freeman

Shot with the Blackmagic MIcro Cinema Camera with the Angeniuex 12-120mm 16mm lens, a cameflex mount modified to micro 4/3rds.  For color, I brought into Da Vinci resolve and used Filmconvert with a Fuji Eterna film stock and softened it even more to Super16mm softness.  Added a tiny bit of grain and that gave me a great starting point to harken back to a more organic look.
 
I zoomed in digitally mostly around 20% - and it still was too sharp of an image.
Why not shoot it anamorphic instead?   Well, I am in love with documentaries of the 60s and 70s like Grey Gardens, etc. And they used this lens I think, and it has a certain feel to it that’s pretty beautiful. 
Let me know what you guys think of this.
 

The only work I've gotten via social media is making DCPs for indie filmmakers. But that doesn't exactly pay the bills. That's more for what my dad used to call "walkin' around money." My bread and butter is cutting featurettes and other marketing content for the major studios. And those jobs come from real life relationships. That being said, I've somehow put together 15,000+ film-industry related followers across FB, twitter and IG. Not a ton, but it has raised my profile enough that when I bring a film to a distributor, they already know who I am. And I think that helps curtail any lowball offers or shady practices, i assume because they know I have an audience -- not that I would wield my social media presence as a weapon, but you know. To me, this question boils down to "do you want a fighting chance to have people to see your work?" and I do. An active social media presence is not the only a powerful component to achieve that.

Finishing the film. Only way to move on to the next one. Speaking of which.. I need to get editing :P

To me success in filmmaking is when I actually finish it and get my expression out. My skill will continue to grow over time but success shouldn't be measured by an award. I believe it's a personal thing really. In 20 years YouTubers will be recognized by the Academy though. The Emmys will be first. 

Hey guys, I film an online food series called Flour City Foodcore with a good friend of mine who is a chef. Rochester NY was once called the Flour city because of Flour production, now it uses the name Flower city for our annual Lilac festival. Flour City Foodcore is a project designed to highlight interesting techniques as well as the food scence out here. We had filmed this back in August but it got lost in the editing pipeline, finally got around to it.
GH4, 18-35 1.8, nikon 50 1.4. Graded with film convert. 
Enjoy!
 

Hey guys, I live and work in Rochester NY and one organization I have been involved with is WAYO radio, a low power station operating out of our city. I filmed their first kickstarter video last year, which secured their first year of funding, and filmed their video this year as well. Just reached funding last night with two days left! Always feels good to know you played an effective role in messaging. 
Here's the vid for those interested, all gh4 and sigma 18-35. probably  a shot with my nikon 50 1.4 in there somewhere.
 

Been using the GH4 for 2 years of freelance now, gh2 for one before that. I'm working as a 1 man crew, often run and gun is how I shoot. In terms of what the gh4 makes "easy", I'd say:
1. Battery. Solid, with a couple backups you are so covered in terms of power its just not as issue anymore. 
2. Control access. Now I know I am used to it but I have found the gh4 (and the gh2 when I use it) to be easy to manipulate. ISO and white balance are easy to get at with their own buttons. At the start of every shoot I create my c1 and c2 profiles. Example: I was filming in a motorcycle shop. I knew I wanted slo-mo for various things (cutting, grinding, power hammer). First thing I do in the shop is check WB, set my exposure on my c1 profile. I then go into the menu and choose the variable frame rate option, set it to the desired rate, compensate for the higher shutter, and set that to c2. Now I can flick between the two settings and never dive in a menu. Moto builder starts to grind something, c2, get the slo-mo shot. c1 for my real time wide. It's quick. This is something any cam with custom profiles can do, for me it's how I use the gh4's variable frame rate. In-camera slo-mo whenever you want it is AWESOME.
Other than that it's mostly up to how you shoot as to what will be easy. The gh4 handles well, it's a good size, its easy to manipulate the controls. The body has a mic input and an audio out so you can monitor what it's getting, which is also great. Lately I've been using a zoom h1 as a plant mic or with a lav on someone in combination with a shotgun on the cam. It's light, small.. the kit packs up nice. I don't know if the GH4 is "weather sealed". I have shot in the rain with it. I did everything I possibly could to keep it dry, but I noticed no problems. I've enjoyed this little cam a lot. I use a sigma 18-35 and a nikon 50 1.4 on a speed booster 90% of the time. Highly recommend a speed booster w/ m43. An extra stop of light is just great to have and helps stretch the iso limit. So yeah, this little tank has served me well!

I have been using the videomicro since it came out. 
Its a great directional mic for its compact size that performs better than the internal mic.
For example here is my run & gun setup that fits in a bag without having to take the mic off. 

