Trying 3 Unique Filmmaking Techniques With The Sony FX3

Recently, I challenged myself to push the boundaries of my filmmaking skills by creating three spec commercials, but with a twist. Each commercial will focus and hone in on a specific filmmaking technique. So let's get into it and see what I created. A quick backstory. These commercials are more so fun specs that I shot at Sony Kando with the resources that were given to me. Sony provided the models, some props, and a couple of backdrops for us to shoot. So there was no budget, no G&E team, no crew, and we only had 30 minutes with each model. So with the first technique, I wanted to experiment with camera movement. Now this is nothing that is extraordinary new to me. I'm a handheld girly and I always have been, always will be. But for me, it was really just dialing in and seeing what new movement I could do with my camera. Now there's two reasons why I really wanted to experiment with camera movement and really start to understand why I want this a part of my style. And the first one was that I think movement really helps enhance the story. When you're intentional about movement, it really adds the tone, the mood, the emotion to your story. You don't want to do certain movement that's actually going to confuse the audience more than it does help the story, help push the story, which is why sometimes you might see someone being on a steadicam and getting smooth movement and why sometimes you might see somebody doing more handheld things because of what they're trying to get the audience to, you know, feel. And so for this particular commercial, because of her outfit and what she was wearing, we decided to make it a sunglass commercial and so I knew I wanted it to be fun and edgy and I just knew that certain movement was going to have to be used to help elevate and tell this story. And I think we came up with something really, really dope. The second reason what I've learned when it came to movement was movement helps with transitions. And so I say that because I feel like a lot of us, we forgot that the best cut is just a cut. So we go and we add all these crazy effects and we do all these things and add all these transitions to try to help push the story. But a lot of times if you have really good movement from one scene to the next, you don't need everything else to help tell your story. So when you look at this commercial, you'll see I really didn't play with any transitions and posts. Everything was pretty much a simple cut, but the movement really allowed and helped tell the story from one scene to the next. So let's look at this commercial and let me know your thoughts. The second filmmaking technique was mastering how stock footage could help tell the story. Now this is super new to me because I have actually never used stock footage a day in my life. And I really wanted to dial in on post-production when it comes to filmmaking techniques because I think a lot of times we think that filmmaking and the techniques of cinematography starts and ends when it comes to shooting. But with cinematography, it's from the inception of an idea all the way to the end and bringing that idea to life. So it's from pre-production all the way to post-production. And so for this, I really wanted to figure out how stock footage could help tell a story. Now there's three reasons why I feel like stock footage is a really good filmmaking technique and something to think about in the future. It's because one, we didn't have a lot of time to shoot everything. Only 30 minutes times goes by real fast when you're switching lenses, when you're trying to change props or anything like that, when you move them from one location to the next. And so you don't get an opportunity to shoot as much as you would like. And that's where stock footage comes into play. So certain things where I'm like, oh, I could probably find this by getting stock footage. You can kind of focus in on those most important shots or your top shots that you know that you need to get that you can't replace or you can't find elsewhere. And so that was a big thing for me. I knew I wanted to shoot her and get her shots and certain shots of her. But there are other things that I was like, okay, there's other things that I need to help tell the story. And I don't have time to actually do that. And I'm not at the location to do that either. So I think that really, I think getting stock footage really helps with that. The second thing that I feel like it helps with is just learning how to be more experimental. Now of course, this is, you know, I could have just shot, I honestly could have just shot with what I had and it would have came out beautiful as well because that Sony 85mm was beautiful. Like the movement and everything I got from what I was shooting was beautiful. But really dialing in and experimenting and being able to show my style and show what I could do by adding this stock footage and allowing that to also tell a story that was deeper than what I could have told with just the footage that I had. I think that kind of also shows the variety of who you are as a creator, as a DP or cinematographer to where, you know, you can bridge these two different multi-medias to, you know, to get something really, really dope. And the third thing is thinking of ideas beyond shoot day. So a lot of times as a DP, because I'm a DP and an editor, I don't just think about, oh, what can we shoot, you know, and then just hand it off to the editor. I'm also an editor. I'm also thinking about if we shoot this way, how would it affect the editor or what could we shoot to help the editor? You know, so thinking about production as well as post-production for the show, let me figure out what I need to do while I shoot now to be able to get what I need in post. And so just thinking beyond shoot day, learning how to be creative beyond shoot day and using resources that's not, you know, there for you day of, but that can be there for you later. And honestly, by far, this is actually my favorite spec out of the three that I created just because I felt like I really stepped out of my comfort zone with it. So let's check it out. Everything, even the most beautiful things, normalize. Creative muscle isn't built in the most aesthetic place with the newest equipment and unlimited time and budget. It's built under pressure, with practice, using whatever you have, however you can. Regardless of heights reached, awards won, or followers gained, everyone will eventually regress back to their mean, waiting for the perfect time, setting, or lightning strike of inspiration will only lead to atrophy. So make the shit you want to make, need to make, now. Before