons and heart are firing properly.
 
I got this unique chance to get out of this
shithole and I’m going to take it.  
but still gotta be near some city
and those wackos are pretty lovable
but I see less and less of them
as those suits and young rich bastards
move in, with  their hands always on their phones
posting photos of themselves with their friends
when I think I know they go home at night
and are really secretly sad, a lot like me.
 
We humans spent a zillion years in nature.  With low noise, 
not in a city with  bus’s tire stretching or the sound
of a police siren.
My dog knows that.  
 
We lived in small communities, maybe tribes of 100 or so.
Not six million strangers
None of which are allowed really to care about each other
because there isn’t time.  Our heads would blow up. 
 
Getting smaller and quieter
increases quality of life.
I should put that on my fridge.
I don’t want to wake up tomorrow, ten years later,
in my little prison
with my noise canceling headphones on.
No, thank god for that little dog, he would never let me.  
 
DEDICATED TO MY WIFE LILY FRANCES HENDERSON
 

​I do big commercials.  I'm on one right now.  I also have an Emmy and just was in American Cinematographer.  And brand loyalty is a big thing.  We mostly use Arri HMI lights.  Joker sometimes but Arri because we know Arri makes a damn fine light with the M90 or M18 - Joker 1600s never took off.  I use the best camera for the job - but I have to have long talks with the producer sometimes about that.  For instance, I just did a Lincoln commercial in Dubai and we shot on the Sony F55 - not the Arri Alexa or Red Epic Dragon.  Why?  - Got that question so many times.  Alexa was too heavy - it was 16 hr steadicam days in the 110 degree weather - and Red Dragon - not good in heat - but I got slack - because Alexa and Red have better names.
I also shoot dog videos on smaller cameras.  I own the NX1 and the Sony A7S - and I work with film and own 2 f35s and red one mx and use alexas and red dragons and arri 416 and 435 on jobs - and there is so much goodness to come from using a small lightweight camera.  So much wonder and beauty from using these little guys - it reopens wonder and ease and has improved my color grading knowledge so much.  It's such a pleasure to have a lightweight camera where it is fun again, where it's not physically exhausting to reframe.  
So there is a differing opinion from me.  
Traditional DPs are now dealing with the new era, where young upstarts like me can rise up without being a loader, 2nd, 1st, , cam op, then DP.  Or electric, best, gaffer then DP.   I became a DP in just about five years.  I was an assistant editor for 5 years going down the editing path and I switched because I was already shooting docs.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  My sense of lighting took longer to develop but my sense of the emotional space was more developed.  Getting smaller moments.  
There is no right way to be a DP.  Because I am so unconventional, I bring a childlike wonder to filmmaking.  I bring a different perspective and wonderment to how I work - more innocence, more in the moment.
There is no one right path.
Older established DPs I have nothing but respect.  Maryse Alberti, Gordon Willis, Raul Coutard, Jordan Cronenweth, Storro, Michael Chapman, Conrad Hall, Lance Accord, Nestor, Wexler - nothing but respect.
Also the DP of IDA - the most beautiful film I saw in the past 4 years, was a cam operator - first time DP.  The director said he was so good because he had no ego.
So next time you watch an unlit video of a dog - think about how much fun the DP was having.  How casual it was, and how beautiful that can be.  

My latest short film!!!  "The Quiet Escape."  Shot on the Samsung NX1 with 35mm Nikon AIS f2 lens and Leica R 100mm lens - one shot.  Used Filmconvert and Gorilla Grain to treat it in Davinci Resolve.    Came out so nicely.  THANK YOU EOSHD and Andrew Reid for this camera!!  
Minus 5 contrast
Minus 3 saturation
Minus 12 (all the way) sharpness
 
Before Gamma DR existed.  The olden days. 
 
 

​Right on Luke. What's important isn't memorizing the rules, it's understanding why the rules exist, then we learn they're not rules at all, only guidelines we've learned that in many cases can provide predictable results. When money is on the line, everything changes- less risk tends to be taken, stress is higher, people need to pay rent, food, support their families, etc. It seems the best art is created from passion and not for money.
I wondered why so many artist/designers would get upset when as a manager and developer I challenged their designs for usability (Cognitive Science concepts). After doing additional research, I found many of them were simply copying 'cool designs' without really knowing why they were good or not. In many cases, while the designs looked cool, the functionality greatly suffered. When challenged to make changes to improve usability, since they didn't really understand the design they had copied, they didn't know how to correct the flaws in usability, and thus became defensive as the jig was up. I'm totally cool with copying good designs, everyone does it, however its important to know why the designs are good and only copy the designs for the right reasons. These concepts apply to filmmaking as well: it's cool to copy what works and/or break the 'rules', so long as we understand why we're doing it.

