3 Easy Ways to Practice Cinematography By Yourself

[@mfluder15]

Practical advice like this is what makes your channel so valuable to those of us who are learning how it’s all done.

[@LucForsyth]

I appreciate that!

[@shadowcultur]

Shotdeck is such an amazing resource for frame and film references

[@chipcurry]

Good stuff! As usual! The analogy I use is that I say a Camera is like a saxophone just having it doesn't mean you can play it - you have to work it constantly, practice daily, have this stuff memorized, and then, when you work, it's like playing a song.

[@LucForsyth]

Amazing analogy, that's exactly it!

[@russellwright9961]

This is a very profound analogy!!

[@bigalleng84]

What the heck man it's like you have tapped into every up and coming videographer or cinematographers life and gave us a vivid blueprint on what to do and what not to do. Very great and well explained piece of content and I'll definitely be saving it and referencing this in the future

[@theohartry4757]

I’ve just bought my first cinema camera this weekend. Only a Cannon C100 Mk II but it’s a start. This video couldn’t have been better timed for me !!! Thanks 💪🏼

[@jn-xw3cq]

Great stuff, Luc. I'm currently a film student, and in my Cinematography 2 class we have lighting journal assignments where each week we pick 5 frames from any movie that we want to break down. And then we break them down and try and diagram and block how we would shoot the same frame with the gear we own or can use from the school. Such an awesome thing to do to build knowledge and confidence in Cinematography!!

[@Tobirama_isHimju]

I am in Mexico at the moment, and i've decided to film a vlog for my gym mates who are Kickboxers. I'm trying to build myself up to doing the interview setups so I can emulate the UFC Embedded series in preparation for a fight. I learn each time I film and edit, and slowly but surely I can tell with time it will be great. Luc, you are a god send. Thank you so much bro!

[@LucForsyth]

Thanks a lot for your kind words, it's my pleasure!

[@RealPhilStark]

Good luck with your future work man ✊🏾

[@rolandmarckwort]

Excellent advice! As a gaffer, I've often been in similar scenarios scrambling with my DP to try and make something out of nothing, with zero time - really pays to have some plan B experience to make it happen!!

[@justoneperson]

Have you been spying on me. That first person you described is totally me.

[@aaabbb-py5xd]

Repeat after me, "I'm not unique".

[@justoneperson]

@@aaabbb-py5xdand just like that. You totally missed the joke. Thats ok don’t sweat it. 👍

[@aaabbb-py5xd]

@@justoneperson Repeat after me, "Joking when caught is no out for me"

[@sergiomartinez5946]

Repeat after me, "I DON'T KNOWN WHY WE'RE YELLING!"

[@aaabbb-py5xd]

@@sergiomartinez5946 know*, but guess you tried too hard

[@FAMEAcademyNY]

This is great advice. I started photography by just going to the clubs and shooting for free and making all the mistakes. Then the video I go out and shoot open mics for free. Its practice. The more the better.

[@Pcoxproductions]

11:31 set up interviews alone, practice the common things alone so if it falls on you you are ready

[@Pcoxproductions]

3:24 have on your iPad an organized reference library of Frames from your favorite movies. Screen shot them then run them through light room and break them down

[@kurtmanderbach8164]

Just found you. Very nicely done. I’m a professional musician, and have found a new passion for creating video. I love how you spoke about practicing setting up scenes around the house before going on set. As a musician that goes without saying. Good professional musicians never stop practicing at home. I’ve taken that approach with video. The projects I’ve done at home definitely prepared me get good results when I set up and recorded my interviews for my first documentary project. Great video! Thanks!

[@LucForsyth]

Thanks for your words, appreciate it!

[@aerozg]

Great tips, i usually use Shotdeck for screen grabs and then i go out and try to replicate the scenes in my own environment.

[@idletimeproductions4956]

Great Advice. I was B cam on an interview shoot recently where DP wanted to shoot 6K raw. I had never shot 6K on my camera and didn't realize how fast the cards fill up. Know your gear!!

[@DarkDrake5481]

So funny you mention Lewis Potts and the Wandering DP because they're both in my city of Perth Western Australia which no one has ever heard of. It's not a big film making town at all and you could conceivably work on almost every project and you'd still be under what most people would be working. I really should reach out to them and see if I could help them out. I work full time for a TV network in the city because mortgage but it'd be an eye opening experience I think.

[@madetomuve]

Fantastic video, Luc! Your lighting tips were really insightful. I’ve always thought my workspace was too small to make filming myself look good, so I kept putting it off. But your advice has inspired me to give it a go anyway and work with what I have, instead of stressing over it. No time like the present - let’s see how it goes today!

[@LucForsyth]

Glad it was helpful!

[@mudcreates]

Thank you for this, Luc. Appreciate it.

