How To Video Ep 2: Cameras, Lenses & Drones — What Video Gear To Use

This is an AI-assisted transcript of the audio episode. It may contain minor transcription errors.

How to video. This is a continuation of a previous episode. When was the first, do you remember? When was the first time you exchanged filmmaking for whether it was a night-em or an amount? Oh wow. I've been doing this since 2001.

So you're in this fight? I need to think. Do you want me to jump in and tell you mine? It's 21 years ago. Yes, please. Okay.

So mine, by the way, I filmed and filmed and filmed and filmed and filmed and never thought that it would ever be a business. Where was this? This was in Mexico and this was in the US. Okay. And this was in South America.

And what I noticed was that every time I was filming, people were asking, what are you doing or what are you going to do with this? And I wanted better equipment. You should say now, sorry to cut you off. No, no, no. You're not.

People ask me that. I say, I'm filming a hot sauce commercial. Why? Why the hot sauce? Because it's very intriguing. How do you film a hot sauce?

It used to be the man-ish commercial, but I am changing it. Ladies and gentlemen, the next time you find yourself wanting to have to answer somebody's question as to what are you filming? Hot sauce always works and makes it more intriguing. By anyhow, sorry to cut you off. No, no, no, no.

We're having a genuine conversation. You know, it should be enjoyable. Filmmaking should be relatable. And I think most people are wondering, how do you transition from having it something that you love to having it be a gig? I remember the first time I exchanged it for something and it was, I changed it for pizza.

I told a guy at a pizza parlor, how about I make you a video? And this was when YouTube was started. Oh. So I told him, how about I make you a video of your pizza place and you give me a certain amount of pizza. And he said, okay, I'm going to give you 13 pizzas.

And we left it at that. 13? I think I'm saying 13 because of Lucky 13. I think it was 10. It was a large amount of pizza to a degree that it was like, I got, the pizza was absolutely wonderful.

This was in Cartagena. This was in Colombia. Yes. This was in Colombia. And the pizza was magnificent. So it was nice.

And I said, wow, I get to do something and I'm interviewing the person, taking the pizza out of the oven and I edit it and I put some music in it. By the way, I love music. So I happen to have that extra plus, which I think later we start finding out what is it that we bring into the table that people appreciated. So I made a small video with music in the background about this pizzeria in Colombia.

And we get this guy's YouTube channel started. But this is mid 2000s. So the YouTube is very early. However, it's intriguing for people that are like, how can I get into this? So that's how I got started. And later it went from pizza to hotel stays.

So I was filming the development of these really fancy hotels. And I said, well, I'll change it for two nights. And I felt at the penthouse suite. So how did you get from pizza to the hotels, the suites? Very good question. I think we were just at the time just walking around the city.

And like you say, it's about people. I also at that time had a steady cam. So it was very appealing. People were going like, this must be a really high end filmmaker. And by the way, the way I got to those, that equipment was by selling older equipment on eBay.

I didn't have the funds to get the equipment that I wanted. And I'm grateful for that. Because it made me step outside of my comfort zone and have to sell things to get new things. And ultimately, I knew that I needed stabilization. Back then, I just thought, there's an aesthetic to stabilization. Today, some equipment has it internally with software.

But back then, shake was a big issue. Right? Yeah. You cannot move the camera without it. You cannot move the camera. Now, let's take it back to you.

John, when do you remember one of the first times, if you don't remember exactly the first, when was the first time that you exchanged it for money? And do you remember how or why or if somebody… Okay, let me think. It was Mississippi. It was Mississippi to below Mississippi.

I believe I went and the first paying gig. I don't think it was a wedding. Because I really don't really do any weddings. I think it was… Wedding is another topic we'll talk about. Wedding is next to the Guantanamo shooting.

I still think it's quite beautiful. It's a lot of jobs in the world. You only have one chance to shoot. You cannot tell whoever is marrying them. Hey, can you marry them again? Because I think I have a better angle.

It's a one take. It's an invitation to one. And usually, stand in the worst light possible. And in the photographer, you have to fight with the photographer. Because if you are on his shot. And in the mother-in-law will get upset.

Because her iPhone shot, you are on the way. You're in the war. I think we all have to… We all have to… I think it's an initiation. It's an initiation right to do a wedding.

And then you might find out if maybe that's for you, maybe that's not for you. It tends to be a I love it or a hated thing. Most filmmakers are like, I would never do that. So tell me… I genuinely, to be honest with you, I don't remember.

