Why Your Videos DON'T Look Like Films... 

What’s up YC !!! PIN ME 😂

Give a veteran dp a 10 years old camera and a light and he will outpreformed a rookie with arri Alexa and the latest glass.

When you said ' removing lights is just as important as adding lights. I really had to think about that. For me, I'm now just learning how important controlling light is. Much appreciated🙏

When I was still in film school, I struggled with lighting. It's similar to sound in that when it's right, the viewer won't really register it, but as soon as it's off, it's glaringly obvious. Lights and sound are really underestimated by many. Once you try to light your own scene with no knowledge, it instantly becomes obvious why it's not something to take for granted and why there are entire teams dedicated to lighting. This is such a good video for concisely explaining what a difference good lighting can make.

Shooting wide open...thats something i recently tried to study watching all my favorite movies. The lack of shooting wide open. Alot of shots being....pretty closed down actually. Wide shots, action shots, fast moving shots....all pretty closed down. I notice more wide open apertures are more on dialogue and to capture emotion, particularly on a talents face or to show focus on an object but for the most part, I see more scenes shot closed down than open. I really dont know where we got the idea that "more bokeh" meant "more cinematic" and I think its from when we watch any dialogue scene, thats what we see. But I think we forget the rest of the "junk" scenes in a movie. I was watching the film Tenet the other day, theres the scene JD Washingtons character walks into a resturant to meet with Michael Kaines character. From the moment he walks in to when he arrives at the table...there really isnt much bokeh. Its not until he sits down and has dialouge is the shot on each character tighter and now has more bokeh. Theres the scene inside the Art vault at the airport with Niel, that entire scene is shot pretty closed down. And there are some VERY good looking shots in that scene. I recently got into Cine lenses and anamorphic lenses and now im forcing myself to learn manual focus and being at a wide open aperture its SO HARD to keep focus, especially when im moving around and so is the talent, so i just close down the aperture. For those shots, it actually looks MORE cinematic than it does if i shot them wide open

I’m not a filmmaker but I want to improve my yt videos. The negative fill tip was amazing, who knew that videos could look amazing removing light. Thank you!!!

I absolutely love your channel, bud. Your teaching style is so practical and down to earth. I love the low key funk feel of the music, and the examples illustrating your point are perfectly chosen. You've found a great balance of letting your personality shine through while keeping the topic broadly accessible in its appeal. Well done.

I've been studying physics, but I'm not going to miss my photography lesson.

I think these aren’t the things that set a cinematographer apart. What makes them great is the consistency for all those scenes and making it feel like one whole story, instead of different shots. It’s easy to make a shot look good, its hard to make a scene feel real and whole

Awesome video. I don't shoot video myself, I do photography but the tips still apply ❤

It's great seeing these tips together with examples-thanks man.

Killer advice: Shoot from the shadow side.. noted!

Y'all are obsessed with trying to make a DSLR or mirrorless camera look like a professional camera and lens package on a multi-million dollar production. Focus on telling better stories!

So nobody didn’t notice the Photography lens used in this video about Cinematography? The film look comes from the cinema lenses …why in the world are you using a photography lens ?

When I was in film school, I got to talk to Dean Cundey (DP of Jurassic Park) and a gaffer that worked with him regularly, and his biggest lighting tip was "when in doubt with your lighting setup, turn one of them off. It almost always looks better"

Ayoooooo emphasis on pro colorist!!! They really are magicians 😂😂😂 and i wouldn’t mind a good 20 either 🫡

Removing light!!!! Never though about this. I’m always adding shit 😂😂😂😂

20 million in budget and a pro colorist 😂😂😂 dope video as always bro, best tip for me was remove light 🙏🏽💪🏾

Erin Carter getting some much deserved love! Great video mate, thanks for the tips :)

Ok. I started this video not knowing what the terminology was. Yet by the end, I understood every line. Thanks for those comparison frames. Way to put it together.

