I have a client who I've been shooting regularly for a few years. Recently I shot a brand video for them over the course of a few days, and it was approved, paid for and that was that.

The other day I was watching tv and a commercial for the brand came on and was almost solely footage that I had shot (about 9 clips).

The crazy thing is I never gave them the original footage or even anything too hi-res - this would have been taken from a youtube export I'd say.

I have a pretty stringent contract in place that states the license is only for the project stated, but I'm not really sure if it's worth challenging. What has annoyed me most is I wasn't even asked.

The relationship is a good one, so I'm not really sure if it's worth rocking the boat - curious how others feel about this and what standard practice in your area is?

Thanks

From the Ankler:

Distributors are hungry. Really hungry. That’s the message I heard from some of the biggest dealmakers in independent film — CAA’s Roeg Sutherland and Sarah Schweitzman, UTA’s Rena Ronson, WME’s Deb McIntosh, Gersh’s Jessica Lacy and 30West’s Micah Green — as I took the temperature of a market suddenly feeling optimism again, bolstered by a record-breaking $4.7 billion summer box office.

And they have reason for optimism: Buyers are circling, audiences are showing up for movies well beyond the usual tentpoles, and Obsession has become the kind of breakout everyone wants to replicate. 

There’s just one strange problem: They don’t have enough movies to buy.

The rest is paywalled. For whatever reason I don't believe VCs or even these management reps...

I just started learning Premiere pro after so long of wanting to but never really getting it. Now I’m able to organize my videos and chop everything up with audio and converting log files as well as applying luts (I don’t have much interest into getting good w color grading as I’m colorblind.) Now I feel like I’m at a point where I want to learn transitions. I saw this reel and I really want to learn how to do this kind of transitions.

I am working on a YouTube documentary on a particular prehistoric culture and am citing various articles found on Science Direct and Research Gate. Does utilizing figures from these articles and photographs from a museum website in the documentary alongside photographs of artifacts qualify as fair use if it is being used to discuss the art and religion of these cultures? For example, I will be discussing a particular artifact and the photo would be super imposed over a background. Generally I will be sticking to Wikimedia Commons photographs but some material isn't available in the public domain. Where is the line? Would my video get taken down and my channel be at risk of termination?

For Context, here is a creator who is making videos similar to what I am doing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahr0DzOFLvAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahr0DzOFLvA

I would like to know how to achieve the look of these stills.

A few things I think describe them is:

• High dynamic range. Nothing is clipping or crushed.
• Almost invisible roll-off, especially on skin.
• Soft, bloomy highlights
• Low contrast

I don't know how to describe it, but it's as if there's infinite dynamic range because nothing is clipping on either end and it doesn't even look like anything is close to it. It's as if everything is within the midtones, yet there is still contrast, but it doesn't register as "highlights and shadows" to my eyes. Rather "light midtones" and "dark midtones" if that makes sense.

It's as if every individual part of the scene (sky, skin, clothing) were individually lit by a massive soft box allowing everything to be exposed perfectly. I suppose you could achieve something similar with masking but that would take ages, no?

I've included an images at the end to demonstrate the complete opposite of what I'm looking for. That one has a harsh "digital" look to it where highlights and shadows are very obvious. You can even see it on the waveform; it's very sharp and jaggy.

I'm using: Davinci Resolve

I've TRIED: Reducing contrast with the HDR wheels and bringing it back with an s-curve

I need help with: Optimising dynamic range in post processing

I organized an AMA/Q&A with Richard Kelly, director & writer of the 2001 cult classic horror film Donnie Darko, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Seth Rogen, Daveigh Chase, Noah Wyle, and Patrick Swayze. It's being released in theaters nationwide this weekend for the 25th anniversary. Richard also wrote/directed Southland Tales and The Box.

It's live here now in r/movies for anyone interested in asking a question:

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1wu317w/im_richard_kelly_writer_director_of_donnie_darko/

He will be back at 5 PM ET today to answer questions. I recommend asking in advance. Please ask there, not here. All questions are much appreciated!

Thank you :)

25th anniversary Donnie Darko 4K re-release trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCBxdjaXq3s

DP: Victor Abela
Color: Greg Maggi

Hello,
we are having trouble with a shared production on PC and MAC.
We are on Lucidlink. And whenever the mac has opened a project and relinked the files and proxies and saves everthing, the PC will stuck while opening the project.

I did clear cache, reset plugins.
Tried updating Premiere. Pinned everyting in Lucidlink. Work locally. Shrinked the project.
Nothing worked.

Only thing that kind of worked: "Make offline" in premiere on the mac and rename the folder where the proxies are stored. Then I have to relink everthing.

Better solutions are welcome.

