Tyler Purcell

On the high-end, cinematographers rarely own their equipment, unless they're Shane Hurlbut or want to be the next Shane Hurlbut. Yes, many have some sort of camera, but they have connections with rental houses who supply pretty much everything. High-end would be anything with guaranteed distribution before being shot and enough budget for their crew to live comfortably. On the mid to low arena, things are very different. Many Documentary filmmakers do own their own kits, so they can be out shooting their films without assistance. They'll bring on a DP for interviews or "beauty" work, but having done post on many doc's, it appears the filmmakers themselves do quite a bit of shooting. Mid to low are shows that have a limited up front budget and most of the time, do not have a guarantee of distribution before being shot. You'll find many commercial DP's in the mid to low budget range also have serious stashes of equipment. Here in Los Angeles, I find most of the working commercial guys, own their own rigs because they're so busy, they don't waste time dealing with rental houses. Many have small grip trucks with everything they use and use the same camera/gaffing/grip team on all of their shows. They make money by doing A LOT of shows, sometimes two or three different clients a week. They work directly with agencies to get work and a lot of times work with the same directors. The difference between the high end in the commercial world and the low end is that DP's in the high end can make tens of thousands per day, so they don't need to work much to make ends meet. Where the mid to low guys are hustling non-stop to make ends meet. I think today, unless you're a high-end guy -in which case you'd already know the answer- the answer is yes, you should have your own camera package. You are a better asset to a line producer having a rig, then dealing with rental houses. You can invoice them singularly for labor and camera package, making things way easier. Insurance covers you and your camera, vs special coverage for a rental camera, etc. There is far more paperwork to do with rentals as well. Heck, I know guys with small grip trucks who work non-stop just because they don't need to do paperwork. So what camera package to own for both ENG Doc work and Commercial work? The Alexa Amira would be top of my list. Get that beautiful imager with the ENG package body. Heavy yes, expensive yes, but pretty damn good camera.

- Original Camera Negative (OCN) Reels; These are assembled by the lab during the transfer process and are a max of 1200ft. For digital, these would be identified as the actual cards that come out of the camera. This helps avoid confusion on set. - Reels without the OCN ahead of it, come from the film projection days where films were split on to 20 minute loads for A/B projector change over projection systems. This was to actually help the editors who couldn't playback more than 20 minutes at a time on a flatbed editing system anyway. So the whole industry has used 20 minute reels since the beginning. In later years, films were spliced together onto platters from those reels, but the studio's have always delivered film prints as reels. In the digital days, we rarely use reels. Even if a film is being recorded back to film, it's rare the post production team uses reels for any reason. As editing systems got faster and theatrical film presentation died, there was no need to cut/conform negative, so there was no reason to edit as "reels". Today, films are done in a single timeline and even though a lot of the audio industry still prefers reels, picture editing is one timeline and OCN information is only used to figure out where to find certain assets or if something is missing.

Again proof you know nothing about this subject. Many top filmmakers on here with multiple feature credits in theaters around the world, have agreed with my statement that modern filmmaking is a job of producing, more than anything else. film·mak·er /ˈfilmˌmākər/ noun a person who directs or produces movies for the theater or television.

Aren't the steadicam mags the same thing, but with a longer tube?

What is this grade school? The only embarrassing thing here is how you handle yourself on an internet forum. For the record, the other thread I posted about getting a proper cinema camera, was in direct response to someone wanting to be a cinematographer (this is a cinematography forum). The replies I made on here to your comments, have nothing to do with cinematography, they have to do with being successful in the film industry, which has nothing to do with a single job like cinematography. .... assuming we're discussing director of photography. The OP wants to know the steps to becoming a filmmaker. As you probably know, the role of a filmmaker is actually producer more than anything else. Truth is, if you have a story you wish to tell, the filmmakers job is to find the people capable of helping bring it to fruition. Does it talk about what sells content wise 2019/2020? Does it talk about crowdfunding? Does it talk about grants? Does it talk about modern budgeting? Does it talk about contract negotiations? Does it talk about insurance? Does it talk about casting non-professional actors? Does it talk about advertising/marketing the jobs on set? Does it discuss festivals, sales agents, lawyers and E&O? Does it talk about getting screwed by people and how to make sure your asset isn't toxic when it's all over? To me, those are probably the most important things a "filmmaker" needs to know. The vast majority of filmmakers will work with someone who has experience in the writing department. Most filmmakers will bring in an experienced crew of some kind; cinematographer, gaffer and sound at the bare minimal. Most filmmakers will get pointers on post production, even if they edit it themselves. In the world of production and post-production, it's very easy to get a small crew together with experience to help get your project done. So I don't see the purpose of someone reading a book about the way things worked during the studio system unless they're interested in history. It's far better to pay for a masterclass on being a producer in 2019 than it is to read a book that you're probably going to forget about the moment after you read it. The masterclasses have visual cues which help long term retention and the higher entertainment value plus current knowledge, will truly help younger would-be filmmakers. I will also say for the record, if you watch movies -especially the classics- read scripts written by masters and practice shooting scenes with friends, you have some idea of how a scene comes together. Add a few masterclasses in there about producing, funding and writing, you're in pretty good shape to make a product in 2019. Who said they weren't? Citizen Kane is the first film I show in my cinematography class. Followed by Paths of Glory and The Third Man. I could go on all day about Kane as I've studied Toland's work quite a bit. I part that knowledge onto my students through lecture and in-class projects where we recreate some of the unique camera and lighting techniques used in some of these early classics. Just because I don't think a book written in the late 50's has much play in the world of 2019, doesn't mean technically brilliant films are thrown away because they're "old". Well if you bothered to research me, I have an educational foundation and I teach filmmaking as a part time job. I have lectured at USC, Cal State and UCLA in a room full of adults, many of whom are professional filmmakers. Only thing I get are standing ovations. It's funny, I google your name and see nothing. :shrug:

