Hey Indie Filmmakers is a podcast about DIY filmmaking, cameras and technology, hosted by documentary filmmaker Griffin Hammond and tech expert Nick Bodmer. Watch the video podcast on YouTube, or listen on iTunes or your preferred podcasting service.
Join me this Sunday at Illinois State University for a live recording of Hey Indie Filmmakers!
Doors open at 11:00am. This free event begins at 11:15am.
Normal, Illinois
Illinois State University
Fell Hall 280 (Communication Innovation Center)
Nick will join remotely from Las Vegas, & we'll answer filmmaking questions from the audience!
Nick is moving, and Griffin is clearing out closet space. They’re selling filmmaking gear they no longer use, in a YouTube Garage Sale. You can buy any of these 11 items at http://griffinhammond.com/sale
EDIT: All 11 items were claimed in the first 90 minutes of posting the video!
To build a convenient, retractable podcasting system, Griffin mounted an LED panel and a retractable camera mount in his office closet. Plus, your questions about step-up rings, when to use shotgun vs hyper-cardioid mics, and if you can show the iPhone operating system in your film.
Ingredients for Griffin’s retractable podcasting system
In addition to our usual filmmaking questions, Nick wants you to tweet other types of questions using the hashtag #askgriffin
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We received a question about the pocket-sized Panasonic LX10, which has a built-in f/1.4–2.8 24–70mm lens (super 35 equivalent).
Episode originally aired February 14, 2017
Happy Valentine’s Day! Nick and Griffin share their wedding film production techniques—from dealing with low light in dark receptions to copyrighted music. Plus your questions about DSLR recording limits, asking good interview questions, and what format to shoot commercials in.
Watch Griffin & Amy’s 5-minute wedding video, edited from only one good camera angle after Griffin screwed up Nick’s great close-up angle.
A sampling of wedding films produced by Nick Bodmer
A sampling of wedding films produced by Griffin Hammond
Nick mentioned finding collaborators on the /r/videography subreddit and /r/weddingvideography
Nick uses this “Precomposed Zip Kit” After Effects template for DVD menus.
After an Valentine’s Day audio mishap, Griffin calls Nick for answers. Amy saves the day.
We met through a wonderful website called Film Fights.
Watch or listen to last year's V-Day episode, How to Produce Wedding Films (episode 07).
One “flick” equals 1/705,600,000th of a second, according to a new open-source unit of time for measuring framerates. Plus, your questions about foggy lenses, appropriate audio levels, and if you can use Garageband music in your commercial video projects.
Read the Ars Technica article: Oculus creates a new, open source unit of time to measure frame rates
How many flicks have passed during this 44-minute, 23-second episode? 1,879,012,800,000!
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The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE
In Dubai, filming sharks with an underwater camera housing—during Griffin’s filmmaking workshop tour through the United Arab Emirates. Plus, your questions about jitter and motion blur, settings for time lapse, and which camera is right for you.
View the full set of underwater equipment I’m using—including an Ikelight 200DL housing and accessories, and 2500-lumen Sea Dragon lights—at griffinhammond.com/underwater
Shooting underwater can be expensive. Including the cost of the Panasonic GH5 camera, and 8–18mm lens, I’m submerging $6300 worth of gear in the ocean!
View the full set of equipment I used—including an Ikelight 200DL housing and accessories, and 2500-lumen Sea Dragon lights—at griffinhammond.com/underwater
This week, I bought a much cheaper set of gear: a third Pedco Ultraclamp, microGAFFER tape for travel, and LEE Filters CTO gels—to make some of my very blue LED lights look warmer.
For Panasonic GH5 V-Log footage, I’ve enjoyed a LUT called VLog_to_V709_Varicam, included in this free zip file of LUTs created by Mitch Lally.
For our 50th episode, our friend Adam Rahn has a gift for you! 101 free light leak effects you can use in your next video. Watch his tutorial video, and download the light leak video files here.
