sareesh | wolfcrow
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General Filmmaking

The 15 Film Directors Who Have Influenced Me the Most

These fifteen directors have had the greatest impact on my thinking about film direction and storytelling.

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HOLD Photography workflows

Free Exposure Meter

When in times of need, especially when I’m shooting with film and have to guesstimate exposure, I use this: To download and make your own exposure meter, click here. Courtesy Andy Lawn, Dave Harris and Rick Oleson. The best way to use it? Guess the exposure first after studying the light levels, then look at […]

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MEM Case Studies

Making The Impossible Murder

Yeah, I’ve made a feature film, too. Here’s the tagline: An old lady is killed in a locked room under impossible circumstances. Five witnesses hear her screaming while trying to break open the door to her room. When they enter, she is dead but there is no sign of the killer or the murder weapon. […]

Categories
HOLD Photography workflows

How important is Mirror Lockup and a Cable Release?

I’ve always wondered how much of a difference a tripod, mirror lock-up and a cable release would make to the sharpness of my images. So, I decided to test for myself. Test Parameters and workflow: Canon 550D with 18-55 IS II Kit lens at 55mm f/8 at ISO 200 and shutter at 1/60s Shot in […]

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HOLD Photography workflows

ETTR – Expose to the Right

To improve signal to noise ratio (S/N), many professionals advocate ETTR (Expose to the right) when faced with low contrast scenes. The Luminous Landscape has two great articles by Michael Reichmann explaining this here and here. You might want to read them first before going on. I decided to test this to see for myself […]

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MEM Making The Impossible Murder

VIII: The Impossible Post

Post production on The Impossible Murder took one year. First it went to a post-house (I won’t name them) who promised to do the editing, VFX, grading and sound mixing for a reasonable fee. After paying them a hefty advance, I learnt their editor was doing multiple jobs at the same time. The editing took […]

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MEM Making The Impossible Murder

VII: The Impossible Shoot

Completing a film shoot on time and under budget is an act of sheer will. I won’t be going into the details of what a shoot entails. However, here’s a list of things to watch out for: The tighter the schedule, the lesser the time to think. The more well-planned you are, the more freedom […]

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MEM Making The Impossible Murder

VI: The Impossible Logistics: Food, Travel and Living

If nothing else, an independent filmmaker must: Provide adequate, tasty and nutritious meals to all its cast and crew members, never treating anybody with prejudice as regards their designation, skill or experience. Provide comfortable travel (even if cheap), and ensure the cast and crew don’t have to struggle to find a location or place of […]

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MEM Making The Impossible Murder

Chapter V: Getting others to do the Impossible [Part Two: Crew]

A film crew is made up of many people, of varying skills, with different goals in life. The ability to bring them together to achieve a common objective is a valuable one indeed. Movies that have the budget make this happen by throwing around money. There are too many experienced and talented professionals without work, […]

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MEM Making The Impossible Murder

Chapter 4: The Impossible Technology (Part One)

The question is simple: can we create the same look and feel of big-budgeted feature films using technology that is cheaper?

As of writing this article, the simple and unpopular answer is: No, we can’t.