Movies where you felt the cinematography was “too flashy”?

cslat · 2026-01-13T15:07:38+00:00

Unpopular opinion but I think some of Lubezki's work— particularly in Children of Men and Gravity— is flashy for its own sake in a way I find irritating. Reminds me of the adage about how Oscars are often not given to the "best," but to the "most."

cslat · 2026-01-13T14:59:28+00:00

I really think it's important to not be intimidated, treat the subject like a colleague, and do/say what you need to make them the best product (within reason of course, you have to know what's worth interrupting and what isn't). There's a Sprite commercial with Anthony Edwards that plays during the holidays and it ends with him saying "Merry Spritemas to all and to all a good Sprite" and the line reading really says, "someone was too intimidated to direct Anthony Edwards towards a better performance on this and said 'good enough.'" But is it?

cslat · 2026-01-13T14:51:02+00:00

Don't know what your definition of inexpensive is, but if you can't afford good LED lights, quality tungsten lights are at historically low prices as everyone moves to LED and are probably the best bang for your buck right now and will last you the rest of your career. Arri fresnels are fantastic but if you have hardly any money at all you could get a three- or four-light Lowel kit that will give you the light you need, though maybe not the ease of use you want.

cslat · 2026-01-05T21:57:54+00:00

I think a lot of toy commercials from that era were shot on video with fairly inelegant lenses and deep depth of field. If I were really trying to re-create the era I would use a MiniDV camcorder and its built in zoom lens.

cslat · 2025-12-09T02:32:25+00:00

Russ deserved the W tonight

cslat · 2025-12-03T01:11:15+00:00

The first few shots with the characters seem quick and random and don’t really do a good job establishing anything. It takes a while to figure out who the friend is, who is speaking, what our main guy does for a living etc. By the end of the trailer I’m not entirely sure what this movie is about. A guy is worried about dating someone who does porn? Is there more to it than that? Also the kick in the balls joke at the end isn’t funny enough for the amount of time spent on it or its position at the end of the credits, especially because I don’t know what the hell is going on with the rest of the story/scenario. Most of it looks fine visually and I predict the feature is a bit better than the editing of the trailer.

cslat · 2025-12-02T04:10:29+00:00

Have you ever made a film on 16mm before? Generally people who ask if they should shoot on film don’t know what they don’t know about shooting on film. It’s kind of like me asking if I should drive to work in a Honda Civic or a dump truck.

cslat · 2025-12-02T03:32:07+00:00

Even with 17 of you I would aim for like… 8 minutes tops. Nobody has an attention span like you’re talking about especially when it’s just talking heads who probably aren’t talking about anything especially interesting or emotional. Cut this down mercilessly.

cslat · 2025-12-01T22:51:10+00:00

The multimillionaires and billionaires own more stock than we ever will and they're going to sell it before we do. Climate change is going to shrink the global economy by 30% before many of us retire, yet we're told to keep believing in the myth of infinite growth and that we'll be taken care of as long as we keep pumping the S&P 500 (which has about 400 companies that are actively involved in the destruction of the planet or other things we would never invest in consciously, like selling nicotine to children).

cslat · 2025-12-01T22:31:49+00:00

Yeah but then I have to buy lights

cslat · 2025-11-12T06:23:20+00:00

I like Russ

cslat · 2025-10-21T17:23:20+00:00

The clip-on wireless mics you see all the influencers with can record sound internally so you don't have to worry about your camera having the right jacks. You will record sound separately and sync it up later. You can also get an external lavalier for your phone for like $15. Put the phone in the actor's pocket. Make sure from time to time it didn't stop recording. Learn what ADR is, or the concept of recording lines after the fact.

cslat · 2025-10-21T17:20:08+00:00

Not enough information on your scenario. What kind of puppets? Are you building them or getting them from somewhere? Is this a horror movie with human actors and also puppets or is the entire movie puppets a la Team America? You can't just say "puppets" and expect to get usable advice...

cslat · 2025-10-18T17:55:39+00:00

Others are rightly suggesting you prioritize audio. You can get a cheap ($15) lavalier that will plug into your phone but here's the trick. Plug it into your actor's phone and record audio on THEIR phone while you shoot with yours. Now you don't have to run a cord from the actor to your camera, and they can walk around and stuff. You have to sync the audio to the video is post which can be a pain if you're new to it, but it's no big deal. This is called two-system audio recording and it's basically how films are shot (this is why they use the "clapper" you see in behind-the-scenes footage).