Obviously you didn’t read the other part of my post which stated that in the end, the most important part is story. This isn’t a forum for writers, so I wouldn’t expect anyone here to need advice on writing. There are some phenomenal books on story structure and most importantly how to spice your story up to keep the attention of a modern audience. Oh and yes watching/studying the classics is very important

I also don't understand how someone who retired in the late 50's from filmmaking and wrote a book about his experience in that era, could shed much light on today's filmmaking, especially when it comes to equipment, financing and distribution, which are THE HARDEST PARTS! Honestly, if you wish to be "successful" in classical filmmaking, the first steps are to learn about fundraising and producing. The act of making your product, that's the easy part. You hire people do help you with that.

I wholeheartedly agree. If you have the passion, you can figure out how to make it reality, even if it's just an iPhone video. Having been a teacher for the last few years at a very successful local arts high school, I would say this statement is accurate. You can always tell the students who want it and those who don't want it. The ones who don't really want it, they go to some far away fancy university, far away from a media city. The ones who want it, they stay at home with cheap/free rent, get part time jobs and spend the rest of the time making content. I always told my students, the younger you start building a portfolio, the better off you'll be in the long run. Where getting a degree is good as a backup plan, if you really want to be a filmmaker, going to college is 4 years of wasted time. The best course of action is to milk the free room and board, create content and if things don't go well, hit up a community college and get a degree in something to help pay the bills. Once you lose the ability to stay at home, life becomes super expensive very fast, especially if you live in a media city like New York, Atlanta or Los Angeles. I don't believe practicing your passion is a waste of time. I don't believe in discouraging people for selfish and jealousy reasons. I do warn my students that the road is challenging, but I explain how things are done and clear the debris so there is a clearer path to eyes on your content. People forget, the whole purpose of this industry is to tell stories and if people see your stories, then you are successful in my book. Maybe it doesn't garnish you wealth, but it does fulfill the desire to share your ideas with the world. Today, we're so lucky to have amazing outreach and with a modicum advertising, you can get hundreds of thousands of views or more. The formula is easy to read online, it's easy to find other people who follow the same practices and learn from them as well. The truth is, nothing holds you back from making content but yourself with the help of discouragement from others. This is not 1995, this is 2019, this is an era where the phone in your pocket, creates higher quality media than most digital cameras from 10 years ago. Where software companies are giving away super high end software for free. Where an iPad is more powerful than most laptops. If you aren't making content on a regular basis, if you aren't practicing and getting better, that's down to your own passion, not the industry. There are no excuses anymore, get your telephone out, get an app that allows you to control the camera and go tell your story.

... is probably come back to the thread, as it's way over a year old.

Please name the sub $1300 cinema camera camera NEW that has "cinema" terms stock; Kelvin, Shutter angle, histogram, focus peaking and false color. The tools someone who wants to be a cinematographer needs to have. Aftermarket software/hacks for still cameras, do not count. Nobody is getting a job shooting with a 1080p camera anymore. Your example's have been from nearly 10 years ago. We haven't had decent small 4k cameras for more than 2 years and now it's a requirement for any work. If you're "investing" you might as well invest in something that will garnish you jobs, rather than a complete throw-away toy. Raw formats require transcoding unless you're using Red Code, which is a JPEG2000 base format, which decodes and Debayer's on nVidia GPU's pretty efficiently. Transcoding every shot you wish to watch, is a pain in the ass and expensive. It actually takes a more powerful computer than simply playing back the native ProRes files off a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema camera. I know this, I edit for a living with one heck of a powerful computer and have to work with ALL media formats. ProRes is the only iframe codec that works perfectly on everything. People who want crash cam's, or D camera's to throw in corners of rooms that they may cut away to, sure. DSLR's were heavily used on reality TV shows and 10 years ago when there were no other options. Today, most of that goes to the GH5, which is a far more expensive and under-powered camera to the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 4k, which is why I did not recommend it. I think you're forgetting this is 2019, my iPhone shoots 4k @ 60ps and it's in my pocket every day. I have shot 2 feature documentaries with DSLR's; 5DMKII and 7D both using Magic Lantern; "A Fuller Life and "Curing Prostate Cancer," which is 7 hours long and had over 100 hours of material shot on Canon 5DMKII and Canon XH-A1 HDV camcorders. I've also shot a lot with the A7SII and the GH5 as of recent. I've owned the Pocket Cinema cameras since their first release and have worked with the new 4k model as well. I'm a freelancer and I look at camera choice as a career choice. I know a lot about these cameras, not only how the work but what they look like in post because my job is to edit and color for a living.