[@eyewitness4560]

I'm just some random amateur photographer but it's such a boon to find a new video from you.

[@roarenmedia]

Dude your videos are always just so on point.

[@LucForsyth]

I appreciate that!

[@CarnivoreToday]

Appreciate your content so much. I jumped both feet into a documentary production with no cinematography experience at all. I was a photojournalist for 12 years so that helps, but it is still no less daunting. You have definitely helped us to level up, and I thank you for that! Did I miss enrollment for your course?

[@JesseEdgar]

Good stuff my man. I've been binge watching your channel to help prepare for my first ever documentary about a man that walked across the united states in hopes to be a hero in his son's eyes but ultimately ended up driving his wife and son away from him. Your videos have been so incredibly valuable and as soon as I can save up the money I want to take advantage of your course. Thanks for everything oyu post Luc

[@johnclay7644]

great video Luc, informative content.

[@LucForsyth]

Thanks John!

[@darcieellson9423]

Why does the bulb start to swing in the back at 2:42 ?

[@EpicCinematicAdventures]

Thanks Luc! Great breakdown. Good stuff!

[@LucForsyth]

My pleasure!

[@uruci66]

good stuff as usual. i do find i fall into the "get a new bit of gear" camp but, i have been heavily trying to go with smallest footprint as possible. working on an archive project and i just need to think about less things as i move forward. recently bought a 32bit float recorder to use for interviews. i am a firm believer of backup and it was one less thing to worry about with press record and forget. so... maybe a good tip is be wary of over kill on gear, delegate when u can and less is more allows you to think about the content

[@elguevara-o5h]

thank you for the video! Just received a lens and I will be applying those exercises with it.

[@bleucitron2]

Wonderful LUC ! Great advice and filming ! Thanks & love from Europe ! Mike (amateur aspiring to do docu's)

[@Pcoxproductions]

7:16 test random ideas quickly for scenarios that you want to try

[@psybirdstudio]

6:39 Love your content, always very creative. Now I know why :)

[@robinreso6240]

Thx Luc appreciate this video!!!!

[@LucForsyth]

Happy to help!

[@edo_tokyo_]

As always, Luc with the perfect advices at the very perfect time in my life. Thank you!

[@LucForsyth]

Glad you like them!

[@gavenevans]

Great idea for a video Luc! Enjoying the Doc Cinematography course! 🤘

[@LucForsyth]

Amazing man, thanks a lot for your words! See you in the Doc Hub

[@philgioia]

Great stuff, Luc. Really enjoy your content 🙏🏽

[@tristan_lp]

Just posting this comment to support because I'm too lazy to explain everything that's great about this video and also to write big comments but thank you so much, your work is remarkable🙏🙏🙏

[@Joyful-Yarn]

Great video super useful. Thank you also for being so open honest and vulnerable. A sign of greatness imo.

[@LucForsyth]

Glad it was helpful!

[@tomguder]

Thank you Luc!

[@LucForsyth]

My pleasure!

[@sembalo1776]

great stuff! love watching these even if im personally not as focused on docs but your tips are still good for any type a filming i feel like

[@LucForsyth]

Awesome, thank you!

[@itisme-fk3zf]

very honest advices. two thumps up.

[@NoSuRReNDeR001]

Stop reading my mind and making exactly the video I need to watch! Geez its like your TRYING to be my favorite DoP channel... spoiler you are now... - This very thing has cripple hammered me for months...so in all sincerity thank you for this.

[@LucForsyth]

I appreciate that man, I'll keep the videos coming!

[@NoSuRReNDeR001]

PLEASE please do!!! I have an I-pad for my lights(Colbor) and this IDEA is brilliant - again thank you

[@stanpaponov]

Great videos. Thanks for making them.

[@habocky]

Hey hey hey, watching movies and saying what a nice shot it is, is the best practice, doing it all the time :D

[@georgelopez9517]

How do you go about screenshotting movie scenes? Because anytime you watch a move from Netflix, Prime Video, or any online streaming services, it automatically blacks out the video frame. So it’s all blacked out. I believe they do use for copyright reasons.

[@kevgoes]

Love these ideas!. Thanks Luc!

[@BurekNeinDanke]

Hey Luc! I'm am starting out and recently bought Sony FX30 but have no audio gear so i'm leaning towards wireless lav mic setup with option of internal recording. The 7RYMS iRAY DW30 seems like a good option for around 200$ but it only records at a 48kHz/16bit sampling rate...Do you think it would cut it for basic use? Anyway great tips for beginners in each one of your videos :)

[@OREO959]

8:08 I think everyone needs to hear this haha

[@peakfilm3465]

You know me too well! Bravo...

[@jahosaphat]

That is the best advice.

