Hello, I'm Curren. I'm an ASC Award Winning Cinematographer and Academy-Award nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker who loves making films and sharing my experience doing so.
I am the director of photography and co-producer of the award-winning documentary "King Coal", as well as the director of photography and producer on the Netflix Original Documentaries "Heroin(e)" and "Recovery Boys." I have also been the co-director of photography on HBO's "Phoenix Rising," Freeform's "Keep This Between Us." My feature directorial debut, "Country Brawlers" premiered in Fall 2023 and my micro-budget feature "Beat Down" premieres Fall 2024.
I'm hoping to select a lovely zoom lens for my FX3. One that isn't too sharp yet artistic. I already have the Sigma Zoom 24-70mm and it's sort of bland in my eyes. I'd appreciate your thoughts on this when you do your lenses video!
Deakins is a legend and yet a very humble person, he gives a lot of advices and answers on his forum. Thanks for this video, i think the problem with the "cinematographic" thing is that a subjective and somehow abstract quality, more a feeling than a technical aspect. That's why it's so hard to grab, to me.
Great test and video Curren. I think you were thoughtful and objective. We def share some opinions, I have shot with shoulder rigs for many years and like you, have grown to hate them. They are a one trick pony IMHO and I think a lot of camera users just buy one because they look impressive and they haven''t throught out what their real needs are on their shoots. Shoulder rigs are a default for many but they do rack your body and they aren't very flexible. I am burned out on looking through an EVF and prefer to look at a 5-7" screen. Not sure if you've ever used or checked ouit the Ergo Rig? I've shot on a some cooking contest shows for Discovery and those shows often have 10-12 operators. The last one I worked on, every operator other than the jib and a single gimbal op were shooting big. heavy FX9 rigs with huge lenses like Angenieux 25-250 and dual Gold Mount batteries so the rigs were HEAVY. Most of the the ops had an Ergorig, which makes a lot of sense. It doesn't solve the other issues of shoulder mounted shooting, but it does reduce the physical damage to your body. www.ergorig.com/ I personally use the EasyRig MiniMax, which I love. My FX6 rig loaded is about 12lbs and I shoot a three hour weekly live broadcast with it as the main handheld op. I literally couldn't do the shoot without it. I have been working on some walking shots and I have them to a point where they are usable. Not super smooth but not too jarring and wavering either. Also, not sure if you've seen the new Mantis system yet? This is a rubber bungee system that attaches to an EasyRig. It's a chunk of money but I am impressed with how much it improves the movement and stability of the EasyRig, I may get one. Downsides are it increases height because it bolts on top of the EasyRig arm and it starts at about $1,500 and up but the improvements are noticeable over a stock EasyRig too.
I like the micro boom I just wish there was an option to use a small XLR mic with it. Like the Deity Smic 2s is pretty small and I think it's within the weigh limit of the micro boom so it sucks you cant recycle it with XLR
Hey Curren - with that C70 rig with cage, mattebox, onboard monitor, shotgun set up with manual lenses (Anamorphic or Cine primes) how do you go handheld? you dont get micro shakes hand holding it? or you use an easy rig? because ive tried with A7S Mk3 / Sony A1 with sigma cine primes and im worried about lens shake shooting handheld. Whereas I dont really get this issue with larger cameras as its normally on ur shoulder
Thank for the great and inspirational video. I really appreciate your concrete point by point advice. I’m slowly starting my journey (with family movies) and your advice really helps me develop and save time. No need to invent the wheel. Sorry if my English is a bit off. 🤘
4:30 onward with the trees, bokeh looks excellent. I have been eyeing these lenses up for a while but I am wondering which to get for my OG sensor (Mavo Edge 8k)
I found it a really interesting when making my second short doc, that I more or less cut all the prettiest shots. I was in a beautiful location and got up early every day to shoot eye candy stuff that never got used. The stuff that got used was important moments of dialogue, a little bit of exposition and anything that enhanced the claustrophobia of the film and did not break that atmosphere.
Great video (and channel!). I've been wondering for a while now if the Easyrig is worth investing in, so thank you for covering that. The Saak was quite a surprise; I initially thought it was just a social media stunt, but it seems to deliver solid results in versatile situations. I only wish you had tested the Easyrig and vest with a gimbal (or another method that imitates a Steadicam) for movement shots. This kind of setup obviously adds extra weight, which can become uncomfortable during long shoots. I guess, ultimately, it comes down to the cinematographer's decision and the type of shot they're aiming for. In documentary filmmaking, the best solution is probably a mix of several methods.
I've been thinking about this myself today and this video popped up, handy! One thing I was thinking of trying out is just packing bounce/silk/neg fabric with eyelets, and a length of cord. If you can find somewhere in the room to tie the cord to (or tie to one of those clamps), you could feasibly string up a pretty large bounce or silk with no stands at all, and that set up would take up even less bag space than the reflectors. It's not good for every location, but I gaffed some scenes in a building with a suspended ceiling the other month, and I ended up clamping a load of neg directly to the frame, and It would have been even easier if the fabric had eyelets and I had some cord.
