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Excited about reading Mr. Mullen's book!


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My copy of Cinematography: Third Edition just arrived! Also brought a bunch of other cinematography and filmmaking books from the recomended list. Thanks to Mr. Mullen and every person who decides to share their knowledge, either in a book or on the internet or wherever. God knows I've always been gladly helped by the members of this community. My only hope is to learn and keep learning, as a perpetual student of this craft. Cheers!

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Ah...that splains it. No wonder David knows so much. He wrote the GD book on it!

M. David Mullen - Wikipedia

Nowadays people can't be bothered to answer an email with a simple yes or no, let alone invest time to mentor people or answer difficult questions. Many thanks David for your participation and most generous sharing of your knowledge. 

david mullen asc - Google Search

Edited by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
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The good news is its the best DP,s who are actually the ones who will share their knowledge .. David here and people like Roger Deakins on his site .. Barry Ackroyd also will talk freely about how they work.. its the insure ones who will keep their "secrets" closely guarded .. I found this as an AC too ..

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It was not like that with the big name still photographers. At least the ones I wrote to when I was starting out.

99% was no reply.

From my onw perspective, I've found very little courtesy with correspondence any more. Especially with young people. Over the years I have sent out thousands and thousands of correspondences and only a fraction ever get a reply.

Recently CBS wrote me to get permission to shorten the attribution for some of my open content material they wanted to use. I gave them the go ahead. I also offered them higher res source material if they needed it, as they said they took it off one of my websites. I wrote back to asked what material they were using. But they would never reply. Everything I have is open content, so it is not like I need a contract. But I'd still like the courtesy of a reply as to what they were using.

 

Edited by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
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11 hours ago, Robin R Probyn said:

The good news is its the best DP,s who are actually the ones who will share their knowledge .. David here and people like Roger Deakins on his site .. Barry Ackroyd also will talk freely about how they work.. its the insure ones who will keep their "secrets" closely guarded .. I found this as an AC too ..

I've only met Barry once, in the basement of Goldcrest while he was there grading Jason Bourne and immediately got the impression he's an absolute prince, though I guess it's easier to be relaxed when it's going that well!

I have not found many people to be secretive about their tecnniques. I have found that quite a lot of people in all roles in film and TV, but particularly people in the camera department and in post, exist in what we might think of as professional silos, and very rigidly defined ones. This has led to some spectacularly awful workflow decisions becoming normalised, and that's been the case for a very long time, with a lot of resistance to change because it's always someone else's department and there's no joined-up thinking going on. Bit of a shame.

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13 hours ago, Phil Rhodes said:

I've only met Barry once, in the basement of Goldcrest while he was there grading Jason Bourne and immediately got the impression he's an absolute prince, though I guess it's easier to be relaxed when it's going that well!

I have not found many people to be secretive about their tecnniques. I have found that quite a lot of people in all roles in film and TV, but particularly people in the camera department and in post, exist in what we might think of as professional silos, and very rigidly defined ones. This has led to some spectacularly awful workflow decisions becoming normalised, and that's been the case for a very long time, with a lot of resistance to change because it's always someone else's department and there's no joined-up thinking going on. Bit of a shame.

Ive met a few who had their "secrets " and didn't really want to share the knowledge too much ,as every AC was  future competition in their eyes .. 

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  • 10 months later...

Things are very competitive Robin. You can't really hold it against them for not wanting to share secrets as you outlined above. To be courteous, I'd offer them a trade for schooling. If they have something you like trade them or you work for them in exchange for training. 

Some things take years and lots of $$ to refine. To go up to someone and ask...will your breastfeed me it all for free just doesn't seem right. What is in it for them? Are you good friends with them? I mean why??

It is the same thing when people write me to use something in my Archive commercially. I run an open content Archive aka...free use. What is in it for me to give permission of something I have no history of for them to use commercially? Why? What is in it for me except possible problems. I tell them that. I tell them it does not matter to me personally how they use it, but I can't give a commercial release. 

I had a gal write me about what exposure to use for infrared flash with her infrared film. I didn't even know you could buy infrared film any more. Maybe she was using expired stuff from eBay. In any case, new or expired...how would I know? You got distance, you got power settings, you got different flashes. You gotta test it, there is not set answer. But people want breastfeeding.

Now, there is a place for breastfeeding. If you are in a rush or just have a mild interest in a subject and don't want to invest time and $$, then you want to be breastfed. But that only goes so far. Lots of info you get online can be wrong. The Germans have a saying...You grasp by grasping.' Sometimes you just need to get your hands dirty.

TranswomanFriend2015DanielD.TeoliJr.Mr.j

Transwoman and Friend  Los Angeles 2015 - Infrared Flash Photo (Candid)

Selection from Gay Bar artist's book

 

Edited by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
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