On Set as a Director / Cinematographer - Behind the Scenes

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The final DJI Enterprise film: • From Sky to Glass | Us...
PRODUCTION
Production House: Untold Films www.untoldfilm...
Executive Producer: Aya Karadzhova
Director/DP: Ryan Kao
Producer: Kylee Kao / kyleemkao
Gaffer: Alexio Mah / alexiomah
Cam Op/Drone Op: Sam Woosley / wooz
Sound Mixer: Diego Romero
BTS: Armando Ferreira / mondobytes
UPM (Post-Production) @teodora.nikolova.102
Editors: Petar Tuhchiev / Ralitsa Kamenova / petar.tuhchiev / ralitsakamenova
Colorist: Ryan Kao
Sound Designer: Hristo Dobrev / dobreff_sounds
📽 My Camera Gear: (Updated Oct 2022)
Primary KZbin Camera - geni.us/FpAb
Stills / B-Camera - geni.us/MiBjeUa
Cinema Camera: geni.us/QoifW8
Main Wide Angle Lens - geni.us/yHAP5Q
Main Lens - geni.us/JEBOLD
Cinema Lenses: geni.us/66pr
Best 7" Monitor: geni.us/d2pt
Best 5" Monitor: geni.us/AK0qJDq
Favorite Cinema Filters (10% OFF "RYANKAO10") - geni.us/ovr0
VND Filter: geni.us/btMeAJ
Mattebox: geni.us/DBi9Fl
4 x 5.65" Filters: geni.us/GgQIrT
Best SD Cards: geni.us/FNEw56s
On Camera Mic - geni.us/twH1
Boom Mic: geni.us/RMKTEy
Audio Recorder: geni.us/rz2uBz
Camera Rig Tool (you need this): geni.us/JfIM
Main Key Light: geni.us/duR87V8
Big Softbox: geni.us/hAEsimu
🔴 My Sony a7sIII Rig Breakdown:
geni.us/wuC3ICZ
🔴 My RED Komodo Rig Breakdown:
geni.us/bYzTC
► All of my favorite filmmaking gear: geni.us/DqpCu!
► The music I use in my videos: fm.pxf.io/QyPKyM
► Sound effects I use in my videos: geni.us/lmUK
Follow me:
► Instagram: / ryanmkao
► Twitter: / ryan_kao
► Snapchat: @justaskryan
Business Inquires: [e-mail]
Did you actually read the description?

[@KofiYeboah]

Love the transparency, sometimes as filmmakers, we don’t always “win” and things go exactly how we want . Glad you made it out 🙏🏾

[@RyanKao]

Absolutely. Thanks my man!! 🙌😅

[@caoviton]

My heart just stopped w you at that moment 😭 I am a wedding filmmaker and you know we can never reshoot the wedding moments

[@RyanKao]

Absolutely! I can't even imagine this scenario occurring on someone's wedding day...

[@brandonylee]

Congrats Ryan on making it through every filmmaker's worst nightmare. looks like things turned out great.

[@RyanKao]

Ended up really satisfied with the final result, and of course learned a lot on the way! 😅 Thanks Brandon!!

[@migbeauregard164]

Really appreciate the transparency in this! Not a lot of people would point out what went bad on a shoot like this. Otherwise, I think the shots you guys captured looked sick!

[@RyanKao]

A little embarrassing to tell the story in the way, but I really believe something great came out of it! Thanks for checking it out

[@danbrockettDOP]