0:00 🎬 Low-budget filmmakers often struggle to achieve the polished look of Hollywood films due to differences in techniques. 0:49 📷 Understanding the relationship between focal length, aperture, and bokeh is crucial for achieving professional-looking shots. 1:30 💡 Lighting plays a significant role in creating immersive environments in films and TV shows. 2:47 💡 Properly managing light sources and removing unnecessary light can enhance the cinematic quality of shots. 3:40 📽 Removing light from a scene can increase contrast ratio and add punchiness to shots, improving their cinematic appeal.

Light is the biggest difference

One other thing to consider when it comes to focus is how little actors move during shots. If you compare dialogue sequences done today with those done, say, prior to the 70s you'll find that today they are VERY static. No matter the subject or the implied intensity, the actors will have their spots and largely remain there throughout the entire sequence. This obviously makes it much easier to keep them in focus. But it can also make shots rather uninteresting. So you darn well better have some engaging dialogue and skilled actors. Those are also two things most low-budget projects don't have.

i think THEY just do it.. and "WE" just over obsess , trying to make what we do, look like what we are trained to see...

Great video man. One thing though (and yeah it's eye of beholder and you were aiming to prove your point), but the shot at 3:44, I actually prefer the shot with no negative fill. Because you can see the details on shadow side more vs losing a lot of the details in the shadow, it seems more 3 dimensional to me. PS I've got way more experience in photography, than cinema lighting. Either way, great video. One of the things that generally keeps me from using negative fill, is the extra hassle. Your video made me rethink that though. Cheers buddy. 👍🏽

Can someone explain the exposur e/f stop/ bookeh thing like im 5?

My background in audio has helped my filmmaking/editing immensely. Even just basic concepts. Lighting and color grading is like EQ'ing. "I want more high-end." Instead of BOOSTING the high-end (adding noise), reduce the low-end, and vice-versa. If you keep boosting EQ in every track in a mix, it is inefficient, and becomes muddy and stale. There is only so much sonic real-estate. So let the kick live below 100hz, let the bass live in the low-mids, let the guitars/vocals live in the mid to hi-mids, let the drum overheads live in the high end, etc...depending on the genre/style of music. Same philosophy in filmmaking. What you take away is just as important, if not more important, than what you add. -Johnny

Alot of lingo i dont get wish i knew what your were talking about , cool to learn

It's not just light. Films embrace a lot of imperfections and grit. A lot to do with the glass they use. There's a reason why big time DPs love using vintage and anamorphic glasses. They simply add that layer of nonrealism the same way color grading does. You never wanna stray too far away from the roots of film with analog and film stocks because t's simply what our eyes and brain are used to when we see the difference between film and real. The more cleaner and realistic your image is, the more it looks like wedding photos or real estate stuff. They become as mundane as real life.

Whats with this obsession of trying to make things look CINEMATIC or film like?? Clickbait title mf'er

Wow, now I know why I'm attracted to toghter focal lengths when I shoot.

My fav tip was that most Hollywood DPs either only use practical lighting, or use impractical lighting that can be realistically mistaken for real lighting

light the space not the face.

This video was short, to the point, and soooo incredible. Thanks for sharing! I think I either over light or under light my scenes in my own videos. I’m learning cinematography one short film at a time. Thanks for the tips. I’m all about creating art with what you have rather than focusing on gear.

Hey! I’m a senior in film school studying in NYC, and I’ve worked in so many student sets. So I can tell u A LOT of students tend to NEVER wanna remove light from a scene. I work a lot as a DP or a Gaffer, and even then people tell me NOT TO REMOVE LIGHT😭 I personally love the higher contrast in shots. Never undermine how powerful negative fill can be!

This was so helpful. Thank you for sharing!!

