Today's Best Cinematographers

Emmanuel Lubezki

The Revenant

Birdman

The Tree of Life

Children of Men

Rodrigo Prieto

Silence

Argo

State of Play

Babel

Brokeback Mountain

Amores Perros

Greig Fraser

Lion

Rogue One

Foxcatcher

Zero Dark Thirty

Killing Them Softly

Bradford Young

Arrival

Selma

A Most Violent Year

Pawn Sacrifice

Ain't Them Bodies Saints

Linus Sandgren

La Lan Land

Joy

American Hustle

Upcoming films with these cinematographers

Song to Song
Directed by Terrance Malick and cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki
Ryan Gosling, Natalie Portman, Rooney Mara, and Michael Fassbender

Mary Magdalene

Directed by Garth Davis (Lion) and cinematography by Greig Fraser (Lion).
Rooney Mara, Ariane Labed, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Joaquin Phoenix

Best DIY Video Gear and How to Build It

$15 DIY steadicam in 15 minutes!

by Indy Mogul

5 minute video

For a $15 build the footage is very good and would allow you to get running shots and other moving shots that are otherwise impossible without a stabilizer.

How to Make a Professional Camera Slider

by DIY Perks
15 min. video
(more professional and flexible than the $10 Film Riot DIY Camera Slider.)

Animation on the Cheap from Fiverr

AeDaddy on Fiverr
25 Animated Titles for $10 (Final Cut Pro or Motion 2)

Lmworld on Fiverr

Song lyric video (1 minute for $5 / 3 minutes for $15)

enjomagcalen on Fiverr
Song Lyric video ($30 for 100 words/$60 for 200 words with unlimited revisions)

LED Light Panels for Indoor Filming

On Camera or Stand/Tripod mountable mini lights (for a little fill light)

NEEWER CN-216 216PCS LED Dimmable LED Light
$43
weight: 16 oz (likely without a battery)
Battery: 6x AA batteries (not included) or NP-F550, NP-FM55H, NP-FH60 battery

NEEWER® 160 LED CN-160 Dimmable LED Light
$32

LED Light Panels for Indoor Shooting

Fancierstudio 576 LED Light Panel LED Video Light
$100

StudioPRO Photography Continuous Premium Daylight LED 600 Light Panel Aluminum Casing
$212
Daylight 5600K balanced light output

Dimmable, flicker free dial 

Includes diffusion filter 

Shipping weight: 7 lbs

Documentary Filmmaking Class for $55

Shooting Documentary Short Films by Griffin Hammond

$55 class with 16 video lessons in HD.

(Most of the lessons are between 15 and 20 minutes.)

Griffin will share tips on lighting, framing, and interviewing subjects so you walk away with lots of usable footage. You’ll watch as Griffin shares clips from a one-day shoot and you’ll learn exactly what it takes to turnaround a complete documentary-style short on a deadline. 

You’ll also learn a handful of helpful editing techniques and get insights on the ethical and legal responsibilities of documentary filmmaking. 

If you want to learn how to tell meaningful stories that look great and sell, while working on a shoestring budget, don’t miss Shooting Documentary Short Films with Griffin Hammond. 

About the instructor:

Griffin Hammond is filmmaker covering political news at Bloomberg in New York City. He shot and edited the award-winning documentary Sriracha, and has published hundreds of low-budget filmmaking tutorials for aspiring filmmakers. Griffin studied film at New York University, earned a Masters from Illinois State University, and worked as a video producer at YouTube and State Farm.

Sriracha Documentary - DSLR Filmmaking

The 33 minute Sriracha documentary, produced, shot, and edited by Griffin Hammond is available to purchase for $3 on Amazon (or stream it free with Amazon Prime).

The film screened at 21 festivals in 2014 and won several awards.

Griffin also did a full director's commentary on the making of the film on Youtube.  He shot the film entirely on the Panasonic GH3 micro four-thirds DSLR.

"It’s been 18 months since I released Sriracha, a 33-minute documentary about the iconic hot sauce. This was a passion project — I was curious about my favorite condiment, and wanted a short film on my reel. The goal wasn’t to make money, but after spending $12,728 on production, then $27,807 on merch and distribution, the film has so far generated $76,677 in revenue, or $100 per day."

Learn more about how the film started with an idea and became a successful documentary:

The 73 second trailer on Vimeo that helps sell the film.

5 Lessons Learned from my Profitable Indie Documentary
Griffin details what he learned from using different publishing platforms (Amazon, Vimeo, Hulu, and Youtube).

At the very end of the article, he also lists the revenue and profit margin totals for the first 18 months of distributing the film.

In a world where indie films fight to break even, I’m proud that Sriracha has turned a $36,141 profit so far. But considering the opportunity cost of eight months of producing/shooting/editing, and 18 months as a part-time marketer and DVD shipper, that’s a lot of freelance income I turned down to make this film. 

The real return on investment is bringing a film to life that I wanted to exist, and the unexpected opportunities that result from a passion project. Within a year of its release, Sriracha landed me a documentary filmmaker job at Bloomberg News.

DSLR Camera Price History and Feature Comparison

Canon 5D Mark IV
30 MP Full-Frame
7 frames per second continuous shooting
4k video at 24p and 30p
1080p video up to 60p
Dual CF & SD Card Slots
View on Amazon
View on B&H
Price: $3,500 on 11/3/16

Canon 5Ds
50 MP Full-Frame
1080p video up to 30 fps
5 frames per second continuous shooting
Dual CF & SD Card Slots
View on Amazon
View on B&H
Price: $3,500 on 11/3/16
Model R version without the Low Pass Filter is $3,700.

Canon 5D Mark III
22 MP Full-Frame
1080p video up to 30 fps
6 frames per second continuous shooting
Dual CF & SD Card Slots
3.2" LCD
View on Amazon
View on B&H
Price: $2,500 on 11/3/16

Canon 6D
20 MP Full-Frame
1080p video up to 30 fps
4.5 frames per second continuous shooting
3.0" LCD
View on B&H
View on Amazon
Price: $1,500 on 11/3/16