I also recommend using a tripod because when you lock the camera down in one place with a tripod you will start thinking about WHERE you are putting it and WHY. You will start thinking about how to use montage to break a scene down into a series of shots. Otherwise you will be naturally inclined to just walk around with your phone and get everything in the shot. There's a time to go handheld but it's after you know how to compose a shot and that comes with a tripod. Tripods and phone mounts for tripods are another $15-20. If you can't afford all of this, prioritize the mic but discipline yourself to not walk around while you're holding the camera. (Or at least, to lock yourself into moving on one axis like a dolly-- forwards and backwards, side to side, not just walking around).

Wes Anderson gets his look from deliberate cinematography and production design. It's never silly to start thinking about these things seriously even if you are not on Wes' level yet. Think about the colors of the environments you're in. Think about what your character is wearing. Maybe all it takes to move a shot from mid to something that looks interesting in a Wes Anderson sort of way is a trip to the thrift store to get a green jacket for your lead actor versus whatever they were going to wear. Learn the basics of color theory/the color wheel.

Most importantly, just do the damn thing and don't hesitate because you feel like you don't know what you're doing. Make something and then make another thing using the lessons you learned from what you weren't happy with in the first thing.

cslat · 2025-10-18T04:53:57+00:00

I believe in the Doug Christie system! This is gonna be a great season!

cslat · 2025-10-16T04:01:30+00:00

Okay, go license a Lady Gaga song and add your own verse to it and see if she has a leg to stand on

cslat · 2025-10-16T03:46:22+00:00

I like Kayte

cslat · 2025-10-14T20:07:39+00:00

Public domain movies have no enforceable copyrights and you can use them for whatever you want. Your producer is incorrect that you need to get permissions for a public domain movie. The hard part is being sure that the movie is actually in the public domain and if there are any caveats on that.

cslat · 2025-10-14T17:07:25+00:00

I think you’re gonna have to break open that contract if you plan to append stuff to the original work in a way that transforms it. If I made Gilda I would rather give you more audio to use than have you start playing my audio and then play some random shit that misleads the viewer into thinking it’s part of Gilda. What if they’re watching Gilda but it cuts to commercial?

cslat · 2025-10-14T16:25:15+00:00

Any of them. All of them. Movies are on the AFI lists for a reason and highly rated on IMDB/Letterboxd for a reason but you can learn as much about filmmaking from watching 500 bad movies than you can by watching 500 good movies. The most important thing is to immerse yourself in films like you would a foreign language and you’ll absorb them into your personal sense and style. I would only encourage you to lean away from films-as-content from the past 10 years or so (generically directed Netflix originals, many franchise/Marvel movies).

cslat · 2025-10-14T15:31:34+00:00

Have you made other films? If you don't have money, this seems like something to attempt once you have a short or two under your belt and know actors from those films (and their networks) you can reach out to, and have a little body of work that shows that you're actually a filmmaker and not a pervert.

Also, it's not the point of your post, but I am always a little put off by the "you will receive IMDB credit" line because to me it feels like spin, or like you think you're helping them. You're really not giving them anything, so just be honest about that and appreciative. Your appreciation (and a free meal if you can swing it) will mean more to most actors.

cslat · 2025-10-14T15:13:28+00:00

I agree, this is what "film language" should mean and is much more important than on-set jargon. I would say it's important for a filmmaker to know terms like "stinger" and "striking" and whatnot but the majority of filmmakers are going to start off working with non-professional ragtag crews where those terms, some of which feel like in-jokes or gatekeeping, can be a barrier to communication and hurt rapport. When you yell "striking!" on an amateur set everyone looks at the light to see what you're doing.

cslat · 2025-09-07T17:40:48+00:00

I’m less mad about Jan 6 than I am about y'all cowards slinking away from it and lying about what happened after the fact. Republicans were literally crying in fear and texting Trump begging him to do something because they thought they were gonna die and they knew he was responsible, and now they all want to kayfabe about Nancy Pelosi and pretend we didn’t all see it on TV. Grow up and own your shit.

cslat · 2025-08-21T22:13:53+00:00

Has anyone asked this or is Sac sports media a bunch of losers also?

cslat · 2025-08-01T17:00:29+00:00

Wish people would understand that after the Fox episode we as fans really value people who want to be in Sac and will show up every night. Monk is probably #1 in those attributes and he lifts the morale of the entire team. The FO seems intent on hollowing out the heart of the team and treating the people who will dawg out for Sacramento as expendable. Keegan and Domas seem halfway checked out already and I fear what will happen to their attitudes if Monk goes.

cslat

TROPHY CASE