Anthony Liu

Awesome! Thank you for the response. Would this be a good 1st AC resume? I attached it to a link below. What kind of feedback or improvements should I put on it? What I really want to do is just make films in general with an emphasis on writing and cinematography, but I do find that being DP for all of my small film sets was the most fun I have ever had. The biggest set I DP'ed for was like around 20-25 people and I felt good as hell when I finished that overnighter shoot. I don't really want to beat around the bush and pretend I want to be a 1st AC or Gaffer and stay in those positions forever before I become a DP or Director. What do you suggest for a person like me who has so much going on in my head? Just work my way up from the bottom and take more 1st AC or Gaffer jobs? I don't even know if I want to be a Camera DP or Lighting DP. https://www.dropbox.com/s/yhlk56nramqbk08/1st%20Assistant%20Camera%20Resume_Anthony_Liu.pdf?dl=0 also, if its okay with you, im going to brush up my demo reel a bit more tonight and post it so you can take a look at it and tear it up? haha. Thanks.

Does anybody know a website I can use to upload my stills to share with you guys so I can post some reference photos of the blemishes I'm talking about in my shots? Google drive? I tried to attached some stills for you Ryan Constantino, but unfortunately that failed as I attached 5 docs and as I posted it, they disappeared. :blink:

Hey Ryan! Thank you so much for the advice! Actually, I know what you mean, but its not on the red canopy. I think a picture would explain it better than my words lol. Let me upload some pictures for you that are marked. Yes! I actually youtube/googled how to remove logos in video and I came across the After effects Mocha plug in tutorial and using tracking and converting it to photoshop to use clone tool! I think what you just told me applies to the pictures I attached with the parts that bothers me. Now I'm just wondering if there are any subtle differences or variations I need to know. Thanks!

Hey Samuel thanks for the reply! 1) Yes, unfortunately that filter was the director's choice, I had no say over it, but i know what you mean. 2) You're totally right, i'm gonna remove the dinner table scene. Do you think I can reduce the exposure or highlights to compensate for some of the over lighting in the strip club? Yea, when I was on set, I felt it was sort of overlit as well, I should've said something but the director had more experience than me and I didn't have a solution at the time for him either. 3) Haha, yes! I just recently caught that reflection of me as well! Most people didn't catch it though, so i'm praying that would be the case for when someone is hiring me. Do you have any suggestions to avoid blown out skys like that? (Pick a better location with the sun oriented at a certain angle so I can use the buildings as bounces etc? or decide to shoot at a different time of the day? I think it was 2-4pm when I shot this.) Some friends suggested to me that what might make it better is have a PA hold a reflector to expose their faces a bit more while following their movement or use an ND filter. Thanks!

You're totally right, its just a demo reel. But if you were hiring me for a job wouldn't you expect me to at least touch up some parts that are slightly blemished (honest question, not rhetorical)? As you can see in my video footage the logo is covered with gaffe tape, but there is still a sliver that the PA's didn't tape unfortunately and I just felt like thats on me. Tbh, I'm not sure how picky paying clients are thats why i'm asking. I've been doing videography for 5-6 years but mainly as a side thing, but now i'm pretty serious and want my stuff to be as highest quality as possible. As for the second part, I think you're right as well. However, wouldn't a 1st AC benefit from a demo reel that can demonstrate his badass rack focuses, hitting every point he's faced with? If you were to hire a 1st AC, gaffer, or grip to come on board with you what are the factors you would use to determine their competence besides from previously working on set with him before?

Hey everybody! I just came to a milestone in my cinematography quality. I front loaded my reel with the better footage and left the worse footage till the last, but it has some good tracking/composition/ movi work. So, i am disappointed because there are two clips that i am also attaching to see if anybody can give me some quick tips on how to remove the strip club's logo in the background. the logos are in both shots (2 clips in 1 video). That is my main problem right now cause i dont feel like I can add my best shot that I contributed to to my reel which sucks, cause i was the one that rigged the light on the roof beam and set up the back fill, gelled everything, and operated the gimbal. Other that the above issues mentioned above. What else can I do to improve my reel and would any of you hire me as a cinematographer or 1st AC/ gaffer/grip? One thing that my intuition tells me is that my reel doesn't have enough motion in the shots, a lot of static shots, not exciting to watch in the beginning, which might turn some producers or hiring people off. Let me know your honest feedbacks. Thanks everybody! Anthony P.S. i might recolor the last part, i already know the background in my last section of my reel is overblown and might need to be recolored. any feedback on how to improve that will be great as well!! ND filters? 20x20s, 30 x 30s? lol. <--- demo reel. <--- the 2 clips i want to add to my reel, but has strip club logos

hey guys, im trying to set up a black magic cinema camera 4k onto a movi m5. Does anyone know which lens setup is compatible and which ones are not? I just want to make sure so I don't overload the movi m5. The max paylod on the movi 5 is 5lbs, the black magic is 3.75 lbs, that leaves like 1.25 lbs for the lens. Thanks.

Wow, thank you James! I really appreciate the response! Yes, I've seen the luminance of RGB LED tapes before and I can see that work very effectively as a practical. In terms of 1000 watt PAR 64, im not sure how I would rig that and the issue might be that the director doesn't want us to do too much rigging or setting up in the strip club. How much time does it usually take to rig or set up PAR 64? Since the strip club has a stage for the dancers, is it possible that they already have a par 64's that we can use that are hanging from their beams or fixtures? This is all excellent advice. Thank you so much James! And no, this is a totally different project, the music video client never responded unfortunately. But this project looks much more solid because I did the location scout already and I know the director lol. I was also thinking about some spacelight and some softboxes. Do you think that will be neccessary? Thank you so much for the response, I was so on a time crunch with my coloring projects that I couldnt respond sooner and that the director was also kind of lagging as well. But it's still moving forward from here!

