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Hi! Long time member here, active cinematographer working mainly in Europe. I've been experimenting with different ways to organize prep work on my shoots (long form narrative stuff, cinema, drama series, etc), and I've become very happy with my current setup using Notion to distribute plans and ideas and encourage inter-departmental cooperation and discussions. So I wrote a blog post about it, detailing some of the flows and the philosophy behind it. I'd be honored if you'd like to have a look, and maybe even drop me some feedback. Currently working on turning this into a template that others can use and abuse. https://johnerling.no/blog/2025/8/25/organizing-the-prep

When cutting up a book to scan there are a number of battles to deal with. One is copyright. The other one is defacing a book. Only you only can decide which way to proceed...for the greater good or the greater right. Bound book was +/- 3.75" thick. Cover was cut loose by cutting through the end sheets. Individual sewn book signatures were cut loose and further disassembled from there. Edge photo of cut binding shows the crooked cut this guillotine cutter produces. Old school guillotine cutters produced square cuts. From my limited experience, modern imports in this price range do not. This type of guillotine cutter is only useful if the gutter of the book is wide. I've tried 3 different cutters of this style, and none of them produced square cuts. If the book has a narrow gutter, this cutter may cut into the text or illustrations of the book when disassembling the book due to the crooked cut it produces. Books with narrow gutters have to be disassembled by hand. The guillotine cutter photo is from the internet and used under the auspices of fair use. Photo of a rotary paper cutter used to disassemble pamphlets, magazines and booklets. The rotary paper cutter is also useful to standardized paper width to run through a sheetfed scanner. Example scans from disassembled book, which is the bible of all things hand tools and hardware from 1923 - The Shapleigh Wholesale Hardware Catalog. The book was hand scanned at 300dpi (BW) to 600 dpi (Color). A 300-dpi scan can be made in 10 seconds on my flatbed scanner. A 600-dpi scan takes 23 seconds. Time difference is not normally a big deal. But multiply the time savings x 3144 scans and it adds up. Working 7 days a week part-time, this project will take 3.5 to 4 weeks to complete. And that is for raw scans. For 600-dpi scans it is 7.5 to 9 weeks for scanning this project part-time. Post cleanup work will add a lot more time to the project. A sheetfed scanner was not useful for this project. The catalog's paper is thin which produces wrinkled paper issues on the scans. Also, the ink used in the book is matte black which transfers to the black ink to the scanner rollers. This will leave marks on the pages that run down the full length of the page like black tire tracks. Lastly the book is old and dirty. Dirty originals lead to lines on your scan when using a sheetfed scanner. A speck of dirt on a flatbed scanner, is a speck of dirt. A speck of dirt on a sheetfed scanner is a white or black line that runs down the entire page. For more info on scanning techniques see: NSFW SHOOTOUT…Flatbed Scanner vs. Sheetfed Scanner vs. Copy Stand Photography – Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Archival Collection – II <><><><> Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Archival Collection Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Advertising Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. VHS Video Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Popular Culture Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Audio Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Social Documentary Photography

I don't use for rebar; I use them for horticulture work. Zip ties break after a year or so. I've been looking for an alternative. This is a dream tool. If you are looking for an alternative to zip ties and worry about them breaking, try rebar ties. They install very fast. <><>><> Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Archival Collection Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Advertising Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. VHS Video Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Popular Culture Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Audio Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Social Documentary Photography

Good Day I am going into a three-day shoot for a student film as the cinematographer, essentially being the DOP of the shoot. I would like to get some input on what the essentials would be for a cinematographer to have on set - I am talking consumables to make the shooting process easier, not any kind of gear. Here is a list that I've made so far, please feel free to add to the list if there is anything useful that you have found. Gaffer gloves - for preventing barn doors and lights from burning your hand off gaffer tape - for, well, everything. plain markers - marking gear, making notes and for focus pulling Black wrap - that magic black stuff that wraps around any light to flag off spill light Washing pegs - for putting gels on lights dust-off - an absolute necessity deodorant - if someone marked the clapper board with a permanent marker, works well to get it off. Plus it's just convenient for everyone else if you don't smell like a hobo Maglite - taking focus, finding things in the dark Lens cleaning kit screw driver set Allen keys (also known as hex keys) multitool - the one with the toothpick, you never know when it might come in handy. Please add things that you may have found to be practical and helpful to getting things done easier on shoots.

Hello, I just finished helping a friend of mine with a shoot and the DP on set had two tools with him. One being a light meter and the other one I couldn't figure out what it could be. He would take a reading with the light meter then he would take this tool out of his pocket and a green light would flash and then he would look at it, then adjust the film camera. I thought it could be a pocket camera but I have never seen it before. Just looking to see if anyone knows what this might be. Thanks,

As i found a cheap Bolex L8 (double 8mm) and want to devellop myself, i look for a tools to split in two the 16mm film. I have take a look around internet but din't find anything yet. Can somebody help me?

Hi all, I'm looking foward to buy a new monitor to take with me on set. wich brand and model would you recomend. thanks for reading and comenting. J.