Why Indie Filmmakers Should NOT Shoot 4K Camera Footage - IFH 020

 I’m just saying shoot a format that is within your capabilities. Don’t make your filmmaking process more difficult than it has to be. In this episode I go over a ton of info on why you shouldn’t shoot 4K if you’re an indie filmmaker.

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[VoicesofMusic]

Some of the newer 4K cameras not only look better, but give you more artistic choices in post. That's not to say you can't make a great video in 1080p, but the question is, would it look better in 4K?

[dalexander]

Great podcast. Story and content will always and still remain king no matter if it was shot on the latest flavor of Red or an iPhone. That's what I've always been told when I got started.

[Madkretor]

many indie filmmakers like to use composite f.x. shots using green screen / blue screen.  with 4k RAW you get crisp silhouette / edges for compositing.   Without it you get a lot of artifacts to remove; aka a pain in the ass.  If you have the capacity /gear for a larger format for special effects, then use it.  This is why we used VISTAVISION at Dream Quest for films like The Abyss and Total Recall.

[dreamteammediaproductions]

Thanks guy. I like that you stress that the story is important. I've recently saw some bad actors too. They ruined the project. I think good actors are important too, so that viewers can believe the story. Rock on and have a great 2017.

[mychalsimonz]

Thank you so much for this video and information. Like you I was 17 yrs old when "Slide" was released. And "Confunkshun". Your commentary is right on point. These guys really influenced many.... so much to where I ended up moving from NYC to LA and producing ICE CUBE. So music does influence young people. Thank you again God Bless

[gutlessband]

Sweet vid. Really dig this sort of thing.
Would love to see more. Keep it up.

[YOBABYMAMAHEROSGAMINGCHANNEL]

I know this video was made in 2015 but i really needed to hear this

[crazyleg]

The truth shall set us free! Nice content... I subbed.

[stevenmuncy]

Excellent presentation. If anyone argues point them to Marker's La Jetée.

[mychalsimonz]

Dude!!!! Thank you so much for this episode. I'm sorry I'm Mychal Simonz Record Producer turned Film maker and I want to say Thank you thank thank for this episode. I was just telling someone else this same info. And the fact that your end result is still gonna be squished down to 2k. And if YouTube or close to it gonna be your initial distribution to the world No body has a 4K, 6k, 8k computer screen it's a waste of time andMy God tons of money. You made my point for me. Thank you again.

[mathmason]

Hi, I agree wholeheartedly with your comments on 4K, many 1080p movies look amazing anyways (Drive, Whiplash, Zodiac) but I would say 4K is not the best when doing it in RAW, ProRes or RedCode RAW - but I would think efficient codecs such as the XAVC is ok as the bitrates don't get too high and with cameras like the gh4 and c300 MK II.

[shampachakraborty]

thank you very much for this episode...great stuff...!!

have subscribed...

[orangebetsy]

Play well on a stradivari violin, nobody questions the beauty brought by the violin...play well on a quality violin but not a Strad, nobody speaks less of the performance because of the violin.

[musicforfilmandtv]

STORY is king but other members of the royal family include performances, music, visuals, special effects and so on. Visual quality is important. Shoot in 4k, reduce to 1080 and you will find that much of the visual quality remains. Try an A/B comparison and you'll be pleasantly surprised. And 1080 is much more workable on a typical consumer PC. I plan on shooting a feature next year on a Lumix G7. I'll shoot in 4k with a low contrast profile to improve my dynamic range and post options. I hope to utilize practical lighting with fill when needed but primarily I'm focusing on a satisfying story, vivid characters and when the time comes - performances. I wish well to all my fellow film makers.

[georgecombii]

Do you know any books on digital filmmaking ? Things like what pixels are, what resolution is, what aperture is etc.

[SuperRexProductions]

Hey Alex,
Love the show! It really help me going some days. Do you still feel this way today. I have the Blackmagic 2.5k and am thinking g about doing my first feature. My buddy keeps telling me that by the time we shoot next year we should upgrade to either the 4k or URSAmini 4.6k pro. I still feel like 1080 is still viable and most importantly I don't believe that our budget would allow for shooting 4k RAW. Let me know. Keep up the amazing work man!!

[Avidcomp]

I would have thought cloud servers would be the best for future archiving. Perhaps Solid State storage is or will be good enough over disk drives.

[kylecruise]

Yeah but your average film going audience won't even care if you shoot your film in 6K, 8K or 70mm(Tarantino). The story is what people talk about. I'm going to shoot in 4K for my next film. And there is a difference. The image is cleaner. Put a 1080p TV next to a 4K TV you can really see the difference in quality.

[mathisarnell]

Correct me if I'm wrong but if you shoot in 4k and edit/export in 1080p does it not give your final video a sharper image and less noise since you're minimizing the size of the noise? I didn't hear that as a benefit of shooting in 4k. But I could be wrong. Great podcast! Thanks for this episode.

[maurofalcon]

its 2017 now Alex. any second thoughts about the content of this post? has workflow technology improved any better this past couple of years for lower costs for the indie filmmaking industry? - love your statement thou. about the lack of good storytellers. those who appreciate cinema would definitely agree. people that treat imagery as work on a daily basis would not, usually those at video production biz that deal with 1 to 3 minutes material. just my humble opinion anyway.