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Lintelfilm

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Posts posted by Lintelfilm

  1. I just shot my sons nativity play on my GH4 and BMPCC for the school DVD (hardest thing I've ever had to film btw!). It's the first thing I've done using major, extensive cropping in post. What's amazing is that the BMPCC in many cases was not only as good as the GH4 for cropping, but many shots actually better! The GH4 starts looking like digital, over sharpened and compressed garbage pretty quickly when you crop in. The BMPCC however looks organic and rich all the way in, and can be sharpened to quite a high level.

    Dont get me wrong - it doesn't have the same level of RESOLUTION as the GH4, but as we know resolution is far from the only thing that matters. Colour sampling, dynamic range, codec, bit depth, compression, processing, etc all factor in to what makes an image useable and pleasant to look at. DR, colour, grain quality all qualify as DETAIL imo. Cropped in, the BMPCC has more of these things than the GH4.

    The GH4 is a nice camera for 1080 delivery but I'd never crop in on it for a critical job. Canon have simply bypassed the 4K workflow inconvenience with the C100 by down sampling in camera. 

  2. I've got that book yes. Read it. 

    I think it's got some good stuff in the book, however I feel Den is a little up his own arse. Even though he admits it, I find that type of personality hard to deal with. The other thing is that I think quite a chunk of the book is flawed. The marketing tips such as "free reports" just don't work for a lot of us. The book is also a sales pitch to employ Den as your coach, so I feel that it's not really a book that's helping the reader, it's more of an advert to sell further services. I liked it though, on the whole. 

    The important thing I came away with is that quality of service and product is always No.1 - work on that and pricing becomes an afterthought. Although the video market is now fiercely and utterly competitive - if the service you offer is of exceptional quality, people will pay it. I've doubled my quotes since and it's gone pretty well. Not always, but mostly. 

    One thing to take note is that I've seen Den's work and it's nothing special. The Sony A7 and FS launch films don't sell the cameras at all to me. He's obviously a great salesman, very knowledgable and delivers a solid, reliable client experience. 

    I agree with every word you say actually. He's comfortable with being a businessman first and an artist/filmmaker second. I could never do that (not out of vanity or high ideals, just because I'm not wired that way). And yes basically the number one takeaway from the book is raise your prices and the rest will follow. You have to have guts to do that, but also you have to be in the right position. I'm not yet - I only started trading 6 months ago and am still working on getting found and known as a reliable filmmaker. Maybe next year at the earliest. Glad you did it and it worked. Perhaps in a year or so you will be able to double your prices again and hire enough people to take some stress away.

    I think the other valuable piece of advice in the book though is to define your niche - and to keep doing that until you become THE go-to person to get a certain kind of job done properly. Then you can charge substantial prices and pick and choose jobs a bit more. 

    But yes he's an arse and not too great a filmmaker. And the book is an advert for his other services. I stayed on his email mailing list for ages because I found the emails so hilarious. I hate that kind of marketing but his was so obscene it was funny ...

  3. Saw it yesterday on the IMAX. I used to be really into Malick, Herzog, Tarkovsky and probably any other slow, elegiac-landscape director I could find (Sokurov springs to mind) but these days I have little patience for such films. If I want to enjoy the beauty of nature and life I go outside and open my eyes. The Revenant though was something else. It really impressed me in a serious way. It was sooo beautiful to watch on that huge screen - not just the images but the camera movement as it connected to the story. I'm even considering going to see it at the IMAX again because it will never be the same for me again. Even 4K on a 60" TV or projector won't cut it I don't think. I could talk about the film for ages but suffice to say I can't remember the last time I was so hooked on the actual physical experience of being in a cinema. Truly a work of art. I can't think of a better experience in terms of just soaking up cinematography (& not just pretty images but connected to the story). 

    Really worth traveling to an IMAX to see before it's too late IMO. 

