Hey Indie Filmmakers

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Episode 54: Filmed With a Live Studio Audience Mar 07, 2018

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Episode 54: Filmed with a Live Studio Audience Griffin Hammond & Nick Bodmer Download

Episode 54: Filmed With a Live Studio Audience

Griffin is on campus at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois—where his friends have joined as this podcast’s first live studio audience. Plus, your questions about the DJI Spark, unconventional interview framing, and why Griffin uses an ND filter but Nick doesn’t.

Special thanks to Illinois State University, Dr. Steve Hunt and Dr. Nathan Carpenter for letting us use their new Communication Innovation Center to film this week’s episode.

Special guests featured in this episode

Adam Rahn also co-hosted Hey Indie Filmmakers episode 15. His website is Droi Media, his latest YouTube video is What should I charge as a freelancer?, and if you like his t-shirt, he sells them.
Matt Edwards is a photographer and drone pilot flying the new Mavic Air. His website is Redcorn Studios, and he shares vlogs on YouTube.
Matt Shivers is a professional voice over artist. I borrowed his Behringer B-2 Pro to record my VO for Sriracha. He currently uses a Neumann TLM 103 condenser microphone and Sennheiser MKH-416. His website is Shivers Media.
My mom, Carol Hammond, starred in and produced my first film (at age 6)—Ghostbusters 3.

Film Gear Garage Sale Feb 28, 2018

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Film Gear Garage Sale Griffin Hammond & Nick Bodmer Download

Film Gear Garage Sale

Nick is moving, and Griffin is clearing out closet space. They’re selling filmmaking gear they no longer use, in a YouTube Garage Sale. You can buy any of these 11 items at http://griffinhammond.com/sale

EDIT: All 11 items were claimed in the first 90 minutes of posting the video!

$250 — Nick's Synology DS41j DiskStation 12TB NAS
$230 — Panasonic 14–140mm f/4.0-5.8 lens (version 1)
$175 — Olympus A01 tiny camera (requires m4/3 lens and microSD)
$40 — CineSkates & Cinetics Skate Plate (GorillaPod not included)
$25 — My homemade DIY Video Light (includes eight 5500K CFL bulbs & umbrella)
$20 — Beast Grip phone adapter
$15 — Magnetic Coaster Set (new in box, looks like a 85mm f/1.2 lens)
$5 — Sriracha art print
$1 — Adobe CS3 Master Collection for Mac (on DVD)
FREE — Sriracha movie poster
FREE — The Last Jedi BB-8 figurine

Episode 53: Retractable Closet Camera Feb 21, 2018

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Episode 53: Retractable Closet Camera Griffin Hammond & Nick Bodmer Download

Episode 53: Retractable Closet Camera

To build a convenient, retractable podcasting system, Griffin mounted an LED panel and a retractable camera mount in his office closet. Plus, your questions about step-up rings, when to use shotgun vs hyper-cardioid mics, and if you can show the iPhone operating system in your film.

Ingredients for Griffin’s retractable podcasting system

Spekular LED panel mounted via Pedco Ultra Clamp
LEE Filters CTO gel to make the bluish LED warmer
Reflex SR5 shoulder rig reconfigured into a retractable rail system
Barska Ball Head with an Arca-style quick release plate
B+W 2-stop ND Filter to use with my 12mm f/1.4 lens

In addition to our usual filmmaking questions, Nick wants you to tweet other types of questions using the hashtag #askgriffin

Hey Indie Filmmakers is brought to you by Squarespace. Try it for free, then save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain—visit squarespace.com/griffin

We received a question about the pocket-sized Panasonic LX10, which has a built-in f/1.4–2.8 24–70mm lens (super 35 equivalent).

Episode 7: How to Produce Wedding Films [Rebroadcast] Feb 14, 2018

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Episode 7: How to Produce Wedding Films (rebroadcast) Griffin Hammond & Nick Bodmer Download

Episode 7: How to Produce Wedding Films [Rebroadcast]

Episode originally aired February 14, 2017
Happy Valentine’s Day! Nick and Griffin share their wedding film production techniques—from dealing with low light in dark receptions to copyrighted music. Plus your questions about DSLR recording limits, asking good interview questions, and what format to shoot commercials in.

Watch Griffin & Amy’s 5-minute wedding video, edited from only one good camera angle after Griffin screwed up Nick’s great close-up angle.

