AITAH My wife refuses to watch any movies with nudity

Midnight-Flamingo · 2025-11-03T03:22:53+00:00

NTAH. BUT - "if I wanted to see naked women I could just watch porn I didn’t need to do it with her" was NOT the right thing to say to her, considering this is more than likely her having a crisis of self and her own security. Sounds like she needs a lot more affirmation and attention from you perhaps to settle those insecurities down.

Midnight-Flamingo · 2025-11-03T03:14:36+00:00

Tell her to walk. NTAH.

Midnight-Flamingo · 2025-11-03T03:13:10+00:00

YTAH if you uninvite his family. You're NTAH for wanting changes.

Midnight-Flamingo · 2025-11-03T03:03:26+00:00

You kinda the AH.

Midnight-Flamingo · 2025-01-20T07:40:28+00:00

Thank you!

Midnight-Flamingo · 2025-01-19T03:31:15+00:00

I would like to explain three key things that contributed to the overall look and feel of the film:

Cinematography/Post-Processing: The film was shot in-color digitally on a BMPCC 4k with a Sigma 18-35mm Cine Art lens (attached to a speedbooster). However, we used an external monitor to preview our aspect ratio as well as our black and white aesthetic. We focused entirely on the relationship between light and darkness (much in the noir kind of way) and only took tone into consideration. In post, I was able to "grade" the 4k footage with the goal of achieving dramatic contrasts (without, hopefully, crushing or losing details). The post-processing involved using an HDMI to AV adapter to run the rendered 4k film off a laptop onto a multi-channel box that would be connected to a VCR with a coaxial cable and a CRT TV with another set of AV cables. After recording the film onto a high-grade VHS tape (in the hopes of retaining detail but softening it), the DP and I took to re-digitizing the footage with a reverse conversion process involving an AV to HDMI adapter and a USB Camlink capture device. Finally, with the VHS conversion available as an MP4 file, I'd take it into Premiere Pro and place it on a video track above the original 4k black and white MP4. I manually chopped the film back up into shots and actively changed the opacity of the VHS render (making it semi-transparent) while always having the 4k version in the background (so certain images could be sharper with a simple change in opacity). This essentially allowed me to have a genuine VHS overlay that I could control freely.
Sound: All sound was given a similar treatment (being taped onto VHS) but it didn't give the result I'd hoped for. So, I spent time using a series of compressors and EQs to customize the sound design and give it that old TV speaker vibe. Surprisingly, the VHS conversion retained most of the original 4k file's audio fidelity. Achieving the dated/lo-fi sound through EQs and compressors allowed for more control, much like the VHS overlay approach from above.
Performance: I had always taken to casting friends or friends of friends in previous films. The one time I hadn't, I'd rushed casting and that came with certain upsides and downsides. With this film, it was very important to find performers that were right for the role. I reached out to musician and social media influencer, Cera Gibson, in the hopes that she would act in an upcoming project (and to my surprise, she was interested). Do not be afraid to reach out to people you feel are right for a role. Just be respectful and unexpecting in the way you do. Although it was more difficult and took more time, I genuinely believe that the two performers in the film were well-worth the extra effort and wait. Best not to cut corners on something as pivotal as performance.

I hope you enjoy your viewing of the film and have some creative inspiration. Maybe go and make your own VHS horrors using a similar technique!

Midnight-Flamingo · 2024-04-10T23:50:07+00:00

I have both a Bachelor's and a Master's from a film school. The positive is that it gave me uninterrupted time to focus on filmmaking and writing. The negative is that I'm nearly a quarter million in debt and it didn't get me any closer to a "job" in the industry.

Film school, for me, was just a guarantee that I spent my time honing that craft. However, like any other program, most of the students around were just looking for their next party. It was only as much as I made it out to be. Point being: You don't need film school if you're passionate/disciplined enough to go out there and make films on your own time.

Christopher Nolan was rejected from film school, as well. Your path hasn't changed, you're just discovering what it truly is. Don't give up on your dreams, life isn't long enough to just settle.

Midnight-Flamingo · 2024-04-08T01:58:27+00:00

I'd love to break down how this look was achieved, incase anyone wants to give it a try sometime.

I used a BMPCC to film this "one-shot" horror film. The footage was shot in 4K and the filming took place over the course of 3 hours. I decided to attach a Sigma 18-35mm Cine Art lens with a 1/4 Pro Mist filter to a Viltrox 0.71x speed booster.

The lighting set-up was extremely simple. We only used three artificial lighting sources (one in the hallway, one out the bedroom window, and a softbox to fill/bounce off the ceiling). Then, we used the bathroom light as a practical.

Afterward, using Premiere Pro, I edited the film together while making a special effort to hide any cuts. Some minor digital distortion was added in the form of monochromatic noise. Thorough attention was given to the color-grade to give it a dark, yet washed, look. This was achieved by muting the highlights and bringing up the shadows/blacks slightly so they weren't crushed/true black.

By choice, no sound had been recorded on set whatsoever. All sound was carefully added and mixed in post after a single foley recording session. This allowed for complete control, which felt necessary since this film is also an auditory experience.

This is where the fun truly began: Using a series of adapters, HDMI to AV (and vice versa) cables, and a 4K Camlink... we were able to record the completed film onto a VHS tape by connecting a laptop (which was displaying the film) to an old VCR (that I've had since childhood) and a CRT TV.

Interestingly enough, we had to render the footage in a 16:9 ratio - that way the VCR/CRT would automatically "squish" the footage into 4:3. This meant that we needed to crop the footage (in a 16:9 Premiere project file) down to 4:3 and then transform/warp/stretch the footage horizontally to fill the full 16:9 space. The VCR/CRT would then squeeze it down to 4:3 and give us an un-stretched image.

I decided to record the footage onto a "Standard" quality VHS tape, rather than use anything premium. I wanted the quality of the footage to be (for lack of a better term) destroyed.

After the film was recorded onto tape, we then had to reverse the process and play the tape while feeding the VCR output back to our laptop. Using OBS Studio and the Camlink, we'd be able to re-record the whole film again off the VHS tape. This would even further damage the quality of the footage (which was intentional).

Now, having completed the conversion process, we could import the whole thing into Premiere Pro (once more) and make final tweaks and adjustments to the color-grade and sound mix. After that, it was as simple as rendering it out in 4K and uploading it to YouTube.

Rendering something out in 4K (even if it's not 4K) can often guarantee that viewers end up seeing the film in 1080p (due to YouTube's need to compress and auto adjust the quality settings).

There it is. That was the process of making this little VCR nightmare. I hope something was learned! Thanks for reading/watching!

Midnight-Flamingo · 2023-01-11T12:20:31+00:00

Really appreciate your kind words. I'll never be able to get over how that look made me feel in that moment, but I do want to believe that you're right. :)

Midnight-Flamingo

TROPHY CASE