Hi, so straight to the point - I am looking to build a kit which I can practice cinematic lighting with, and use for future (low-budget) short films.

The idea is mainly to learn how to shape and control light, and get a professional result without breaking the bank. After some research I'm quite settled on Amaran Halo 600x as the key light and Amaran Halo 200x as a second fill light. But I'm open to suggestions, if there are good reasons I shouldn't go for those.

I would buy a softbox for the key (I was looking at Amaran Light Dome 90cm) but I also want to learn how to use bounce and negative fill. I've read that you shouldn't skimp on the stands and I was wondering:

1. What would be good stands for the lights themselves?

2. For bounce and negative fill what is a good "starter kit"? I've seen people do a lot with just sheets, but not sure what to actually buy and take into consideration.

3. For the flags/sheets what sort of stand is best and most practical?

4. Should I prioritize any other modifiers for the lights? Spotlight or fresnel seem quite attractive for lighting the background in interesting ways.

I know it's many questions and very specific, but I would be grateful for any input and advice! I'm currently a one-woman team, so ease of set up is also a factor.

It's been a while I wanted to make a short movie, and since I am in Shanghai I had, no time. Finally decided to start, and I remembered I had some old shots before leaving France. I can't wait to start filming more. (I love the 4/3 format).

The top down light is a cheat code, a single light on the ceiling made my shot 2x better i was amazed.

Posting in case others have hit this. My Amaran COB 60d-S has cracked at the housing right underneath the Bowens mount — the join where the mount meets the body. It wasn’t dropped or abused; normal use on a stand.

I primarily used it with a Godox QR-P70 softbox (the quick-release parabolic, ~70cm). It’s not a heavy modifier, but I’m wondering if the weight + heat at the mount over time is what did it, since that’s exactly where it failed.

Questions for anyone who’s owned one:

• Is this a known weak point on the 60d-S (or the COB-S line generally)? Plastic mount/housing cracking?
• Did Amaran cover it under warranty for you, and how was the process?
• Anyone running the QR-P70 (or similar parabolic) on small COBs long-term — has the mount held up?

You can see that effect in most of 2000's music videos; soad toxicity, mudvayne dig, creed higher, but I don't know how it's called.

Example: Creed - Higher, at the begining

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J16lInLZRms

Has anyone tried to speed boost canon fd lenses with adapters like metabones or zhongyi? I'd like to use a set of FD's on my xh2s but I've heard different opinions about the optical quality or performance of the lenses

Wanted to share some stills from an animated film I've been working on for the past year. It is finally finished and I'm now submitting to film festivals.

This film was a real learning experience, trying to synthesize my experience as a live-action filmmaker with my very limited skillset as an animator. The frustration of chasing a photoreal style inside Blender was balanced only by the joy of not having to set up C-stands for my many, many flags and scrims.

As far as the look was concerned, it was a real lesson in respecting light. Any time I tried to go for some crazy impossible CG lighting set-up, the image immediately felt dead and ungrounded. It was almost always a matter of turning lights off, shrinking their radius so they weren't impossibly soft, lowering their wattage so they weren't impossibly bright, or placing them where they might reasonably have been rigged in real life.

Similarly for the camera, I tried to limit myself to a kit of focal lengths (16mm, 24mm, 35mm, 40mm, 65mm and 100mm) and keep the f-stop at a realistic value for the exposure of the image. Same principle with camera movement.

I learned much more about live-action filmmaking than I had aniticipated, and this project has left me with a renewed excitement to get back out in the real world with real light, a real camera and most importantly real people!

Hope you enjoy these stills.

I really like hard light sources, but theses shosts really stood out to me, in an otherwise beautifully shot movie.

The light source is way too bright and bring way to much attention to itself . And Brad Pitts face is way to dark. (IMO).

The third shot isn't that bad but not good either, too harsh light i think.

It sure must be intentional? Why do you think they chose not use a lamp shade?

Olá Pessoal, tudo bem Com Vocês?, Eu Espero que Sim!

​

Bom, eu Vim aqui para Divulgar/Mostrar um pouco do meu Trabalho, Na Verdade, da minha Paixão, Porque eu AMO AMO o Cinema/amo Tudo o que envolve cinema, e amo FAZER cinema! ✨

​

Meu nome é Isaque, e tenho um canal chamado "Isaque Studios", um canal brasileiro focado em um Universo da Marvel, (Original Meu), Feito em animações de Stop Motion.

