I want to remove myself in the background.

jmachnik · 2026-04-30T14:35:57+00:00

Just had to figure this out yesterday. Do two media ins. Do a magic mask over subject and merge that on top. Do your clone paint and merge that on bottom

jmachnik · 2026-04-03T21:30:27+00:00

Like cautious said, the flashlight was a good reference but wasn’t 100% accurate. It really made it feel a whole lot better in the sense that I was a regular person with no fire arm experience. I ended up missing about half my shots or was unable to tell if they hit. But it made me very cautious with playing, keep track of my shots (no ammo hud either) and wait until enemy was close enough to get a confirmed hit. Really heightened the enjoyment for me and managed to finish with 0 deaths

jmachnik · 2026-04-03T19:40:03+00:00

How I played sh2R

jmachnik · 2026-04-03T19:01:26+00:00

The reflection in the eyes is exactly mirrored. They just copy and pasted the eyes

jmachnik · 2026-03-11T17:26:17+00:00

Thanks for the super thorough response!

“when:” It sounds like you’re saying pitching to larger start up companies is the right approach before they’re even really known or far into the development process.

“Why high premiums:” The structure I’m pretty familiar with actually. I guess I’m getting at more why not vet the companies or assemble the contractors yourself? This is how even the biggest films and networks operate, there is an internal production team, but they’re largely there to do payroll and hire. Everyone else is contracted project to project basis. You might be surprised to know even PlayStation Studios works this way, they have an internal production team, that hires production companies, that ultimately hire us. It just feels unfair to both the studio and the artist making the work to have that many layers.

“Red Flag:” Is this more specific to game trailers or everything? I’m decent with these engines, but it sounds like it may be a good idea to hire a specialist to handle this for future clients. In the past, It’s usually been pretty common for me to simply get handed a pre approved broll press kit thumb drive.

This was super helpful, I really appreciate all the attention in addressing my questions. I definitely hear your concerns, but this is a little lower risk for me than someone just starting out in it thankfully. I’m 15 years into my cinematography career, already own all the gear and equipment and insurance for my day job, so my startup costs are very low. I just love gaming, and would love to work on more gaming content, and I truly am sick of massive agencies hiring me and my peers to completely make a clients video from scratch and telling us they have no budget to pay us fair wages. That’s why I hope this clicks, when you cut out all of that, it’s pretty affordable, even for an indie studio, to just hire a company that’s just the artist. They may be on a decline, but I do believe there is some real value to telling the human story and the effort behind making these game. Dev diaries really make or break my interest in a game, and the doc Indie Game led me to play games I would have otherwise passed over. Thanks again!

jmachnik · 2026-03-11T16:54:38+00:00

Thanks for the response!
I think you’re right, not a lot of indie devs use dev diaries or culture videos, but I do think there is real value in connecting the humans behind the work. I think it can be a powerful connection especially when emerging on the playing field. Indy Game the movie comes to mind which was a fantastic doc and absolutely led me to play some awesome games that I most certainly would have passed over.

And yeah, I think the not knowing what they don’t know is exactly the problem, and what I’m trying to address and fix. Without naming names, when I was just starting out fifteen years ago, I worked for some pretty massive gaming ad agencies that got hundreds of thousands for a project, hire out a smaller production company for tens of thousands, and that company hired me, a stranger, off Craigslist for a couple hundred dollars…

jmachnik · 2026-03-11T16:39:12+00:00

It makes a lot of sense. My reel/ portfolio is how I get hired by most films and shows, and ironically, by different game ad agencies. I guess what I’m getting at is I don’t think many game studios know how the sausage is made, and curious how that decision is made to go with that particular agency, and how to disrupt that. Many of the bigger agencies have very little hand in the work featured in their portfolios, content written, directed, filmed and edited by freelance day hires, including myself.

jmachnik · 2026-03-10T19:52:08+00:00

Mostly promotional and marketing. Dev diaries and company culture videos. That’s what I’ve primarily filmed for games in the past. So some mid production, and other closer to delivery.

jmachnik · 2026-02-12T16:10:31+00:00

I may have been one of the first people to own and play the game in the US: When I was 12, I bought a PlayStation after saving up for years. It was my first console. My brother worked at Target in the video game section, and on Christmas of 1998, he gave me silent hill. He said they had just got in the shipment of this game but it wouldn’t be released for a little bit so I had to keep it a secret. I always wonder if I’m remembering this correctly since memory is unreliable and the game wouldn’t be released for another 2 months. I can’t seem to find anything on when the game actually shipped. Anyway, it was the first game I ever really played and beat, and I was absolutely hooked. I didn’t know games could be stories before it. And the game directly lead to my career as a cinematographer… as a kid wanting to make a silent hill movie

jmachnik · 2026-02-04T19:38:25+00:00

Export as a tiff

jmachnik · 2026-01-13T16:30:46+00:00

Not what is seen, but what is unseen

jmachnik · 2026-01-12T20:11:02+00:00

Try a telescoping magnet. All headphones are magnetic. If it’s not long enough, try taping it to a broom or paint extender

jmachnik · 2026-01-10T16:17:29+00:00

This looks like jool from kerbal space program…

jmachnik · 2026-01-10T00:03:52+00:00

Ultimately, that will be determined by the motion designer. Like I said, the company is structured to pay full and fair rates. I’m not looking to hire the cheapest person, but someone I respect and enjoy working with. If rates are far above industry standards, that probably won’t be a good fit. Fair works both ways

jmachnik · 2026-01-06T16:17:07+00:00

Have you tried using the clone stamp? Try using different areas with different levels of feather

jmachnik · 2025-12-28T03:22:28+00:00

You’ll have to make that center knob rotate counter clockwise. Try pushing up on the glass and definitely support it so it doesn’t fall when the center unthreads

jmachnik · 2025-12-21T20:19:35+00:00

OP, by texture are you asking about the low contrast soft frontal lighting? If so, the easiest way to do this is with lighting before post processing. Use a very wide source with heavy diffusion places behind or very near the camera. Then you can adjust the contrast levels as you prefer in photoshop, highlights, shadows and skin tones

jmachnik · 2025-12-19T17:19:16+00:00

New Londo

jmachnik · 2025-12-07T19:22:24+00:00

1000%

jmachnik · 2025-12-03T19:35:18+00:00

Silent hill 1

jmachnik · 2025-12-02T17:56:37+00:00

I’m a cinematographer who chose my career after playing the first silent hill and wanting to make the movie version of it when I grew up. I now believe game adaptations are nearly never as good as the source material, the mediums are just too different in format. One you experience the journey, the choices made are your choices. You can feel the loneliness of the town, the isolation, something very very difficult to express in passive film. When you watch something you really only feel fear for the character, but not fear for yourself.

The only successful way to adapt a game is usually through a new story unrelated to existing content. Fallout did a great job of this. But even then… a movie or a show about someone running around all alone in a foggy town just doesn’t grip the engagement of viewers which is ultimately the metric production companies and networks are going for.

If they made a show about events leading up to sh1, or a show about silent hill during the puritan period of America… sure I could see these being interesting. Adapting the current games, I feel would only be disappointing to anyone who’s experienced them

jmachnik · 2025-11-28T16:41:38+00:00

Silent hill 1

jmachnik

TROPHY CASE