The removing of light was a solid tip. I’ve been seeing a few BTS videos and they’d talk about adding a neg to kill some of that spillover and it makes sense when seeing the examples you pulled

1:00 dude is ON SET of the Truman Show!! GOTDAMN MATRIX in FULL EFFECT

I gotta ask - when you break out your lighting rig and camera in your residential neighborhood - do you get 50 questions from every neighbor that walks or drives by? I feel like I cant bring my camera to the park (especially a drone) without people constantly asking me Q's about it....if I broke out a lighting rig and camera and tripod to film myself - the whole neighborhood would be out watching - especially all the kids (lots of kids on my street) and then its super weird - im some dude on the street with a camera and lighting rig - and kids are around......the perception changes quickly.....so.....HOW? DO you just ignore them? Or are your neighbors just super chill and dont care about camera rigs on the sidewalk?? Love your stuff BTW!

Can you make a video like this, but for beginners? I can generally follow what you’re saying in this video but not completely because there are certain things that as a beginner I don’t know about yet. It really hit me when you started talking about “f-stop” in the first minute of the video. Since I didn’t know what that was I really didn’t have a way to follow along after that point because I need deeper understanding. By the time you’d go to Google, do the research, etc, the interest in finishing the video would be likely quite low. Just a helpful suggestion, because I know I’m not the only complete beginner who may have stumbled across the video.

Yup, definitely 20mil in budget, and a professional colourist 😂😂😂

What kind of equipment do you get for a negative fill? Is it just a black blanket and a large stand with clamps? Or is it something more specific? Fantastic video!

Great video. I learned in film school that all good cinematography is just good lighting.

Also films looks better because they also lack that wide angle distortion. People look more natural in most scenes unless they want a distorted look. Everything is intentional because of time and budget. Shooting wide open ONLY is an "amatuer-ish" concept. It looks great to most people though.

Excellent advice and things I have not considered. I shoot action sports mostly and want to get into more cinematic storytelling of the characters in those sports. You have given me some serious food for though. Excellent channel. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and understanding of cinematography.

great video! keep it up

All of this, and I think using Anamorphic lenses help a lot as well for that cinematic look

I think editing shots together in a seamless (but not necessarily obvious) manner is also key. I learned it from watching older movies, especially from the 1940s to the 1960s. That noir look, with its darkness cast on the face of the actors, just had a charm all of its own. They were pretty low-budget films, and they had strong technical limitations, since not all equipment had even been developed by the time.

great tip, i wonder when we will get that vanta black material flag. You know the darkest black that absorbs 99% of light

Hey! I just subscribed to your channel. I'm new to filmmaking and your videos are really helpful. I recently made a short film just for fun, and now I'm hooked!

Okay things a guy I can learn from I got a few more questions before I buy gear. I'm excited for next year

One topic I didn't see you touch on was the FRAMERATE. A lot of people starting out don't KNOW that almost all cinema shoots at 24 FPS. if they shoot at 30, or higher, they are missing out on the feel of the cinema as well. Most cameras these days boast about higher framerates, but a high framerate can cause the "Soap Opera Effect." Another great element is adding bars above, and below your shot to frame it. It can create a more cinematic widescreen feel. One final thing is the film grain. Adding a touch of film grain can also make a difference. Other than that, what you touched on is DEFINITELY a factor and something I didn't take into consideration, so thank you for the tips =) Stay Awes9me

Fellow young creator here, reflecting on the same things you are. Keep it up! This kind of stuff is fire

This was a cool video. As for the lights.....beats me? I'm not sure which image I was supposed to pick at the end. RU-vid says my videos are so bad,...Neil suggested that maybe I don't use lights at all; film in the dark.....this way my videos would be more digestible?

They should show this video to film students. The practical demos alongside straightforward explanations. Nothing superfluous. Great fuckin video

I LOVED "who is Erin Carte" loved the action and the actress was soo good!!

The reason why your videos don't look like films is because videos aren't films...Let that sink in.

Your focal length tip 🔥is one that I kinda knew but never really experimented with🤦🏽‍♂️. I definitely will now! Good lookin'!🙏

I’m not a film maker, 😂 but I do use tips for film makers to get good shots for my YT videos. And this is just the second video of yours I have seen, and I already have information to use on my videos. I’m not getting no 20Mil but I will use the tip of removing light. Thank you for sharing.