But I think one of my first gigs were shooting for the city. The city usually have events in the summertime, just like any city they have. Oh, nice. You should have events downtown. So I just run around.

Music. In the fall they have this chili festival. And then they have the Elvis festival because it's too below. The chili must be amazing. Yeah. Yeah, it was good.

But that's a fall event, right? What camera were you using by then? Was this the same camera that you had at your graduation? No. At this time, it was the Canon… Actually, it wasn't even the Canon. It was the HVX200 Panasonic.

Do you remember when you made that consumer to prosumers? Yeah, because I wanted it. Because you wanted it. And there's nothing to do with this. And how did you make that decision? Because a lot of people go like, what should I…

GVX user.com. It was the GVX. So you were using the internet to look for reviews. Which is one really good fact. Do you know that dvxuser.com was started by Jared Lan, which is now the sole owner of a red camera.

Wow! He used to be a Panasonic shooter. He was a Panasonic guy. He was also an internet. What would you call that? A community forum.

A forum, a community forum. Which takes us back to, there's a lot to people. Yes, absolutely. So all the people that you know, I still get jobs from people from out of state. They say, hey, you know, I'm calling you because I got your number from

so and so that you were DP for it. How nice. So for anybody who's listening, there are bridges. Remember that you're this job or whatever it is that you're doing. It might not even be a paid gig as we were mentioning.

But it connects you in the future. Do you also think that there's people who are just seeing the next, what's the next thing? Like you have to be, just lose yourself, lose yourself as Eminem would say in the moment. Just kind of also enjoy whatever it is that you're doing. Sometimes filmmaking will do that to you.

You're sweating and it's uncomfortable and you have to look at the settings in the camera. Yeah, you just have to be… When did you… Speaking, it's stressful, right? And then it's stressful dealing with machinery and equipment and people. Did you ever notice that there was something that was happening inside of you

that had nothing to do with your outsides? Because I think sometimes some people are stressed at what they're doing and they blame whomever they're around. Yeah, because that's… When you were shooting and it's 14 hours that you know that you should not be there for 14 hours.

Everybody… If everybody knows what they're doing, right? And then you can get done by 8 hours, 10 hours, but you're there 14 hours and you're still not done. And how… You just cannot…

I don't think anybody can function probably after 14 hours. I've read a book on… What's this? Neuroscientists? Sleep neuroscientists? Anyways, what they say is your sleep affects your performance.

So whomever thinks that there is this superhuman that can do without food or sleep is lying. Yeah, like it… It's… So, so, so, and what happened at that particular production? Nothing is just like the whole production is hidden. They just, it's not a production. It's a big hangout.

Oh, that's, that's, I want to shoot some films, but you know. So be very attentive to, to the time it's going to take. You have to know the process. If you really look at it, filmmaking has process, right? I used to say you have to respect the process. But you have to know the process. There's a strategy. Yeah. Looking back on it, there's a lot of,

you have to have things ready. You have to have your equipment ready. You have to have, schedule things with the people that you're going to film with. Have a, have a schedule. There's a lot of hard work that has nothing to do with filming, that has everything to do with filming. Especially when you don't have money, the more preparation you need to, you need to do. For example, you go, you want to shoot in one location.

Do you know where the sun is going to be at four o'clock? Oh. Is that the light that you want? I mean, you know, usually, usually if you pick up the nice spot, you're playing your shot, you know the sun is going to be there. How did you get to these places of like, oh shoot, I didn't prepare for this. Does it happen very early on? Yeah, because you know how it is when you started doing all this.

You, you get with people that, you know, hey, you know, I have $100 for you to shoot this. But I want a $2 million production look. And then of course, when you were starting out, you say, yeah, sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, and I would recommend that. Find out at the beginning, if somebody offers you, like, just do it.

Do it for fun. And eventually, someone's going to offer you the day that you get offered money, it's quite wild. It's quite fun. Don't have expectations to turn into, into, you know, into, I'm trying to think of what's his name, don't try to be a Steven Spielberg overnight, you know. If somebody asked me how to get good at what you do. Yeah. If somebody asked me how to start with this, it depends.

You figure out what you want to be. Oh. You want to be a cinematographer, you want to be a gaffer, you want to be a grip. And how do you know that? And then it's basically an interest because sometimes you have people that all they want to do is right. All they want to do is act, right? So, they don't want to do anything else.

