STAFF BLOG
Author: Dugan Lunday
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10JUL2019
Gimbal
- Technical Journal
We’ve been trying to incorporate gimbal shots into more of the videos we make recently. It’s still sort of a new toy, so it shows up at each shoot in part because it’s a novel item, in part so I can become familiar with it, and in part to add more moving shots to our…
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09JUL2019
Action Cam Underground
- Creative Journal
We went back to Tamagawa Daishi for another half-day of shooting. This time though we strapped GoPros to ourselves before entering the tunnel. Maybe it’s a bit silly, but we figured why not. We’re not making an “action” video, so most likely we’ll not be using the footage. Still, it’s fun to have lying around…
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02JUL2019
Portrait: Eishi Hamaguchi
- Creative Journal
Finally, uploaded a project that we worked on nearly a year ago. It’s a portrait of Eishi Hamaguchi, a young illustrator based out of Setagaya. His earliest published works are collections of illustrations that he did during elementary and middle school, showing a propensity towards production from a young age. Some of the characteristics of…
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02JUL2019
Cine1 Custom Settings
- Technical Journal
So far this is what I’ve settled on as a custom Cine1 profile for those times that we don’t want to bother with S-log. Okay, so I’ll start from the top down. I have Black Level set to +15 because it softens the black in the image, allowing the camera to capture the gradations…
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27JUN2019
PV Ideas
- Creative Journal
I’ve been toying with two ideas for the space venture promotional video. I think that doing a straight-forward mission statement video will lack impact and the CG heavy promotional content I’ve seen strikes me as a bit cheesy. At first, I thought instead that it’d be more fun to piece together something that references science…
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26JUN2019
Color Space Test
- Technical Journal
I’ve been running small tests today to figure out the best picture profile settings for the Sony A7sII. Plenty of people have shared their preferred settings online on forums and through YouTube videos, but a lot of it seems geared towards an out-of-camera look as opposed to one optimized for grading. The settings that I’ve…
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23MAY2019
Tunnel Shoot
- Creative Journal
We finished up shooting at Tamagawa Daishi. The abbot gave us some dorayaki and senbei. The snacks tasted religious. The dorayaki were even stamped with bonji, the Siddham script seed syllables. The most impressive part of shooting at the temple was definitely being able to film in the tunnel, to really be able to…
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01MAY2019
Demo Reel
- Creative Journal
I’ve been doing a little research to stimulate some ideas on how to format our demo reel. I’d like to put together something that’s less cookie cutter than the typical reel – just stringing together our best shot footage. I think the super sleek black/silver look of so many production companies is rather attractive, but…
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30APR2019
Business Cards
- Miscellaneous
The art of exchanging business cards is definitely one of the intricacies of Japanese business etiquette that I had no way of knowing about when I first arrived in the country. Here are some important points for the uninitiated: Always have a business card on you Keep them in a carrying case, not your…
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18APR2019
Dry Landscape
- Client Work
We reserved two time slots for our clients before and after open hours at Ryoan-ji, a 15th century zen temple (I believe there was another temple on the site dating back to the 11th century). The temple is most famous for its dry landscape garden. Being able to appreciate a historical monument and world heritage…