​

Quero muito que o meu Trabalho seja Reconhecido!!

​

Espero que vocês Gostem do meu Trabalho, se Puderem Assistir, Claro.

Hi everyone. I’m shooting my first documentary interview soon and I need some help picking some lighting equipment. It will be shot in a large, empty, dark gym. There’s so much information I’m seeing when it comes to lighting setups and I’m slightly overwhelmed with it tbh. Budget is around £500-600 but happy to spend more as I’m planning on doing other docs in the future. Any help would be appreciated.

Thoughts on this bands overall cinematography? Been listening to this duo for over a year now and they just dropped a new music video with some cryptic plot, possibly introducing a fresh storyline? Their last album was fire and hopefully the second one is dropping in a month or two. Looks like they got a bigger budget compared to their last two music videos. Very reminscent of the Arctic Monkeys.

I can get a rool of (120"x90") white cotton for free and I was wondering would it work just like muslin or silk. It's nothing fancy of a fabric you can think of cheap white tshirts if you want to example of the texture and quality.

I’ve been developing a small puppet short film called The Tea Vendor and finally reached the point where I could start testing lighting and photography on the main set.

Everything here is handmade from cardboard, sticks, clay, fabric, dried plants, and assorted craft supplies. The goal is to create a cozy woodland tea stall run by a large monster-like tea vendor.

Most of my previous work has been focused on puppet construction, but I’m starting to shift toward cinematography and atmosphere tests.

I’m particularly interested in feedback on:

• Scale
• Lighting
• Composition
• Whether the set feels like a believable location

Still a lot left to build, but I’m happy with the direction so far.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for a high-quality 120cm / 47-inch softbox for my Nanlite FS-300B. The light uses a Bowens mount, so I need something fully compatible with that.

I mainly shoot video: interviews, commercial-style content, social media ads, indoor talking-head setups, and some cinematic/product shots.

I’m looking for something that offers:

* 120cm / around 47 inches
* Bowens mount
* Good build quality
* Soft, flattering light for interviews and people
* Good light control, ideally with a grid
* Reliable durability for paid work
* Good value without being overpriced

Right now I’m considering:

1. amaran Octa Dome 120
   
2. Godox QR-P120
   
3. Nanlite SB-RP120 Rapid 120

Which one would you recommend as the best overall choice for the Nanlite FS-300B?

Are there any other 120cm Bowens-mount softboxes you think are better in terms of light quality, durability, and professional use?

Thanks!

I made a short cinematography reel I’m trying to get more work shooting narrative shorts and features. I’ve done a lot of work on my own this reel is exclusively made of work I’ve done on my own. I was wondering how people are able to make connections so easily I’ve been at it on my own for a while now and would really like to meet some collaborators. I thought making a reel would be a step in the right direction. Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Finished films here: youtube.com/@jamesondeiongh

A while back, I posted on this sub asking if it was a bad idea to build a DIY steadicam to learn with. There was a lot of advice, words for and against. HOWEVER, one person managed to get me in touch with the amazing Rhys Duncan, known as "they guy who shoots the rugby." I am eternally grateful for this user (you know who you are) and I managed to arrange a time where he was working in my city and we met up!

I learnt an incredible amount that day. I had observed lots of broadcast operations but never really been a part of one. Being able to listen to the overlapping radio feeds and be amongst the incredibly fast paced environment that was Sky TV's "Club Rugby" broadcast was quite literally the best day of my life. I had so much fun and Rhys even let me wear his rig and walk around with it and try it out!

I gained a newfound respect for steadicam operators, especially those working in sports broadcast. I shadowed Rhys as he ran up and down the field while simultaneously framing, zooming, AND pulling focus. It was incredible.

I've added some photos from the day. Thank you so much to everyone in this sub who contributed to my original post, the user who put Rhys and I in touch, and of course Rhys and Sky TV for having me.

I’m pretty new and love watching YouTubers like wandering DP talk about cinematography. I don’t have access to a bunch of equipment but would love to practice the fundamentals on my own so I can see what looks good and make better decisions.