And would you say that it helps at the beginning, knowing what you don't want to do, kind of like, make sure that you say, no, I cannot do that? Yeah, the first, a good filmmaker, the first thing they will say is, I cannot do this. A bad filmmaker, the first thing they're going to say is, I can't do everything. I do everything. Oh, okay. So, if somebody's listening to this and they say, I'm good at everything, it's time for you to reflect.

Maybe you want to, you know, you're too broad and you probably want to be a little bit more. This is like, remember Michael Jordan when he go play baseball? Okay. Okay. Yeah, right. So, you have to be, I think you have to be specialized. But, anyhow, going back to that, the best advice that I can give to people is specialized.

Okay, so let's say you want to be a cinematographer, right? Okay. Don't go on by a camera. Your phone is enough, right? Today, it is impressive. It is impressive. So, that takes us to another question. What do you need today? Very little. Your darn phones are, you know, they're impressive.

So, if you want to be a cinematographer, you don't have to invest in a camera, right? Invest in something that will keep people from calling you back on set. So, for example, cinematographer, you can invest in, let's say, a diopter. What's a diopter? Diopter allows you to zoom in really close and most people don't have that. And then when they want to shoot something, they want to shoot something close, they'll be like,

again, my glance cannot have focus. And here's where you come and be the hero. Oh, I have a diopter. And guess what's going to happen? You're going to be the hero. Oh! And your name will be passed around. The next shoot. The next shoot, you know, they're going to call you again because you're so used to it. If you want to be a gaffer, have an extra cease then.

It's so interesting that you mentioned that. I got really good at the Steadicam because the Steadicam, you can get as much equipment as you want. But the cool thing about the Steadicam was that you have to spend so much time to balance. That's it. And for some reason, my brain loves solving problems. It was very hard to find a balance between this camera.

But for some reason, I had this knack. I tried it. I used it. I started running. I got really spent a lot of time editing and using a stabilizer. And to this day, it is still so it's almost so find your specialization. John says, you don't need, not everybody's meant to be a videographer, meaning you don't need to get the camera. That's a lot of dumping into something if you're not sure that it's going to be your fault. Be useful. And then once you get your pain, you can buy more equipment. I started with a small camera. And when I started getting paid, I started doing the upgrades.

I figured that having a Steadicam with a lower end camera would help and got good at focusing. Then went that this big, remember that transition to the DSLRs? And it was like, what? Do you remember the 5D came out? It was like, what is this? The Canon 5D? No, you need a focus puller. Because everybody is shooting 1.4.

And now you cannot do it by yourself anymore. Alright, so if you want to get into the camera department, maybe you should go out and buy a wireless follow focus. And start offering your service. Interesting. This is brilliant. Like these are… Why would you want to buy another camera? How many cameras do you know of people that own camera in this town?

So, it's so gazillion of them. Interesting. Right? And nobody has a light. And this is by the way, lucky 13 studios here. That's all right. Two of the years I've managed to buy a camera.

I've actually rented some of your equipment. Yeah. And I also like renting from you because you're easy to hang out with. And it gets us back to, you better work on you. Because there's a lot of conflict. I also realized that you mentioned about being a good. That when there were problems, I was helpful. I stepped outside of my role.

Like, whatever keeps the gig going. And I think that's why people say, hey, I want to work with you again. Yes, in the smaller shoot. If you're not in the union, you know, you can do whatever. I mean, it's almost like being an army going to one place and you have a goal. The goal is to shoot. And you just do, however you can, to help achieve the goal. Do you remember when you said, I don't want to do this?

Because I do. Kind of like you tried it and you're like, I am not doing that. Let's say, for example, the music. I am not good at creating any music whatsoever. And I am not good at doing any animation whatsoever. And you never see me volunteer my service to animate something for somebody. Because I will do a crappy job. Right? And then that's not what's the point. So, no, what you're not good at. I once directed and it was way too long.

And I said, I never want to, I never want to be, I never want to be doing that again. I produce more, I edit more, I can put together gigs, but I don't want to be behind the camera. I don't have, have you seen Steven Spielberg be his own DP? No. Because he's not. I was Steven Spielberg holding the boom and being his sound guy. And by the way, it's a friggin' art. Sound is so important.

Sound is the most important. So, would you even tell somebody who wants to get started, try out other things just to get a feeling? In the beginning, you're probably going to, you still try to discover yourself, right? So, if you PA for somebody, PA gives you a lot of, PA gives you the license to do a lot of things on set. Would you say that that's a, try PA before you want to get, before you know, want to buy a camera, before you be a PA, be helpful. Try, be helpful.

