Lighting With Big Sources

When the situation allows, lighting with big sources has many benefits

Daniel Brockett

Lighting with big sources can give your images a quality that simply isn’t possible with smaller sources. A BTS photo of a reality show set I lit with large sources. Recently, I had a chance to do something in production that I haven’t had a chance to do since quarantine began. I was able to shoot on a reality TV series. Not sure if you’ve shot... Read more

Mirrorless Cameras For The Pro Video Shooter

Adding a high-quality mirrorless camera to your kit can make you more money and let you offer greater capability to your clients

Daniel Brockett

Sony’s new flagship mirrorless camera is the Alpha 1. The a1 has a 50.1-megapixel full-frame stacked Exmor CMOS. Its image processing is 8 times as powerful as other Alpha cameras thanks to the latest BIONZ XR processor. It’s capable of shooting 8K 30p 10-bit 4:2:0 XAVC HS video with 8.6K oversampling. It can also shoot 4K 120p 10-bit 4:2:2... Read more

Have You Ever Fired A Client?

Have any of these scenarios happened to you on the job?

Daniel Brockett

Production is more than just shooting or post production, it’s also about the relationships you have with your clients. BTS on a shoot at a popular department store for a charity client. Instead of writing another blog entry about technology, it felt like this entry was a good time to talk about the ugly truth of client relations in the era of... Read more

The Great Camera Divide Is Growing

New cameras that sell for under $10,000 are amazingly capable and high quality

Daniel Brockett

New cameras like the Blackmagic Design Ursa Mini Pro 12K that boast innovative new sensor technology as well as the highest resolution available for less than $10,000? It must be the Great Camera Divide of 2021! Have you noticed it yet? The great camera divide. What exactly do I mean by the term, “the great camera divide”? It’s simple. Have you... Read more

Is Crew In A Box Coming For Your Job?

Crew in a Box contains quality products that are remotely controlled by a professional team

Daniel Brockett

In our work, we’ve used cameras like Panasonic’s AW-UE150K PTZ (Pan, Tilt, Zoom) for the past couple of years. Have we even used them in place of a live camera operator? In 2021 and forward though, does this even matter? What about a box that replaces the entire video location crew? The problem has been that since March of 2020, the world has... Read more

The Horse Before The Cart, Part 2

The importance of knowing final delivery specs

Michael Guncheon

Previously, I wrote about the need to understand the final delivery requirements for your project. Getting deliverable specifications early allows you to make sure your workflow and final finishing will produce the best results when your project is finally delivered. As an example, I wrote about doing the finishing on a project that was completed in... Read more

The Horse Before The Cart, Part 1

Ask about deliverables early and often

Michael Guncheon

When I wrote about “running through the tape” and explained how I make sure to deliver a properly finished project, I briefly mentioned deliverables. I spoke of the deliverables matching the client’s deliverable specifications. If this past year is any indicator, the topic of deliverable specs needs to be more than a quick aside. Although I knew... Read more

Always Have A Plan B

When everything is in the cloud, what’s your plan B?

Michael Guncheon

Recently, Amazon had a major outage with its Amazon Web Services (AWS) system. Thousands of companies were affected for hours. The problem showcased which companies had their own infrastructure and which were simply cloud-based. What surprised me was the lack of a plan when things go wrong. Certainly, that starts with Amazon, but it also cascades down... Read more

Different Aspects

One size fits all? Only by being average.

Michael Guncheon

As editing software companies add tools to accommodate the plethora of aspect ratios editors are faced with these days, I can’t help but wonder about the results. Social media platforms have a dizzying array of ratios. And we’ve all probably seen the results when one aspect ratio is crammed into another. I understand why the tools are being created.... Read more

Run Through The Tape

Paying attention all the way through the end of a project is critical to success

Michael Guncheon

I recently wrote about some of the challenges in the finishing process given how many of us work remotely now. While processes may have changed, I still keep in mind a quote I heard that’s used in track and field: “Run through the tape!” You might have seen videos showing a lead runner slowing down near the end of the race because they think... Read more