Entries by Ryan E. Walters

Breaking Into The Film Industry

Breaking into the film industry can take many routes. Some stumble into it accidentally, others establish their careers through some serious hard work. However most routes can be boiled down to two simple principles: networking and proving your worth.

The Problem With The Digital Camera Look & My Solutions To Correcting It

During the past decade digital cinema cameras seem to be more abundant than film cameras. However, now that we have easy access to digital cameras with these amazing specs, a new problem has (ironically) emerged: the images are actually too good. They are too clean. “Why is this a problem?” you may ask. Well, let me explain.

How To Use A Light Meter: Overview

Last week I covered how a light meter is still necessary in our digital age. This week it’s time to learn how to use the light meter. In this video I cover the incident meter and the spot meter, and when to use them. Then it’s demonstration time, using the meter in different ways to properly expose a scene. Finally, I give you some tips and tricks on how to quickly determine the lighting ratios and range of your scene, along with a few more.

Why Use A Light Meter In The Digital Video Age?

As digital cinema cameras become the norm on set, people often ask, “Do cinematographers really need a light meter? Isn’t digital imagery simply ‘What You See Is What You Get?’” In this post I discuss how incredibly valuable a light meter is in speeding up your shoot, helping you communicate effectively with your gaffer, and increasing your abilities as a filmmaker.

Three Lighting Tips For Your Next Action Film

Filming an action film is a daunting task even under the best of circumstances. More overwhelming is when you only have three in your lighting crew and you’re cramming two days worth of set-ups into one day. That was what we had to pull off for the short film, “Easy Day” (2013). In this post, I’m going to share how we did it, and then give you three lighting tips that will make your next action film look amazing.