A sampling of wedding films produced by Nick Bodmer
A sampling of wedding films produced by Griffin Hammond

Nick mentioned finding collaborators on the /r/videography subreddit and /r/weddingvideography
Nick uses this “Precomposed Zip Kit” After Effects template for DVD menus.

Finding Love through Video Feb 14, 2018

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Finding Love through Video Griffin Hammond & Nick Bodmer Download

Finding Love through Video

After an Valentine’s Day audio mishap, Griffin calls Nick for answers. Amy saves the day.

We met through a wonderful website called Film Fights.

Watch or listen to last year's V-Day episode, How to Produce Wedding Films (episode 07).

Episode 52: “Flicks” & Frames Per Second Feb 07, 2018

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Episode 52: “Flicks” & Frames Per Second Griffin Hammond & Nick Bodmer Download

Episode 52: “Flicks” & Frames Per Second

One “flick” equals 1/705,600,000th of a second, according to a new open-source unit of time for measuring framerates. Plus, your questions about foggy lenses, appropriate audio levels, and if you can use Garageband music in your commercial video projects.

Read the Ars Technica article: Oculus creates a new, open source unit of time to measure frame rates

How many flicks have passed during this 44-minute, 23-second episode? 1,879,012,800,000!
Hey Indie Filmmakers is brought to you by Squarespace. Try it for free, then save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain—visit squarespace.com/griffin

**Episode 51: Filming Sharks in Dubai** Jan 31, 2018
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Filming Sharks in Dubai Griffin Hammond & Nick Bodmer Download

The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE

Episode 51: Filming Sharks in Dubai
In Dubai, filming sharks with an underwater camera housing—during Griffin’s filmmaking workshop tour through the United Arab Emirates. Plus, your questions about jitter and motion blur, settings for time lapse, and which camera is right for you.
View the full set of underwater equipment I’m using—including an Ikelight 200DL housing and accessories, and 2500-lumen Sea Dragon lights—at griffinhammond.com/underwater

Episode 49: The New, Low-Light Panasonic GH5S Jan 17, 2018

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Episode 49: The New, Low-Light Panasonic GH5S Griffin Hammond & Nick Bodmer Download

Episode 49: The New, Low-Light Panasonic GH5S

Panasonic debuted their low-light, dual-native-ISO GH5S camera at CES last week. Griffin and Nick share the 10 big changes that separate it from its predecessor, the Lumix GH5. Plus, your questions about daylight-balanced bulbs, how to transfer large video files online, and whether you should give your client the raw footage.

10 Changes to the Panasonic GH5S:

C4K 60p/30p. These 4:2:0 8-bit framerates were available in 3840x2160 UHD on the GH5, but not in C4K 4096x2160.
Multi-aspect sensor. C4K 4096x2160 actually uses a wider portion of the sensor, resulting in a 1.8x crop factor (slightly wider field of view).
No IBIS (in-body image stabilization). The newly designed, slightly larger sensor catches more light, but is too big for IBIS—which would cause vignetting. But many Panasonic lenses have built-in OIS (optical image stabilization).
10-megapixel, not 20. Smaller photographs, but Panasonic added 14-bit RAW files—up to 10 frames per second.
14 stops of dynamic range. That’s two more stops than the GH5 is capable of.
Dual native ISO. Native ISOs at 400 and 2500 means noise level at ISO12800 on the GH5S is comparable to ISO1600 on the GH5.
Includes V-log. The GH5S ships with V-Log L already installed. Previously a $99 upgrade on the GH5.
Timecode port. For syncing timecode across bodies, Panasonic includes a cable that adapts the PC/flash port to BNC.
Red detailing on Rec Button and Drive Mode Dial.
Price: $2499—the GH5S is $500 more than the GH5, and will be released February 6, 2018.

Griffin filmed behind-the-scenes as three filmmakers shot with the Panasonic GH5S for the first time:

Jacob Schwarz shot Horizons*. Watch his behind-the-scenes
Luke Neumann shot The Middle Path*. Watch his behind-the-scenes
Alexandria Bombach shot Finding the Light*. Watch her behind-the-scenes (coming soon).

*Taking advantage of the GH5S’ greater dynamic range, all three films were mastered in HDR, so if you have a high dynamic range television, they look especially great. I shot all the behind-the-scenes films on my Panasonic GH5.

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