I think you handled the situation well, the film looks and sounds good. As a producer though, IMHO, this project had a number of red flags that would have made me uncomfortable going in, at least based upon what you mention in the video, the shoot was quite under budgeted. Not in money necessarily, you had a decent sized crew for a small promo, but to me, in time, which of course ties back to money. This was easily a two day shoot. Too many shots and sequences in too many fairly difficult to access locations spread around the winery for one day. A good portion of the shots were outdoors, which means you are losing time when the sun is in the wrong position for the shots you want or the look you want. Can be overcome, but to figure it out sucks away precious time. It seems as if you had enough crew but if you could have done a full scout, you would discover things like no AC outlets for your gaffer in the cask room, noise issues, logistics with the winery, access to areas needed to do your job, etc. Things that can be overcome, but slow you way down, put you behind and make you look bad to the client. Just know that in the end, the purpose of the director and crew is often as a blame mechanism for the client/agency. Clients and agencies sometimes are total pros and know exactly how resource allocation of crew, budget and time work, but more often than not, the person or committee deciding these things are clueless about production and underestimate what it will take, on the ground, in the real world using the wild ass guess method and then need someone to blame when things take longer or cost more than they guesstimated. Anything drone sucks up time. Flying and coordinating two drones sucks up more time. I would have made day one drone/beauty shots early AM, interviews, some sunset b-roll late PM after interviews and then day two would have been pure b-roll. Conversely, if a second day was impossible, they needed to give you budget for an interview team and a second unit for b-roll if it HAD to be completed in one day. I just shot a promo at a fancy country club and even though it was two days, we had to shoot 12 interviews over the two days and we needed a metric ton of b-roll so we had a second unit of a drone, shooter and producer riding around in golf carts all day shooting hours of b-roll while the Interview crew was shooting six interviews per day (long ones with challenging subjects). Sure, it cost more budget but it was the only way to do what the client wanted in two days. And luckily this client knew this and had no issue budgeting two smaller crews, two person for interviews and three person for the b-roll crew. I've worked with lots of agencies and agency producers over the years and like any other area, some are super knowledgable pros and some are politicians who have great people skills but lack production allocation skills. Same with client teams if there isn't an agency involved. Sometimes you get lucky while other times, no matter what you do, things are set up to fail and it won't be the client team or agency team that will take any blame. Who does get blamed? Right, us or more precisely, the director and or producer. It's the producers job to push back and tell clients when their shot list, sequence list and amount of b-roll needing to be shot in a single day exceed the time and resources that their budget support. Of course, we want to be diplomatic and positive when letting them know these things and it can be difficult as a video team because there are dozens, if not hundreds of others out there who will just nod and say "yes" to almost anything the client wants so it can make you seem like adversarial when you advise them of the realities of budget/time/shot list/crew resources and access to location. If you have a good relationship with the client, they trust you. If they trust you, they will listen to what you tell them and believe you, especially when you use logic and facts. But I get that often, its a new client or contact for you and they don't know you and you don't know them. All you can do is be very intentional, and as you posited, be optimistic, nice, confident, but you do have to be a realist and often have to tell clients what the limitations are in realizing their vision. My best clients are the ones who meet with me, give me a budget, brief, possibly a shot list, the purpose of the video and desired rough running time and then tell me, "let me know how the shoot goes, can't wait to see the first cut." I had one of these in October, client did just that and when I delivered the first cut, they absolutely loved it and then we collaborated to add in a few branding things and then they showed it to their entire team who were absolutely blown away. I realize these clients are rare, but they do exist. This client I have done three other productions for over four years so they are comfortable with me and my storytelling. I find agency projects where there are lots of different teams and people involved, often with clashing ideas about what the project should be can be very difficult to deal with. We've all had more than our share of those. The battery dying thing, not to assign blame, but either you as the interviewer probably should have babysat the camera more or your AC. It looked from the BTS that you were in deep interviewer mode, which is wonderful, that's how you get great bites, but having the camera die and possibly corrupting your file could have definitely hurt your rep and career. Once again, as a producer/DP/director, if I am doing the interviews, I need a camera op. If I camera op, I don't want to be the interviewer. IMHO, those two jobs don't work very well with multi tasking. If it's a prompter read, I'm fine directing and operating, but for interviews, where you need to make eye contact and draw out the responses, it's almost impossible to babysit the camera as much as it needs to be as you learned. I'm surprised a camera touted as advanced as the RED are don't have an automatic file footer close out function before it shuts down due to lack of voltage from the battery. It appears they have the file writing into different folders which saved you but I know at least some cameras, once they reach minimum input voltage, they stop recording and write the footer before powering down. I guess Red doesn't do that, but all cameras obviously should. Thanks for the video, it's a good lesson for many.