It really depends how much you value portability vs quality. If you were comparing it to the rodeo mic pro I would say maybe give it a try, but if NTG4 is your baseline you might be disappointed. It doesn't really approach the quality of NTG4 at the same subject distance but at least the closer you get the smaller the differences are since a major part of the noise comes from the internal amps. 
I would say for its price is worth it, but don't expect miracles. 

I've had problems with pixel films Lut loader as well. Even with the older fcpx it was a bit finicky however now with 10.3 I had to uninstall and reinstall the Lut loader before it began to work. Even now when I select a Lut from a folder on my desktop, no changes appear to the footage. I have to select the lut a second time, and sometimes even adjust the "amount" slider until I see the Lut applied.
 
When the thing does end up working the way I usually grade over multiple clips is by using a title (with no text) over all the footage I want a Lut applied to. The title acts as an adjustment layer. So you drag the Lut loader onto the title instead of the clip, then everything under that title gets the Lut applied.

You say its a workshop, is this a one-day thing, a weekend, a semester class? The amount of time you have should guide how in-depth you go with certain topics. Gear-head talk like sensor size or jobs and gimbals are a waste of time if its a half day thing since few will ever shoot with anything other than their phone.
The basics of composition are huge. I worked for an after school program teaching photography, videography, ENG and short doc production for 6 years (full time - worked with high school students every day) and I always started with composition, getting them to understand all of the elements in the image and what to avoid. I'd also add nose room when subjects are looking to one direction, lead room for anything moving, foreground and background, framing, leading lines and so on.
After spending years working with students, the most impactful stuff we did always involved hands-on exercises on covering a single topic and critical analysis - so they'd take the cameras out and shoot 10 different examples of the rule of 3rds, or shallow DOF, or setting a scene with long/medium/closeups adhering to all the other rules - then we'd review all of the images as a group on a 60" TV and discuss what was good and what could be improved upon (I never say something is bad, no matter how awful, just what can be improved upon to help boost their confidence and start thinking about what's in the shot instead of just mindlessly hitting the shutter or record button, works great). Scavenger hunts were always a lot of fun, a vague list of stuff to shoot - silver, vegetables, fast and so on - the creativity and interpretation was always a lot of fun when we reviewed the results.
You can build on them too, so you do a rule of 3rds, then focus on headroom, then horizon and so on, while coming back to what was previously covered when doing the critical analysis part. Its amazing how quickly people pick things up and start to see everything with a critical eye. I always said your grandmother takes a picture, just points a camera at something and click, then you get those crappy shots of two kids at a table with a lot of ceiling, why is there so much ceiling? They love that. Photographers take photos - there's thought put into each image before its captured.
My work was all based on a lot of research/feedback from the students as we were grant funded and had to conduct program research to meet certain benchmarks, so all of our lessons were always evolving as we found more effective ways to communicate. I still get FB messages from students that I worked with 10 years ago about how they still think about headroom and nose room when shooting photos or video. And they all shoot video in landscape orientation, an achievement in itself.
But unless they're gear-heads too, talk about sliders, moire and other things are just in one ear and out the other. Focus on skill building that improves the quality of their shooting regardless of what camera they're using.
Just my $0.02

those kids should JUST MAKE STUFF thats my advice
they should edit together *something* before they even know it
having them start doing things to ask questions about asap, capitalize on that innocent enthusiasm~! 
like heres an exercise: tell a short story about nothing with your camera. a girl making coffee, thats it: thats not a story, but in terms of various shots that make a visual narrative through juxtaposition and other techniques of the language that we call cinema, of course it is!
dunno how your workshop is structured or if any of that is possible lol, but at the very least id encourage them to USE WHAT THEY HAVE, AND SHOOT STUFF. 

When all you have is crap equipment.. you make the best of it!
 

When all you have is crap equipment.. you make the best of it!
 

I am gonna third what everyone is saying about the Cowboy Studio rig. you can find it on amazon cheap and it does the job. It just lets you put the cam in a good spot, holds on to your shoulder. I have used this rig so much, definitely a good place to start.

No problem I'm a bit of a location sound recordist nerd, so have a good handle on all the various low budget sound recording options ;-) 

The key point is all the ones I listed have headphone jacks (even the Shure on camera mic, and those wireless receivers) so while you can't monitor what is actually being recorded inside the camera (thus whenever you can and have a spare moment, you should still check playback for issues), you can at least easily monitor the audio feed (which is the next best thing!). Plus all of those listed (except for the Saramonic & Sony wireless kits) are recorders as well, which gives you a back up recording as well as an emergency fail safe you can resort to if need be.
If all you need is an on camera mic for scratch audio / extreme run & gun, then go for the Shure VP83F.
If you use wireless a lot and you want a very minimalist set up without an extra bulk, then go for Saramonic UwMic9 (or the Sony UWP-D11 if you want the fancy-ish "brand name" of Sony rather than Saramonic, of if you need a different frequency range for your region other than what Saramonic can supply at the moment).  
if you want an actual proper recorder go with Tascam DR60D mk2 (I've seen it for as low as US$135 on special!! Insanely cheap for such a good little recorder), get the Tascam DR70D only if you need the extra XLR inputs.
Get the Zoom F4 (or even F8) if you have aspirations in the near future of taking location sound recording seriously to a semi pro level or higher and specialising in this as a sound recordist. (like I am doing myself: http://ironfilm.co.nz/sound/)

Get Zoom H1 (or Tascam DR22WL, which is kinda similar ish... but has WiFi!) if you have very low audio requirements (don't even want XLR) and just want something nice but is ultra small and compact with built in mics.

