The Cinematographer’s Reel

They are "How do I get to be a DP/ Director/ Editor?" and "What should my cinematography reel be like so that I can become rich and famous/ finally get some work?".  The smarter amongst those who ask spot that the two questions are linked like siamese twins, and combine them into one longer question...
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Is Enough Too Much

As the droll comedian Steven Wright says, “You can’t have it all…where would you put it?”  Yet, we Cinematographers generally do want it all, higher resolutions, higher frame rates, higher dynamic range and more color space.  But the question of storage, (or where to put it?) is only one of the myriad of considerations.
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The Many Or The Few

it was commonly accepted in parts of the business and marketing communities that it was better to have video material out there in bulk just to be seen, today's viewers have become sufficiently sophisticated that low budget mass video now has a significant negative effect on a brand.
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The Role Of The Colorist

The Colorist Society International is the body that represents the interest of feature film colorists around the world (I'm an elected member) and is our equivalent of the DGA, ASC or ACE... we just have a much sillier acronym in CSI!  Anyway, the powers that be recently released a one page description of what it is that we do and how and when we do it that might shed a little light on the role for those that are interested or should know already.
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It’s More Than The G-Rating

From Disney to Pixar to Dreamworks, these animation studios have set the standard for what “animation” is today. This world of animation they’ve created is a coloring book, where the trees speak and the restrictions of the real world do not apply.
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Sitting On The SeeSaw

Over the years I’ve periodically dipped my toe into the waters of discussing the “business” of filmmaking; a topic I am, so far at least, fairly lousy at (at least from the perspective of profit).
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Making Innovation An Operation

The film and video industry all too often runs on the fear that every job could be our last.
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Learning to Draw Mickey Before You Can Meet The Mouse

Let’s say you want a scene shot in the park. In a live-action film, plenty of public parks are right there waiting for you, complete with trees, benches, and squirrels.
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It’s Not Just Beautiful, Why Cinematographers Are Storytellers Too

Many say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but what is it that makes beauty, in some forms, “all relative”? Most of us can agree that we find beauty in the Grand Canyon, or a sunset by the ocean, but is all beauty purely visual?
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Thinking About RED on Helium 8k

Of all the possible reasons, the least likely one right now is that you’re going to show your work in 8K resolution. Options for 8K display are extremely limited.
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A Guide To Becoming A Camera Operator

In the film and video industry experienced camera operators possess a unique combination of skills.
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Vittoraro Storaro On Color And Shooting Digital

The film and video industry all too often runs on the fear that every job could be our last.
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Ten Things To Give Up If You Want To Work Happy

The film and video industry all too often runs on the fear that every job could be our last.
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The Post Closer

Color grading in the film and video worlds has always been a heavily technical occupation. It always will be, because a major part of your responsibility is ensuring that your project meets the precise standards of broadcast and distribution companies.
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Sir Richard Branson’s Pickles

I first heard the name Richard Branson when his only claim to fame was being the editor of Student - an alternative free music paper in the UK
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The Other CSI – The Colorist Society International

At NAB in April 2016 Jim Wicks and Kevin Shaw publicly announced the launch of the Colorist Society International as the first organization to represent professional colorists as a unified voice for the film and digital entertainment industry.
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Blackmagic Drone Micro Cinema Camera

A new camera from Blackmagic is making drone-based filming better than ever. The Micro Cinema Camera is lighter, gives the user more control and makes the post production far easier, compared to its predecessors.
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The Visual Effects / Make Up Of Game Of Thrones

We found this article from Ogy Stoilov at 4K Shooters about the visual effects techniques used in Game of Thrones quite fascinating and thought we would share it with you
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Three Great Directives For A Film Editor

"Rule 1: NEVER make a cut without a positive reason."
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The Four Pillars of Story

We were read a story before bed as children, sometimes two if we begged. As adults we read online news, talk about the day’s big events; we exchange stories with our friends of how we spend our days. We know stories exist, but what exactly is a story? More importantly, how do we tell a good one?
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7 Ways to Make Your Own Luck in the Film Industry

A few weeks ago, a recent film school grad asked me on LinkedIn how he should go about finding work in the film industry. So: here’s an unordered list of ways to go about making your own luck.
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Colorimetry via Harmonic, inc.

