[Weekly Update]

It's crunch time here in the Accented Cinema headquarters (basement), as I have a bonus video to make, and an April Fool's video to get to. I better start working!

CHANNEL UPDATE

Thank you so much for the overwhelming support for our last video on the visuals and themes of Ancient China! I didn't expect such loving reception. Stuffing 1800 years of history into a 10 minute video was no easy task, and I had to skim over a lot of things. As a result, I feel like the video is too basic. But maybe what people needed is the broad stroke and a digestible approach. Anyway, we'll return to this series in a month's time!

Up next is our April Fool's video, which involves some kind of tentacles. That's all I'm allow to say.

Afterward, we have a video on Maggie Cheung and the basics of acting. Less a tutorial on how to act, and more so learning how to appreciate acting in cinema. I'm having loads of fun rewatching Maggie Cheung movies.

We'll return to our bad movie world tour with Ah Girl Go Army, a Singaporean movie. Despite us having limited viewers from Singapore, somehow this movie received the most votes, leading Ashiap Man by 50% more votes. I'm excited and dreaded to see what's up.

Finally, I think I'll just talk about Morbius for our bonus video. I would talk about Madam Web, but I have neither the time nor the courage to face it right now.

MEDIA TALK

So, I'm about to go and film the North American Solar Eclipse. I have all the equipments I need, except I haven't build my solar filters, and I'm paranoid that I already ruined the film. But hey, worst case scenario I'll just blind my right eye for nothing.

While I'm reading my cameras, let's talk about them. Do you have cameras of your own? What's your preferred equipment?

I still remember my journey of going from knowing nothing about camera, to being obsessed with camera specs, to not caring about camera. It was kinda a full on Wuxia novel swordsmanship transformation. Except I never mastered it, I only just understand the philosophy of it.

My first serious camera was the humble Canon t3i. Back then, I was in high school, and that was the only affordable option for film students. Blackmagic camera wouldn't be a thing for another year or so.

Despite it being by far my most shabby camera, it is ironically the camera I used most in my professional life. I have shot weddings, commercials, numerous real estate photos with this thing. Though I wouldn't realize it at the time, this was the kind of experience I needed to make me understand what cameras really are.

In university, however, we had the luxury of working with Blackmagic, RED, and eventually an Arri Alexa. I was cam-op on multiple of these projects, and the experience certainly spoiled me. There is this sense of prestige to be working with proper cinema cameras. Seeing the footage from the Arri, scrutinizing its highlights and shadows was just the kind of film student snobbery everyone enjoyed.

Between my high school and university years, I purchased a GoPro. I think I used it for one single short film, lended it to a friend one time, and never touched it again. It was my lease used camera. I bought into the hype, and wasn't sure what I really needed.

That will change by the time I graduated university, and needed my first professional camera. I was already into the wedding business by then. With some work experience, I began to understand what is actually important to me.

No doubt, we would all love to have a RED or even an Arri. but instead of blindly pursuing image quality and characteristics, I took a step back and look at the tings that reviewers often downplayed: The weight, the ergonomics, the battery life, the ease of use.

So, I picked a C-100-II, a 1080p camera that captures good but not exceptional quality image. To this day, I still don't have a 4K camera, unless you count my phone. What I needed wasn't RAW capable camera with 13 stops of dynamic range, because none of my clients needed it. I just need a light weight pro-camera that can last 8 hours on a single battery, and can record onto 2 SD cards at the same time so I have instant back ups. I wanted a camera that records quality audio, which ironically most cinema cameras are incapable of. And I want something that has a lot of readily available cheap lenses.

Using it was an experience that woke me up. Having a camera that I can just turned on and film made it so much easier to motivate myself to make stuff. it encouraged creativity. Unlike the cinema cameras, which I have to baby sits, my C-100, just like my t3i, works for me as a tool. It gave me less materials, but more time to fine tune my image.

From then on, I stopped caring about camera qualities. My next camera was literally a 30 bucks Canon AE-1, a manual, analogue camera that was in pretty bad shape. And more recently, I bought a Sony RX-100, a point and shoot camera. Why? Because it's a small camera I can strapped to my wrist when traveling.

And that was where I am right now. I rarely uses my C-100 outside of particularly demanding jobs, and I just use whatever tools that saves my time and effort, allowing my vision to shine through, rather than testing my technical skills at operating a camera.

All that's to say is, you really don't need a fancy camera to start being a photographer. Phones nowadays came with multiple lenses, and it's more than enough to get a feel for what you want and what you need. They say it's the person behind the lens that's important, I think it's more so the amount of practice that makes the most difference. Don't feel limited by your equipments. Go out, and shoot that eclipse if it's available. If not, I'm sure there are other things you'd enjoy photographing as well!

I'll see you soon with a bonus video and a prank video.