Love the Take Risks approach. We all get so caught up with what everyone else is doing, what gear the best cinematographers are using. Pave your own way. Thanks Curren!
Even here on RU-vid, it's hard to not just see what else has done well and do more of that - but man, that is the death knell of creativity. Standing out is all about being better than everyone else OR doing something different - and the latter is actually much easier (though, not easy).
Once upon a time, each of your points in this video were part of a nation wide training for a sales staff. I like seeing that this all applies to many areas of work and development. Incase nobody else says it, I'm proud of you.
It’s an interesting camera for sure, but having rented the 6k version for several projects, I feel like it’s got a bit too much of that digital look that DJI cameras (meaning X5 and X7) have. Shot a project where similar setups were used with Red Komodo and 4D, and Komodo definitely looked better in the grade and required less fiddling to get a filmic image. Secondly, being limited with small lightweight lenses is a big downside for me, as most of the “interesting” looking glass is beyond what 4D gimbal can handle. Heck, even if we take Garland & Hardy duo as an example, Ex Machina and Annihilation look way cooler compared to Civil War. But hey, as far as all arounder cameras go, I think Ronin 4D is hard to beat and will perfectly suit most of sports, doc, action, corporate & event type of shoots, especially with a limited or no crew
If you're able , test out the 8k version - I think it's WAY nicer than the 6k version - the OLPF and that sensor does a lot of extra work to get a more filmic image. I am also using it primarily with the Cooke SP3s, which I think helps - haha.
i have been on the hunt for a set or at least a simplified version for switching camera from gimbal and tripod(can also be tripod and shoulder rig). I mostly shoot films, and always required me to switch my setup from tripod to either shoulder rig or gimbal( never all these from my experience). i wanna talk about gimbal and tripod setups mainly( most common switching) as gimbal requires camera to be stripped down quite a bit or at least relocate monitor, v mount battery and readjust cables. there is much that we can do when it comes to cables but i have found out that using kondor blue quick lock mini to top handle, monitor and side handle has made things a bit easier. additionally sticking with dji plates that are manfrotto style for tripod also makes it faster to change set ups. I am still in search of a perfect setup that might allow me to as fast as dji ronin 4d when it comes to switching. I like ronin 4d personally but have found some issues, for me as least that might not suit for films( slow readout speed, super expensive media, lack of lens support and weight capacity). If you have any suggestions to make these switches faster and more efficient, please let us know. thank you for the great video!
I have tried a bit at the IBC fair, I thought this thing was going to be heavy but it feels perfect! Questions, is it possible to make the motion feel more natural and less ultra smooth. Lens choices, what limitations are there in weight, and codec, is there something to do really long recordings with (like compressed RAW), or maybe record to an external usb drive.
Oooh good question. I've never used a teleprompter with it, but I think you'd need something really light like the padcaster parrot - I mention it in my Gear That Has Simplified My Life Video.
I've been fascinated by yours and other cinematic analysis, even though it's very far from my own photography (mostly wildlife). It's fascinating to see how the vision of the cinematographer and director can create a world that doesn't exist, and the draw us in. In my shooting I kind of have to live with whatever is there.. but to build world with camera angles, color and light... I would not know where to start. Despite similarity in tools, the cinematographer and the documentary videographer are two alternate worlds. Thanks for the insight.
Appreciate you watching and kind words - cinematography is definitely a deep world that you can really sink down into (in a good way). I shoot a lot of documentary work myself and love to try and employ fiction techniques to help create a different looking world.
Im very interested in this overkill camera (for my needs), but isn’t a more realistic title being "I replaced my multifunctional devices with propriatary devices"? 😁
@@bryllupsvideografIsak haha true - that title doesn’t have the same ring to it though, does it? Haha - maybe: “Ronin 4D allowed me to trash all my cables!”
Curran - ignore the haters. I’ve been doing this for a living for 26 years, shooting corporate and small market broadcast work. If this lives up to the hype, it’s a game changer. It also makes the wannabe film boys nervous because they can’t have all that mattebox/rods/monitor/cable GAS crap hanging off of their ridiculously unusable camera rig. I live in the real world. Questions: 1. Do you run telephoto zoom lenses on this set up, and how do you get those lenses to balance? I run the Sony 70-200 2.8 V2 and never want to give it up 😂 2. What is the auto focus tracking performance with E-mount lenses? That is critical when operating a gimbal in fast moving situations.
