Leonardo Thaci

Hi everybody! I recently noticed something interesting about one of my favorite films - Spotlight (2015). Despite using visual exposition, the main driver seems to be traditional dialogue. It seems to go against common storytelling advice (show, don't tell) but the dialogue scenes use in my opinion a fundamental principle that I think can be applied to almost any story. With the help of conflict-packed dialogue, Spotlight creates engaging and compelling scenes. But not just conflict between the main forces is important, layered conflict, especially with allies, seems to let you get away with dialogue-heavy scenes without boring the audience or taking away any excitement from the scenes (for me at least). I'm interested in what you think. Are there any movies without conflict? I heard that some describe "My Neighbor Totoro" as a film without conflict but could it be that the conflict is more abstract but nevertheless substantial? Cheers! -Leo P.S Would appreciate any feedback on the video itself ?

That's what I often hear. Making connections can be one if not the most important aspect of film school.

Thank you!

Hi everyone, I'm a 23-year old freelance cameraman, videographer and editor. Films are my passion and I wanted to sharpen my knowledge and skills by going to film school. This is one of my short films I sent as an application. The application consisted of two short films and one script. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to get accepted. I felt pretty bumped out, but realized that this is small hurdle in my journey as a filmmaker. So, please enjoy and tell me what you think about my short film! Cheers! -Leo

Thank you! So far, I'm very glad about my decision to challenge myself on a monthly basis. I highly recommend it, I've already learned so much! You're right, I used my BMPCC4K with the Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 and the Canon FD 50mm 1.4. The 50mm on my camera gives me a focal length of 100mm. It's a great addition to the wide 18-35mm (30-60mm with the Viltrox Speedbooster) The key light was lit by two GVM 480 LS panels shining through diffusion. In the back is a practical light, both lights were set to 3200K. The grade consists of small adjustments of exposure and color balance. I added a KD2383 D60 Conversion LUT and film grain at the end. The most time spent was in post-production. I would say about 3 to 4 days. Planing and shooting were quite easy but I had to add a second shooting day because of missing shots. For general editing I used DaVinci Resolve Studio and for sound design Audition. Here's a complete list of the gear used for this short: Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K Viltrox Speedbooster Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 Canon FD 50mm 1.4 ISO was set to 800 Aperture was most of the time set to 2.8 Two GVM 480LS set to 3200K IKEA dimmable light bulb set to the warmest setting Regards -Leo

Hey, Today is the day. After many hours of preparation, shooting, editing and sound design, I can finally show you what I was working on for the last 31 days. It is not long and structurally complex but It has taught me a lot about filmmaking. This blog is available as a weekly newsletter. The newsletter will contain exclusive content like scripts, storyboards, inspiration, behind the scenes and more! My newsletter is available here. Please consider subscribing, thanks! My lessons for this month: Editing is crucial (It takes time to feel the rhythm) Don’t forget continuity (You will thank or hate yourself while editing) Get as much coverage as possible (One shooting day became two because of not enough coverage I would be very happy to read your feedback here in the forum or on Youtube! Cheers! -Leo

It did not look as blue as it is now. I tried to color-grade it that way to shape the look of it. Regarding your picture: That's a very nice and moody look (and almost the same jacket I think :D). What was this shoot for?

After feeling uninspired with my footage I shot around my city, it was time for a spontaneous trip with my childhood buddy. It was a 60-minute drive into the small mountain range in northern Bavaria. Immediately, after letting the last village behind us, the fog got thicker and thicker. We found a nice spot to park and went into the forest. It was beautiful. I just wanted to shoot some footage for my portfolio, but this short sequence came out of it. The footage was color-graded with Filmconvert Nitrate and small adjustments I made. It looked pretty fantastic right out of the box! I haven't recorded any audio, so my next job to do was music and sound design. I found the soundtrack and effects on Epidemic Sound. Timing and mixing the sound effects turned out to be the hardest part. I haven't done it often enough to be completely comfortable with it. But I think it turned out to work pretty well. So, don't be afraid to take your best buddy and shoot some amazing footage in your area. I could not believe how pretty and "cinematic" it looked so near to my hometown. Feedback is always welcomed. Cheers!