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[Music]
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cinematography is the art of creating
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Motion Pictures and Visually bringing
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stories to life today I want to show you
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how you can practice your cinematography
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skills to enhance and hone your visual
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storytelling abilities bringing to life
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emotions ideas and stories for an
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audience to enjoy can leave a lasting
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impact on them you can recognize what
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the power of Cinema feels like when you
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watch your favorite movies for the first
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time and to me film making is one of the
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most complicated and highest forms of
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art there is there is nothing else like
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it you want to learn how to practice
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cinematography and here I will share
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with you what you should focus on
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improving what is important for a
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cinematographer or a deep to be mindful
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of where you can look for inspiration
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and ideas to practice from and putting
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all of that together to show you how to
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practice cinematography all by yourself
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if they're not out already I plan to
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dive deeper into different elements of
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cinematography including the topics
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mentioned in this video this is a
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starting point for you to see how I go
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about refining my skills and building up
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experience to becoming a pro
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cinematographer as my end goal if you
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want to stay tuned for these next videos
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why not subscribe if you're new to the
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channel comment down below or leave a
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like to show support so I know you're
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enjoying them and I'll make this into a
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series now let's get into it
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cinematography is composed of many
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details that work together to help tell
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a story visually if there are other
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aspects of cinematography that I don't
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mention in this video that you think are
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important why not comment down below
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what they are for your fellow
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cinematographers let's first go over
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what skills you should focus on if you
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want to reach that Cinema level
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composition lighting and color lens
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Choice camera settings and camera
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movement are all important elements
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cinematographers focus on now if you're
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practicing alone movement might be one
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that's hard to practice without certain
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tools like a slider or gimbal for
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example but you are capable of improving
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the other skills on your own and of
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course you can still create beautiful
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images with a static shot compositions
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are what you most likely think of first
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what connects your shots together in
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scenes and are important to keep your
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audience engaged with what they're
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watching this is also one of my favorite
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parts of cinematography this does not
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only go for what is in frame and the
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visible elements but also what is not
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visible and kept hidden from the
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audience compositions are also how you
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can create your own style different from
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others like very popular DPS such as Wes
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Anderson his very symmetric style
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flatlight look and tracking shots are
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just some of what makes Wes Anderson Wes
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Anderson the same could be said for
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Roger deacons with his naturalistic
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simple worlds and a personal favorite of
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mine Greg Frasier going with what is
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most important for expressing the story
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being told in a future video I hope to
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dive deeper in how you can elevate your
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Framing and different compositions you
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should try on your next project what
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goes hand inand with framing is how
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lighting your scenes can give the shots
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a certain mood or feel and using color
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can exaggerate what's being expressed
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even more even though the gaffer is
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responsible for lighting on set the
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cinematographer Works hand inand with
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them so the gaffer can help the DP bring
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their Vision to life for their scenes
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color can also come from the gaffer or
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even the set design and it's another key
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part to help bring the visual ideas to
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life understanding lighting and color
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helps you create more impactful moments
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than might not be enough through
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composition alone and these examples
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help Express that another aspect you
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might forget is very important for the
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DP is camera settings we learned the
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rules of camera settings so we can break
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them one example is the 180° shutter
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rule or having your shutter speed double
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your frame rate for the right motion
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blur when filming it's important to know
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so in certain cases you decide not to
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follow the rules to create scenes that
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feel more special in a more Artful way
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other camera settings to consider
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include white balance where you FOC
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focus and obviously just normal exposure
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settings and on top of all of that your
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choice of lens or focal length can
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really change everything we just talked
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about if you want a very wide or
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distorted look maybe just a standard
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more true to life feel or something more
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compressed pushing things together
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that's where choosing the right focal
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length comes into
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play all of these elements are what
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every cinematographer needs to be
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intentional with when filming so you can
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be mindful of the most important aspect
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you need to serve and that is the story
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it doesn't matter how beautiful your
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shots are how unique your style is or
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highly skilled you are if it doesn't
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serve the story being told do the
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choices in your composition keep the
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audience engaged with the story does
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your lighting and color play a role in
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what's happening when the antagonist
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figures out a key detail about the hero
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can you use camera settings to your
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advantage to separate characters from
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the rest of the world and do you make
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the right lens choices that fit with
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every moment the story is what matters
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most in film making and if all of these
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decisions don't support the story you
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the director or writers are trying to
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tell then you're not doing your job as a
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DP there are other things as a
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cinematographer that you can care about
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for example color grading and if you
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want to better your skills at grading I
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have a whole video already breaking down
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my process and another one showing how I
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use dehancer to enhance my
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workflow one last thing before I get
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into how to practice in photography I
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want to share with you where I look for
