It’s Not About the Gear

As a budding filmmaker, I got hit with Gear Acquisition Syndrome (G.A.S.) hard. Every YouTuber I watched made reviews on the latest and greatest camera equipment. It’s no mystery that all the best films and commercials out there were either shot on the high-end Arri Alexa, RED, or actual film, leading me to the conclusion that the greatness they had in common was the gear. It was not until after I saved up and blew my money on what to me was a high-end camera, that I realized it made me no better at creating anything. However, what I now had was the capacity to practice my craft.

It’s tough to hear that – despite all your great ideas or the clarity of your vision – the first projects you create are going to suck.

Mine did.

They sucked for many reasons, all of which were because of me, and not my camera. It turns out that the instinct formed from watching movies translates poorly to making them.

I didn’t know how to write or pace a story, record good audio, or light a scene. Gradually, over many iterations, I learned that a good video is not the images, but the story; a good image comes not from the camera, but from the framing and composition; good dialogue comes not from the microphone, but by its placement & processing; good lighting comes not from good lights, but from positioning the scene relative to the light you have. There was no need to empty all my teenage savings for a mediocre bridge camera when these were all lessons I could have learned with a used Sony a5100 and some $30 Fujian CCTV lenses.

Working within physical limitations stimulates – not hinders – creativity. It is still good to have a TV station’s array of equipment to make our advertising footage that much better, though it is more important to have the right tools when answering to a client.

If you’re starting out today: buy something cheap, start learning & practicing, how to record good sound, how to write, how to light.

Fight Club, Zodiac, Gone Girl director David Fincher said it best: “It’s all about taste… equipment’s easy… Get an iPad… Go make your movie. You can write on it, you can email that script to your friends, you can get them all to show up at the same place, you can film with it, you can edit with it. There’s no excuse.”

CV