Panasonic debuted their low-light, dual-native-ISO GH5S camera at CES last week. Griffin and Nick share the 10 big changes that separate it from its predecessor, the Lumix GH5. Plus, your questions about daylight-balanced bulbs, how to transfer large video files online, and whether you should give your client the raw footage.
C4K 60p/30p. These 4:2:0 8-bit framerates were available in 3840x2160 UHD on the GH5, but not in C4K 4096x2160.
Multi-aspect sensor. C4K 4096x2160 actually uses a wider portion of the sensor, resulting in a 1.8x crop factor (slightly wider field of view).
No IBIS (in-body image stabilization). The newly designed, slightly larger sensor catches more light, but is too big for IBIS—which would cause vignetting. But many Panasonic lenses have built-in OIS (optical image stabilization).
10-megapixel, not 20. Smaller photographs, but Panasonic added 14-bit RAW files—up to 10 frames per second.
14 stops of dynamic range. That’s two more stops than the GH5 is capable of.
Dual native ISO. Native ISOs at 400 and 2500 means noise level at ISO12800 on the GH5S is comparable to ISO1600 on the GH5.
Includes V-log. The GH5S ships with V-Log L already installed. Previously a $99 upgrade on the GH5.
Timecode port. For syncing timecode across bodies, Panasonic includes a cable that adapts the PC/flash port to BNC.
Red detailing on Rec Button and Drive Mode Dial.
Price: $2499—the GH5S is $500 more than the GH5, and will be released February 6, 2018.
Griffin filmed behind-the-scenes as three filmmakers shot with the Panasonic GH5S for the first time:
Jacob Schwarz shot Horizons*. Watch his behind-the-scenes
Luke Neumann shot The Middle Path*. Watch his behind-the-scenes
Alexandria Bombach shot Finding the Light*. Watch her behind-the-scenes (coming soon).
*Taking advantage of the GH5S’ greater dynamic range, all three films were mastered in HDR, so if you have a high dynamic range television, they look especially great. I shot all the behind-the-scenes films on my Panasonic GH5.
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A YouTube commenter suggests Griffin is wrong to call himself a “filmmaker,” because he doesn’t shoot on celluloid film. But most of the last 10 Best Cinematography Academy Award winners were shot with digital ARRI ALEXA cameras:
Slumdog Millionaire (2008) shot on 35mm and Silicon Imaging SI-2K Digital Camera
Avatar (2009) shot on Fusion Camera System
Inception (2010) shot on 35mm and 65mm film
Hugo (2011) shot on ARRI ALEXA
Life of Pi (2012) shot on 6 ARRI ALEXAs
Gravity (2013) used ARRI ALEXA and ARRIFLEX 765
Birdman (2014) used ARRI ALEXA
The Revenant (2015) was shot with ARRI ALEXA LT and ALEXA 6
La La Land (2016) shot on film
Nick found this photo from 2010, when he and I shared a Panasonic GH1 camera, 14-140mm lens, Zoom H4n audio recorder, ULTRAcompact shoulder rig, and Azden wireless mic system.
Patrick Gavin shared this photo on Twitter—using an A1 Steak Sauce bottle plus Pedco Ultra Clamp as a makeshift mic stand.
Version 10.4 of Final Cut Pro X has been released—Griffin’s 2018 resolution is to shoot HDR (high-dynamic range) video. Plus, your questions about protecting a camera in the snow, losing YouTube subscribers, and when to replace SD cards.
Apple: How to work with HDR in Final Cut Pro X 10.4
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Nick doesn’t want me to promote his YouTube channel, but you should subscribe for videos about hard drive shucking or the time he won a match of Playerunknown Battlegrounds.
Featuring 11 of his favorite stock music tracks, Griffin compares six music libraries and how to find the best, most affordable tracks. Plus, your questions about slow motion, noise in your audio recorder, and when to use exposure compensation.
Audio Libraries discussed on today’s show:
Incompetech (Kevin MacLeod)
*Artlist is the library I use. If you sign up for a $200 annual Artlist subscription at griffinhammond.com/music, you get two free months, and I receive $20.