I got my NX1 just this week and I'm already loving it. The H.265 as Andrew has said, is a bit of extra hassle, but I anticipate that being temporary. Sooner rather than later, H.265 should be the norm, and then it will make things much easier. Storing master files certainly is  
 
I've gotta get adapters for my zeiss c/y though. After watching this, that Nikon is lovely! The AF from the kit lens is astounding, and will be invaluable for my gimbal work, but nothing beats some good vintage glass.
 
your film captured a certain sentiment towards cities... Especially New York, that I think everyone feels if they've lived there. It's a real struggle. I love living in the woods on a river in northern Minnesota, with my dog and my woodstove. But there's no video work here, I have to drive to the twin cities for that, and it makes finding work difficult. 

I enjoyed that, and I don't care what it was shot on. I connected with Ed's personal insight. Good stuff.

Absolutely superb Ed.
Love the cinematography, the mood, the idea, the sound, the writing, it's all spot on. Two lines in particular, the one about your dog knowing something "we're still trying to figure out" and the closing lines about New York - utter magic. Will stay with me for a long time because it's exactly how I feel about Berlin at the moment.

Ed I enjoyed your piece as well, really connected with it and your raw true thoughts, the swearing part  and just plain what we really need as humans.  Thanks to Andrew for helping me find this piece. 

I just need to rant a little and not give any new input probably, because this is just my favorite subject.
First of all, bravo, Ed!
“I didn't know what you couldn't do. I didn't deliberately set out to invent anything. It just seemed to me, why not? And there is a great gift that ignorance has to bring to anything. That was the gift I brought to Kane, ignorance.” - Orson Welles, in reference to still the greatest film ever made
This is why I left school really. It wasn't a school with particular emphasis on film, which showed. it was zero to do with creativity and all to do with the terrible formula for making films the crappy way. One of our textbooks was Your Screenplay Sucks - a book written by a man who has written maybe a handful of unknown, low-rated feature length screenplay that have been made... one of them was Ernest Rides Again. I wish I was kidding. . I had never been more inspired to not care about what I was doing. I once made a mistake of writing about something I cared about for her class, and since stuck to bullshit since that's what it would become anyway. She disrespected innumerous amazing films in our class by saying an aspect involved in it was horrible. Along with many things, she criminalized montages altogether.. which is literally a term for "editing". It can be used in sort of an overdone "cheating" fashion perhaps.. but it's clearly an insane set of parameters.
Since leaving school, I buckled down and wrote my second longer screenplay, which I'd had in mind for years but couldn't touch because I was kept so busy with nonsense. I absolutely love it, and I'm satisfied to say in that class it would have been torn to shreds. It may not end up feature length even! Which I love! That's freedom! Because no one wants that. Let's not conform to an standards by adding rubbish to your film so that it's long enough, nor keeping a short film short enough that it can hold the attention of the audience by falling into a different formula.
"A movie tries to pacify people by keeping it going for them so that it's sheer entertainment. Well, I hate entertainment." - John Cassavetes, my favorite director. And with this mindset he has made the most entertaining, amazing films. When making Faces he and his team didn't know if it would end up ten hours long. They made it anyway, expecting zero profit, because screw everything. There are legitimately good 5 hour long films which people won't give a chance.
Let's do what's right for the story. The films I've written had been entirely formed in my head before I started typing. And it wasn't active brainstorming. They just happened and they mattered. Not that every film has to be developed that way, but shouldn't we all be that lucky! and then people come in to criticize and change things. But if my professor could have changed Citizen Kane, she would have. We'll end up with bad films if we don't try to change something when we see a "flaw", but we'll also end up with amazing films. Sidney Lumet is fantastic, but could have never made Kane in his studio setting. And Welles made KANE, but also made some real stinkers, because he fought for that freedom. He would have been much more crazy if he could have, and I really wish he could have.

​No I think in my grading I mixed up two jump cuts and didn't keep the same grade - but after seeing it the mistake seemed really pretty like old film - so I kept it in.
It's all fixed up.
 
Thanks very much for enjoying it!  I love grading the NX1 - how it handles highlights at night is so beautiful- seems better than the Sony A7S.  I need to do a test on this asap.