[@JulioBHJ]

I absolutely agree on your part with the red flags. While watching the video I was constantly questioning who would schedule a shoot this complex in just one day? When building a house, you have to oversize your budget both on money and time, so why does video production get too many shots crammed into too short of a timeframe so often? That's a big no-no for me. Realistic expectations of what you can accomplish in one day are important, and this client obviously didn't know or didn't care, or both.

[@danbrockettDOP]

@@JulioBHJ Totally agree. It’s called, “Setting the shoot up to fail” and it takes a lot of producing experience to see these red flags and point them out to the client so you manage expectations. Shooting with a small crew in a location like that, you’re going to collectively lose hours in just moving the gear and crew around to get from a vineyard, to a barrel room, to a tasting room, etc. Trying to please a demanding client under those circumstances is not a good place to put yourself into. We’re just armchair quarterbacking here and we weren’t there so I don’t want to pretend that I really know all of the circumstances here but I think is a valuable lesson here for our colleagues and I commend Ryan for his transparency in telling the story. I’ve been in that same position a few times and it can be a lose-lose for the production company. Even though it can hurt financially, I have passed on jobs where the clients expectations simply don’t match the budget, access, time or weather/circumstances. I’d rather not make the money than turn in a job to a client that falls short of their expectations. It all comes down to trust. Clients should be hiring us because of our experience and skill and it takes both to tell them if they have adequately accounted for variables they may not be aware of.

[@storyfrontierdrive1433]

Great insights man. I'd be happy if you were my producer any day!

[@hunterhawkins8754]

Lmao this is the only time a storyblocks advert has actually been compelling, they really came through

[@RyanKao]

Seriously though! Really helped flush out this story in a way we just weren't able to due to the time constraints! Thanks Hunter!

[@shadowshapers]

I almost didn't click on this video because the title seemed too click-bait-ey but I'm glad that I did. These kinds of videos are the best kind of content for professionals made by other professionals because it helps us to learn from each other's mistakes and become more skilled professionals ourselves. Thank you for taking the time to go through what went wrong, how you felt, and how you were able to recover from the setback.

[@RyanKao]

Thanks for stopping by! Really appreciate the input on this one

[@DeepStateofMe]

Loved this BTS breakdown! Thanks for sharing. Would love to see more videos like this!

[@RyanKao]

You got it!

[@YCImaging]

That book light setup was a gem, fire breakdown bro!

[@RyanKao]

Such a perfect quick interview setup bro it's nuts

[@madridsmedia]

Definetly the Director has to be able to hide those emotions and keep them inside while still reflecting confidence in order for the rest of the team to keep pushing.

[@michaelheritage]

Great message of being unshakeable and to keep a cool head regardless. Best use of stock footage I have seen 🙌🏼

[@RyanKao]

Glad you enjoyed it Michael!! Stock footage seriously helped me tackle this one 🙌😅

[@androidfighter]

I had this exact battery scenario happen to me. No playback option on the Komodo. Plugged it in to my laptop and the footage was there.

[@RyanKao]

Such a relieving moment... Glad it worked out for you too!

[@krystiankrzewinski]

The final video looks amazing. Congratulations for pulling this off!

[@RyanKao]

Thank you Krystian!!

[@johnniedeeatkinson]

Thanks for the BTS and a look at what it really takes to execute under pressure and communicating with every team member and over sight to help keep the trust and relationship together

[@RyanKao]

Thanks for the watch Johnnie. This was a fun and challenging one! Hope to share more of my experiences.

[@nobelgomezvideo]

Man, i felt your pain when you were talking about the files not showing, nightmare fuel

[@RyanKao]

literally sleep paralysis demon... just a giant card with your footage on fire

[@shootmeup]

I had a pretty similar situation at a music video shoot where the female singer was covered in slime 🤪 and there really was only one take for doing this because once the slime was on - it was on.. and in that take the battery died 🫣 the clip would not play back on the RED but played just fine on the Mac .. my heart dropped 😅

[@Jadesfishing]

I felt the anxiety when you thought the card was corrupted!!!! Glad it all worked out good!