we get into the last commercial, I want to speak on the sponsors of this video. Artlist has been my go-to for all things post-production and it's enhanced my editing in every way. All the music, sound effects, and even the stock footage that you just saw was all from Artlist. It is literally a one-stop shop to get all the things you need to enhance your storytelling and enhance your creativity. It provided exactly what I needed, even though I didn't know exactly what I wanted. Now, let me ask you a question. If you had $100,000, what would you create? Artlist just launched the $100K fund for the second year. And no matter what creator you are, you can easily pitch your ideas to try to win $100K to make it happen. You have until October 24th, so get on it. To join, post a video on your socials showcasing your idea and at artlist.io but hashtag artlist $100K fund. And if you want even more information, go to artlist.io or check the link in the description. I know that was a lot. Sorry, I had to plug in the sponsors and we're getting to the last commercial. But before we do, if you are still watching this, leave some money down below for the $100K fund. Leave some money down below. But with the last commercial, and this is the biggest one, I wanted to focus on production design. Now, as a cinematographer, we know that production design is super extremely important and probably more important than the camera itself. Yeah, I said it. So with that, there were three things that I had to focus on. Location, props, and wardrobe. Now, the crazy thing about this particular spec is we actually only had 15 minutes to shoot this one because we ran out of time trying to get to the location. So first, let's talk about location. Now again, we're at Sony Kando, I don't have a lot of resources. We are in a hotel in Santa Barbara. And so for me, I had to go the day before. I just really scouted around the hotel to see what I can come up with. And then we ran upon a tennis court. And what I loved about the tennis court was one, it actually had, to me, real turf. It wasn't just this green that you usually see at a tennis court. It was like real turf, very like natural and scratched, and it gave kind of texture to the overall commercial. But then two, with the location, the crazy thing is it was such a gloomy day that we had no sun, no sun peeking through, nothing, clouds. So in a sense, it kind of helped with lighting because everything was pretty equal. But then it took away from the contrast and the sun being able to make things pop. But again, this was pretty much the only other good location that we had that we could use outside of what we used for the other commercials. So I went ahead and went with it. And the first thing I noticed was really, honestly, the color. So we had the bluish green texture from the turf. Then we had, of course, the green trees. We had a lot of consistent lighting because of the cloudy skies. And then, of course, the walls around the tennis court were also this bluish green. So we were playing around with the green, blue-green family. And so with that, we went to number two, figuring out wardrobe. What could we do to actually make this commercial pop? Because seeing what we had when we went to go scout it and the colors of all this blue and green, what could we do to kind of make this pop? So with the wardrobe, when we saw that it was a cloudy day, we wanted to add color to her wardrobe but still keep the consistency of green, which is where you see this pink and green from her shirt. Even in her socks, she has a level of bluish green from that family, the color family in her socks. And then even her shoes gave this very neutral color, which blended in and brought everything together. And the third thing I want to talk about that helped outside of location and wardrobe was the props. Even deciding to do and make this suspect commercial, my friend had some perfume in her car. Lo and behold, the perfume color was also in the bluish green color family as well. And so we're all staying in this color theory that is really helping bring everything together and make it more unison. And so we have the green perfume that adds this element as well. You have the tennis balls that kind of have this yellowish green tint. And then you have the racket, which is purple that matches the pink. And so really playing with color theory, playing with the props and seeing how we can enhance our story when it comes to the production design, since in adding contrast and adding color and adding that pop because of the clouds, I think it really kind of helped overall. And then playing around in post. I had to do a lot more in post with this because, you know, we only have 15 minutes. And so let's check out this spec commercial and let me know your thoughts. So that is pretty much it. Those are the three filmmaking techniques that I focused on. And I learned a lot when it came to all of them. And I think it's truly going to grow me. There were so many people that really love this. And to me, there was a minute of imposter syndrome of like, these aren't really professional. You know, I shot these at Sony Kando, but I sure did put those on my website and people have been loving them because it's just showing, you know, what I can do, you know, with the resources that I have. So if you even gave me even more, I could really go above and beyond. And I think that's something that we forget as creators is we have to use what we have where we are. And if it looks good, if their story and someone can take away from that, they can see what you can do, even though you didn't have the resources to do it. And I'm very satisfied with what I got. And I feel like it's some of my best work, even though it wasn't even work for a client or anything like that. Let me know your thoughts. Which one was your favorite commercial? Like share them down below. This was super fun to do. And I was super excited about this. If you guys like these type of videos, let me know. I want to keep challenging myself, keep growing as a filmmaker so that I can continue to keep helping y'all. So like this video, share it with your friends, get, you know, do all the things. Please make sure you subscribe. We're on the road to 50k and I am trying to get there by December. So please make sure you're subscribed. But I really just want you to subscribe if you truly love my work, if you truly love and if I'm helping y'all, because that's what really matters. Don't subscribe if you don't feel like you're gaining anything from me. But if you are and you want to support, that's the best way to support. So thank y'all so much. I love you all and I will see you in the next video. Bye.