My latest short film!!!  "The Quiet Escape."  Shot on the Samsung NX1 with 35mm Nikon AIS f2 lens and Leica R 100mm lens - one shot.  Used Filmconvert and Gorilla Grain to treat it in Davinci Resolve.    Came out so nicely.  THANK YOU EOSHD and Andrew Reid for this camera!!  
Minus 5 contrast
Minus 3 saturation
Minus 12 (all the way) sharpness
 
Before Gamma DR existed.  The olden days. 
 
 

The sign of a good film is watching the film and not noticing any technical details- following the story, which I did- nice job!
I feel ya regarding living in a big city vs. the country where I grew up (on 2 acres in San Diego). I moved to LA (Beverly Hills) in 2006 to work for Myspace. I avoided the #1 traffic in the USA by walking to work. After Myspace I've been fortunate to be able to do mostly remote contract work to avoid the traffic. Once when working in Santa Monica it took over 3 hours to go 11 miles to get home. I could have walked faster. Trying to go East from Santa Monica after 2pm is challenging (the 'secret shortcut' is jammed too). Big cities have their plusses, but after a while it's time to get out, at least most of the time (sometimes work/family/friends bring us back). I kinda understood why some people from big cities moved to small towns/country, now I fully understand. Fellowship and connection to friends/family is the most important thing in life, not money or things. After many years in tech and the arts my next business is related to organic foods and spending more time with nature.

My latest short film!!!  "The Quiet Escape."  Shot on the Samsung NX1 with 35mm Nikon AIS f2 lens and Leica R 100mm lens - one shot.  Used Filmconvert and Gorilla Grain to treat it in Davinci Resolve.    Came out so nicely.  THANK YOU EOSHD and Andrew Reid for this camera!!  
Minus 5 contrast
Minus 3 saturation
Minus 12 (all the way) sharpness
 
Before Gamma DR existed.  The olden days. 
 
 

My latest short film!!!  "The Quiet Escape."  Shot on the Samsung NX1 with 35mm Nikon AIS f2 lens and Leica R 100mm lens - one shot.  Used Filmconvert and Gorilla Grain to treat it in Davinci Resolve.    Came out so nicely.  THANK YOU EOSHD and Andrew Reid for this camera!!  
Minus 5 contrast
Minus 3 saturation
Minus 12 (all the way) sharpness
 
Before Gamma DR existed.  The olden days. 
 
 

We're saying the same thing, but I think you're referring to different things here. I agree with you - but I would say in the case of Arri lights, that's perhaps brand reliability. My Gaffer uses Arri lights because they're a damn good light and they're reliable. If Arri started making terrible lights tomorrow, he wouldn't buy Arri lights anymore.
As a professional working DP, you need to be across the technology, but a professional, IMO, should use the right tool for the right job. The great thing about filmmaking is it's solely a creative endeavour - and that means you can pick the camera, format or stock that you think is going to have the best effect. That can even mean having a RED Dragon as A cam, an SR3 as a B-cam, and a C300 shooting 2nd unit if you really felt that way inclined. As long as you can back it up with a creative idea or decision, it's perfectly feasible.
But as a professional, you shouldn't be closed to new ideas. If my Gaffer pitches me a light that looks incredible, and does something I've never seen from a light before but comes from China and is a no-name brand, I'll happily go with him on it if he has confidence in it. I'm not going to stipulate he only use Arri lights because I like Arri. Similarly, I'm not only going to ever use Alexas because I like Arri. I'll always be open to new ideas and new looks - even if every project I shoot this year is shot on Alexa (unlikely), it will be because I've felt that the Alexa is the right camera for the project - not just because Arri's my favourite, or because I own an Arri and feel I need to justify my expensive purchase (I don't - but you get the analogy for many RED owners).
Each camera has its pros and cons and one should be across the pros and cons, rather than disregarding the cons because they like the pros so much (and in some cases dismissing the cons as if they don't matter).
Also, not to take a swipe at you, but as a general comment - I can't think of anyone who takes videos of their dogs who isn't having fun at the time. That doesn't mean they should all be DPs. There is a beauty in having fun and not worrying about anything but yourself and the subject, but whilst being a DP at a fundamental level requires a love for the camera, it isn't the only pre-requisite to being a DP. I know you know this, and your story shows its possible to go from having fun shooting videos of your dog to shooting quite substantial work. However, I feel I have to caution those who may take from your story that you're advocating not needing any knowledge or experience to become a professional DP.

I shot on RED twice and made some very average music videos. I switched to my GH3 for the shoots afterwards and I had a lot of fun and the videos were great!
In the last 2 weeks, I've shot on the FS7, FS700, GH3, Blackmagic, GoPro and iPhone. My best video was shot on the GH3 because the idea on the GH3 was better than the others, had better lighting and better composition. What a shocking discovery!!
 