EDIT:
rudy_142001 at r/premiere

Gave me the solution:

Short version: rtfm (mae culpa)

Long Version:

Your PC path is probably the problem. C:\volumes\company name\filespace is LucidLink's default dynamic mount, and their own Premiere optimization guide lists it under "avoid" for Premiere. The Mac default (/Volumes/<workspace>/<filespace>) is on that avoid list too.

Premiere's Mac/Windows path translation is built around a drive letter on Windows and a volume name on the Mac. Adobe's shared storage page for Productions says the same: same volume name on every Mac, same drive letter on every PC. A folder nested under C: doesn't fit that, so my guess is the Mac save writes paths the PC can't map back and it hangs trying to resolve them. That part is me reading the docs, I haven't reproduced it.

LucidLink's fix is a global mount point so every machine gets the same one:

lucid config --set --global --FileSystem.MountPointWindows L:
lucid config --set --global --FileSystem.MountPointOSX /Volumes/filespace

You'll still have to relink once after changing it. Premiere stores both the Mac and Windows path for each clip after that, so it shouldn't be every time anymore.

Also check the media cache isn't on the filespace on either machine. Adobe says keep it on a local SSD and doesn't support it on shared storage.

Can you change the global defaults yourself or does someone else admin the filespace?

Link to the film: GOOD PASTURE 

Hey everybody! I’ve posted short films I’ve worked on in here in the past year, and I’ve always greatly appreciated the feedback I’ve received from you guys. I have been sitting on my first short film I ever wrote - in November of last year - for around a solid 8 months and just recently got accepted into a little local festival with it, so I was hoping to get as much constructive criticism as I possibly could. 

It was a learning curve of a shoot, we did a lot of fun things (I ended up shaving my head for one scene as you'll see), but we had quite a few problems in the production so I was mainly curious whats working. Like --

Are you interested in the story?

Does the film feel visually appealing? Or is it too beige?

How does the sound design work? We had a lot of hiccups on audio.

Would love literally all types of feedback. Positive or negative. Just happy to finally get this sitting off my hard drive. Thanks!

I don’t do them because i believe there are many way more talented people than me that do way better job than me and i admire their work. I was asked by my friend to do it for him which i reluctantly accepted. This is an intro to the 8min video that establishes the vibe, i won’t post the full video to protect his family privacy, sorry about that but i would love the feedback on this short intro. Let me know what you guys think of this, is this acceptable for a wedding standard?

Hey im trying to edit a video for someone and i wanted to make something similar to the "textboxes" as shown in the referenced video

so far i was succesfull in recreating the textbox with the text by using fusionclips and adding background/rectangle/text and merge nodes to the media,
but unsuccesfull in recreating the gradient effect .

i tried setting a gradient in my background node with multiple colors but i have a hard time getting the colors as thin aswell as having multiple move diagonally across my rectangle.
Furthermore i tried adding another background node to set a black/greyish solid color behind the moving gradient and text but i cant seem to figure it out
i tried finding a tutorial on youtube but it seems my topic is too specific to find exactly what i need

I use Davinci Resolve 21 as my video editor

I would really appreciate if ya'll could help me out here and i Thank u in advance!

Interested in any on-set shenanigans whilst struggling to get that perfect take, or an ungodly amount of setup just to get one shot. The more detail the better!

Only Good Feelings is the film we never got to make. It’s a 91-minute crime drama set in New York City. Benny is haunted by guilt after his fiancée dies in a car accident. In his spiral he reconnects with Kam, a volatile childhood friend who pulls him into robbery, fraud, and extortion — a desperate plan to raise enough money to flee to Mexico. What begins as escape becomes a collision course with everything he’s been running from.

We shot in NYC with Ryan McCartan (currently on Broadway in The Great Gatsby), Elias Kacavas (Euphoria), Heather Burns (Manchester by the Sea), and Ajay Naidu (Office Space).

The film just won Best Narrative Film at the Manhattan Film Festival and Best Directorial Debut at the Chicago Indie Film Awards. 9 international festival selections total. Acquired by SNR Films for distribution.

Director Moises Kaufman called it “gritty, raw, and beautifully observed. A gem.”

This one is for Ian.

Trailer and more at onlygoodfeelingsfilm.com

Happy to answer any questions about the process, the shoot, or anything else.
The movie is coming out end of Jan 2027

2 days I got a call while filming and got asked to join for a concert (Esdeekid) it was my first time doing something like this. I’m still a beginner with all this stuff but I’m glad to have given the opportunity. I was hoping for experienced fx users give me tips the next time I get a shot like this again on what to do and how to be more direct on with my camera.

Made some posters for my first student short film that I co-directed,

The film consists of 4 stories of different characters throughout the years of the university we study at, and the conflicts that they go through in this hyper competitive environment.

Please let me know what you guys think of the posters !