The thought of justifying your lighting is not something Ive ever thought of like it makes so much sense to reveal a source of your lighting like a window or lamp in a shot for it to make sense

@ 3:43 minute mark, I like the NO NEGATIVE FILL look as opposed to the NEGATIVE FILL ADDED look.

Making it feel nonexistent or natural is the key! This was all well put together. New sub!

Great energy and I love the shots where you're setting things up to show us how we might be able to make these techniques work for us while mixing in the movie examples. Loved it. Would love to hear your opinion on making scenes more interesting to improve that "cinematic" feel.

THANK YOU!!!! If you ever pay attention to BTS video on films they typically have long focal length lenses on their cameras. Shooting wide angles at the widest aperture is a fairly modern trend and its extremely limiting.

So glad I cam across your videos again. Have you updated your tribe lut?

The point about using a higher focal length is so true instead of just opening your aperture all the way thinking your making it “more cinematic “ I always take my 70-200mm on short films it can always make boring locations look better with higher focal length I like shooting faces at 135mm made sound a bit mad but always makes the image look much more interesting, Thanks for the tips keep up the good work 😁

I love this vid. Love the delivery the editing the straight up to the point. Sub from me and a like. Thanks.

LMAO 20 mil in budget, sounds about right. Excellent vid with some valuable advice/tips.

Of course it won't, and it have nothing to do with aperture. They use Arri cameras that costs hundred thousands dollars with lights that cost hundreds thousands dollar and they use lenses that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars ! without all the crowd specialized in cinematography. A cinema camera will always have a superior image quality even if it is outdated for example the sony F55 will out preform the sony FX6 and 3 as well as the cannon C70, c300 and C400 lines. You can download free sample of raw video from those camera and compare them when color grading them it is like when you take a photo with a phone and compare it to a photo you take with a hybride camera.

The best tip in this video…. Was the WHOLE DANG VIDEO!!!

WOOOW JUST AWESOMEEE😍 what camera did you use??

The negative fill for me. I urge to order a negative fill sheet though i'm not sure that's the proper name for it. Could you point me towards the one you purchased?

An f1.4 can effect your bokah but the lighting fixtures centered on your subject will add or subtract the vision your do may have on your subject. So coordinate your shots with that mind

Antes de este video tenia en mi mente que lo importante era siempre iluminar el lado que daba a la camara, pero luego de este video me doy cuenta que deberia ser todo lo contrario, pues le da mas dimencion al plano.-

this is so true.. ive been using my sigma lenses of f1.8 or f2.8 but since i purchased my canon 24 to 105 f4 when I shoot my suject futher and zoon in that f4 starts looking like a f2.8

The videos are what allowed me to understand what the new and unfamiliar verbiage meant. THANK YOU!

There is one more thing that separates film from digital look. Films have that soft highlight roll off all over the scene whereas digital look has sharp edges on the subject. How do they achieve this? Is this the camera or we can achieve the same with pro mist filters and reducing the sharpness on camera settings?

I think the best tip is that "It feels nonexistent". I always analyze what I'm watching but I know I'm watching a good movie in terms of lighting if I completely forget about it... Specially with The Batman I was really immersed into the movie, it feels natural. The light that they added complements what feels natural. It's not intrusive to the scene like you would see on a typical A-Roll from a RU-vidr talking to the camera, that's the opposite because it's extremely intentional. Good video, it really got me thinking about some improvements I could make myself. Thanks!

Flagging down spill, for sure. It’s the subtle changes we hardly think of that have a big impact.

I recently wrapped up on capturing footage for a short film to be shown at a fundraiser. What I personally need to make my videos look more "cinematic" is time. I had hardly any time to do this shoot. I had to rush through all my lighting setups because the location only allowed me to film for short periods at a time. Not enough time to test out different lighting setups or to even set up more than one light. Doing everything by myself (lights, audio, carrying equipment from point A to point B) was so time consuming that even though I have the knowledge, I couldn't put it all into practice. The film is going to turn out ok, just not great.