Colorimetry is sure to be the most complicated parameter to implement being made up of many interrelated issues, if it is adopted for Ultra HD.
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RED Dragon Comparison Charts

RED Dragon Comparison Charts.
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RED SSD Capacity & Running Time

This is a quick technical note for other REDheads out there to bring together the RED SSD capacity and running time you can get using 64Gb, 128Gb and 256Gb SSD media on a RED Epic.
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A Kickstarter Video is Not For the Faint of Heart

The start-up toy company, ThoughtFull Toys, called asking if we could do a Kickstarter video for them. A well established toy inventor and a toy designer had started a new company and wanted to launch their new line of toy cars on Kickstarter in the hopes of gaining financial backing from crowd funding rather than the small number of traditional investors.
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The Art of Time Lapse

We had a call to shoot a time lapse program for an agency and their solar system client in San Francisco just the other day.
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Alex Point 2’s Blog

My name is Alex V-H (changed to protect the innocent – Chris), and I recently was accepted as an intern here. This was written to point out where I think I have grown, and where I think I haven’t grown as much, and to reflect on my time here for the summer.
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Portraits With a Red Epic Video Camera?

Can You Really Shoot Print-Quality Portraits With a Red Epic Video Camera?
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RED vs. HD – The Reality

One of the questions that we get asked all of the time goes something like this “Okay, so the RED Epic shoots 5k, but my nephew/ grandmother/ kid in the mail room/ company we’ve been using since 1972 has an HD camera and he only charges $5 a day, and it’s only for the web so why should I change?”
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Thanksgiving and Givingthanks

I’d been with a group of friends talking about why we do what we do. Some had talked about the Art of Creation, others about the lifestyle profits afforded them, or the power their role gave them over others. When it came to my turn to speak I was lost for words. Why had I spent seven years at University and over twenty years in film and video production?
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Finally… It Lives

Over the years I have written off 19 motorbikes, broken a whole load of bones, got stuck on the number 18 bus in Wembley and accidentally ended up in Euston at 3am, watched Stockport County lose every game for year after year, been propositioned by strange men and women in Amsterdam, and had strong warnings from many policemen and stronger ones from several members of various armed forces. But these were nothing in comparison to rebuilding our master web site in WordPress…
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REDCine-X, REDRocket, 5K Time Tests

Of all the questions we get about RED Digital Cinema, the biggest mystery and confusion is always the same – the scary unknown of RED R3D files and what to do with them. And if it is an unknown, how do you allocate budget and time for it?
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Is There a Formula for Being Creative?

We are always being asked by our interns, “is there a formula for being creative?” Usually we just beat them with a stick, but instead, let’s explore. David Ogilvy, advertising guru, outlined a set of sure-fire ways to catch that ever fleeting audience with a title formula.
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Santa Cruz Business Fair 2012

Our whole gang has recently returned from participating in the Santa Cruz Business Fair held at the Cocoanut Grove in Santa Cruz on Wednesday, March 14th. We were able to unveil our latest toy – the RED Epic, to do some shooting during the event.
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Wild & Crazy Times Update

I do hope that your 2012 has started amazingly well and will get even more epic as it progresses. The gang and I (aka CLAi) have certainly had a busy last few months – which means that it must be time for an update!
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Creating a Social Media Plan

Now that the Internet has taken over the bulk of advertising and communicating, it’s time for everyone to explore the new opportunities that it provides; and what better way than to utilize the evolving world of social media?
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RED File Transfer Speed Test

Anyone who regularly transfers large amounts of data knows that transfer times can be unmanageable when large quantities of data are involved. Using a 10GB RED R3D file I ran a series of tests under a variety of parameters. The results can easily be calculated to fit any amount of data under various situations and transfer methods.
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Restaurant: Nearly Impossible

The Food Network hit Restaurant: Impossible was filming an episode in Santa Cruz, California to bring it’s own brand of renovation to Hoffman’s, a local restaurant and patisserie located in the heart of downtown. Three staff members here at CLAi were asked to join the production team during the three-day production.
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Three LinkedIn Essentials