  4. Well, I already have the BMD Video Assist for use with the GH4 and contemplating selling off two BMPCCs to order a BMMCC (indeed: global shutter or rolling w/ 60p and increased batterylife!). But I'd rather use it like this, not too different from a vari-angle grippy camera such as the GH4:

    yyMGCxV.jpg

    ... than how Blackmagic showed us like this:

    sdQYSsL.jpg

    Just looks a little awkward. And how are you going to mount it and what if you're taking a break, how would you even put it down? :)

     

    How are the 4K>1080 prores files from the GH4/VA combo? I'm planning on getting a VA for this but they aren't available in the UK yet ...

    The pocket LCD is crap anyway, any 100/200$ EVF/LCD on ebay will be better. Just one of those on the hotshoe with a ball-mount and a lens + card you have a much better camera than pocket with slo-mo & global shutter option & better batteries. 

    My point is that it Doesn't need to be too complicated rig.

    A 3-4'' cheapo ebay lcd/evf will get you shooing/framing/exposing/focuing better than the fixed horrid pocket lcd anyway.

    If you want a large SmallHD AC7/501/OdysseyQ7/Ninjablade high quality panel on an articulated arm plus a custom grip on the side, Mic arm on hotshe + Tascam/Zoom audio recorder and a Metabones Pocket SB + Canon IS L glass, you can do that. It'll be awesome. Just not the only way. 

    Can you link to an example of a cheap eBay EVF? I didn't know they existed ...

  5. Oliver have you read Den Lennie's book business for filmmakers? TBH I think the guy is a bit of a plonker, but it sounds like you're at the right point in your business to implement the stuff he talks about. It's basically about how to move from what you are doing to having more control over your work life (and make more money). I don't get on with his approach myself, but there's no denying he knows what he's talking about and there's loads of hard won advice in it. I really recommend you read it if you haven't it may be just what you need right now...

  6. I think you need to stop splitting hairs between these Nikons. They all have a very, very similar image and as nice as it is it's not one you choose because of incremental improvements - there are too many cameras out there with more impressive DR, resolution, etc. It is colour, a S35 sensor and a clean image that are the selling points of the camera, and this is the same for all of them. Enjoy!

  7. IMO this announcement is just going to be as dull as "Varicam features in a smaller body". They'll make big noise about the dual ISO etc being a first for a camera of this size. Perhaps something new like an interchangeable mount.

    on the other hand, IBIS would be a first for a cinema camera, and would make sense for a "mobile" unit. IMO the GH5 absolutely has to have IBIS but in marketing terms they're trailing Sony with that - but this would make a big splash. Just a theory ...

  8. Someone on the BM Micro thread has suggested that they're having trouble implementing global shutter (hence the delay) and pointed out that all of the beta testers are keeping very quiet about this one feature. Sounds very plausible to me. I haven't seen any footage from (or heard a single independent person talk about having used) GS on a "switchable" sensor anywhere, ever. 

  9. This is the nicest footage I've seen from the 4.6K so far. Noam's is great too but he's a very skilled colourist so it's hard to know what is him and what's the sensor. This seems more "off the sensor" to me. Really lovely. Like some of the others perhaps a little soft but that could be the lens, the focus or the need for a little sharpening in post. I can't believe this camera won't have a couple of Sundance nominated films under its belt in a year or two. 

    I'm guessing a lot of this is global shutter ...

  10. I'm sure we all remember the $500 pocket cam. Which set the internet aflame - "The pocket is discontinued! Here comes the pocket 2, I bet it will be a bigger sensor and have bla, bla, and bla!!!" Lasted about a week, right?

    Lasted a week, then took 3 months for the camera to be delivered.

    Still the best £366 I ever spent though.

    They are just trying to shift their stock ready for the next NAB announcements ;)

    Ha ha ha. Ha ha. Ha ha ha hahah ahah ah. Ha.

    It's only funny because it's true.

    [What's the emoticon for "Rocking gently in a dark corner in the foetal position"?]

  11. Hey Zak, you have your BMPCC setup pretty similar to mine - I use an ANSSO BMPCC battery adapter (eBay) though, which screws really neatly flush onto the back of the handle. It looks and functions pretty much as if it were part of the cage design. I haven't seen many people put the battery on the handle like we do but it works great. If you're interested I'll post a photo...

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