There are some nice Tips in this Video but also some wrong or easy misunderstandable statements. there is no cinematic look, no such thing like a threshhold which qualifies footage more cinematic over other footage. Yes, there is a degree to mastering the craft of camera, which may elevate the look of your shots, but no cheatcode for a "cinematic look". The greatest Tip some professor gave me at film academy was, film with intention, create your shots with an intended vision. Blair Witch Project is shot on a Camcorder and looks shitty but it's part of the concept, elevates the story and creates a amateur atmosphere which creeps under your skin related to the story. And yes, lighting is not about adding light, it's about controling Contrast in your scene, but it's not always necessary to put neg fill on your cameraside, especially if a high contrast look interpheres with your concept/story. also with lenses and focal length, yes many high budget films are filmed at a slightly closed aperture, but in most cases because most lenses perform best between f4 and f8. Focal length isnt specifically chosen for bokeh reasons, its also a tool to narrate space and your story. It's a great Video with great tips :) but you have a pretty large audience and creating the look of a movie has no rules, when you dictate them these "rules" they may end up with a stiff perspective on making film and most importantly in the end gear doesnt really matter. Believe me I shot some things on an alexa LF and they looked like shit because I'm bad at light and camera hahaha :)

The letterboxed aspect ratio is getting really old. Fullscreen, 1:78:1 will always look the best to me.

This is why I won't use anything faster than a 50f2 for anything. I'm tired of having half the face out of focus, or just eyelashes in focus. 😂

I mean it should be obvious that a lot of us are learning how to do video at all and it's not like a image where you can just slap on a lot and generally speaking it can look a lot better. It just takes a lot more effort to make quality video. I personally been struggling with the transition of video for years. The photos mean more to me but I found myself getting left in the dust. You got to put in the work. Unfortunately a lot of people don't have interesting stuff to shoot around them, but you got to find some way to film something. I have a ton of short clips from Japan and most of them are hot garbage. But my process has begun and I'm going to learn it. Nowadays it's all about the easy fixes, but thankfully that doesn't apply to video. If you don't know what you're doing, it's going to look like trash. Cheers happy learning

Additional tip: invest in a color checker card. Not much money, helps with accurate color big time.

Just heads up Hollywood does not used auto focus, I have worked on multiple Hollywood films as a Focus Puller. Which my job is to pulled focus while the camera op focuses on just the shot.

Very nice explanation mate, just a question do you mean T-stop or F-stop, coz these two are different i think if yah referring to cinema lens or dslr lens?

filmmaking can be terrible, but when mastered its incredibly beautiful.

I think another thing to consider is that well… you’re black… When comparing the shots with and without negative fill, I personally preferred it without. The negative fill made the left side of your face too dark to see, whereas without the negative fill, your face seemed more natural and cohesive with the rest of the shot. Although the technique is still important, it’s just as important to consider the actual skin tone of the actor as well.

Depth of field it’s everything 🙌

Camera placement too. I see a lot of amatuers shooting from what seem to be randomly chosen weird angles, and usually keeping the subject perfectly centered in the frame.

The tip on removing light is something I probably wouldn't have considered for a long time without seeing it.

Good tips. Godzilla Minus One being made for under $15M is a real eye opener for Hollywood.

My overall goal is to Direct film one day. I've watched every single one of your videos at one point or another and i've come to realize that if i could spend one full day with you and our cameras, i could conquer the world!

Thanks for the remove light tip bruv, that can go a long way💡

I'm in film school and I never heard the advice of "light has to come from somewhere" .. I never thought about light like that tbh

Learn so much from you man thank you!!

Im still new to all the terminology but the take away I got was about taking/adding light away.

the key differences is the immersive of the imagery. it could related to anything but also there are plenty way of breaking the rules. even there is no motivation of the light(like many scene from euphoria) it still works. also the focal length related to the frame size needs to be addressed. many people nowadays lack of the knowledge of using the telephoto lens telling a story which is really comment for narrative filmmakers watch the dune again tell me the focal length and whiplash as well. they use many telephoto lens to add the immersive into the imagery.

$20M fucking hell mate all you did was just pay for dinner.