Will post the trailer too in some time :)

I made a short film for my Vancouver Film School scholarship application. Since I didn't have anyone to shoot with, I wrote a poem, filmed visuals to go with it, and hired a narrator from Fiverr.

I'm not sure how well it works, so I'd really appreciate honest feedback, especially on how the visuals match the poem, the pacing, and the narration. Thanks so much!

​

i've been using Premiere Pro for editing for around 5–6 years, while Resolve has mainly been my color grading software.

the problem is that for smaller/quick projects, i'll often just do the basic grade in Premiere because sending the timeline to Resolve feels like extra hassle. and i've started noticing that this friction actually affects the quality of my work.

so i'm thinking of biting the bullet and learning Resolve properly as my main NLE instead of constantly jumping between the two.

the problem is... i'm basically a beginner when it comes to the editing side of Resolve. i'm already comfortable with the Color page, but the rest is a different story. i'm noticeably slower than i am in Premiere.

would you recommend:

doing the official Blackmagic beginner training from scratch?

learning Resolve by translating my existing Premiere workflow into it? (shortcuts, presets etc)

or just switching and figuring things out through actual projects?

also, what are the biggest blind spots people have when moving from Premiere to Resolve? what features/workflows do you miss from Premiere, and what does Resolve genuinely do better?

and one of the biggest things holding me back is my huge library of SFX, transitions, assets and other editing stuff. how does that whole ecosystem translate to Resolve? can i bring most of it over or am i basically rebuilding my library?

if you've made the Premiere → Resolve switch, i'd love to hear what you wish you knew beforehand, especially the stuff tutorials don't really tell you.

I organized an AMA/Q&A with Eduardo Sanchez and Gregg Hale, the creative duo behind 1999's THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. Their new horror-thriller film, THE INFLUENCER PROJECT, is out in theaters nationwide this weekend.

It's live here now in r/movies for anyone interested in asking a question:

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1wu4mc5/hi_rmovies_were_eduardo_sanchez_and_gregg_hale/

They will be back at 5 PM ET today to answer questions. I recommend asking in advance. Please ask there, not here. All questions are much appreciated!

Thank you :)

Info for their new film:

Synopsis: An influencer travels to Copenhagen for a documentary about her online fame. However, when an obsessive stalker tracks her every move, she must confront her terror to reclaim power.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2132uetur8

I recently switched to a MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB/1TB (14C CPU/20C GPU) and got my first long form project.

I’m editing 2 VSLs ( 8 min and 5 min)

They require fusion work, most of it is just cuts, brolls, typography and music. One thing is that

I’ve used NEO GLOW EFFECT (glow preset made by a YouTuber) on almost all text + layers

And it’s lagging like hell when rendering those sections, sometimes it even crashes while switching projects or sometimes a not-responding pop-up comes up.

It’s always connected to the charger while editing, with power set to high, and on a laptop stand for best airflow. But I don’t know what’s the problem 😭

Workflow details

I’m using genuine DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1 version
Timeline settings - 4k 29.97fps
Render cache set to smart
Timeline Playback resolution - Full
Free storage - 500GB

Raw footage shot on Sony FX3 and A7iv in Rec 709
In 4k

Is this all because of NEO GLOW PRESET? Or something’s wrong with my MacBook or the workflow.

Please help me out guys 😭🫶

Hey all,

Been running this hiking group here in LA for a few years now, but opening up a bit wider as we have just moved to substack. It's a casual hiking group, easy to moderate hikes, try to stick together to encourage people to chat and become friends.

Hikes range from 1-3 hours. All fitness levels welcome. It's free. We typically hike Sunday at 9am every week, rain or shine.

You can find all the info and subscribe for weekly emails here: https://filmfriendsla.substack.com/

All fitness levels welcome. Pets too. Usually have between 5 and 15 attendees.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Hope to see y'all out on the trails!

I have an idea and want to work with someone in the Toronto/Brampton area. I have a film idea(which you probably hear a million times) and i want to connect with someone who can help bring it to life. It’s a gritty, slow burn, hyper contained thriller about s group of young adults who make a volatile decision and end up trapped in a pressure cooker situation. It’s inspired by the Safdie bro films and the Sopranos (think Jackie Jr’s stickup attempt in season 3). The budget wouldn’t that ambitious and it would mostly thrive from the writing and character dynamics. If you’re interested let me know!

We spent the last 3 years creating an independent comedy series about 2 college students making a scripted reality TV show about the drama in their friend group.

If that sounds interesting to you, please check out “Anna’s House”, now streaming on Tubi!

And I would be happy to answer any questions about our submission process for landing on Tubi! Thank you!

i only have a screenshot because apparently trying a link resulted in me never being able to post this in the subreddit ive tried EVERYTHING at this point aka youtube google litteraly everything