Hey everyone! I have some questions about lighting a strip club and the general feel is that its a little dark. I'm not sure if i want to make it a little underexposed, but the director says he's fine with it. I'm going to shoot with the sony a6300 and I'm not sure what lens would be best but right now I only have a 18-105mm lens f4, would you guys suggest something thats faster since im in a darker environment like f1.8? Theres going to be strippers dancing in the background on the double shot and there will be a single on the mob boss or it might be a triple which includes 2 strippers and they later leave the boss. Attached are links to the video of the opening shot which pretty much is a "Ground Up" shot which starts at the floor of the main pole dancer area and pulls up to reveal high heels walking to which we track lead through 4 other horny guys and reveal the two detectives facing the mob boss at the table. You see what I mean when you watch the two links! Basically my concern is lighting it but im thinking as long as we just put a diffusion on the light or reflect it off the ceiling or wall, I think we should have a nicely exposed shot with a good amount of shadows? Please let me know what your advice is thank you guys! And if I can find a good way to compress my photos, cause i shot in raw, ill post some of them up asap. Happy New Years All!

This discussion has been so helpful! Yea, I was told by some friends to just ask for an equipment budget to make it look dope. so im guessing i might want to charge around $500-$1000, but definitely by communicating limitations of the project <-- that is really important. and my time spent on it as well it makes a lot of sense. Thanks guys!

Hey there! I have a prospective client right now that's asking me for a rate to shoot his music video, he is not too sure what he wants but is using this weekend to think about it, what do you think i should charge? This is gonna be my first music video shoot, so im really not sure if $150 or $200 is reasonble, but at the same time, im not sure what other expenses I should take into account besides for gas. I know for sure, im going to have to guide and lead him a lot and do a lot of preproduction/ production work/ location scouting/ visual effects post work (like editing, video flickering, etc), so should i add a premium to that and maybe charge an extra $50-$200 to account for the proproduction/ location scouting work/ editing work? What is a newbie like me to charge at a reasonable rate? do you think $300-$500 is reasonable? he wants some cool backgrounds and stuff and its going to be a rap MV. So what I have right now at my disposal is a Movi 5, sony a6300, 18-105 G lens/ f4m. What else do you think im gonna need, should I consider borrowing a f1.8 lens for low light shooting for night? and also, do you know any cool locations or backdrops i can use without a permit in Los Angeles Area or anything that can get the look and feel that he might be going for a a hardcore rapper? I would attach his songs to give you guys a feel for his style of music, but i cant and im not sure about uploading his tracks to youtube and linking. But any advice would be helpful. Thanks guys!! Anthony

Hey Macks! Thanks for the response. I'm pretty much just going to use The Sony SELP 18105G, 18-105mm, f4.

Hey guys! I am going to have a 12 hour shoot on Saturday and it's my debut as a DP on a 13 person set (which is my biggest one to date) (yes, I am quite the noobie when it comes to cinematography, but I have 4 years experience with production and editing!). Anyways, I am going for a comedy look, high key lighting and mostly trying to duplicate the look for perfect strangers as the core visual reference, production design is kind of leaning towards Pushing Hands (as this is a comedy about asian american women.) And for the little miss sunshine reference, the director has decided to rule out using natural sunlight and cheat it as night time covering the outside of windows with duvetyn, even though our call time is 8:30am- 9:30 pm. The whole shoot will be focused on a evening dinner get together at a Chinese home. The director does want to utilize the practicals that we have on the location as much as possible and she is also going to somehow remove and clean the bar inside the house to make it look more like an elder chinese lady's house (which i will reference with attached photos). One of my gaffer friend told me I am basically going to use basic 3 point lighting on close ups: key light, fill light, negative fill, and do not have the camera on the side of the key light (possibly bc its going to be overexposed and harsh, im assuming.) And for background he said just highlight with practicals. I have also asked him what type of lights do i need (1k or 2k?) tungsten fresnel and he told me that it really depends on my camera settings. He says a 2:1 contrast is a good place to start and if I am trying to get exposure at f4, then my key side should aim for f4, and everywhere else should be a f2.8 reading. Also, I am using a Sony A7s ii on this shoot. Still trying to find the right lenses, anyone got any suggestions? It's mostly going to be a normal dinner conversation with dirty OTS two shots like the videos I sent through the link, and super subtle wide slider shots. Also, there is one night exterior shot outside the patio, where three sisters will talk secretively away from the dining table. Any suggestions on how I should light the patio scene? I'm not even sure if the color temperature for the patio looks like daylight 5400- 5500k? Thanks in Advance for the help guys, I really appreciate it! I am mainly trying to get the following look/feel: Perfect Stranger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJewNfa_HPY Little Miss Sunshine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QNxYSDdpig Pushing Hands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuvsD0Tizzw Anthony

Thanks Levin! That is great to know!

Thanks Samuel! How can you tell the light is hitting a tree on the first image you posted, is it the pattern that is behind the head of the father/grandpa? I can see it more on the second image cause there are some cast shadows right on the left side of the character Martha. Thanks.

Cool, thanks for the suggestion Macks! the scene begins at 2:25 :)

Hey guys! I'm having a shoot this coming Saturday and I was wondering if anybody can educate me on how theyt got the midnight blue lighting for outside the window at the back of the grandpa's head. it seems like they used blue gels, but it also feels like it has a slight magneta shift as well. Does anybody know? Is this some type of old style lighting they used back then if so, what kind of lights and at what distance you think it is from the window? This reference photo is from Ang Lee's first feature called "Pushing Hands". Thanks a bunch! Anthony P.S. I guess the attachment limit is 300KB, can you guys see the picture fine? Thanks.