[@lindajones8101]

I am terrible online but lately I have been trying to do just that take a screenshot on my iPad when I’m watching something. But all I got back was a black screen and I figured there was some kind of embargo built into movies that wouldn’t let you screenshot them. I was probably doing something wrong. any advice anyone can give me?

[@thewellvideoproductions8244]

As always, excellente!

[@PeaLoop]

fantastic content!

[@LucForsyth]

Glad you think so!

[@DontMakeMomCry]

Please re-enact how the bad interview setup from the Vice project looked! I want to see and would guess you can't or won't show the original content. Killer tips, thanks for the wisdom!! -AW

[@WhySteve]

Shotdeck has search filters and it could save you hours of adding tags in lightroom 😅 "Knowing something is better than doing something" Yeah. I can relate. It reminds me of my horrible lighting video I made (granted it was made for noob noobs, but still...) the talking head shot looks worse than the example video and I tried motivating the light but I ended up just washing out the entire frame with light by adding lamps and candles and stuff haha! I "knew" how to do it, but I had never actually done it at that point so I messed it up trying.

[@CineMakMedia]

Good stuff... Thanks

[@LucForsyth]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@SeanKling]

great advice

[@MotionBlurPL]

Ha! You just described my current life during the first 2 minutes :D

[@FilmshooterOH]

Great video. The story about the blown interview reminds of the line about young doctors. You're not a real doctor until you've killed one of your patients. Same for DPs. You're not a real DP until you've screwed up a shot or interview. Practice, practice, practice.

[@jijivishant]

thnk u for the video

[@scottweaverphotovideo]

It sounds very strange to remove all space between sentences. Who do that?

[@GloomVFX]

Pretty common

[@gregomu786]

Hi Luc great content as usual, however if you can be editing out your breathing/sucking sounds like at 01:25 (that's as far as I went b4 clicking off) I'd appreciate. I find it supper annoying & distracting & wonder if I'm the only one. Anyway, cheers

[@LucForsyth]

Noted, thanks a lot for your feedback!

[@koan_leon7764]

This is really amazing and so helpful. Thank you. I’m going to create a beautiful light setup in my toilet 🚽

[@PaulKBauer]

This video could not have come at better time! Your channel is like an island in a sea of questionable information. Thanks for all you do!

[@chrisw443]

When I do interviews in an office or a confernce room I look for a logo of theirs on a wall or a map, or a interesting piece of art. then I frame that either right behind or right next to them, splash a back up on camera light on that wall. then I have my on camera light, and one other led panel backlighting them. then I use shallow DOF to blur that object just enough to where its not the focus, but its there, and you can kinda tell what it is. Then when you run your broll you use THE EXACT SAME FRAME the your interview was, but focused on what was in the background. It really puts the viewer in the room with you during the interview.

[@2006jakebob]

For my dp reference I think Im just going to have One Love downloaded on my phone.

[@none-ng4cl]

Love the President interview😄

[@richarddollar1339]

The Idea of practice sucks it does make a ton of sense and to come to think of it I was able to practice a few day's ago in Texas and in the back yard just a few day's ago. I jerk the camera a lot when I shoot video also I swing the camera way to fast. So I have been practicing moving slowly and pushing toward my subject ,as well as pulling away from the subject. I try to not just stop the camera , like if I'm panning up my subject I pan up slowly and practice swinging to the left or to the right. I'm not afraid to experiment as far as that goes I do fail a lot but hey what ever right. Just a few days ago I tried to be creative shooting a video about my wife in our back yard. I placed a bit of purple nylon over the lens and recorded the footage. Yes it was a little crazy but it was fun and set a mood for sure and even reflects some of my wife's pain or feelings really. We are not allowed to have a cat so the wife feeds stray cats . In the video a person can see there is not a single cat or kitten in the scene, yet the subject is using a pet toy for cats. And no I did not set things up that why I was just practicing panning smoothly. Richard Dollar

[@philwachocki7958]

Hmmm In wlf I have very little planning or design. Lighting, ha, comes from the sun. If you setup w sun at your back, animals will find a way to approach your front. So, I get what I can. When I can.

[@Hotsauce760]

love the real-world lesson and the practical way to practice that you go into here

[@LucForsyth]

Thank you!

[@Lunar_Films]

Dude, that person is me

[@MattBrouse]

Nice shot. 😂

[@Zacheldridge]

Thoughts on RED acquisition??

[@philwachocki7958]

And they say wildlife photography is hard

[@LoyedSantmajor]

Don’t be calling out us like that🥴😂💀

[@heysoymarvin]

What? did you meet Peña Nieto? Lol

[@DAMON409]

What the heck would you need help with? You don't make that clear.

[@ChrisIzattOfficial]

Great advice, brilliant video! Thanks Luc!