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inspiration and ideas to give me
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scenarios where I can practice my skills
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now I would bet most of you watching
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might say you spend a lot of time on
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social media maybe more than you'd like
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and of course there's so much content on
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there to view but I think you'd be
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wasting your time trying to learn from
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there and not be watching movies I do
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have some alternatives for you but hear
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me out if you really want to improve as
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a cinematographer you should spend more
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of your time watching the highest form
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of cinematography there is and and
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that's in movies don't go look into
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YouTube travel films or things like that
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for True cinematography unless that's
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really the kind of thing you want to do
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now I'm not knocking those kinds of
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videos down but there is a difference
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between those and movies I know it might
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be hard to find time to sit and watch a
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two sometimes 3-hour movie but it's well
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worth it for increasing your creativity
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and getting inspiration if you do that
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more often I'm sure you would understand
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where I'm coming from TV shows can work
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too but I'd recommend shows that are
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less like normal sitcom or so Opera type
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shows unless that's what you also want
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to get into movies are always my number
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one recommendation then good shows but
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if you want quick inspiration to find
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ideas a great free alternative is
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searching on Pinterest and typing in
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movie cinematography or terms like that
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I've made a collection on there with
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some of my favorite finds and I'm sure
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you can find some great things on there
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too another amazing free resource are
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certain YouTube channels like the beauty
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of and amazing shots where they show the
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cinematography of many films your
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favorite movie might already have a
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video here or even a favorite DP of
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yours and if I've already watched a film
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I might go here to see certain scenes
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again and another free resource I've
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recently found is ey candy they have an
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incredible library of visual techniques
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that are used all over not just in
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movies and sometimes they share how
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those methods are done to achieve a
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style one last recommendation that isn't
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free but I really love right now is shot
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deck I find it to be well worth it for
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finding reference shots from movies and
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this was founded by Lauren Sher aka the
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cinematographer grapher for Joker and
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many other movies they have an
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incredible library of films and they
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keep adding more and I've been using
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some Stills found on shot deck
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throughout this video to help get my
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points across it's easy to find exactly
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what you're looking for with the search
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tools and if you can afford it I think
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it's worth it but there's also a two-e
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trial to try it out and finally taking
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everything in from this video I'll share
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with you how to practice
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[Music]
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cinematography I tend to not only think
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about one shot I have in mind whether
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it's from a movie or ideas I have but
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sometimes I create scenes or sequences
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of shots that go together to also
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practice telling something more than
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just showing one beautiful shot an idea
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you can try is think about how you can
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make the mundane everyday life look more
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interesting with cinematography there's
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always those moments in movies that show
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the everyday life and you can create
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sequences about that like I did making
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my morning bathroom routine cinematic
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short video it's important to learn how
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to connect shots together instead of
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just creating one amazing shot that
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might not fit within a scene of course
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you can make one that stands out but how
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can it be connected for a mini story you
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can tell the most important thing to
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take away from this is to constantly
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practice if you want to get better at
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something you have to keep practicing
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and you also need to have a lot of
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patience as well none of the worldclass
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cinematographers made it overnight and
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many didn't until 5 10 or way more years
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of working on their craft now of course
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it's easier to practice when you have
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other people to stand in for you but the
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one person you can always rely on is
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yourself so I just take my tripod and
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practice alone from earlier in this
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video when I talk about skills to
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improve on you can take those aspects
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and practice them one at a time and over
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time add them together to improve for
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example just focus on improving your
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compositions use natural light so you
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can just think about Framing and then
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when you get better you start playing
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with lighting and maybe add some color
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too you then start to be more
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intentional with your lens choices even
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decide to experiment with camera
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settings to see what you can come up
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with if you want to practice a single
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shot you can look at movies you watch
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and grab Stills to try and replicate and
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learn how you can shoot them too you can
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always try something new with your
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attempt and maybe see how you can add
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your own spin on it if you're practicing
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at home try confining yourself to just
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one room to be creative with where you
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are and what you got and sometimes these
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small ideas for scenes or sequences can
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turn into bigger ideas for short films
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or larger projects as you keep
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practicing you'll get better but your
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creativity will also improve with the
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more experience you create for yourself
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and start to think more outside the box
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you'll keep pushing yourself but don't
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get me wrong you'll always have those
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moments where you lose inspiration or
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struggle to come up with ideas like
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myself but you'll get through them and
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become a better cinematographer in the
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end no matter how far you want to go
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with this I think this is a great
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starting point to practice and get
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better if you found this video helpful
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why not leave a like and drop a comment
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down below if you're new why not
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subscribe to the channel if you haven't
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already and also tag me in some of your
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works on social media so I can see and
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check them out as well that's it for
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this video and I'll see you in the next
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one
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[Music]