[@RyanKao]

Everyones worst nightmare! Thanks for watching!!

[@JasonMorrisphotocinema]

Super experienced Armando for a bts 😂 love this ❤

[@RyanKao]

Armando is the MAN

[@unpackedmoments]

great video. thank you for all the bts commentary

[@RyanKao]

Thanks!!

[@alex.mcintosh]

Thank you for sharing this story, Ryan. Very relatable for anyone in this industry. Great work; the film turned out great.

[@RyanKao]

Much appreciated! Thanks for checking it out

[@lauritee]

Thanks, Ryan for sharing the story! It was very interesting hearing what happened and how you tackled the situation. More vids like these def!

[@RyanKao]

Hoping to share more in the future! Thanks man!!

[@davidmorefield]

Thanks for sharing a big learning experience. And you told the story in a great way… had me stressed. Good sign of a good KZbinr. I’m glad the project was saved and left the client satisfied. I love this type of project breakdown.

[@RyanKao]

Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment. I'm glad you enjoyed this. It turned into a piece I'm happy with overall, and as always, it's good to learn a few lessons along the way! Hope to share more breakdowns in the future. Cheers!

[@lostinayaland]

Loved this whole breakdown! Glad we managed to work on this together and create a successful final piece despite all of the challenges. Looking forward to the next one! :)

[@RyanKao]

Such a pleasure getting to work with you and the team on this one!

[@GeraldBrahimaj]

I really appreciate the transparency! Filmmaking is not that easy, especially when you have a lot of boxes to tick on a tight schedule.

[@RyanKao]

Thanks a ton Gerald. Really appreciate the support

[@JacksonHayes]

my heart DROPPED when you said the camera died mid-roll

[@dammyemmanuel]

The honesty here is just 👌

[@RyanKao]

Appreciate it!!

[@AndreiPascu]

Since I can relate to this… I was SO on edge

[@RyanKao]

😅

[@williamhearn]

Awesome video! Love the bts and transparency.

[@RyanKao]

Thanks so much William!!

[@gordonsmith33]

Gotta love RED.

[@johnnyweissmuller5838]

All cameras should have internal battery that can power the camera for the last seconds it needs to write down to memory, whos with me?!

[@dammyemmanuel]

I am... a capacitor or a battery should just be set up for that... or the O's should be optimized for that!

[@HI-SiteAerials]

Very engaging hook, storyline/ arc, and lessons, thanks for sharing.

[@RyanKao]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@joshmchin]

Great one

[@KonstantinBeck]

Thanks for sharing this! I rarely see anyone talking about the pressure that comes with this AMAZING Job of being a Director or DOP

[@romeo.ardael]

This is a refreshing insight to a professional work. There's always key takeaways from any project regardless of level and I appreciate you capturing and explaining your experience.

[@RyanKao]

Truly glad you connected with this. Thanks for watching Romeo.

[@anton.mtb8274]

Crazy Story pls go on and make more videos!!! Its so goooooood

[@staticmotion1628]

yup i know that feeling man learned a very very long time ago the same way you did when it comes to the interview after that i've always clutched my record after every 2nd question in a long interview you never know whats gonna happen on set glad it worked out for you and well told story here love your channel man

[@StephenHerron]

Haha I do this too, always break it up and dual record to two cards simultaneously when I can!

[@wazlght5884]

You keeping a 100 was the coolest part.

[@starterpvck2043]

Glad things worked out, even my heart sank as you were telling the story! Could’ve been a nightmare but it worked out! 🎥✨

[@RyanKao]

Such a relief to have had it all work out in the end. A learning opportunity for myself as well. Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment!! 🙏

[@animusvisual]

Relatable content. Sometimes client oversights and/or schedule changes or restrictions can really throw a wrench in even the best planned shoots. ITs definitely our job to pivot with as much grace as possible and undoubtedly in the rush of figuring things out we also miss things or make mistakes. Glad this one didnt knock you too bad. At the end of the day, lots of lessons were learned and you (and therefore us) will be that much better in the future about keeping our composure in high stress... and also checking our V mounts before a long take haha. Thanks for sharing.