Why are you so obsessed with Tiny Furniture? Do you understand the image is created by the cinematographer right? When you're talented, it doesn't matter what you shoot with. When you're not talented, when you're just a beginner, it's great to have a kit that's not going to be a limiting factor. I mean for gosh sakes, there have been a bunch of high profile movies shot on iPhones. Lena Dunham wrote a great movie that took 3 years to get distribution and put her name on the map. As I always say to people, write good stories and the rest will fall into place. Another thing to think about is when that movie was made (2010), there weren't very many low-cost cinema quality options. The Blackmagic Cinema Camera came out 2 years later and it was the first of its kind. Story sells and owner-operators can only get jobs with 4k cameras with decent codec's in 2019. What large sized box? the 1st gen Pocket Cinema is the camera I recommended for nearly 5 years and it was smaller than nearly every other mirrorless or DSLR on the market. Yes the new pocket is larger, but it's not end of the world large. It's larger because it has XLR audio, because it has 2 different card slots, because it has a big beautiful display, because it has decent built-in mic's, because it uses bigger batteries that last longer, because it has a full sized HDMI part, etc. It has all the functions AND the new double battery adaptor, allows it to run for WAY more time than any other camera in it's class. What gear to use later? Shitty still glass with non-repeatable focus and zoom's that aren't parfocal? Batteries, cases, charger, cables, cards, post workflow, etc... that can't be used on a different camera. You wanna learn on a camera that's worthless, just use your cell phone. My iPhone creates beautiful images even in the base shooting mode. I've blown people away with the footage with my gimbal and a little color correction. Plenty of people use the pocket cinema camera for PAID work. My pocket cameras were the "B" camera on two feature documentaries, both will be in the theaters. I've shot dozens of commercials, dozens of promo's, an entire documentary series, I mean the cameras also been rented out plenty of times. The 4k pocket will just garnish more business for a would-be beginner filmmaker. The concept is, if you have an up to date camera system that works, you can get little jobs here and there that will not only pay back for the investment, BUT will also get you out shooting, which means you'll be paid to practice your craft. If all you got is a toy throw away camera, you can't market yourself. This is 2019, the day's of 1080p cameras being acceptable, are over. You were trying to push a used camera, you can get your entire kit used outside of the camera body. Can you get two primes, a low-end tripod , SD card's and some batteries for $600? Nope... but for $1000 you can. GO over budget by what, $400 bux and you get a serious camera, or you can buy useless junk and save a few bux. $1300 $150 Tripod $500 (used Rokinon DS lenses) $160 (2x 128gb sd card) $180 (4x Pocket cinema battery) $99 (battery charger) $2389 Then you add the accessories up the road; Mattebox, IR ND filter, Rode Videomic Pro, Wireless mic, case, etc.

I generally round it off.

It's not about figuring it out, it's about consistency when you're using the menu's and such. You talked about needing a fast computer, but reality is, if you aren't transcoding everything you shoot, then there is no reason to have a fast computer. Again, Pro Res is a very fast codec to work with and time is money. So if you're wasting time transcoding everything, you've just wasted money. Who said you need a speedbooster? I have never owned one, but I have $30 chinese M43 adaptors for Nikon, Canon, PL and Arri B mount. $150 for a still camera, but you want to be a cinematographer, just doesn't make any sense. It's a waste of time and money because you can't use it for anything but personal stuff. Nobody is going to hire you and your camera to shoot anything and you aren't building a show reel with one. Might as well use your telephone's built-in camera and get an app that pretends to make it a video camera. For $1300, you can own a camera that will create images that you're proud of, that you can use to build a show reel, that you can use to rent yourself out with eventually. Buy a camera that will do excellent work for you in the future, rather than a throw away.

I thought the magnification was 2.88x

Well amount of data would be the #1 stand out issue. If there was a 50gb single sided format that could burn in a few seconds, then yes it would probably still stick around. However, DVD's are the fastest recording media and I don't have a single folder on any computer that's anywhere near small enough to fit on a DVD, even my documents! DVD for video is worthless as everyone is doing UHD delivery. In terms of pre-recorded media, the big physical media stores are long gone. Yes, some big chains do still sell physical media, but it's in very limited supply, only current releases in most cases or the top US films. Best Buy is blowing out BluRay's at $5 bux right now and UHD's aren't selling. Physical media is not something the studio's care about anymore and the days of things making money on disc, are long behind us. Used media is still around, but new is dying fast. I give it a few years and I think the studio's will discontinue all physical discs. Well sure, you always need a drive for reading archives, but you aren't writing new data.