Based on this, i think shoulder rig has very limited uses but having it would be more beneficial than an EZ rig because there are many places the EZ rig can't go
Thanks for making this video and appreciating really solid film channels. I'm a senior film student and have now worked on 2 narrative feature films as well as now making connections in the local commercial community. I've watched too many "filmmaking" channels and found myself narrowing down to the channels you mentioned and a couple of more like Scott Peters, Spenser Sakurai, Standard Story Company, etc. There are a lot of film channels out there that just come across as a grift to me. Cammackey, Kofi, and several others in their community have some decent experience, especially from their solo videographer or photographer backgrounds, but seem so click baity. They also have seemed like they are trying to act like the experts on set yet a lot of the advice they give is just gear reviews or amateur filmmaking advice. Which props to them in getting the bag, but I'm gonna take any of their lighting tips or film set bts tips with a large grain of salt. Several of them in that general videography/crossover into commercial and short film industry like to preach about not needing film school when many of them never really went to film school. No, you don't need film school, but a great one will teach you a ton about the technical and narrative side to filmmaking and give you connections and experience on set (usually student sets) before getting into the professional world. I'm just at a point in my filmmaking journey where WanderingDP, Luc Forsyth, and a few others give me more advanced advice and tips that I need and want. Some of those tips I haven't even heard in film school classes, especially from WanderingDP's cinematography tips. I've had so many rants in youtube comments about these guys being the ones people should follow if they actually want to make films at a professional level, whether top level commercials, docs, or narratives.
Another thing to add on, Danny, Luc, Sakurai, Scott Peters, Patrick O'Sullivan, and the others in their boat also have an attitude of honesty and learning about them. They've made amazing stuff, but their willing to admit that their work isn't perfect and could be better. They also point out their own mistakes and try to learn from them too. Those areas alone make me appreciate and want to learn more from them than channels that are focused on reviewing cameras and the new lights or make videos on getting "cinematic lighting", the A24 look, "anamorphic", etc.
I saw 4 of my shots in there!!! AOD is great!! To someones point, you have to put in the work. Yea paying for courses isnt gonna magically make you batter, but you have to put in the knowledge and keep going. The passion will take you for the journey. You discover over time your ego goes to the sidelines and the process is the goal. If you cant fall in love with the creation aspect, you will never make it in this space. Thanks for reading. And thanks Curren for making vids.
Nice! AOD was nice enough to send along some of their trailers, so they must be pushing your work - nice job! Also totally agree with all your points. The more you can set aside your ego and just continue to learn, refine, and go for your own desired outcomes, the better off you'll be. I appreciate you stopping by.
@CurrenSheldon always my man! Loved Heroine, Recovery Boys, and King Coal. I also love to be more intentional. I enjoyed the hybrid docs the most. Keep creating my man!
Anyone with experience with this camera, how bad of a choice is it to film in h264 with d-log? Drive space is a thing for me cuz of my mobile work but I love the grading/ post-processing flexibility of the RAW.
That's a good question as it would be nice to have a smaller file size now and again. I saw a video from Mark. Art. Now. about how he films everything in 8k ProRes Raw and then transcodes it over to h265 to save 90% of the file space - still need a lot of SSDs on the day, but long term storage becomes miniscule. But, that is an extra step you have to remember to do after every shoot.
Just found your channel. Thank you for this video. It made me want to rent the 8k version for my next shortfilm project. It just seems the perfect camera for this project. Tnx for the clear and well explained info😊 I will combine it with the DZO vespid primes.
What do you mean? I have ran a shotgun microphone and two lavs directly into cameras (not preferable, but when needed) for films that were bought by the major streamers. Surely people can do this for their own one-man-band films, docs, or branded content.
I followed the advice in your completely practical and not click bait thumbnail. I sold my home, car, clothes and even my gold teeth. Now I’m ready to marry this DJI camera and spend our lives together since it’s “all I need”. Thanks so much!! 😊
Great examples! Very helpful and gave me some ideas. My personal favorite method is pure handheld with an EVF, which gives the third point of stability. It is exhausting though with bigger camera setups, so it's not perfect. Lately I've been doing more monopod, but without a vest. It's not quite a handheld look, but I love the speed of work (faster than a tripod). I haven't tried monopod in a vest, but I really like that approach. I have a back back though, so I feel like the front weight will really give me trouble. I do like shoulder rigs, but they can be tiring in their own way. My biggest beef with my current one is that the buttons on the camera become such a pain to access. It's almost comical trying to reach around and find buttons. Also, low shots are a pain as you mentioned. I do find that shoulder mount gives me the look I want the most consistently. I bought an Easyrig last week thinking it would be the holy grail, but I'm actually returning it. It definitely can be helpful in some ways, but I found it useless for walking shots (way too much bounce and hard to mitigate even with the spring arm version), plus I found myself fighting with it too much, like for camera angles. And sadly, it gave me considerable back pain after only a few minutes, even though I had it tightly buckled to my body.
I know this shouldn't matter but I can't get over how rediculously stupid it looks. It's kind of like the Segway. Incredibily fun to ride but good luck geting a date.