[@filmmakerevolution]

Oooof what a scary moment, must have felt insanely good when you realised it was still all there!

[@RyanKao]

Such a sigh of relief...

[@glennmsw]

Rare transparency. Increased my respect for you and your work. Thank you for sharing. Please, keep them coming.

[@RyanKao]

Much appreciated. Will do!

[@thegreatlifeofjake]

I’ll be your free AC/PA. Glad it all came together in the end

[@saintlaviestudios]

That was a close one! Glad it worked out. Also probably the best storyblocks promotion I heard all year haha.

[@bieta.]

One thing I learned. There is never not a problem and there is never enough time

[@RyanKao]

Absolutely. Just gotta do your best and roll with the ups and downs. Thanks for watching this one.

[@Camera7Productions]

It happened to us once, thank god software was able to recover the footage of the interview as the client had already flown back to Mumbai from Delhi. Good to know we weren't alone.

[@CarlesMass]

Ayaaa❤

[@ElevateMakesMusic]

Yes bro . Need this inspiration legend 100 100 100

[@RyanKao]

Glad you enjoyed this!!

[@travel9to5]

Wow, finally someone is being honest! Thanks for the great content, Ryan

[@RyanKao]

I appreciate that!

[@parvezalamm]

which software you used to make pre production sheet?

[@RyanKao]

Milanote, it’s the best!

[@dathofilms]

Before you even told the story, I knew the answer :) Blackmagic does the same, I was told Cinema camera really writes the files as they are recording, as oposed to Mirorrless "fake" cinema cameras that really close the file only if you push the stop button.

[@robinprobyn1971]

Its down to the cards ability , RED should use cards that have this ability , Sony F5/55 SxS and Sony Fx9 XQD will finish the file if they lose power , you will lose about 4 seconds max, and be back up and running after a restore media , in a few seconds .

[@dathofilms]

thank you! that makes sense. @@robinprobyn1971

[@lennutrajektoor]

Two takeaways - 1) always have a battery fully charged or fully charged spare battery you put on before a take. 2) external recorder if the camera has no backup slot. The latter would be a better option because it's one backup point rather than having massive amount of batteries ready.

[@WhySteve]

Where I'm from, everything is so "Run n Gun" that I get a panic attack when somebody asks me to help them shoot or edit 🤣But it comes to show, even when you're a pro on a big production, things also go wrong sometimes.

[@CedricSeancemar]

Such a masterpiece 😃

[@RyanKao]

🙌🙏

[@chipcurry]

Great storytelling!

[@RyanKao]

Appreciate this!

[@JimiJames]

Dji is okay with you releasing this video? Seems like their companies policies put undo restrictions on you which created these issues. Mostly budgetary and timing. (You couldn’t shoot b roll without the client present, and you had a crew member leave early?) feel for you dude. Good work sticking it out and delivering. You deserve a clause for reshoots and production expenses for proper crew.

[@ac-hq9zb]

same thing happend to me the other day. now I always have a back up cam on shoot and I record to a wireless monitor, in camera and a on cam monitor atomos ninji v always have a back up plan it was my intern the saved me with his behind the scenes clips he was taking

[@ksharky888]

i can feel the anxiety

[@joaomestre2584]

How do you suggest jumping into medium/big video production?

[@bafeink2]

I was talking to my sister today about such moments on set and she told me to have "Kanye" confidence and positivity when leading a team

[@RyanKao]

She's absolutely right!! Makes all the difference when leading a team.

[@jairolozano680]

So awesome! 🙌🏽

[@RyanKao]

Appreciate it!!

[@coltonmonroe9824]

goated!