​I do big commercials.  I'm on one right now.  I also have an Emmy and just was in American Cinematographer.  And brand loyalty is a big thing.  We mostly use Arri HMI lights.  Joker sometimes but Arri because we know Arri makes a damn fine light with the M90 or M18 - Joker 1600s never took off.  I use the best camera for the job - but I have to have long talks with the producer sometimes about that.  For instance, I just did a Lincoln commercial in Dubai and we shot on the Sony F55 - not the Arri Alexa or Red Epic Dragon.  Why?  - Got that question so many times.  Alexa was too heavy - it was 16 hr steadicam days in the 110 degree weather - and Red Dragon - not good in heat - but I got slack - because Alexa and Red have better names.
I also shoot dog videos on smaller cameras.  I own the NX1 and the Sony A7S - and I work with film and own 2 f35s and red one mx and use alexas and red dragons and arri 416 and 435 on jobs - and there is so much goodness to come from using a small lightweight camera.  So much wonder and beauty from using these little guys - it reopens wonder and ease and has improved my color grading knowledge so much.  It's such a pleasure to have a lightweight camera where it is fun again, where it's not physically exhausting to reframe.  
So there is a differing opinion from me.  
Traditional DPs are now dealing with the new era, where young upstarts like me can rise up without being a loader, 2nd, 1st, , cam op, then DP.  Or electric, best, gaffer then DP.   I became a DP in just about five years.  I was an assistant editor for 5 years going down the editing path and I switched because I was already shooting docs.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  My sense of lighting took longer to develop but my sense of the emotional space was more developed.  Getting smaller moments.  
There is no right way to be a DP.  Because I am so unconventional, I bring a childlike wonder to filmmaking.  I bring a different perspective and wonderment to how I work - more innocence, more in the moment.
There is no one right path.
Older established DPs I have nothing but respect.  Maryse Alberti, Gordon Willis, Raul Coutard, Jordan Cronenweth, Storro, Michael Chapman, Conrad Hall, Lance Accord, Nestor, Wexler - nothing but respect.
Also the DP of IDA - the most beautiful film I saw in the past 4 years, was a cam operator - first time DP.  The director said he was so good because he had no ego.
So next time you watch an unlit video of a dog - think about how much fun the DP was having.  How casual it was, and how beautiful that can be.  

​I do big commercials.  I'm on one right now.  I also have an Emmy and just was in American Cinematographer.  And brand loyalty is a big thing.  We mostly use Arri HMI lights.  Joker sometimes but Arri because we know Arri makes a damn fine light with the M90 or M18 - Joker 1600s never took off.  I use the best camera for the job - but I have to have long talks with the producer sometimes about that.  For instance, I just did a Lincoln commercial in Dubai and we shot on the Sony F55 - not the Arri Alexa or Red Epic Dragon.  Why?  - Got that question so many times.  Alexa was too heavy - it was 16 hr steadicam days in the 110 degree weather - and Red Dragon - not good in heat - but I got slack - because Alexa and Red have better names.
I also shoot dog videos on smaller cameras.  I own the NX1 and the Sony A7S - and I work with film and own 2 f35s and red one mx and use alexas and red dragons and arri 416 and 435 on jobs - and there is so much goodness to come from using a small lightweight camera.  So much wonder and beauty from using these little guys - it reopens wonder and ease and has improved my color grading knowledge so much.  It's such a pleasure to have a lightweight camera where it is fun again, where it's not physically exhausting to reframe.  
So there is a differing opinion from me.  
Traditional DPs are now dealing with the new era, where young upstarts like me can rise up without being a loader, 2nd, 1st, , cam op, then DP.  Or electric, best, gaffer then DP.   I became a DP in just about five years.  I was an assistant editor for 5 years going down the editing path and I switched because I was already shooting docs.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  My sense of lighting took longer to develop but my sense of the emotional space was more developed.  Getting smaller moments.  
There is no right way to be a DP.  Because I am so unconventional, I bring a childlike wonder to filmmaking.  I bring a different perspective and wonderment to how I work - more innocence, more in the moment.
There is no one right path.
Older established DPs I have nothing but respect.  Maryse Alberti, Gordon Willis, Raul Coutard, Jordan Cronenweth, Storro, Michael Chapman, Conrad Hall, Lance Accord, Nestor, Wexler - nothing but respect.
Also the DP of IDA - the most beautiful film I saw in the past 4 years, was a cam operator - first time DP.  The director said he was so good because he had no ego.
So next time you watch an unlit video of a dog - think about how much fun the DP was having.  How casual it was, and how beautiful that can be.