Music tracks featured on today’s show:
Red Dwarf by Terry Devine-King
Crack Nutter by Simon Porter
Wonderland (Instrumental) by Rex Banner
The Peruvian Protest by Maxime Herve
Timeout (Instrumental) by ANNALIA
Doing the Right Thing (Instrumental) by Adi Goldstein
Points North by Ben Winwood
Singing Oh by Blending Colors
Clarity (Just Piano) by Ian Post
Impact Moderato by Kevin MacLeod
Divider by Chris Zabriskie
Griffin’s step-by-step documentary filmmaking process. Plus, your questions about interviewing subjects, focal lengths for crop sensors, and how to trick your Atomos recorder.
For 7 hours of documentary filmmaking lessons, watch my CreativeLive class.
Daniel asked about my short film about landscape photographer Ben Grunow.
Hey Indie Filmmakers is brought to you by Tongal—a creative network where anyone, anywhere has the opportunity to make content for brands and get paid.
Anyone know how to achieve white balance for infrared photography in the new Adobe Lightroom CC?
*Even though Lightroom CC can't use my custom infrared camera profile I created for Lightroom Classic, I did learn I can save those settings as a user preset. Now my photos display properly on the desktop Lightroom CC app, but still turn red on mobile.
Griffin’s DJI Spark goes down during difficult conditions in Brooklyn. Plus, your questions about lenses for cityscapes, how to read a waveform monitor, and why you’re seeing black bars when you export your video.
Watch the footage Griffin shot inside the factory.
This episode of Hey Indie Filmmakers edited by John Luna. Check out his YouTube channel.
One of the three axes on my Zhiyun Tech Crane v2 became disconnected, exposing one of the electro-magnetic motors.
Can Griffin salvage a shoot after breaking his Zhiyun Tech 3-axis gimbal? Plus, your questions about proper exposure, lenses with a 2x crop factor, and how to know if your video is breaking copyright.
Hey Indie Filmmakers is brought to you by Tongal—a creative network where anyone, anywhere has the opportunity to make content for brands and get paid.
More Cyber Week filmmaking deals, and Nick goes behind-the-scenes on Griffin's latest video. Plus, your questions about lens whacking, the new Lumix G9 camera, and if you should build a hackintosh.
Find all the Cyber Week deals I’m talking about at griffinhammond.com/cyber
With family for Thanksgiving, Griffin and Nick share their audio syncing workflow. Plus, your questions about storyboarding, tripods, and whether you need an infrared neutral density filter.
Pictured on the right, Nick and Griffin met in eighth grade at Gregory Middle School. 1998, Naperville, Illinois.
Normally $599, Nick bought a Dell 27” gaming monitor this week for $350.
*As you online shop over Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, I recommend a browser plug-in called Invisible Hand, to double check for the best price.
I bought a USB-C dongle to connect my Nintendo Switch to HDMI. Turns out, it also works for my new MacBook Pro, and is $40 cheaper than Apple’s adapter.
Hey Indie Filmmakers is brought to you by Tongal—a creative network where anyone, anywhere has the opportunity to make content for brands and get paid.
Is the iPhone X a professional video camera? Plus, we solve your filmmaking math problems, what causes moire, and whether it’s fair use to film a sporting event.
This week, Nick shared Lee Morris’ iPhone X camera review with me, as well as The Verge’s infrared footage.
Hey Indie Filmmakers is brought to you by Tongal—a creative network where anyone, anywhere has the opportunity to make content for brands and get paid.
Tom shared his cool First Person Santa Claus animation with us.
As we discussed licensing content, Nick remembered Mike Monteiro’s talk, F*ck You, Pay Me.
Griffin accidentally sends his lavalier microphone underwater. Nick starts editing video game content in Adobe Premiere.
Watch Griffin’s microphone comparison video—Can you hear a $500 difference?
Watch Channel One 11:30am November 12
For our Australian fans, watch Channel Ten ONE this Sunday, November 12. Griffin is on the second episode of this season’s Snap Happy TV, airing 11:30am.