Be helpful. And learn. Keep a big eye and a big ear open. Ask more questions. Be known as the guy in town that has a die-op there. Okay, you're pushing that off. Don't know that. People don't know what it is and people, when they need it, they are going to know what it is. And most people don't even have that. And be the guy that has that. If you want to be a group, be the guy that owns a set of Apple boxes.

How many people own Apple boxes? What's Apple boxes? Apple boxes is the, you know, you have the full Apple half-apple. That is so useful on set to erase a table, to have an actor that is maybe shorter than actors' standards. Apple boxes. So, this is part of the success of Lucky 13. No, no, no. Well, no, but you kind of calling because you…

Maybe from you being a PA and being so helpful, you knew what people needed. So this is why you got that equipment. Yeah, that is being on set. I mean, being on set, and I didn't even get a lot of my…

You didn't get… I didn't even get a lot of my full equipment. Like for example, I didn't even get my Quiz, Quiz, the RGB light that is famous nowadays, changing colors and all that. I didn't even got that until a few years ago.

Sometimes I don't go and buy the latest and the greatest, right? Drone, for example. I just got my drone last year. So fun. Yeah, it was really fun. And I got the cheapest one, the DJI… The Mini.

Mini, SC for $300. So fun. But if somebody wants to shoot a real professionally, I am not going to volunteer my drone. Because I know that I am probably not really good at droning. And I've also noticed that if the footage you get from a certain drone

might not be useful for a specific bit rate. So you have to also make sure that hype to the point of delivery, if you can't deliver, don't… I promise you… Don't over promise if you don't have it. You don't know how to do it.

Because you cannot bullshit your way out. That can be a little bit of an impression and that can burn bridges. Filmmaking is a skill. If I say I can animate something for you… And it looks like crap. You're not a…

It's going to look like crap. It's not going to look like dune. Dune. Right? So please don't do that. So kind of looking in a summary, how do you get started in filmmaking?

Start. Be helpful. Be a good human being. You don't have to buy an expensive camera. You can start out with your phone. Being on set is hard enough. You have ego that you have to deal with on set.

Right? Even though you don't have ego, I bet you somebody would have ego. A client might have a lot. And then after that… Then we can talk about that in the next podcast. How to deal with a challenging client?

I think that that tends to be a big question on where do you put the balance of saying no and saying, OK, resolve this and give some freedom to a client. And never yell at a client. I can tell you that tip number one. Yeah. Yeah. Shouting.

Shouting is never a hell of a client. No one ever understood something more by being shouted at. So you know, like being on set is hard enough. You know, you have ego that you want to deal with. And it's long hours, right? So would you rather do that with somebody that is cheerful and good?

And that gets stuff? Hold on. Do you want to deal with jerks? No, you don't know. When I was 12 hours a day, 21 days. That was my huge…

That was like, why would I ever want to go to middle school or high school? It's like, yeah, it's almost like repeating… You told me you were in LA… Yeah. ..going to the Grammys. Yeah.

And somehow, you do not want to deal with that community. Yeah, with the insanity. Just because of the people, right? Peace, or at least being able to resolve things. And moving forward means a lot to me. The ego I realize, no, the red carpet, and not for me.

But that career music is shined a lot on mastering, on equalizing, which is a big part of filmmaking audio. Yeah. It is good audio, intensifies ads. And we can talk about that later. But remembering filmmaking is this mix of humans,

presenting visuals, telling a story. The storytelling is so important. So important. And understanding that there's going to be other people that you're going to need to work with that might be better than you. You want to be around people that are better than you.

Do you want to be… Yes, because you can learn. You can learn, which is beautiful. And don't be afraid to sometimes… When you get started, definitely have the famous port of Folu. Just have some experience.

I'm grateful that I worked so much without getting paid. By the time I started getting paid, I realized that I had a lot to offer. I didn't have to find myself, get experience, get a lot of film, edit, be in it. You say be a PA, be there. So, Maria, I used to work in the industry, a union in LA, used to tell me… When they hire you, when you're beginning, they hire you for your hands and your feet.

Oh, I love the philosophy. They did not hire you for your mouth. So, use your hands and your feet more than your mouth and observe. You can use your mouth, you can ask questions. For asking questions. But they don't hire you for you to tell them what they do.

Start receptive, learn more before having very strong opinions. And I think that's a great way to wrap it up. How to get started in filmmaking, John Weigh, that was a joy to get this done. And we'll see you next episode to how to deal with a client. And hopefully how to get to the next step once you're in it. Thank you, John.

Yes, it's nice. How to video…