Professionals from all industries utilize LinkedIn to further themselves and their business. We at CLAi find our LinkedIn profiles pretty handy as well, yet we recognize that there is a certain way to use your profile to optimize your results. Through our own experience and the points made in Compukol Connection’s business blog, we’ve come up with three basic steps to getting the most from your LinkedIn profile: information, keywords, and references/recommendations.
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The RED One And ARRI Alexa Plus

I begin to see why there is such a fierce discussion of their comparison… both cameras shoot beautiful footage for HD or film output, they are almost the same size and weight, and both brands have a loyal following of users. But these similarities are paired with significant core differences.
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Transparency of RED

We are looking forward to the release of the EPIC-X and the Scarlet and firmly believe both cameras will be worth the wait. Unexpected glitches happen to every company, but it takes an act of bravery and commitment to keep customers informed about set backs and fully aware of what will be coming.
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Three Aspects of Digital Campaigning

Digital campaigning is a relatively new media collective that has shown remarkable success over the last several years. The two aims of digital advertising are to increase brand awareness and generate revenues for your business. In order to obtain both aims, there are three aspects of digital advertising that must be addressed: social media outreach, display advertising, and e-mail marketing.
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The Benefits of Audio Podcasts

Businesses can use podcasts to show customers newly formulated ideas and innovations or interviews with clients and the like. But in the age of television, what good is audio without video? Inc. Magazine explains that there are 4 “basic ingredients” that go into creating a video podcast: equipment, a theme, hosting, and marketing.
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SalesSpider: The Business Network

We thought we’d pass on the basic idea of websites like SalesSpider to our readers. Now there’s a website to help start-ups and small businesses spread their message through social media.
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Deadly Sins of Sales Pitching

A sales pitch is a delicate and artful process. In order to be successful, Inc. Magazine suggests avoiding the 7 deadly sins of sales pitching (learnt by us at CLAi the hard way…).
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7 Deadly Sins of Concept Pitching

Pitching a film or video concept is at best a delicate and at worst a dreaded process. So here’s a list of the 7 deadly sins of concept pitching provided by INC. Magazine (and learnt by us at CLAi the hard way…).
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From Broadband to Narrowband

Marketing and advertising have moved from broad overviews of information that target the general public to narrow and detailed segments. Inc. Magazine shares 4 tips for addressing your narrow-cast audience.
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9 RED Epic Questions Answered

Ted Schilowitz, one of RED’s big guns, answers 9 RED Epic Questions that he gets asked day in and day out, in a video interview.
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Reaching New Audiences Through YouTube

Although video marketing has been around for some time, sites like YouTube and Sclipo are helping video marketing reach new customers. Now customers expect to see the same creativity and high quality in an internet video as they would a television commercial.
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The Hobbit shot with the RED

Film lovers and J.R.R. Tolkien fans rejoice; The Hobbit is currently being shot with thirty of the new, advanced, hand-machined RED Epic-M cameras.
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Balancing a Ballet

We received a call requesting us to organize a four day shoot requiring five RED M-X’s. The job: filming Ballet San Jose’s production of Swan Lake. The whole experience has left us confident in the systems we have created and of what is achievable with just one call.
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A RED Pirouette

The most meaningful bi-product of last week’s shoot is the more clearly articulated knowledge that our RED Alliance can work quickly and capably with very short notice.
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What We Did Wrong: Part 2

Welcome to part two of our two part advice column! We realize you’ve been hotly anticipating numbers 6 through 1, so here they are without any further adieu.
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Back To Your Future

Today, a new breed of “interactive video productions” is coming from the use of multiple large video screens, programs with very high creative values, and the experience that only a few companies like CLAi have… of course, add the impact RED 4k video to that mix, along with our expertise with this new technology – well, perhaps that adds yet another dimension?
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What We Did Wrong: Part 1

We figured it to be a fitting time to address those new to the industry and provide them with some early advice. The following is the first of a two part list our company has compiled.
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Free is a Four Letter Word, like CLAi

The cost of going RED is significantly higher than it first appears! Of course, RED is heavily driven by an amazing base of users. We try to help out this community by making some of our own footage available through our website under the “Free RED Clips” banner.
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