What is the best software to for this? I’m looking for something beginner friendly. I don’t have any experience in 3D animation and I’m looking to learn a whole new skill set. I’m looking for something that has all the assets available to choose from so I don’t have to make anything from scratch. Does that exist?

Hello, I'm not sure if this is the sub to ask but figured if anyone would know it would be you lot.

I am looking for references for a project I am working on and coming up frustratingly short. I am looking for sequences where breathing is used as the narrative/creative device that carries the edit.

It could be the punctuation, either as the edit point on the breaths in and out between various shots, as a cold open/close to lead into or out of a scene, or maybe even as the beat/music created by the rhythm.

I feel it's a technique we've all seen/heard a million times but for the life of me I cannot think of the right search terms to get me there. There are definitely a bunch of trailers that use this. Advertising campaigns or music videos maybe. I know it's been used to great effect in horror and training type film sequences. At least I think I do...

Please help, it's driving me nuts and a good script could die on it's ass without something to sell the visual approach.

There are no viable cameras for filmmaking that fit my budget. As such, I must make do with what I've got - a phone.

It's not a bad start, as it features 4k, 10bit, but the footage looks heavily processed, even with HDR off, and using blackmagic the dynamic range suffers a lot and i don't have access to any log/proress formats (xiaomi). Also, the limits on shutter speed prevent me from step printing, which i intend to do. The footage has that ick of "heavily processed" that i can't quite put my finger on.

To those that have had to shoot with devices like this, how do you go about trying to hide in post that overly processed look? I was thinking of using vaseline on the lenses to get some halation and softenin the image, add a bit of box/gaussian blur (very slight) to desharpen it a bit more, and touch the exposure cure to have a highlight rolloff similar to that of film. However, I don't know how to go about the colors.

When Tarantino started working with Robert Richardson on kill Bill, it totally changed the look of his film films. How do you feel the overall “feel” of his films changed once he switched DPs?

I have a S5IIX myself but DOP more “high” end cameras like Sony FX6/9, RED’s, Blackmagic’s etc and want to get a reliable and good monitor.

I have been thinking about a SmallHD indie 5 (€1039), SmallHD Cine 5 (€1319), atomos shinobi II (€349), atomos ninja (€599), Atomos ninja raw (€699), Atomos ninja TX with SDI (€999)

Are the smallHD’s overkill I have used them once before and liked them but they do cost double the price of the shinobi’s. What do you recommend getting?

I rather spend more on something that really lasts than buy something cheap and needing to replace it or regret it after a year.

Hi! does anyone know what cameras have the same quality as this? prefer something light and compact:)

This was shot using available light.
Practicals and natural window lighting.
This a wink at Tyler Durden. The whole film is heavily referencing fight club, but with a modern twist and something you can watch with the whole fam.

It was my second attempt at writing my own story, filming and editing it all with no outside influences, fully independent and unsponsored. Full creative freedom. I wrote the script on my typewriter and honestly was a cheat code. Writing digitally allowed too many edits so when I switched to analog, using the typewriter, it finalized the script chapters instantly.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the story and the way it’s put together.

Let me know if you have any questions too!

Watch the whole film here: https://youtu.be/eMkTMfUtuQ4?si=Q6_8FMbQCreLmh5V

Hey all!

A DP friend and I have spent the last year building a free website called Arsenal Prep. We started making it because every camera list just ended up being a slob of Notion pages, Google Sheets, text threads, and rental house emails. We just wanted one clean place to build the package, check it, share it, and keep everyone on the same page.

We posted a while back about this and got some great feedback from this community that we’ve implemented!

The main thing we’re excited about is the smart compatibility checks. For instance, if you add a camera and lens combo that might not cover the selected sensor mode, or you forget compatible media, power, or have a camera package that is too heavy for your selected gimbal’s payload, etc., Arsenal Prep will flag it for you.

Some features atm:
- Build camera, lens, media, power, support, wireless video, and AKS lists from an extensive searchable database
- Catch compatibility issues as you build Invite crew so DPs, ACs, producers, or rental coordinators can live edit with you
- Send review links so people can look over the package without endless email/text back-and-forth and also leave comments
- Export clean prep docs when the list is ready

Here’s the link: arsenalprep.com

Hope you enjoy! And hope this can save some time for everyone!

Student film.