[@98JamesNixon]

Exactly the same thing happened the other week on Red Komodo to one of our colleagues, not a good feeling. Shame there’s no way to recover it in camera after a power loss like the Canon cinema cameras do. Think he sent the file off and in the process of recovery

[@getfmlr]

I'm running a ZCam S6 but all the flagship ZCam cameras have this feature. If powered off when you swap batteries, the option to recover the file is presented on boot up.

[@98JamesNixon]

@@getfmlr He was shooting ProRes on the Komodo, not sure if it had that option as I wasn’t there when it happened but sounds like it didn’t give them the option to recover in the camera. Probably would have worked if they were shooting R3D

[@robinprobyn1971]

Seems a bit of a con for the reds , what card are they using , Sony SxS and XQD , you would have got a "restore media" message , lost about 4 seconds of the clip and be ready to shoot in like 10 seconds , the client would never even have to know . They will "end " the clip off in seconds . Bin that red and get an fx9 :)

[@Bo_Hazem]

Having more V-mount batteries, maybe at least 1 extra would serve well. For cameras like Sony's that can have the internal battery full while running the camera through USB-C power delivery 9V A3 is right way to go. If Atomos can be charged while an NP-F battery on it that's also the way to go. Using dual card recording while recording on Atomos even in H.265 would mean if something wrong happens to the camera Atomos file is independent, and talking here about corrupted filed due to power shortage which would be extremely rare then you could be at ease. Using dummy batteries for both the camera and Atomos is extremely risky. Anything could happen from someone pushing the camera or some unexpected wind, camera falls off, maybe one of the cables get unplugged or something. The more bad scenarios you have in mind the better. If Ryan didn't deliver this project for example it would tremendously hurt his progression as a top tier filmmaker/DP. Glad everything went smoothly and we get to enjoy this precious video.

[@neighborhoodherosofficial]

what was the budget for this shoot ?

[@eqilibrius]

That client got completely unjustifiably trust issues. Fr your footage will always turn out better if they aren't on set. 😂

[@anthonysyfilms]

Are you using the standard mic that comes with the tascam?

[@rubenhabon8560]

RED YOU ARE HIM!!!!

[@Yusaku_VCP]

damn!

[@PatrickLipp]

Sounds like two massive single points of failure… learn from it and don’t let it happen next time. If I’m able to, I’ll have my camera plugged in while also having battery on. As for footage, I record internally and externally, or dual cards if I’m not using external recorded.

[@JackyLi]

The worst feeling when you don't know if your footage was saved or not :(

[@varianography]

Overall, this was way too crammed of a day for a 7 person crew. Thank you for sharing your experience! For longer format takes like interviews or shows, performances, etc. you should definitely have your camera plugged in via AC.

[@SamWooz]

cam op hella cute

[@RyanKao]

what his @

[@think-about-it-777]

so... instead of using a DJI 4d (with lens and ssd), you filmed a production FOR DJI using a RED, a Venus optics ranger, an angelfire SD card and battery pack... when there was AC running to your lights... and on top of all this had to use stock footage? lol. there's a lot going on there in that story that makes both DJI and you not look so hot. lol. I don't want to come off as a troll, I'm impressed with everything I've seen here like straight up 'bravo' Cool story bro, and congratulations! but also? WTFLOL?!

[@HwayVision]

I love this channel and I love your videos just sometimes the choppiness in your voice throws me off. With mati I can do 1.25 speed but your content is too awsome to do that. IDK if I'm horrible for mentioning it. At least there's no ums. Just feels like I'm listening to AI. Never gonna stop watching tho no hate just throws me off

[@johnbarleycorndoe]

i just wated 17 minutes of story fing blocks commercial. f$#@ off

[@brandonleefilms-weddings]

Bro, you’ve got talent, skills I wish I had; do yourself a favor, and at least wear a polo on set 👍

[@KekeBeatzTV]

Firstski 🤟🏾

[@ruslanopalkofilms]

Great content man! But I can guarantee you that I can improve the video editing in your videos. If you hire me as your video editor, your views will skyrocket! Let me know if you're interested