Nice stuff hempo, is your zeiss modified for super 16? That lens and wide angle adapter is a nice piece of kit!! Would love to film with a digital bolex and some of my 16mm glass one day. I was looking at used D16s right before the company stopped producing cameras and have been having trouble finding any used listings.  
Here's a short I just shot with the Angenieux 15-150 on a GH4 
 

Rochester NY, no way! I live here too! You an RIT student? I started shooting with a GH2 myself and I use a GH4 now. I use the GH2 as a b-cam occasionally but would consider selling to you in your price range, send me a PM. It was my first camera and I made a ton of films with it. I'd recommend mirrorless myself because you aren't tied to a lens mount, and your existing glass will transfer. Many great cheap lens options out there too in older mounts. 

Thanks so much Gregor!! It was produced in conjunction with a local city newspaper and they loved it as well, so more will be done in the future!

That was one of the most beautiful and enjoyable studio videos I've seen in recent memory, that lens has such an amazing character, and your grade + shots are lovely. Great work, I'm inspired.

Nice stuff hempo, is your zeiss modified for super 16? That lens and wide angle adapter is a nice piece of kit!! Would love to film with a digital bolex and some of my 16mm glass one day. I was looking at used D16s right before the company stopped producing cameras and have been having trouble finding any used listings.  
Here's a short I just shot with the Angenieux 15-150 on a GH4 
 

Rochester NY, no way! I live here too! You an RIT student? I started shooting with a GH2 myself and I use a GH4 now. I use the GH2 as a b-cam occasionally but would consider selling to you in your price range, send me a PM. It was my first camera and I made a ton of films with it. I'd recommend mirrorless myself because you aren't tied to a lens mount, and your existing glass will transfer. Many great cheap lens options out there too in older mounts. 

For myself it has been both and there is a balance between the two. I started working freelance videography just about 3 years ago and hustled my way through film production to pay the bills. I live a frugal life and was able to build up some momentum and get the ball rolling. I've filmed shorts I was very proud of and had a deep emotional connection to that didn't make me any money. I made films I didn't really feel proud of that did pay well. And vice versa. But when push comes to shove and you need to film to pay rent and eat you do need to check some of the emotional attachment at the door and go out and WORK.
 
The business aspect requires a ton of effort to keep yourself running and sometimes that can feel discouraging. I definitely had days when I longed for a job that was simpler where I didn't need to be the creative director, cinematographer, sound guy, interviewer, and editor for every gig. But I love it and was thankful every day that I was lucky enough to love my job. Another plus from making it your professional life are deadlines. The deadline is for the client, not for you. You are responsible for your work and your deadlines. This does have a positive side. When you make films to get paid it's actually nice (and definitely necessary) to be able to separate the attachment and say "Ok, I need to cut this in 2 days, lets get it done." Accomplishing those tasks trains you to do it better next time. Just like sustained regular physical exercise at the gym.
 
I think your creative side is what makes you good enough to do it for work and what you can bring to the table. I love telling stories with my camera, I love watching for moments and looking for composition and using my camera to record what I see. I love stitching those moments together to make a story one can watch. Absolutely I get pleasure from this process. But work is work, there is no way around that. You need to put in the time if it's work and you have to get it done. 

I think it is always both sides, it is just that some project have a more important creative aspect than others.
But let's be honest, most of the time you work with a producer, you're doing compromises. I like boh aspects myself and can find enjoyment in almost every project

Being able to script / storyboard a concept - then shoot using beautiful lensing and sound capture - and follow up with editing where you move the viewer through the story in the 4 dimensions of time and space NEVER gets old.  Getting paid to do what you love totally rocks. Its money AND love as far as i am concerned. 
 
The trick is to have control over the whole process - If you just shoot and hand off your shots then it can be hard to maintain the love. I know a lot of jaded "camera operators" who clock on and clock off with little job ownership.
 

Nice stuff hempo, is your zeiss modified for super 16? That lens and wide angle adapter is a nice piece of kit!! Would love to film with a digital bolex and some of my 16mm glass one day. I was looking at used D16s right before the company stopped producing cameras and have been having trouble finding any used listings.  
Here's a short I just shot with the Angenieux 15-150 on a GH4