Anne Le Sauvage
Ethusiastic amateur editor
I'm a young amateur film editor in her 20's, desperate to get to do this for a living one day.
I started off with Windows Movie Maker, moved to iMovie, and after a brief stint with Adobe Premiere Elements is now learning the ropes with Final Cut Pro X. If anyone has any tips for me for learning, I'd greatly appreciate it!
In my spare time, I like to play video games, ride my motorcycle and am taking an Open Degree with the Open University, mainly concentrating on Creative Writing.
Anyone got any recommendations for this? My current 'solution' is leaky zip-loc bags and a prayer to a deity that may not be out there.
Can't give you many recommendations for gear, as I'm limited on experience with a variety of lenses, and I'm not up to scratch with microphones and audio either.
As for learning resources, I have too many to name, but here's a few tips:
Whenever you see a relevant pdf going free from a reputable website, give it a read and if it tells you something you find useful, grab it and keep it around for reference. If you have an iPad/Kindle/other tablet, download it into iBooks or the Kindle app and keep it there for if you run into a snag while out shooting. Even keep it on your phone, or print a copy and put it into a folder to keep with your camera. Signing up to receive updates from here will give you a pdf to start with, if you haven't already got it!
Experiment with the settings on the camera(s) you own and shoot as much as humanly possible.
Make all the mistakes. You'll learn what they were from the footage you get (whether you set too high an iso or incorrect frame rate, whether your focus is off because of human error, etc) and you'll be able to look up how to avoid it/correct it next time.
You probably know this already, but don't listen to anyone saying your gear isn't good enough...There is always the possibility that the expensive camera they chose to blow their money on is being used solely to take 4k+ videos of their cat sleeping.
Finally, have fun. :)
Not so much 'crushing the details' as much as 'I want to be able to SEE my own movie'.
I had the T3i and used it to film something on my friend's birthday. Didn't use Magic Lantern, but the footage came out great (ok, it was mostly static shots, but still, it looked damn crisp).
Got a 7D Mark II now because I'm a frequent photographer, but the video was always fantastic on the stock Rebels/T*i/XX0D cameras.
I like the concept and the design: Fuji's brought out an Instax camera that looks like a throwback to the classic rangefinders and SLRs, and their X100, etc, so the style of this is pretty cool and could be a talking point with people who have had the chance to use the real deal. And visually it could produce some beautiful effects, especially when you experiment with the paper used on the back (I'm wondering about the effect of a floral or striped paper, or even another photograph...). In the right hands, the outcome could be pretty spectacular.
However, I'd rather it was smaller and not specifically smartphone-required, and I'd hope it used a glass rather than plastic lens. If they had put an APS-C or a Micro 4/3rds sensor in it and made it a little more compact, I would have been much more interested in it for photography at least.
You shameless self-promoters...giving me stuff to watch...
I kid. I'll check these out. I got really into watching noir for a bit a few years ago.